LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
January 02.2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to enter the LCCC Arabic/English news bulletins Achieves since 2006
Bible Quotations For today
Circumcision of
Jesus
Luke 02/21-32: And when eight days were completed [g]for the
circumcision of the Child, His name was called Jesus, the name given by the
angel before He was conceived in the womb.
Jesus Presented in the Temple
Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were
completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is
written in the law of the Lord, “Every male who opens the womb shall be called
holy to the Lord”), and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the
law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”
Simeon Sees God’s Salvation
And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was
just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was
upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not
see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. So he came by the Spirit into
the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him
according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God
and said: “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to
Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation Which You have prepared before
the face of all peoples, A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the
glory of Your people Israel.”
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese
Related News published on January 01-02/2020
Love Unites Not Enmity/Elias Bejjani/January 01/2020
The accused is innocent until proven guilty/Elias Bejjani/January 01/2020
Resolutions For the new year of 2020/Elias Bejjani/January 01/2020
Contracts of Cellular Companies Not Extended
Trump to Have 'Lebanese Son-in Law'
Serhan transmits judicial cooperation request on bank transfers to Swiss
authorities
Rahi heads New Year's mass in Bkirki
Lebanese Foreign Ministry: Circumstances of Ghosn's departure from Japan and his
arrival in Beirut are unknown
Sectarian Obstacles Hinder Formation of New Govt.
By Jumping Bail, Fugitive Ghosn Burns Bridges to Japan
Japan Media Blasts 'Cowardly' Ghosn after Escape
Ghosn met Lebanese president after fleeing Japan, say sources
What's Next for Carlos Ghosn?
Carlos Ghosn is now free to speak; what will he say?/Brian Bremner and Young-Sam
Cho/Bloomberg/January 01/2019
Lebanon’s justice minister tells Arab News Japan no extradition request received
for Ghosn/Najia Houssari/January 01/2020
A daring escape: Ex-Nissan chief flees Japan ahead of trial/Associated
Press/January 01/2020
End of the party: why Lebanon’s debt crisis has left it vulnerable/The Financial
Times/January 01/2020
What protests in Lebanon can tell us about inequality worldwide/Mona Fawaz/Al
Jazeera/January 01/2020
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on
January 01-02/2020
Pro-Iran Protesters Leave U.S. Embassy in Baghdad
Trump says he does not want, nor foresee, war with Iran
Trump says Iran will ‘pay a very big price’ if lives are lost at any US facility
Pentagon says sending 750 troops to Mideast after embassy attack in Iraq
Pompeo says ‘terrorists’ behind US embassy attack in Iraq, names them
US bombings in Iraq and Syria targeted a key Iranian unit
Popular Mobilization Forces leader threatens attacks on Saudi, UAE, Bahraini
embassies
Iran’s Khamenei condemns US response in Iraq, accuses it of creating ISIS
US embassy in Baghdad says all public consular operations suspended
Pro-Iran protesters fully withdraw from US embassy in Baghdad
Iran summons Swiss envoy over US “warmongering statements”
Iraqi paramilitary groups tell supporters to withdraw from US Embassy perimeter
Iraqi militiamen hurl stones at US Embassy, prepare for extended stay
Iran Summons Envoy over U.S. 'Warmongering'
NYE Celebratory Gunfire Injures Five; 4 Arrested
Turkey may not send forces to Libya if conflict eases
Shelling hit school killing 6 in rebel-held Syrian village
Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources published on January 01-02/2020
US sees 'direct links' between Iran and attack on Baghdad embassy/Joyce Karam
and Khaled Yacoub Oweis/The National/January 02/2020
Trump’s dilemma, how to deal with Iran?/Shmirit Meir/Ynetnews/January 01/2020
West Africa has ditched its colonial currency. Now the future is crypto/Joseph
Dana/Arab News/January 01, 2020
Why Iraq is a key battleground for Tehran in 2020/Dr. Azeem Ibrahim/Arab
News/January 01, 2020
Iraqis must stop their country from becoming a proxy battlefield/Dr. Mohammed
Al-Sulami/Arab News/January 01, 2020
Europe: Anti-Christian Attacks Reach All-Time High in 2019/Soeren Kern/Gatestone
Institute/January 01/2020
The Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News published on January 01-02/2020
Love Unites Not Enmity
Elias Bejjani/January 01/2020
Hizbullah, which is mere hostility and hatred, is striving to unite the Lebanese
by force on the principle of enmity, while there is neither unity nor
unification except on the basis of love.
The accused is innocent until proven guilty
Elias Bejjani/January 01/2020
Carlos Ghosn is accused, not convicted yet. His case is so complicated and
intertwined with international political conflicts. Have mercy on the man and
stop stoning him The accused is innocent until proven guilty
Resolutions For the new year of 2020
Elias Bejjani/January 01/2020
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/81879/elias-bejjani-resolutions-for-the-new-year-of-2020/
How healthy and fruitful would it be if each and every one of us is fully ready
to welcome the new year of 2010 with a clear conscience and a joyful
reconciliation with himself/herself, as well and with all others, especially
those who are the beloved ones, e.g, parents, family members, friends, etc.
How self gratifying would be for any faithful and wise person to enter the new
year of 2020 and he/she is completely free from all past heavy and worrying
loads of hostility, hatred, enmities, grudges, strives and jealousy.
And because our life is very short on this mortal-perishable earthly world.
And due to fact that, Our Heavenly Father, Almighty God may at any moment take
back His Gift of life from any one of us.
Because of all these solid facts and realities, we are ought to leave behind all
the 2019 hardships, pains and disappointments with no regrets at all.
We are ought to happily welcome and enter the 2020 new year with a totally empty
page of our lives….ready for a new start.
Hopefully, every wise, loving, caring and faithful person would feel better in
striving to begin this new year of 2020 with love, forgiveness, faith, hope,
extended hands, open heart, and self-confidence.
Happy, Happy new Year
Contracts of Cellular Companies Not Extended
Naharnet/January 01/2020
Caretaker Minister of Finance, Ali Hassan Khalil, on Tuesday said that he had
refused the extension of Lebanon's state-owned operating cell phone companies'
mandate shortly before the Media and Communications Parliamentary Committee
convened and rejected the extension.
"Someone has ignorantly or deliberately spread a rumor saying that the Minister
of Finance has inked a mandate extension decree for cell phone companies,"
Khalil said in a tweet. "The news fabricated and unfounded and the entire idea
of extension has been originally rejected by me," he added. The Media and
Communications Committee announced that contracts of the two Lebanese cellular
companies Alpha and Touch had not been extended. Groups of protesters have
gathered outside the Parliament in line with the meeting in an attempt to voice
objection against the extension.
Trump to Have 'Lebanese Son-in Law'
Naharnet/January 01/2020
A young man of Lebanese descent will get engaged to U.S. President Donald
Trump’s daughter Tiffany on January 11, according to invitations sent out by
their two families. “The story of Michael Charbel Boulos and Tiffany Donald
Trump started in the summer of 2018, as they were vacationing on the Mykonos
Island in Greece,” Lebanon’s MTV reported. Tiffany, 26, is Trump’s daughter from
his former marriage to Marla Maples. She is the youngest among his daughters.
Boulos, 25, grew up in Nigeria, where his family owns a multibillion-dollar
company that trades in vehicles, equipment, retail and construction.
According to media reports, Boulos’ father owns the conglomerate SCOA Nigeria
PLC, which has its hand in almost every major industry in Nigeria, including
automobile, construction, agriculture, food and drink and infrastructure,
according to its stock profile. Boulos recently attended the White House
Christmas party with his parents Massad and Sarah Boulos. On Tuesday, the young
man and Tiffany Trump celebrated New Year’s Eve at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in
Florida. According to MTV, Boulos likely has four citizenships, including the
American. The engagement party will be held in Florida on January 11 amid
“strict security measures,” MTV reported.
Serhan transmits judicial cooperation request on bank
transfers to Swiss authorities
NNA/January 01/2020
Caretaker Minister of Justice Albert Serhan's media bureau, announced that the
Minister "transmitted to the Swiss judicial authorities, through the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, the letter of the Prosecutor General, Ghassan
Oweidat, on the subject of requesting judicial assistance regarding information
about transferring funds from Lebanon to bank accounts in Switzerland" .The
statement stressed that "the Lebanese authorities have pledged to maintain the
confidentiality of the investigation and to refrain from using the information
provided by the Swiss judicial authorities except for the purposes of this
investigation."The statement concluded that the request for legal aid also
included reporting "the total amount of the funds transferred, with reference to
their source, and whether they are considered to be suspicious or not."
Rahi heads New Year's mass in Bkirki
NNA/January 01/2020
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Beshara Boutros Rahi, reiterated Wednesday during
New Year's message the need to "form a mini-government of non-partisan ministers
who would be capable of implementing a financial, economic, social and
administrative reform program for the sake of the country." Rahi urged
politicians to make necessary reforms and development at the economic, financial
and social levels, away from political disputes. "Lebanese officials must show
responsibility in carrying out the necessary reforms in public sector and reduce
the deficit away from the political sectarian interference," he added. The
prelate concluded his words by saying, "The approach to quotas in political
action must be changed."
Lebanese Foreign Ministry: Circumstances of Ghosn's
departure from Japan and his arrival in Beirut are unknown
NNA/January 01/2020
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants said in a statement Tuesday that
Mr. Carlos Ghosn has entered Lebanon legally at dawn yesterday, as confirmed by
the Lebanese General Security. The Ministry said that the circumstances of
Ghosn's departure from Japan and his arrival in Beirut were unknown. The
statement indicated that the Ministry has sent several correspondences to the
Japanese government regarding Ghosn over the past year, but remained unanswered.
The Ministry also noted that Lebanon does not have judicial cooperation
agreement with Japan. The Foreign Ministry underlined Lebanon's keenness on best
relations with the Japanese state.
Sectarian Obstacles Hinder Formation of New Govt.
Naharnet/January 01/2020
Disagreements over the representation of the various sects are still hindering
the formation of Hassan Diab’s government, media reports said.
“A Druze obstacle emerged yesterday after (Progressive Socialist Party chief
Walid) Jumblat and other (Druze) officials criticized that they will be
represented through the nonessential environment portfolio,” An-Nahar newspaper
reported on Sunday. “Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has insisted
that the (only) Druze minister (in the 18-seat government) should be affiliated
with his ally, MP Talal Arslan,” the daily added. Bassil fears that a Druze
minister close to Jumblat might resign later, stripping the government of its
Druze component and consequently of its conformity with the 1943 National Pact,
an unwritten agreement that set the foundations of modern Lebanon as a
multi-confessional state.
“The candidate who has been proposed for the ministerial post is the physician
Ramzi Msharrafiyeh,” An-Nahar quoted political sources informed on the formation
process as saying.
Diab has meanwhile been unable to find Sunni candidates who hail from the
capital Beirut. “An indirect contact took place between the PM-designate and Dr.
Halima Qaaqour, an activist from the Watani coalition, with the aim of allotting
the education portfolio to her,” the sources said.
“She inquired about the government’s program and plan, but it turned out that
she was not eager to take part in the government and will likely refuse,” the
sources added. Dr. Tarek Mohammed al-Majzoub, who hails from Sidon, is meanwhile
being considered for the portfolio.
“Othman Sultan, who hails from Tripoli and is not known in the political arena,
has been proposed for the telecom portfolio,” An-Nahar said.
The interior portfolio is meanwhile one of the main obstacles that are delaying
the formation of the government. The chances of two retired officers – Bassem
Khaled and Hosni Daher – have decreased, the daily added. The parties are
meanwhile seriously considering retired Brig. Gen. Mohammed Fahmi for the post.
Retired officers are also being mulled to occupy the defense portfolio after
Shadi Masaad was “totally excluded.”
The sources also noted that the Shiite parties – Hizbullah and AMAL – are
insisting on renominating Jamil Jabaq and Hasan al-Laqqis should Bassil cling to
returning Nada Bustani and Mansour Bteish to the government. The sources also
revealed that the government’s line-up was supposed to be announced on Monday,
prior to the meeting of the Sunni Islamic Council scheduled for next Saturday,
noting that Bassil “obstructed the announcement and preferred to wait, pending
the resolution of the remaining obstacles.”
By Jumping Bail, Fugitive Ghosn Burns Bridges to Japan
Associated Press/Naharnet/January 01/2020
By jumping bail, former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn, who had long insisted on
his innocence, has now committed a clear offense and can never return to Japan
without going to jail. "So he now has burned his bridges to Japan," Stephen
Givens, a lawyer and expert on Japan's legal and corporate systems, said
Wednesday. "This is going to end in basically a stalemate with him spending the
rest of his life in Lebanon."How exactly Ghosn fled surveillance in Japan and
popped up in Lebanon, or who might have directed the dramatic escape, remains
unclear. The Tokyo District Court revoked his bail, Japanese media reports said,
meaning authorities would seize the 1.5 billion yen ($14 million) Ghosn had
posted on two separate instances to get out of detention. Ghosn was first
arrested in November 2018, released and then rearrested. The court was closed
for the New Year's holidays and could not be immediately reached for comment.
Ghosn had been out on bail while awaiting trial on various financial misconduct
allegations. The trial was expected to start in April. The date had not been
set. How the Japanese authorities might investigate Ghosn's escape and what
action they might take on the apparent security lapses remains unclear.
Ghosn, who is of Lebanese origin and holds French, Lebanese and Brazilian
passports, disclosed his location in a statement through his representatives but
did not say how he managed to flee Japan. He promised to talk to reporters next
week. He said he wanted to avoid "injustice and political persecution."
"I am now in Lebanon and will no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese
justice system where guilt is presumed, discrimination is rampant, and basic
human rights are denied, in flagrant disregard of Japan's legal obligations
under international law and treaties it is bound to uphold," the statement said.
His lawyer Junichiro Hironaka denied all knowledge of the escape, saying he was
stunned. He said he didn't expect Ghosn to return to Japan. When asked if Ghosn
had taken any of the documents being prepared for the trial, Hironaka
acknowledged he hadn't checked but said he seriously doubted Ghosn would care
about a trial he had taken such pains to avoid. Japanese media reports said
Wednesday there were no official records of Ghosn's departure from the country,
but a private jet had left from a regional airport to Turkey. One report said he
sneaked out from his Tokyo home hiding in a case for a musical instrument.
Lebanon's caretaker minister for presidential affairs, Salim Jreissati, told the
An-Nahar newspaper that Ghosn entered legally at the airport with a French
passport and Lebanese ID. France has reacted with surprise and confusion,
denying any knowledge. Speculation is rife that a foreign or Japanese
government, or both, might have been involved, or maybe just looked the other
way to allow the escape to rid the public of a potentially embarrassing trial.
With him missing, Ghosn's trial is suspended.
But a trial is still pending against Nissan as a company and Greg Kelly, another
Nissan executive. Kelly, an American, has said he is innocent. Kelly's
allegations overlap with those charges against Ghosn related to the
underreporting of Ghosn's future compensation. Those charges are less serious
than the additional breach of trust accusations against Ghosn. Ghosn has been
charged with breach of trust in having Nissan shoulder his personal investment
losses, and diverting payments in Saudi Arabia and Oman for personal gain. He
has repeatedly asserted his innocence, saying authorities trumped up the charges
to prevent a fuller merger between Nissan and alliance partner Renault SA.
Japan Media Blasts 'Cowardly' Ghosn after Escape
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 01/2020
The usually staid Japanese media lambasted the "cowardly" Carlos Ghosn on
Wednesday, after the tycoon jumped bail and fled to Lebanon to avoid trial in
Japan. "Running away is a cowardly act that mocks Japan's justice system," said
the Yomiuri Shimbun, with Ghosn facing multiple charges of financial misconduct
-- all of which he denies. By leaving the country, Ghosn has "lost the
opportunity to prove his innocence and vindicate his honor," the paper added,
noting that the court, his defense lawyers and immigration control officials
also bore some blame in the affair.
The liberal Tokyo Shimbun also said Ghosn's actions had made a mockery of the
Japanese justice system. "The defendant Ghosn insists he escaped political
persecution... but traveling abroad without permission is against the conditions
of his bail, and mocks the Japanese justice system," the paper wrote."There is a
high probability that the trial will not be held, and his argument that he wants
to prove his innocence is now in question."Some media noted that the decision to
give him bail -- seen by some as unusual at the time -- now looks unwise.
Prosecutors had argued at the time that he was a flight risk with powerful
connections, but Ghosn himself had said he wanted to be tried to prove his
innocence. One of his defense lawyers at the time has said he was such a famous
face that there was no chance he would be able to slip away undetected. The
conservative Sankei Shimbun noted that prosecutors believed the court had
yielded to "foreign pressure" by offering him bail, amid widespread criticism in
the global media of Japan's "hostage justice system" that allows for lengthy and
repeated detention. In December 2018, the court declined prosecutors' request to
extend Ghosn's detention by 10 days -- a surprising decision as the extension is
usually almost automatic. And in fact Ghosn was bailed twice, once in March and
a second time after he was re-arrested in April. "All of these were rare
decisions," said the Sankei. The center-left Mainichi Shimbun quoted a senior
prosecutor as saying: "This is what we predicted." "This has ruined the
prosecutors' painstaking work" of collecting evidence in Japan and abroad
against him.The Asahi Shimbun also quoted a former Nissan executive voicing his
disappointment at Ghosn's actions. "The entrepreneur who ran Nissan for so many
years and was well-known internationally turns out to be this kind of person. My
jaw hit the floor. I can't find the words to express myself."
Ghosn met Lebanese president after fleeing Japan, say
sources
Reuters/Al Jazeera/January 01/2020
Ghosn was greeted warmly by President Michel Aoun on Monday after flying into
Beirut via Istanbul, sources tell Reuters.
Fugitive former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn met Lebanon's president after
escaping from Japan, where he was smuggled out of house arrest by a private
security company, two sources close to Ghosn said on Wednesday. One of the
sources said that Ghosn was greeted warmly by President Michel Aoun on Monday
after flying into Beirut via Istanbul - and that he was now in a buoyant and
combative mood and feeling secure. In his meeting with the president, Ghosn
thanked Aoun for the support he had given him and his wife Carole while he was
in detention, the sources said. He now needs the protection and security of his
government after fleeing Japan, they added. A media adviser to the president's
office denied the two men had met. Lebanese officials have said there would be
no need to take legal measures against Ghosn because he entered the country
legally on a French passport, although Ghosn's French, Lebanese and Brazilian
passports are with lawyers in Japan. The French and Lebanese foreign ministries
have said they were unaware of the circumstances of his journey. Lebanon has no
extradition agreement with Japan, where Ghosn faced trial on charges of
financial misconduct, which he denied. Under the terms of his bail, he had been
confined to his house in Tokyo and had to have cameras installed at the
entrance. He was prevented from communicating with his wife, and had his use of
the internet and other communications curtailed.
The sources said the Lebanese ambassador to Japan had visited him daily while he
was in detention.
'Pure fiction'
While some Lebanese media outlets have floated a Houdini-like account of Ghosn
being packed in a wooden container for musical instruments after a private
concert in his home, his wife called the account pure fiction when contacted by
Reuters News Agency. She declined to provide details of the exit of one of the
most recognisable titans of industry. The accounts of the two sources suggest a
carefully planned escape of which few people were aware. Sources said a private
security firm oversaw the plan, which was three months in the making and
involved shuttling Ghosn out via a private jet to Istanbul before pushing onward
to Beirut, with even the pilot unaware of Ghosn's presence on board. "It was a
very professional operation from start to finish" said one of the sources. The
other source said Ghosn was in good health. In a written statement, Ghosn said
after his arrival that he had "escaped injustice and political persecution" and
would begin communicating with media next week. Sources close to him said he was
unwilling to share details of his escape so as not to jeopardise those who aided
him in Japan. He is staying at the home of a relative of his wife, but plans to
return soon to a gated villa in the upscale Beirut neighbourhood of Achrafieh,
one of the sources said. Ghosn was first arrested in Tokyo in November 2018 and
faces four charges - which he denies - including hiding income and enriching
himself through payments to dealerships in the Middle East. Nissan sacked him as
chairman saying internal investigations revealed misconduct including
understating his salary while he was the company's chief executive, and
transferring $5m of Nissan funds to an account in which he had an interest.
Ghosn has enjoyed an outpouring of support from Lebanese people since his 2018
arrest, with billboards proclaiming "We are all Carlos Ghosn" erected in the
country in solidarity with his case. Locally he is considered a poster boy for
success in a country where rampant unemployment pushes young Lebanese abroad to
find work and the economy relies heavily on remittances amid a deep financial
crisis that has sparked a wave of protests.
Ghosn was born in Brazil but is of Lebanese descent, and lived in Lebanon as a
child. He oversaw a turnaround at French carmaker Renault that won him the
nickname "Le Cost Killer" and used similar methods to revive Nissan.
What's Next for Carlos Ghosn?
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 01/2020
Former car magnate Carlos Ghosn's stunning departure from Japan, where he was
facing trial on financial misconduct charges, poses numerous questions as to
where his story goes next. Venerated French cartoonist Plantu of Le Monde
newspaper portrayed the 65-year-old Tuesday with a smile on his face, a party
hat on his head and relaxing in a hammock. The look of insouciance contrasted
with the consternation in Japan after his arrival in Beirut via Istanbul. Sprung
out in music case? The exact circumstances of Ghosn's daring escape from Japan,
where he had been released on bail in April pending trial after 130 days in
prison, remain unclear, though colorful rumors abound. One claim in the Lebanese
media is that the auto mogul, who holds Lebanese, French and Brazilian
nationalities, was sprung from his Tokyo residence in a musical instrument case
-- a story a source in his entourage denied. A Lebanese presidential source said
the former Nissan and Renault boss had landed in Turkey before an early hours
onward flight to Lebanon. The stunt left his Japanese lawyer Junichiro Hironaka
dumbfounded -- Hironaka says the mogul's three passports remain in Japan.
Lebanon's foreign ministry said Tuesday that Ghosn entered the country legally.
The country's General Security apparatus said that "there are no measures that
warrant taking steps against him or prosecuting him."
Can he be extradited?
"There is no extradition accord between Lebanon and Japan," a source at the
Lebanese ministry of justice told AFP. Though that is the case, one expert in
international relations told AFP that "the absence of (an extradition)
convention does not in itself preclude extraditing an individual.
"But certain states, Lebanon included, do not extradite their nationals," the
expert added. Former Lebanese justice minister, Ibrahim Najjar, said that if
Interpol were to become engaged in the case Ghosn's name would be communicated
to border authorities in member countries with a view to his arrest. "But
Interpol cannot have him arrested by force or impose any decision on
Lebanon."The international relations expert noted that a Lebanese court could
try Ghosn "if he has committed a crime punishable by Lebanese law" but "Lebanon
cannot judge a person accused of tax fraud committed in a foreign country."
Tokyo trial outlook
Arrested in Tokyo in November 2018, Ghosn, who insists he is fleeing "injustice
and political persecution," faced going on trial in April on four charges
including under-reporting salary, allegedly trying to have Nissan cover personal
foreign exchange losses and using millions of Nissan funds transferred to a
dealership in Oman for his own use. But his departure, which his defense counsel
labelled inexcusable, has thrown the process up in the air. "The defense team
has totally lost face," having earlier promised Ghosn would not leave the
country, former prosecutor Nobuo Gohara, a lawyer, told AFP. "For the
prosecutors it is an extremely serious situation. Nissan must be afraid. And the
prosecutors as well."France also has a legal action against Ghosn opened last
April over alleged financial wrongdoing but "his absconding should not have any
consequences for our investigation," French prosecutor Catherine Denis told AFP
on Tuesday. What next for Ghosn? Ghosn, now in his Beirut home with his wife
according to a family friend, has vowed to communicate "freely" with the media
"starting next week" and put his side of an episode which has divided the city
where he grew up. Lebanese writer and film director Lucien Bourjeily waxed
ironic on Twitter, observing wryly that Ghosn "has come for the comfort and
'efficiency' of a Lebanese judicial system which has never put a politician in
jail for corruption."That, in a country where the populace are currently up in
arms against a political class they see as venal.
Carlos Ghosn is now free to speak; what will he say?
Brian Bremner and Young-Sam Cho/Bloomberg/January 01/2019
Former Nissan CEO and white collar fugitive is expected to make a blistering
public relations assault.
Carlos Ghosn has spent more than a year trapped in a Japanese legal odyssey
that's transfixed the automotive world and thrown his life into chaos. Now,
having pulled off a daring escape from Japan to Lebanon, he's an international
fugitive.
But the executive is also free to speak his mind fully, without legal filtering,
for the first time since his surprise arrest on the tarmac at Haneda airport
back in November 2018. And this much seems likely: The former head of Nissan
Motor Co. and Renault SA has stories to tell and scores to settle.
At stake is Ghosn's entire legacy. Will he be remembered as the brilliant,
cost-cutting manager who rescued Nissan and built one of mightiest auto
alliances in the industry? Or will he be just another name in a hall of infamy
of white-collar fugitives?
Ghosn said in his statement from Lebanon on Tuesday that he would "finally
communicate freely with the media, and look forward to starting next week." So
get ready for what's likely to be a blistering public relations assault,
starting with an expected press conference, that will rattle some cages in both
Japan and France. Based on past statements by Ghosn and his wife Carole, here's
a guide to what may be in store.
Japan's legal system
"I have not fled justice," Ghosn said in the first emailed statement after his
remarkable exit from Japan. "I have escaped injustice and political
persecution." An even more robust indictment of the nation's legal system is
likely in the weeks ahead.
Ghosn's arrest revived long-standing concerns about the fairness of Japan's
judicial system, where prosecutors can grill suspects repeatedly without their
lawyers present and enjoy an almost 100% conviction rate.
Under the terms of the executive's bail, the courts restricted contact with his
family. In his Dec. 31 statement, Ghosn called the Japanese justice system
rigged and said his "basic human rights" had been denied, including the
presumption of innocence. Those are issues that he almost certainly would have
put on the world stage had his case come to trial.
Unholy trinity
For months, Ghosn's attorneys have been arguing that all of the charges against
their client were bogus, the result of a broad conspiracy among nationalistic
Nissan officials, Japanese prosecutors and the government itself.
The goal, according to Ghosn, was to smear him in order to prevent the executive
from further integrating Nissan and France's Renault, a plan that threatened the
Japanese carmaker's autonomy and was vehemently opposed in the highest echelons
of Tokyo officialdom.
Corporate assassins
In April, Ghosn was detained before a scheduled tell-all press conference,
prompting his camp to release a pre-recorded video for such an eventuality.
In it, Ghosn spoke of several Nissan executives whom he claimed turned on him to
advance their own interests. The original video named the people; that segment
was edited out in the version released to the public.
"I'm talking here about a few executives who, obviously for their own interests
and for their own selfish fears, are creating a lot of value destruction. Names?
You know them," Ghosn hinted in his video. Now, Ghosn may really be ready to
disclose names.
Nissan's slide
In his video, Ghosn also criticized Nissan's management for the company's poor
performance, saying they lost sight of the need to move the alliance with
Renault forward.
"I'm worried because obviously the performance of Nissan is declining, but also
I'm worried because I don't think there is any vision for the alliance being
built," Ghosn said in the video.
Nissan's earnings have tumbled to the lowest level in a decade and the stock was
the worst performer on the Bloomberg World Auto Manufacturers Index last year
(the second-worst was Renault), so he may hit that note again.
French establishment
In several interviews, Ghosn's wife, Carole, lashed out at the French
establishment for not doing more to help the former head of Renault, who also is
a French citizen.
In an interview with the Journal du Dimanche, she said President Emmanuel Macron
hasn't answered her pleas for help. "The silence from the Elysee Palace is
deafening," she said. "I thought France was a country that defended the
presumption of innocence. They've all forgotten everything Carlos did for
France's economy and for Renault." It remains to be seen which talking points
Ghosn will hit the hardest. Yet this much is clear: He is a fighter, and he has
everything to lose if he can't pull ahead in the PR war. That suggests his
approach won't be subtle.
Lebanon’s justice minister tells Arab News Japan no
extradition request received for Ghosn
Najia Houssari/January 01/2020
BEIRUT: Lebanese Minister of Justice Albert Serhan told Arab News Japan on
Wednesday that Japan has not filed an official extradition request for former
Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn, who fled Japan for Lebanon via Turkey on Dec. 30.
Ghosn, a Brazilian-born French businessman of Lebanese ancestry, was arrested in
Japan in November 2018 over allegations that he had under-reported his earnings
and misused company assets. He was re-arrested under new charges of
misappropriation of funds while out on bail in April. Ghosn has broken the terms
of his bail by fleeing to Lebanon.
Serhan said: “Ghosn has Lebanese citizenship, and — according to the principles
and laws — is thus treated as a Lebanese citizen. According to our applicable
laws, a Lebanese man will be tried before Lebanese courts unless there is an
extradition treaty, and there is none between Lebanon and Japan. In any case, we
will not jump to conclusions. Until now, the Japanese government has not sent
any request to have him returned.”
Lebanon accepted an extradition request from the US earlier this year, despite
the fact that it has no extradition treaty with America. Ali Salameh, who holds
dual Lebanese and American citizenship and was accused of kidnapping his
four-year-old son from the United States and taking him to Lebanon following a
dispute with his wife over his custody, was handed over the to FBI. However,
Serhan stressed: “That man had dual citizenship. Carlos Ghosn does not have
Japanese citizenship. Every case is different.”
Asked whether Ghosn fleeing to Lebanon would affect Lebanese-Japanese relations,
Serhan said: “We hope (not). If principles are followed and laws are respected,
this case cannot affect the relations between the two countries.”
He stressed that Lebanon is keen to maintain good relations with all countries,
and that it respects international law. “Lebanon needs Japan, which is one of
the largest economies, and it provides us with assistance,” he said. “We hope
that Japan understands, especially with regard to Lebanese laws.”
Ghosn is believed to be planning a press conference in Beirut on Jan. 8, saying
in a statement on New Year’s Eve, “I can now finally communicate freely with the
media and look forward to starting next week.”
Serhan said that Ghosn could hold the press conference but only if he did not
damage relations between Lebanon and Japan.
“Ghosn is a Lebanese citizen who enjoys (the same rights as all citizens),”
Serhan said. “He may hold his press conference as long as he does not criticize
any state and does not affect relations between our two countries.”
The Lebanese Foreign Ministry stressed in a statement that it wishes to maintain
“the best relations with the Japanese State,” but added that Ghosn entered
Lebanon “in a legal manner.”
The ministry explained that, a year ago, Lebanon sent a number of official
communiqués to the Japanese government in relation to Ghosn’s case, but no
response was received. During the visit of Japanese State Minister for Foreign
Affairs Keisuke Suzuki to Lebanon a few days ago, a complete file on the case
was handed to the Lebanese government. During Suzuki’s visit — the first by a
Japanese state minister to Lebanon in three years — he said: “Japan believes
that peace and stability in Lebanon is of great importance for the entirety of
the Middle East and, therefore, Japan is committed to supporting Lebanon.”
A daring escape: Ex-Nissan chief flees Japan ahead of trial
Associated Press/January 01/2020
TOKYO: In a daring escape that confounded authorities, Nissan’s former Chairman
Carlos Ghosn skipped bail while awaiting trial in Japan on allegations of
financial misconduct and reappeared in Lebanon, where he said Tuesday that he
had fled to avoid “political persecution.”
Ghosn, who is of Lebanese origin and holds French, Lebanese and Brazilian
passports, disclosed his location in a statement through his representatives but
did not say how he managed to get out of Japan, where he had been under
surveillance. He promised to talk to reporters next week.
“I am now in Lebanon and will no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese
justice system where guilt is presumed, discrimination is rampant, and basic
human rights are denied, in flagrant disregard of Japan’s legal obligations
under international law and treaties it is bound to uphold,” the statement said.
Speaking anonymously, prosecutors in Japan told Japanese media they did not know
how Ghosn got out. His lawyer also denied all knowledge of the escape, saying he
was stunned. Japan does not have an extradition treaty with Lebanon, which said
Ghosn had entered the country legally and there was no reason to take any action
against him.
“He is home,” Ghosn’s friend, television host Ricardo Karam said in a message.
“It’s a big adventure.”
Karam said Ghosn arrived in Lebanon on Monday morning, but declined to
elaborate. The Lebanon-based newspaper Al-Joumhouriya said Ghosn arrived in
Beirut from Turkey aboard a private jet.
Ghosn was arrested in November 2018 and was expected to face trial in April
2020. He posted 1.5 billion yen ($14 million) bail on two separate instances
after he was arrested a second time on additional charges, and released again.
Prosecutors fought his release, but a court granted him bail on condition that
he be monitored and not meet with his wife, Carole, who is also of Lebanese
origin. Recently, the court allowed them to speak by video.
Ghosn, who was charged with under-reporting his future compensation and breach
of trust, has repeatedly asserted his innocence, saying authorities trumped-up
charges to prevent a possible fuller merger between Nissan Motor Co. and
alliance partner Renault SA.
“Maybe he thought he won’t get a fair trial,” said his lawyer, Junichiro
Hironaka, stressing that he continues to believe Ghosn is innocent. “I can’t
blame him for thinking that way.”
The charges Ghosn faces carry a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
How Ghosn managed to flee was, publicly at least, a mystery. Hironaka said the
lawyers were holding Ghosn’s three passports, yet Lebanon’s minister for
presidential affairs, Selim Jreissati, told the An-Nahar newspaper that Ghosn
entered legally at the airport with a French passport and Lebanese ID.
France reacted with surprise and some confusion.
The French foreign ministry said in a statement that French authorities “have
heard from the press about the arrival of Carlos Ghosn to Lebanon.” They “have
not been informed of his departure from Japan and have no knowledge of the
circumstances of his departure,” the statement said.
Agnes Pannier-Runacher, a junior finance minister, told broadcaster BFM-TV that
“I was surprised as you when I learned about this escape.”
Ghosn’s lawyer, Hironaka, said he last spoke with his client on Christmas Day
and was never consulted about leaving for Lebanon. However, he said the
circumstances of Ghosn’s arrest, the seizure of evidence and the strict bail
conditions were unfair.
Jreissati told An-Naharhe he had asked Japan to hand Ghosn over to be tried in
Lebanon according to international anti-corruption laws. However, since there
was no official word from Tokyo and it was not yet clear how Ghosn came to
Lebanon, Beirut wouldn’t take a formal position. Jreissati did not immediately
respond to calls from The Associated Press.
People in Lebanon take special pride in the auto industry icon, who is credited
with leading a spectacular turnaround at Nissan beginning in the late 1990s, and
rescued the automaker from near-bankruptcy.
Ghosn speaks fluent Arabic and visited the country regularly. Born in Brazil,
where his Lebanese grandfather had sought his fortune, Ghosn grew up in Beirut,
where he spent part of his childhood at a Jesuit school.
Before his fall from grace, Ghosn was also a celebrity in Japan, where he was
revered for his managerial acumen.
Nissan did not have immediate comment Tuesday. The Japanese automaker of the
March subcompact, Leaf electric car, and Infiniti luxury models have also been
charged as a company in relation to Ghosn’s alleged financial crimes.
Japanese securities regulators recently recommended Nissan be fined 2.4 billion
yen ($22 million) over disclosure documents from 2014 to 2017. Nissan has said
it accepted the penalty and corrected its securities documents in May.
The company’s sales and profits have tumbled and its brand image is tarnished.
It has acknowledged lapses in its governance and has promised to improve its
transparency.
Another former Nissan executive, Greg Kelly, an American, was arrested at the
same time as Ghosn and is awaiting trial. He has said he is innocent.
Hiroto Saikawa, who replaced Ghosn as head of Nissan, announced his resignation
in September after financial misconduct allegations surfaced against him related
to his income. He has not been charged with any crime.
The conviction rate in Japan exceeds 99% and winning an acquittal through a
lengthy appeals process could take years. Rights activists in Japan and abroad
say Japan’s judicial system does not presume innocence enough and relies on long
detentions that lead to false confessions.
In addition to under-reporting his future compensation, Ghosn is accused of
diverting Nissan money and having it shoulder his personal investment losses.
Other allegations against him involve payments to a Saudi dealership, as well as
funds paid to an Oman business that were purportedly diverted to entities run by
Ghosn. Ghosn has said that the compensation was never decided, that Nissan never
suffered losses from the investments and that all the payments were for
legitimate business services.
*El Deeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Zeina Karam in Beirut,
and Sylvie Corbet and John Leicester in Paris contributed.
End of the party: why Lebanon’s debt crisis has left it
vulnerable
The Financial Times/January 01/2020
Once known for its resilience, the country’s fragile financial system has
triggered angry protests
Chloe Cornish in Beirut
In 2008, as mountains of bad debt collapsed and economies around the world
crumbled, carefree gamblers at the central bank-owned Casino du Liban rolled
dice and spun roulette wheels. Unscathed by the global financial crisis, Beirut
glittered as the Middle East’s party capital and purveyor of discrete financial
services.Lebanon offered wealthy investors something they could not get
elsewhere — high interest rates for low risk investments. While the rest of the
world’s central banks tried to boost post-crisis recovery by holding borrowing
costs at 1 per cent or less, the Banque du Liban pushed rates up so high that
returns of more than 10 per cent became common for depositors. The central bank
paid so much because it badly needed a constant supply of dollars to maintain a
currency peg against the US dollar, pay for imports and fund the government.
“Lebanon relies on remittances,” Riad Salame, central bank governor, told the FT
in 2018.
That reliance on money from overseas left the government vulnerable and sliding
ever further into debt, especially as economic growth has been sluggish since
the start of the Arab spring in 2011. A bungled October effort at raising funds
via a tax on WhatsApp calls triggered Lebanon’s biggest protests in over a
decade, adding to the political paralysis and deepening the economic crisis. Now
the debt-fuelled crash Beirut avoided in 2008 could have finally arrived. Rating
agency Fitch is predicting default on $88bn of Lebanese public borrowing. The
country’s apparent powers of resilience, even as it was surrounded by
instability, suddenly look more like luck — and Lebanon is in its most
precarious position since its civil war ended in 1990.
A harsh economic collapse at the heart of the tumultuous Middle East would hurt
Lebanon’s poorest most, at a time when public opinion is already enraged by
perceived corruption and cronyism. “It will be very very hard,” says Sibylle
Rizk, public policy director at Kulluna Irada, a lobby group, “and the
possibility of violence and social unrest is high.”
With its nearly 7m population of Christians and Sunni and Shia Muslims,
including over 1m refugees, Lebanon is surrounded by trouble — civil war has
raged in next door Syria since 2011 and tensions with neighbouring Israel are
continuous. Iran-backed Shia Islamist paramilitary and political party Hizbollah,
seen by many Lebanese as a defender against Israel but viewed by Washington as a
terrorist group, now forms an integral part of Lebanon’s government, souring
relations with Gulf countries that were once Lebanon’s sponsors.
Yet even amid these tensions, Beirut’s high life, yacht-friendly marina and
banking secrecy made it a playground for the Middle East’s wealthy.
The central bank borrowed from Lebanese commercial banks, who borrowed from
their clients. Lenders “could generate profits at very low risk”, says Nasser
Saidi, a former central bank vice-governor. “For each bank it looked like this
was paradise.” The banks’ deposits with the central bank grew by over 70 per
cent from 2017 to August 2019 to 229trn Lebanese lira.
For some observers, the numbers did not add up. “What could the central bank be
investing in to pay those rates?” says Mr Saidi. But as banks paid out dividends
to shareholders, many of whom were politicians, Lebanon’s political elites were
happy to go along with it. “Everybody got greedy,” shrugs one bank board member.
Meanwhile politicians were spending the country deep into the red, buying votes
by expanding public hiring and wasting cash on unsustainable solutions for
Lebanon’s chronically malfunctioning electricity sector, while its trade deficit
ballooned.
Lebanon’s biggest protests in a decade forced the resignation of prime minister
Saad al-Hariri’s government at the end of October. Hassan Diab, a computer
sciences professor, appointed prime minister designate, must now corral
Lebanon’s multi-confessional political parties — shifting alliances between
Christian, Sunni and Shia Muslim factions — into forming a cabinet to steer the
country out of crisis.
Amid the growing warnings about a looming default, Mr Hariri had begun to
beseech international allies for help and started talks with the IMF. The west
has little interest in seeing this crucible of regional tensions explode. The
rise of Iran-backed Hizbollah means it can no longer depends on Gulf bailouts.
But while many capitals from Paris to Tehran want influence in the strategic
Mediterranean nation, no state has so far offered to foot the bill. Asked
whether an aid packaged was on the table, David Schenker, the State Department’s
assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs, told the Associated
Press: “Lebanon is not being saved from its financial mess.”
Lebanon’s drastic downturn came slowly then suddenly. After months of economic
slowdown and a dollar liquidity squeeze, rampant wildfires erupted across the
mountains in central Lebanon, unchecked in part because the state had failed to
maintain expensive helicopters. Days later, in an austerity measure to curb its
deepening fiscal deficit, politicians proposed taxing WhatsApp calls. Lebanon
snapped.
Hundreds of thousands have demonstrated since mid-October against political
corruption, bad governance, poor infrastructure, and economic unfairness.
Beirut’s downtown area, where bank headquarters are concentrated, has been
filled with graffiti and tear gas.
This “so called revolution” took the lenders by surprise, says Riad Obegi,
chairman and general manager of Banque Bemo, a Lebanese bank. The disruption of
the protests “creates lack of confidence,” he adds, which led to a rush of
depositors trying to send money abroad. But banks had put half of their assets
in the central bank to earn high rates, which meant that honouring the transfer
requests would have gutted the country’s reserves.
In October, the country’s banks, which had managed to stay open during Lebanon’s
bloody civil war, closed for two weeks. The union of banking workers said it was
for safety; economists suspected they were low on dollars and trying to avert a
bank run. But by closing, argues Mr Saidi, the banks themselves triggered panic,
while their informal capital restrictions generated an “accusation that the big
depositors were able to get out”.
When they reopened, guarded by soldiers, clerks told panicked customers they
could not send money abroad, nor withdraw large sums in dollars. “We’re all in
it together,” bankers told clients — but rumours swirled that the politically
connected mega-rich had already got their money out, even as customers could
withdraw only $200 per week in cash.
Amid fears about whether their leaders can protect their savings, many Lebanese
worry that the government might choose to prioritise foreign creditors, who hold
nearly $12bn worth of Lebanon’s debt.
So far the central bank has managed to cover the government’s repayments to its
creditors — who are mostly domestic banks. However, multiple downgrades of
Lebanon’s sovereign debt in the past few months suggest time could be running
out.
Locking down Lebanon’s traditionally open economy with informal capital controls
further discourages the all-important inflow of dollars. Indeed, the country had
already been witnessing a net capital outflow since January 2018, according to
Goldman Sachs research. And it has throttled businesses. According to Infopro
Research in Beirut, 160,000 jobs have been lost since the beginning of October
and one in 10 companies have closed. Hospitals are strained after losing bank
overdrafts which they had used to cover money they are owed by the government.
For years, Lebanese had been assured that their banking sector was safe, and the
sense of betrayal is palpable. Protesters have splattered the locked Association
of Banks in blood red paint. People spend hours in banks trying to extract their
own money to pay rent.
“You see people how shocked they are by the fact that they can’t access their
money,” says Ms Rizk. “It’s because they have been simply deceived.”
The foundations of Lebanon’s crisis were laid three decades ago, when 15 years
of fratricidal civil war finally came to an end in 1990. Before he became
Lebanon’s prime minister in 1992, Rafiq al-Hariri — who was assassinated in 2005
— was a construction tycoon who controlled Lebanese lender BankMed. (Saad
al-Hariri, the recently resigned premier, is his son).
To attract investment for postwar reconstruction — and having made his fortune
in Saudi Arabia — the billionaire enlisted Gulf petrodollars to invest in
Lebanon. And although Lebanon was variously occupied by Israel and Syria until
2005, confidence in Mr Hariri’s vision grew, and money and people returned to
Lebanon during the 1990s and early 2000s. Mr Hariri started borrowing from
international markets, and his successors did the same.
By 2019 the state was using almost half its revenues to service external and
domestic debt — the other half largely went on public wages.
Warlords-turned-politicians had bought votes by hiring public sector workers
from their constituencies. Meanwhile corruption flourished, as the state ran
opaque tenders for government contracts.
Despite all the money which came to Lebanon, says Ms Rizk, “we have no
infrastructure, no productive sector. We have nothing. All this money was burnt
on consumption . . . through imports and real estate, which is a bubble, and to
defend the peg.”
Holding the currency peg had helped to stabilise the economy, but it is not
known at what cost — and the potential impact of devaluation will fall most
heavily on ordinary Lebanese savers who kept their money in Lebanese pounds. The
IMF says the pound is around 50 per cent overvalued.
When asked this month where the exchange rate was going, Mr Salame responded:
“no one knows”.
Along with politicians, Mr Salame, once Rafic al-Hariri’s personal banker, has
become a figure of fury for the protesters. A banker at Merrill Lynch for two
decades he returned to Beirut in 1993 to lead the Banque du Liban — and never
left.
As governor, Mr Salame is credited with stabilising an erratic currency by
establishing a pegged exchange rate between the US dollar and the Lebanese
pound. “His whole legacy, his whole metric of success in his mind and the
people’s mind, is the peg,” says Dan Azzi, a Harvard fellow and former top
banker with Standard Chartered in Lebanon.
But from 2011, the dollar flow he needed to defend the pound started to ebb as
neighbouring oil economies, home to the bulk of Lebanese expatriates remitting
dollars back to Beirut, slowed down. War in neighbouring Syria has also
increased Lebanon’s vulnerability. The government continued to rack up debt, and
imports grew. Mr Salame had to come up with something drastic.
In 2016 he began a succession of unorthodox measures which he called “financial
engineering”. Put simply, banks lent their customers’ dollars to the central
bank at sky high interest rates in return for buying up swaths of government
debt in swap operations — on terms that generated profit for Lebanese banks.
The central bank and Lebanon’s commercial banks’ balance sheets became
overlapping. “We say there is one bank in Lebanon with 40 branches,” joked the
bank board member. In his interview with the FT, Mr Salame said that all
deposits in the central bank — including those of commercial banks — were its
legal property.
But by 2016, argues former IMF official and economist Toufic Gaspard, who
anticipated the crisis in a 2017 paper, the central bank “became a Ponzi scheme.
It was borrowing from banks to pay them their interest.”
Mr Salame rejects this accusation. The financial engineering was to buy time, he
said, for politicians to reform the bloated government and curb spending. But
the stability it bought “is not a pretext not to do reforms”, he insists. He
warned that Banque du Liban should not be used for politics: “The central bank
is not an instrument to be used in order to force certain changes.”
The state depends on the central bank to meet its dollar debt servicing
obligations, which will cost around $4bn next year. But rating agencies say that
on a net basis, the bank’s foreign currency holdings are negative. Its forex
reserves will be $28bn by the end of the year, yet Fitch estimates that the
central bank’s dollar liabilities to Lebanese banks stand at $67bn.
Moody’s says requests to the IMF are “credit positive”, and a new government —
under Mr Diab — may start talks about a new loan programme, which could provide
some much-needed financial stability. But first the fractious political factions
— including Hizbollah — have to form a government.
They will also need to win back the support of a sceptical public. “The whole
political system was bought with this Ponzi scheme,” says Ms Rizk.
Once known for its resilience, the country’s fragile financial system has
triggered angry protests
The Financial Times
What protests in Lebanon can tell us about inequality
worldwide
Mona Fawaz/Al Jazeera/January 01/2020
Confronting inequalities is not about merely bridging gaps, it requires
confronting entrenched interests.
Lebanon is more than two months into the wave of protests rocking the country.
Chief among the grievances driving people onto the streets are entrenched
inequalities and compromised human dignity. Even given the notorious vacuum of
data, Lebanon is clearly a highly unequal place where nearly a quarter of income
is held by the richest 1 percent, a larger share than in, for example, South
Africa and the US. Poverty is staggering and is well recognised as the outcome
of public policymaking driven by elite interests. This is why protesters no
longer call for policy reform. Denouncing the deeply entrenched private
interests that tie the main pillars of Lebanon's failing economy to the ruling
elite, they are demanding a radical transformation of the political system. They
have evidence from the UN to back them up; the just-launched Human Development
Report focuses on inequality and supports radical reforms to change the
fundamentals of how our societies, economies and political systems work. It
calls for confronting elite interests to stop the distribution of political
power mirroring that of economic power.
Lebanon's protests are led by a young generation dissatisfied with the lack of
options to work and live with dignity. They are revolted by a status quo that
destines them to emigration, as the future suppliers of remittances that will
balance the notorious deficit of public coffers. Like many in the Middle East,
they have had to live through wars, large waves of forced displacement and
undemocratic rule.
Unlike older generations, today's protesters are unwilling to compromise,
unafraid to defy, and outraged by structural inequalities that they associate
openly with crony capitalism, sectarianism, patriarchy, and homophobia. They
have loudly made their points clear in marches, chants and graffiti. Their
complete loss of confidence in government has made #no_trust one of the most
trending hashtags in the past weeks.
But the most precarious populations - refugees, migrant workers, and the poorest
Lebanese families - have not been able to join the predominantly middle-class
protesters. Effectively disenfranchised, they have neither been able to visibly
join the protests nor demonstrate their anger.
The first heavy rains of the season have flooded the streets and homes of the
informal settlements where they live. Neglected for decades, these precarious
neighbourhoods are overflowing with people who cannot find alternative shelters
in cities ravaged by the financialisation of land.
Once considered self-help neighbourhoods in the making, on a trajectory to
become legitimate parts of the city, informal urban settlements have become
reservoirs of populations deemed superfluous, with no recognised entitlements.
Owing to climate change, downpours are heavier and their effects on precarious
neighbourhoods are more dramatic. Roofs have crumbled, a family died and homes
have overflowed. Their enforced silence means the protesters only represent the
very tip of the iceberg of deprivation.
As the Human Development Report argues, income alone fails to account for the
lifelong disadvantages these shadow city-dwellers face. Nationality and parental
income effectively define someone's lifelong access to adequate healthcare and
education - or lack thereof. Some divides cross borders; women are at a
disadvantage everywhere. Beginning at birth, inequity defines the freedom and
opportunities of children, adults and elders.
Confronting such inequalities is not about merely bridging gaps, it requires
confronting entrenched interests. Citizens in Lebanon are denouncing today's
elites using their wealth to capture government and mould policies to their
will. Their claims are well-documented in scholarly works.
Economist Nisrine Salti recently connected rising poverty levels to the unfair
tax system. Facundo Alvaredo, Lydia Assouad and Thomas Piketty have identified
the Middle East as the most inequitable region of the world, arguing for a
closer examination of fiscal injustices to determine the true extent of
inequality and their roots in subverted policy-making. Unjustly levied taxes are
part and parcel of the model of government denounced by protesters in Lebanon
for sustaining the wealthy, their banks, and the political system at the expense
of the majority.
My fellow citizens caught the world's attention by prompting a prime minister to
quit. With all eyes on them, they now have the opportunity to outline an
ambitious programme for reform, which would never happen if left to the whim of
those at the top. I hope to see reforms that meaningfully tackle inequality for
current and future generations, which provide opportunities throughout people's
lives. Such a palette of interventions should include investments in higher
education, quality healthcare and ensuring access to technology (and reliable
electricity to power it).
Through taking to the streets, Lebanon's protesters have woken up a nation. By
plotting a path of prosperity for all, they can lift it up.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily
reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.
*Mona Fawaz is a Professor of Urban Studies & Planning at the American
University of Beirut.
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News
published on January 01-02/2020
Pro-Iran Protesters Leave U.S. Embassy in Baghdad
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 01/2020
Pro-Iran demonstrators left the besieged U.S. embassy in Baghdad on Wednesday
after the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force ordered them to withdraw a day
after their dramatic incursion. Thousands of Iraqi supporters of the largely
Iranian-trained Hashed had encircled and vandalized the embassy compound
Tuesday, outraged by U.S. air strikes that killed 25 Hashed fighters over the
weekend. They marched unimpeded through the checkpoints of the usually
high-security Green Zone to the embassy gates, where they broke through a
reception area, chanting "Death to America" and spraying pro-Iran graffiti on
the walls. Iraq's caretaker premier Adel Abdel Mahdi called on the angry crowd
to leave the embassy but most spent the night in dozens of tents set up outside
the perimeter wall. On Wednesday morning, crowds of men brandished the Hashed's
colors, torched U.S. flags and hurled rocks towards the compound. Security
personnel inside responded with tear gas, wounding at least 20 people, the
Hashed said. By the afternoon, the Hashed called on its supporters to leave the
embassy and regroup outside the Green Zone "out of respect for the state." "You
delivered your message," it said in a statement.
AFP's photographer saw protesters dismantling their tents and leaving the Green
Zone. "We burned them!" they said, streaming back out of checkpoints they had
breezed through on Tuesday. Kataeb Hezbollah, the group targeted in the U.S.
raids, initially told AFP it would stay at the embassy. But the group's
spokesman Mohammad Mohyeddin later said it had decided to abide by the Hashed's
order. "We scored a huge win: we arrived to the US embassy, which no one had
done before," he told AFP. "Now, the ball is in parliament's court," Moyheddin
added, referring to lawmakers' efforts to revoke the legal cover for 5,200 U.S.
troops to deploy in Iraq.
'You can't do a thing'
Tuesday's embassy attack was the latest episode in spiraling tensions between
the United States and Iran since Washington abandoned a landmark nuclear deal
with Tehran in 2018. Many of those tensions have played out in Iraq, which has
close ties with both governments.
U.S. forces have faced a spate of rocket attacks in recent months, blaming them
on pro-Iran Hashed factions. Last week, one of those attacks killed a U.S.
contractor, prompting the retaliatory U.S. air strikes that killed 25 fighters
from Kataeb Hezbollah (Hezbollah Brigades). President Donald Trump and other
U.S. officials have blamed Iran for attacks on US forces and the embassy. "They
will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat," Trump wrote
on Twitter, adding "Happy New Year!"Iran's supreme leader Wednesday condemned
U.S. strikes on Iraq and warned his country was ready to hit back."First of all,
you can't do a damn thing! This has nothing to do with Iran," Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei said in a speech on state television. "If the Islamic republic decides
to oppose or fight against a country, it will do this explicitly," he said.
Tehran's foreign ministry said it had summoned an official from the Swiss
embassy, which represents US interests in Iran, over American "warmongering" in
Iraq.
'Our hands are tied'
By Wednesday, Iraqi forces had reimposed normal security measures around the
perimeter of the Green Zone, usually inaccessible without a badge. U.S.
officials were alarmed that protesters crossed checkpoints so easily on Tuesday.
An Iraqi special forces fighter assigned to guard the Green Zone told AFP his
units had no orders to intervene. "If I had had orders to act, I could have
fired and stopped the storming of the embassy," he said. "But after what
happened, our hands are tied. We can't prevent the situation from
deteriorating," he added. U.S. officials have pressured Iraqi authorities to
step up security and sent a rapid response team of marines overnight to help
guard the compound. U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said around 750 troops
from the 82nd Airborne Division were prepared to deploy to the region in the
coming days. No U.S. personnel were injured in the attack and U.S. officials
said they had no plans to evacuate. Ambassador Matthew Tueller was said to be on
his way back to Baghdad from holiday but had yet to arrive on Wednesday
afternoon. The attack highlighted new strains in the U.S.-Iraqi relationship,
which officials from both countries have described to AFP as the "coldest" in
years. The U.S. led the 2003 invasion against then-dictator Saddam Hussein and
has worked closely with Iraqi officials since, but its influence has waned
compared with Tehran's growing clout. Tuesday's dramatic scenes at the embassy
sparked comparisons with both the 1979 hostage crisis at the U.S. embassy in
Tehran and the deadly 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya's second city
Benghazi.
Trump says he does not want, nor foresee, war with Iran
Reuters/Wednesday, 1 January 2020
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he does not want, or foresee, war with
Iran, after he earlier threatened to retaliate against the country following
violent protests led by Iranian-backed militias at the US embassy in Baghdad.
Asked about the possibility of tensions spiraling into a war with Iran, Trump
told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida: “Do I want to? No. I want to
have peace. I like peace. And Iran should want to have peace more than anybody.
So I don’t see that happening.”
Trump says Iran will ‘pay a very big price’ if lives are
lost at any US facility
Reuters, Washington/Wednesday, 1 January 2020
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Iran will be held accountable for
lives lost in attacks on any US facilities. “Iran will be held fully responsible
for lives lost, or damage incurred, at any of our facilities. They will pay a
very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat,” Trump wrote on Twitter
hours after protesters angry about US air strikes on Iraq hurled stones and
torched a security post at the US Embassy in Baghdad. “The US Embassy in Iraq
is, & has been for hours, SAFE! Many of our great Warfighters, together with the
most lethal military equipment in the world, was immediately rushed to the
site,” Trump said. He also thanked Iraqi authorities: “Thank you to the
President & Prime Minister of Iraq for their rapid response upon request.”
Pentagon says sending 750 troops to Mideast after embassy attack in Iraq
AFP, Washington/Wednesday, 1 January 2020
The United States is sending around 750 more troops to the Middle East
immediately, following an attack by pro-Iranian demonstrators on the US embassy
in Baghdad, the Pentagon said Tuesday. More troops from a rapid response unit of
the 82nd Airborne Division are prepared to deploy over the next several days,
Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in a statement. “This deployment is an
appropriate and precautionary action taken in response to increased threat
levels against US personnel and facilities, such as we witnessed in Baghdad
today,” he said. “The United States will protect our people and interests
anywhere they are found around the world.” The US has deployed hundreds of
troops to Kuwait after the attack, an American official had said earlier,
telling AFP they would likely be sent to neighboring Iraq. “At least 500 members
of the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division have left Fort Bragg in the US, and up
to 4,000 may ultimately be deployed,” the official said. Hundreds of angry
supporters of an Iraqi Shia militia broke into the US embassy compound on
Tuesday as gunshots and sirens rang out. Security guards inside the US embassy
fired stun grenades at protesters outside the gates of the compound. The
protesters torched the security kiosk at the entrance of the compound, according
to Reuters. Iraqi security forces outside the embassy fired tear gas to disperse
the crowds, which had ignored calls over megaphones to back away from the
embassy.
Pompeo says ‘terrorists’ behind US embassy attack in Iraq,
names them
AFP, Washington/Wednesday, 1 January 2020
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that the attack on the US embassy
in Iraq was organized by terrorists, and he named those he said were behind it.
“The attack today was orchestrated by terrorists – Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and
Qays al-Khazali – and abetted by Iranian proxies – Hadi al-Amari and Faleh al-Fayyadh,”
Pompeo said in a tweet. The tweet included photos that Pompeo said showed all
four men outside the US embassy, which was stormed Tuesday by pro-Iranian
protesters enraged by US airstrikes against an Iranian backed militant group on
Sunday.
US bombings in Iraq and Syria targeted a key Iranian unit
Tom Ashby, Al Arabiya English/Wednesday, 1 January 2020
The US bombings of Kataib Hezbollah bases in Iraq and Syria have been criticized
by Iran, Russia, and Iraq itself, which has said it would review its
relationship with Washington.
Sunday’s bombing targeted Kataib Hezbollah bases including weapons arsenals and
command and control locations, killing 27 people, according to local media
reports. The Pentagon said it was in response to repeated attacks by Kataib
Hezbollah on US coalition forces based in Iraq, the latest of which was on
Friday, when Kataib Hezbollah fired 30 rockets at a US base in the Iraqi city of
Kirkuk, killing an American contractor. Iraq’s National Security Council said
the US bombing had “pushed Iraq to review its relationship” with Washington to
“preserve the country’s sovereignty and security and protect the souls of its
sons”.“The Iraqi government condemns this act and considers it a violation of
Iraqi sovereignty,” the council said in a statement after meeting on Monday.
However, the situation on the ground in Iraq is complex. Since the collapse of
ISIS’s so-called caliphate in 2017, the country has been over-run with militia
groups backed by Iran, led by people who are designated as terrorists by Western
powers. Kataib Hezbollah is commanded by Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, who is also the
commander of the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq. He is designated as a
terrorist by the United States and in this two-year-old video, is shown pledging
allegiance to General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps - Quds Force. In the video interview, al-Mohandes is
asked: “Whom do you like the most among the Iranians?” “Well, the Supreme Leader
is not only Iranian, he belongs to everyone,” comes the reply. He is then asked,
apart from the Supreme Leader, which Iranian does he like, and he replies:
“Qassem Soleimani.”Soleimani is regarded as Iran’s principal military strategist
and is designated as a terrorist by the United States, the European Union, and
Switzerland.
Asked the reason for his liking Soleimani, al-Mohandes says, smiling: “I don’t
know. There are a lot of reasons.”Asked further to explain his relationship with
Soleimani, al-Mohandes replies: “It’s the relationship of a soldier.”When the
reporter expresses his surprise, al-Mohandes affirms what he said and says: “I’m
proud of it.”Al-Mohandes is also a senior commander of the Popular Mobilization
Forces, which mostly consists of Iranian-backed Shia militias that were
integrated into Iraq’s armed forces. The Popular Mobilization Forces bolstered
Iraq’s security forces during their battle to retake a third of the country from
ISIS insurgents and were later folded into Iraq’s official security structure.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps trains some of the Iraqi militias,
including Kataib Hezbollah.- With agencies
Popular Mobilization Forces leader threatens attacks on
Saudi, UAE, Bahraini embassies
Leen Alfaisal, Al Arabiya English/Wednesday, 1 January 2020
Secretary-General of the Iraqi Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS), a branch of the
Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces, has threatened attacks on the embassies
of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain - similar to that of the US embassy. “When
the Popular Mobilization Forces are capable of besieging the embassy of evil in
Baghdad on this day, then they will soon besiege all the US military bases in
Iraq – they will even besiege the embassies of countries like Saudi Arabia, the
UAE, Bahrain, and others,” the PMF leader Abo Alaa al-Walae said in a tweet on
Tuesday. Hundreds of angry supporters of an Iraqi Shia militia broke down the US
embassy gate door on Tuesday, storming inside the compound as gunshots and
sirens rang out. “Iran will be held fully responsible for lives lost, or damage
incurred, at any of our facilities. They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not
a Warning, it is a Threat,” Trump wrote on Twitter hours after protesters angry
about US airstrikes on Iraq hurled stones and torched a security post at the US
embassy in Baghdad. However, Trump later said that he does not want, or foresee,
war with Iran. The US bombing targeted Kataib Hezbollah bases including weapons
arsenals, and command and control locations, killing 27 people, according to
local media reports. The Pentagon said it was in response to repeated attacks by
Kataib Hezbollah on US coalition forces based in Iraq, the latest of which was
on Friday, when Kataib Hezbollah fired 30 rockets at a US base in the Iraqi city
of Kirkuk, killing an American contractor.
Iran’s Khamenei condemns US response in Iraq, accuses it of creating ISIS
AFP, Tehran/Wednesday, 1 January 2020
Iran’s supreme leader Wednesday strongly condemned deadly US strikes on Iraq and
accused the US of creating ISIS. “I and the government and the nation of Iran
strongly condemn this American crime,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a speech
broadcast on state television. They were his first remarks since Sunday’s deadly
US strikes on Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) militias in western Iraq. He said
the US actions in Syria and Iraq were intended to take “revenge” on the PMU “for
defeating ISIS.”Since the PMU “crippled and destroyed ISIS - which the US had
created - they’re taking revenge,” said Khamenei in a tweet. The United States
carried out the raids in retaliation for rocket fire that killed an American
civilian contractor at a base in northern Iraq on Friday. In a tweet on Tuesday,
Trump accused Iran of “orchestrating” that day’s storming of the US embassy in
Baghdad by protesters angry at the American air strikes.In response, Khamenei
retweeted the post and said: “That guy has tweeted that we (the United States)
see Iran responsible for the events in Baghdad and we will respond to Iran.
“First of all, you can’t do a damn thing! This has nothing to do with Iran,” the
supreme leader in his televised address. “Secondly, be logical... The people of
this region hate America. Why don’t Americans understand this?” he said. “You
Americans have committed crimes in Iraq, you have committed crimes in
Afghanistan. You have killed people.” Khamenei said Iran was ready to respond to
any threat. “If the Islamic republic decides to oppose or fight against a
country, it will do this explicitly,” he said. “We are strongly committed to the
interests of our country... We are strongly committed to the dignity of our
nation. We are strongly committed to the progress and greatness of the nation of
Iran. “Should anyone threaten these, we will confront him without any hesitation
and will strike our blow,” Khamenei said. “We will never... drag the country
towards war. But if others want to impose anything on this country, we will
stand against them with all our might.”
US embassy in Baghdad says all public consular operations
suspended
Reuters, Baghdad/Wednesday, 1 January 2020
The US Embassy in Baghdad said on Wednesday that all public consular operations
were suspended, a day after Iran-backed militias and their supporters stormed
its outer perimeter, setting fires, throwing rocks, and smashing surveillance
cameras. “Due to militia attacks at the US Embassy compound, all public consular
operations are suspended until further notice. All future appointments are
cancelled. US citizens are advised to not approach the embassy,” it said in a
statement.
Pro-Iran protesters fully withdraw from US embassy in
Baghdad
Agencies/Wednesday, 1 January 2020
Pro-Iran demonstrators Wednesday ended a sit-in at the US embassy in Iraq’s
capital after an order from the Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Units (PMU)
militias, an AFP correspondent said, a day after their dramatic incursion. “We
burned them!” the demonstrators shouted as they streamed out of the
high-security Green Zone housing the embassy just as easily as they had walked
in on Tuesday. Trucks picked up the tents and makeshift barricades that had been
brought in for the planned sit-in. Hundreds of Iraqi militiamen and their
supporters hurled stones at the US Embassy in Baghdad for a second day on
Wednesday and security forces fired tear gas and stun grenades to drive them
away. Crowds had rallied on Tuesday to protest against deadly US air strikes on
militia bases, setting fires, throwing rocks and smashing surveillance cameras.
They did not breach the huge embassy’s main compound, however. The strikes were
retaliation for the killing of a US civilian contractor in a rocket attack on an
Iraqi military base, which Washington blamed on Kataib Hezbollah. More than
5,000 US troops are stationed in Iraq supporting local forces. The air strikes
have galvanized calls inside Iraq to expel US forces, not just from Iran-backed
militias but also their political rivals.
Iran summons Swiss envoy over US “warmongering statements”
Reuters/Wednesday, 1 January 2020
Iran protested on Wednesday to a Swiss envoy representing US interests in Tehran
over what it called “warmongering statements” by American officials, Iran’s
Foreign Ministry said. The Foreign Ministry summoned the Swiss charge d’affaires
and issued “Iran’s strong protest against warmongering statements in violation
of the United Nations Charter by US officials,” the ministry said on its
website. US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Iran will be held
accountable for lives lost in attacks on any US facilities. “Iran will be held
fully responsible for lives lost, or damage incurred, at any of our facilities.
They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat,” Trump
wrote on Twitter hours after protesters angry about US air strikes on Iraq
hurled stones and torched a security post at the US Embassy in Baghdad.
Iraqi paramilitary groups tell supporters to withdraw from US Embassy perimeter
Agencies/Wednesday, 1 January 2020
Paramilitary groups who have been protesting against US air strikes in Iraq told
their supporters to withdraw from the perimeter of the US Embassy in Baghdad on
Wednesday. The crowd did not actually begin withdrawing, according to a Reuters
witness. The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMU) umbrella group made the call in
response to the Iraqi government’s call for the protesters to disperse, it said
in a statement. “You delivered your message,” the PMU said in a statement
addressed to the crowds encircling the embassy since Tuesday in outrage over
deadly American air strikes on a pro-Iran PMU faction at the weekend. It called
on supporters to regroup outside the high-security Green Zone where the mission
is located, but a leading commander in Kataeb Hezbollah, the group targeted in
the US raids, told AFP they would “remain” at the embassy.
Iraqi militiamen hurl stones at US Embassy, prepare for
extended stay
Reuters, Baghdad/Wednesday, 1 January 2020
Hundreds of Iraqi militiamen and their supporters hurled stones at the US
Embassy in Baghdad for a second day on Wednesday and security forces fired tear
gas and stun grenades to drive them away. The protests, led by Iranian-backed
militias, mark a new turn in the shadow war between Washington and Tehran
playing out across the Middle East. US President Donald Trump on Tuesday
threatened to retaliate against Iran but said later he did not want to go to
war. The protests also cast uncertainty over the continued presence of US troops
in Iraq. Crowds had rallied on Tuesday to protest against deadly US air strikes
on militia bases, setting fires, throwing rocks and smashing surveillance
cameras. They did not breach the huge embassy’s main compound, however.
Overnight, demonstrators pitched tents and camped outside the embassy walls. On
Wednesday morning, they were bringing in food supplies, cooking equipment and
mattresses, Reuters witnesses said, suggesting they intended to stay for a long
time. Senior Iraqi army officers had negotiated with those gathered outside the
embassy in an attempt to convince them to leave but failed to do so. Washington
is putting pressure on Iraqi leaders to ensure the security of its staff. The
incident marked a sharp escalation of the proxy conflict between Washington and
Tehran - both influential players in Iraq - while mass protests are challenging
Iraq’s own political system nearly 17 years after the US invasion that toppled
Saddam Hussein.
The protests followed US air strikes on Sunday on bases operated by the
Iranian-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah inside Iraq which killed at least 25
fighters and wounded 55. The strikes were retaliation for the killing of a US
civilian contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base, which
Washington blamed on Kataib Hezbollah. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei on Wednesday condemned the US attacks. “The Iranian government, nation
and I strongly condemn the attacks,” Iranian state TV quoted Khamenei as saying.
Trump accused Iran of orchestrating the violence at the US Embassy and said
Tehran would be held responsible. Iran rejected the accusation. More US troops
were being sent to the embassy, US officials said. The 750 troops would
initially be based out of Kuwait. The officials said that as many as 4,000
troops could be sent to the region in the coming days if needed. More than 5,000
US troops are stationed in Iraq supporting local forces. The air strikes have
galvanized calls inside Iraq to expel US forces, not just from Iran-backed
militias but also their political rivals.
Iran Summons Envoy over U.S. 'Warmongering'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 01/2020
Tehran summoned an official from the Swiss embassy, which represents U.S.
interests in Iran, to complain about American "warmongering" in neighboring
Iraq, the foreign ministry said Wednesday. "The Swiss charge d'affaires was
summoned to the foreign ministry... over stances of American officials with
regards to developments in Iraq," the ministry said. "The Islamic Republic of
Iran conveyed its strong protest... over warmongering remarks made by American
officials which are in violation of the United Nations Charter," it added.
NYE Celebratory Gunfire Injures Five; 4 Arrested
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 01/2020
Celebratory gunfire wounded five people in Lebanon on New Year’s Eve, the
Internal Security Forces said on Wednesday. “Five people were injured in al-Qobbeh,
el-Mina and al-Nour Square (in Tripoli), and on the Sayyed Hadi Nasrallah
Highway and Choueifat” in Beirut’s suburbs, an ISF statement said. “A number of
shooters have been identified while four have been arrested and investigations
are still ongoing to apprehend the others,” the ISF added. It also urged
citizens to “send documented information about the shooters (pictures or
videos)” via the ISF’s website or social media pages, promising that the
identity of senders would remain confidential.
Turkey may not send forces to Libya if conflict eases
Reuters, Istanbul/Wednesday, 1 January 2020
Turkey may hold off from sending troops to Libya if the Libyan National Army (LNA)
led by Khalifa Haftar halt their offensive against the UN-recognized government
in Tripoli and pull back, the Turkish vice president said on Wednesday. The
Turkish parliament is due to debate and vote on a bill mandating the deployment
of military forces to Libya on Thursday after Fayez al-Serraj's Government of
National Accord (GNA) requested support as part of a military cooperation
agreement. “After the bill passed from the parliament...it might happen that we
would see something different, a different stance and they would say ‘okay, we
are withdrawing, dropping the offensive,’” Fuat Oktay said in an interview with
Andalou news agency. “Then, why would we go there?”Oktay also said that Ankara
hoped the Turkish bill would send a deterrent message to the warring parties.
Ankara has already sent military supplies to the GNA despite a United Nations
embargo, according to a UN report seen by Reuters, and has said it will continue
to support it. The LNA has received support from Russia, Egypt, the United Arab
Emirates and Jordan.
Shelling hit school killing 6 in rebel-held Syrian village
The Associated Press, Beirut/Wednesday, 1 January 2020
Syrian government forces shelled a rebel-held village in the country’s northwest
on Wednesday, hitting a school and killing at least six people, opposition
activists said. The attack in Idlib province, the last rebel stronghold Syria,
was part of an ongoing offensive in which Syrian troops have captured more than
40 villages and hamlets over the past two weeks. Idlib is dominated by
al-Qaeda-linked militants and is also home to 3 million civilians. The United
Nations has warned of the growing risk of a humanitarian catastrophe in the
region, which lies along the Turkish border.
A war-monitoring group, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights,
said a teacher and four students were killed in Sunday’s government shelling of
the village of Sarmin. Hadi Abdullah, an Idlib-based opposition activists, gave
a slightly higher death toll, saying seven people were killed, including a woman
and four children. Different death tolls are common in the immediate aftermath
of bombings.Syrian troops have been bombarding parts of Idlib since last month,
with the shelling and airstrikes intensifying since the ground offensive began
on Dec. 19. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that
as a result of hostilities, more than 235,000 people had been displaced between
Dec. 12 and Dec. 25. Many of them have fled from the town of Maaret al-Numan,
toward which the Syrian troops have been steadily advancing. Elsewhere in
northern Syria, a car bombing on Wednesday in the town of Suluk, controlled by
Turkey-backed opposition fighters, killed three people, according to Syrian
state media and the Observatory. Areas controlled by Turkey-backed fighters have
witnessed several explosions, with dozens killed and wounded in the past weeks.
Turkey has blamed Syrian Kurdish fighters for the attacks. They deny the
charges.
The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources published on January 01-02/2020
US sees 'direct links' between Iran and attack on Baghdad embassy
Joyce Karam and Khaled Yacoub Oweis/The National/January 02/2020
Special representative for Iran Brian Hook welcomed withdrawal of protesters but
said Tehran could expect more sanctions
Pro-Iranian militiamen and their supporters load trucks with items from
dismantled tents, in front of the US embassy, in Baghdad, Iraq. AP Photo
The US sees a direct operational link between the attack on its embassy in Iraq
and Tehran, its special representative for Iran, Brian Hook, said on Wednesday.
Iran-backed Iraqi militia members and supporters on Wednesday withdrew from the
mission by order of their leaders, ending a 24-hour siege after the arrival
overnight of more American troops.
"The attack on our embassy yesterday was orchestrated by Iran,” Mr Hook told The
National.
He said the Trump administration saw a direct operational link between the
attack on Tuesday and the government in Tehran.
“Iran organises, trains and equips Shiite military proxies and we do not make a
distinction between the Iranian regime and Iranian militias," Mr Hook said.“Any
attack by an Iranian militia, the Iranian regime will be held accountable." Mr
Hook said the decision by Iraqi militias to withdraw their supporters from the
embassy’s perimeter as “a positive development”. He said the situation was
“relatively calm”, and that the US troops sent to Baghdad and Iraqi military
posted at the embassy would improve security. Mr Hook said he expected more
sanctions to be imposed on Iran, whose government was “isolated, running out of
money and in a state of panicked aggression”.
The attack on the embassy and the withdrawal order from the Popular Mobilisation
Forces, the umbrella body of Iraqi militias mainly answering to Iran,
highlighted Tehran’s reach in Iraq.
It threatened to raise tension with the US to a level where violence could be
difficult to control.
“We call on all of the crowds present near the US embassy to withdraw in
deference to the order by the Iraqi government and to preserve the prestige of
the state,” the PMF said, according to Russia Today TV.
The Iraqi military later said: "All protesters have withdrawn, tents dismantled
and other forms of demonstrating that accompanied these protests have ended, and
the Iraqi security forces have completely secured the embassy perimeter."
Militia members and supporters remained camped outside the embassy despite tear
gas and stun grenades fired at them earlier on Wednesday by Iraqi or US forces.
US President Donald Trump said earlier that Iran would be held “fully
responsible for lives lost, or damage incurred, at any of our facilities”.
Despite the ease with which the crowd entered Baghdad's high-security Green Zone
to attack the embassy on Tuesday, their action appeared to be planned to avoid a
full assault on the compound or loss of life.
That was in line with a strategy by Washington and Tehran to keep a check on any
escalation between the two.
An Iraqi special forces fighter assigned to guard the Green Zone told AFP his
units had no orders to intervene.
"If I had had orders to act, I could have fired and stopped the storming of the
embassy," he said. Some buildings outside the embassy compound were set on fire
and members of the crowd, some in military fatigues, again hurled stones at the
embassy on Wednesday.
The attack recalled the 1979 hostage crisis at the US embassy in Tehran and the
2012 attack on the US mission in the Libyan city of Benghazi.
US military released video of troops being flown in to the embassy after Defence
Secretary Mark Esper said on Tuesday that about 750 more soldiers would be sent
immediately to Baghdad.
The embassy was attacked in retaliation to US air strikes on Iran-backed Kataib
Hezbollah militia sites in Iraq and Syria on Sunday, in which at least 25 of its
members were killed and dozens more wounded.
The Pentagon said the raids were in response to a rocket attack on an American
base in Kirkuk last week, in which an American contractor was killed. It was the
latest in a series of attacks on US targets in Iraq since Washington intensified
sanctions on Iran in mid-2019.
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Wednesday said on Twitter that
he strongly condemned “the US's malice" in the raids on the militia. Kataib
Hezbollah is one of the militias most loyal to Iran in the PMF. Although the
paramilitary forces are nominally integrated into the Iraqi state, some often
operate under orders from Iran, the US and Iraqis say."Now Iran is orchestrating
an attack on the US embassy in Iraq. They will be held fully responsible," Mr
Trump said on Twitter.
A spokesman for Kataib Hezbollah said its supporters intended to lay siege to
the embassy until it was shut down and US diplomats left Iraq.
The US State Department said all personnel at the embassy were safe and there
were no plans to evacuate the compound. Ambassador Matthew Tueller was said to
be on his way back to Baghdad from holidays but had yet to arrive on Wednesday
afternoon.
Trump’s dilemma, how to deal with Iran?
Shmirit Meir/Ynetnews/January 01/2020
معضلة ترامب تكمن في كيفية التعامل مع إيران؟
شميريت مئير/يديعوت أحرونوت/01 كانون الثاني/2020
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/81939/%d8%b4%d9%85%d9%8a%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%aa-%d9%85%d8%a6%d9%8a%d8%b1-%d9%8a%d8%af%d9%8a%d8%b9%d9%88%d8%aa-%d8%a3%d8%ad%d8%b1%d9%88%d9%86%d9%88%d8%aa-%d9%85%d8%b9%d8%b6%d9%84%d8%a9-%d8%aa%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%85/
Opinion: Iran reverted to the tried and tested method of
attacking an American diplomatic mission in order to humiliate the superpower
and rekindle traumas from the past.
U.S. President Donald Trump is faced with the same question that has been vexing
Israel for the past few decades: how to deal with Iranian aggression and their
propensity to up the stakes when their backs seem to be against the wall.
Iran’s back is indeed against the wall. This has been a challenging year for the
Iranians, perhaps the most challenging since the Islamic revolution in 1979,
with crippling American sanctions, an economy in ruins, anti-government protests
that required the use of brutal force along with blocking access to the
internet, trouble in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.
Iran has transitioned from an expansionist policy to a defensive one.
The goal of the well-organized riots outside the American embassy in Baghdad was
not to kill Americans. The purpose was to embarrass Donald Trump, to indicate to
the American public that his Iran policy has failed and that he is bringing his
country to the brink of war in the Middle East -during an election year.
U.S. media is on automatic pilot fulfilling to role designated by Revolutionary
Guard Corps commander Qasem Soleimani – the most influential person in the
region for the past few years.
But Iran’s hysterics are an indication that the “maximum pressure” campaign is
working. Iran is in a downward spiral, losing control, and firing randomly in
all directions.
The Iranians are not very creative, so it was an old trick they had up their
sleeve that they used – protesting masses outside an American embassy, shouting
“death to America.”
Washington was wise to remove most personnel not already on Christmas vacation
out of the Baghdad embassy compound.
Still, the pictures out of Iraq were meant to remind Americans of the 1979 siege
of their embassy in Tehran as well as the attack on the consulate in Benghazi in
2012 that resulted in American deaths and an inescapable albatross around
Hillary Clinton’s neck.
The pictures were meant to erase the fact that for weeks now Iraqi protesters
have been demanding the Islamic Republic remove itself from their country’s
politics.
On Tuesday night, Tahrir Square in Baghdad was alight with fireworks, balloons
and partying youths celebrating the new year while around them the city was
ablaze.
What will Trump do?
From the moment the danger to Americans in the Baghdad embassy is removed, the
administration should exact a heavy price from Iran for the humiliation caused
by the pro-Iranian protesters.
Trump had already taken disproportionate steps by killing 25 militiamen in
response to one American casualty.
Observers in Israel say the Iranians should be made to pay dearly so as to
dissuade them from trying anything like this for years to come, but the decision
ultimately lies in the hands of one man – and we await his tweet.
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/Sy5hlV9k8
West Africa has ditched its colonial currency. Now the
future is crypto
Joseph Dana/Arab News/January 01, 2020
Last month, the West Africa Economic and Monetary Union announced it was
replacing its currency, the CFA franc, with the “eco.” In this way, the
francophone members of the region are seeking to chart a future truly
independent of France. To achieve that, however, they may also want to look
toward a landscape increasingly defined by blockchain and cryptocurrency
technology.
The CFA franc was established in 1945 by Charles de Gaulle as an instrument of
monetary and financial control over France’s African colonies. It has been used
by Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and
Togo for more than seven decades. Six Central African countries — Gabon,
Cameroon, Chad, the Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo and
Equatorial Guinea — also use a similar but different version of the CFA franc,
but there is no word yet on whether they will follow suit and ditch it.
The question for the former colonies is this: Will a new currency increase
prosperity? Or is there yet another step to consider?
The official reason given for doing away with the CFA franc is to encourage new
growth and markets, but the move is as much about decolonization, and
establishing monetary and financial independence.
In establishing the CFA franc, France set some fairly exacting conditions. After
gaining independence, countries using the currency were obliged to keep all
their foreign exchange reserves in France. This was reduced to 65 percent in
1965 and to 50 percent in 2005. In return for retaining half the reserves of its
former colonies, France pays them 0.75 percent in interest.
The arrangement was highly convenient for postwar France, as it meant the former
colonies were effectively providing cheap loans. In addition, France could use
the deposits from Africa to help shore up its own currency. The CFA franc,
meanwhile, benefited from French backing, which gave it stability.
But times have changed. Today, the arrangement might well be described as a form
of monetary ransom. There is no data available for the amount of African
reserves held at the French treasury over each of the past 70 years. Yet it is
safe to say that France surely benefited from the arrangement. As an indication,
Ivory Coast’s reserves alone totaled roughly the equivalent of $6 billion
throughout 2018.
Under the new plan, the West African Monetary Union will maintain a peg to the
euro during the transition to the eco. But French representatives will no longer
sit on the board of its central bank.
Now that the former French colonies have a new currency, the key to putting the
past firmly behind is to innovate it in ways that money has not been treated
before.
This monetary uncoupling comes at a time of rising anti-French sentiment across
the region. French troops who were initially welcomed in Mali in 2013 are now
viewed in a far less positive light. French flags now are regularly burned in
the streets as the French are increasingly seen to have overstayed their welcome
and even to have been engaging in neocolonialism.
The Senegalese development economist Ndongo Samba Sylla sees the CFA franc as a
tool that France has used to dominate its former colonies. The currency, he
said, “operates as a political tool to control African economies and polities,
and also as a device for transferring, with minimal risk, economic surpluses
from the African continent to France and Europe. The mechanisms laid during the
colonial era remain essentially unchanged.”
Reform of the CFA franc is now underway, but what else must these African
countries do to ensure that the mechanisms of colonialism are left well and
truly in the past? How can they build a truly independent monetary and fiscal
policy while continuing with the process of decolonization?
The first major decision — whether to create independent currencies for each
individual country or to keep the monetary union established by the French — has
already been made. The eight-member West African economic bloc will remain in
place and the currency essentially left intact, albeit with a new name. The more
difficult issue is one of unity. Just as the varying degrees of political unity
and fiscal coordination in the EU affect the EU’s monetary policy and the
stability of its euro currency, unity in West Africa will determine whether the
eco succeeds or fails.
The economic trajectories have not been encouraging. While there has been
growth, nine of the 14 CFA franc member-countries are classified by the UN as
“less developed.” For some, per capita GDP is actually lower now than in the
1970s.
The way forward for these West African nations lies in carefully comporting
themselves toward global demand. First, incentives for international
manufacturers to import new technology will bring much-needed capital and
quality jobs. Next, and just as importantly, embracing digital currency
technology could help ease fears among foreign investors of monetary surprises
such as devaluations and currency controls. A digital eco operating on a secure
blockchain platform would also be a useful currency to serve the interest of
mobile workers across the region, benefitting not only francophone Africa.
Indeed, a new financial architecture underpinned by monetary innovations
afforded by cryptocurrency principles — free of the possibility that governments
might manipulate the currency — will go some way toward assuaging concerns that
have plagued African nations’ management of their currencies. This is not to say
that it will be easy to accomplish. However, a development that has not been
widely appreciated outside the continent has been the rise of fintech. Africa
has the talent to figure it out.
Now that these former French colonies have a new currency, the key to putting
the past firmly behind is to innovate it in ways that money has not been treated
before. The eco offers an opportunity for their economies to prosper by
leapfrogging conventional norms through blockchain technology. They should be
bold and break through the paradigm as they have broken with France.
*Joseph Dana, based between South Africa and the Middle East, is editor-in-chief
of emerge85, a lab that explores change in emerging markets and its global
impact.
Copyright: Syndication Bureau
Why Iraq is a key battleground for Tehran in 2020
Dr. Azeem Ibrahim/Arab News/January 01, 2020
The Iranian regime is balancing on a tightrope. Recent protests may have
subsided after the brutal crackdown, which has already left an estimated 1,500
dead, but this lull is expected to be only temporary as the protesters
reorganize and build up to be one of the most significant uprisings in Iran yet.
Meanwhile, Tehran is teetering on the edge of war in the Arabian Gulf with the
US. Though unlikely, any conflict that would strangle the flow of about a
quarter of the world’s oil requirements would have devastating consequences for
the global economy. And the key to how this entire situation may unfold in 2020
lies with Iraq. The US war in Iraq achieved exactly the opposite of what it was
meant to: Instead of creating a staunch and reliable partner to help encircle
Iran, it has created an ally of Tehran.
This is not to mention that Iran was much more helpful to Baghdad in the
latter’s fight against Daesh in the Sunni-dominated northwest of the country in
the 2010s than was the US, and so the Iraqi government owes a debt of gratitude
to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and their Shiite militia proxies in Iraq for
that help.After almost two decades of war, Iraqi politicians are increasingly
putting the needs of the country before their sectarian allegiances, and former
alliances with foreign sponsors and backers.
At this point, it may be more a matter of self-preservation than anything else
since this political realignment is driven largely by popular protest, but the
shift is nonetheless profoundly significant in the broader geopolitics of the
Middle East. It turns out that after years of bitter insurgency against the US
occupation, and having fought off Daesh, the people of Iraq are in no mood to be
pawns in Iran’s geopolitical games either.
This may well turn out to be an existential problem for Iran. The current
protests in the country are a consequence of decades of economic mismanagement —
further exacerbated by US sanctions under the Trump administration’s policy of
maximum pressure.
After years of bitter insurgency against US occupation, and having fought off
Daesh, the people of Iraq are in no mood to be pawns in Iran’s geopolitical
games.
Tehran aims to use allied countries as conduits for foreign trade in order to
circumvent US embargoes and ease economic pressures at home. Iraq would be
perfect to this end since the US would be reluctant to impose penalties on the
country, even if it is aiding Iran, for fear of once again destabilizing it and
igniting another anti-American powder keg in the Middle East.
The Iranians seem to be repeating the mistakes of the US in Iraq, overplaying
their hand regarding how much leverage they have in the country, and how much
they should try to exert. They are trying to force choice into positions of
power — choice militias, choice political parties and choice local leaders.
Instead of courting the friendship and alliance of the country as a whole, they
are opting to throw their weight around on the Iraqi political stage. And this
is backfiring badly.
That is not to say the approach is bound to fail. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards
are a political-military force with no equivalent in the West. It has already
proved extremely effective on the ground in the Middle East, and was a pivotal
factor in the survival of Bashar Assad’s regime against all odds.
The Revolutionary Guards are believed to command as many as 100,000 troops and
local auxiliaries in Iraq, and are working hard to derail the emergence of an
autonomous and nationalistic political consensus among Iraq’s leadership in
Baghdad. If they succeed, Iran should be able to use Iraq as a conduit for its
international trade and stabilize the economic situation at home in the coming
months.
Yet the heavy-handed, hard-power approach Tehran is taking with Iraq may well
end up boomeranging if the Shiite leaders of political forces in Baghdad side
with the pro-autonomy popular protests in the country, rather than yielding to
the menacing presence of the Revolutionary Guards. Hence, we have seen Iranian
militia leaders such as Qais Al-Khazali, chief of Asaeb Ahl Al-Haq; Abu Mahdi
Al-Mohandes, the Hashd Al-Shaabi leader; and Hadi Al-Ameri from the Badr Corps
attempting to hijack the protests by directing crowds to breach the US Embassy.
It is too early to call which way this situation will go in 2020. But it is
profoundly ironic that as things stand, it is the mullahs in Baghdad who hold
the fate of Iran in their hands, rather than the other way around.
*Dr. Azeem Ibrahim is a research professor at the Strategic Studies Institute at
the US Army War College, and author of “The Prospective Foreign Policy of a
Corbyn Government and US National Security Implications” (Hudson, September
2019). Twitter: @AzeemIbrahim
Iraqis must stop their country from becoming a proxy battlefield
Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami/Arab News/January 01, 2020
Iraq is experiencing an escalation of armed violence between Iran-backed
militias and US forces. The rocket attack that targeted a military base in
Kirkuk, killing an American and injuring Americans and Iraqis, followed previous
attempts targeting the vicinity of US military bases or the US embassy in
Baghdad without resulting in injuries or casualties. But the latest attack
crossed America’s declared red lines and exposed its personnel to a direct
attack.
US forces launched “precision defensive strikes” against five facilities of the
Hezbollah Brigades in Iraq and Syria, killing at least 25 people and injuring 51
others. As a result, the leaders and members of the Iran-affiliated Popular
Mobilization Forces (PMF) attempted to ignite Iraqis against the US and
threatened to carry out retaliatory military operations.
Protests were held outside the US embassy in the Green Zone on Tuesday. The
outer fence of the embassy was set alight, and protesters attempted to break in,
prompting Iraqi security forces to intervene. The most prominent leaders of the
PMF and Hezbollah Brigades participated in this protest.
Why have these developments come about, and how are they linked to
anti-government protests, discontent with the political elite as well as Iranian
interference in Iraq? It is clear that Iran is very worried about the continuity
of the protests that prevented it from appointing a prime minister affiliated
with it.
These protests have also destroyed the facilities of its militias, its
diplomatic and consulate headquarters, and affected its exports to Iraq, which
is a serious danger to Iran’s influence in Iraq. By attacking the US military
base, Iran wanted to shuffle the cards to achieve two goals, the first of which
is to urge pro-Iran parties to exert pressure to end the protests — a major
headache for the Iranian leadership — by convincing people that the country is
at war with the US and the protests must stop.
Iran’s second goal is to pressure for removal of US forces from Iraq, close the
embassy in Baghdad, and inflame Iraqi anger to provoke a US reaction, which
would, consequently, bring Iraq back to the Iranian axis. The editor-in-chief of
Iran’s Kayhan newspaper, Hossein Shariatmadari, in October called on Iraqis to
occupy the US embassy in Baghdad.
It remains important to observe the developments that Iraq will experience in
the next week to see which course the crisis will take.
It seems the US was expecting escalation inside Iraq, but it could never ignore
the attack, the crossing of red lines, and the undermining of its authority. A
press release from the US Department of Defense emphasized there were unlikely
to be long-term strikes against the PMF, and that the reactions of the US
military depended on what the group did in the future. The press release was a
truce with the PMF as it mentioned that the attacks came in response to repeated
attacks by Hezbollah Brigades on Iraqi bases. It also stressed that Iran and its
affiliated forces must stop their attacks against the US and coalition forces,
and respect the sovereignty of Iraq to avoid any additional defensive actions
by US forces.
That is why the only victim in this process will be the Iraqi civil movement
because pro-Iran political forces in Iraq would have managed to shuffle the
cards, especially after the attack on the embassy. Based on this, they will
exert all pressure to end the anti-Iranian protest movement and make it seem
like the reason has been the greater battle.
These developments can also lead to sympathies for PMF factions by the ruling
political elite and the constituencies close to it.
A sympathy campaign has already appeared on social media and, most importantly,
the former prime minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi, announced three days of mourning
for those killed in the US military operation.
The decisive matter, however, will be the stance of Najaf authorities. On a
political level, the strike will encourage the political elite to take positions
that are far from Iran’s impositions regarding the nomination of the prime
minister. That is because if many of the Iraqi elite sense that Iran cannot act
in Iraq with complete freedom as it did before, their stances toward Iran will
change.
It remains important to observe the developments that Iraq will experience in
the next week to see which course the crisis will take, and the impact of these
transformations in the Iraqi political scene on civil protests. Also, America’s
calculations on how to deal with these developments, in light of the electoral
climate that dominates the US political scene and the current administration,
will contribute to determining the course of the crisis.
We count on the wise and patriotic people of Iraq to ensure their country does
not fully turn into a battlefield for a proxy war between Iran and the US.
Moreover, if the Iranian hegemony over Iraq returns more strongly than before,
the future of the Iraqi people will be similar to the isolation, persecution and
international sanctions that Iranian people suffer due to a war in which they
have no stake.
*Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami is Head of the International Institute for Iranian
Studies (Rasanah). Twitter: @mohalsulami
Europe: Anti-Christian Attacks Reach All-Time High in 2019
سورين كرّين/معهد كايتستون: العداء ضد المسيحيين في أوروبا تصاعد بشكل كبير خلال
العام 2019
Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/January 01/2020
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/81936/%d8%b3%d9%88%d8%b1%d9%8a%d9%86-%d9%83%d8%b1%d9%91%d9%8a%d9%86-%d9%85%d8%b9%d9%87%d8%af-%d9%83%d8%a7%d9%8a%d8%aa%d8%b3%d8%aa%d9%88%d9%86-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b9%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%a1-%d8%b6%d8%af-%d8%a7%d9%84/
The issue of anti-Christian vandalism was rarely reported by the European media
until February 2019, when vandals attacked nine churches within the space of two
weeks. The issue made headlines again in April 2019, when a suspicious fire
gutted the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Since then, however, the
European media are once again shrouding facts in silence.
"Seeking to destroy or damage Christian buildings is a way of 'wiping the slate
clean' of the past." — Annie Genevard, MP, Republicans Party, in an interview in
Le Figaro, April 2, 2019.
"In the past, even if one was not a Christian, the expression of the sacred was
respected. We are facing a serious threat to the expression of religious
freedom. Secularism must not be a rejection of the religious, but a principle of
neutrality that gives everyone the freedom to express his faith." — Dominique
Rey, Bishop of Fréjus-Toulon, in an interview with the Italian magazine Il
Timone, August 5, 2019.
"We are witnessing the convergence of laicism — conceived as secularism, which
relegates the faithful only to the private sphere and where every religious
denomination is banal or stigmatized — with the overwhelming emergence of Islam,
which attacks the infidels and those who reject the Koran. On one hand, we are
mocked by the media ... and on the other, there is the strengthening of Islamic
fundamentalism. These are two joint realities." — Dominique Rey, Bishop of
Fréjus-Toulon, in an interview with the Italian magazine Il Timone, August 5,
2019.
Anti-Christian hostility is sweeping across Western Europe, where, during 2019,
Christian churches and symbols were deliberately attacked day after day. The
issue made headlines in April 2019, when a suspicious fire gutted the iconic
Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris (pictured). Since then, however, the European
media are once again shrouding facts in silence. (Photo by Veronique de Viguerie/Getty
Images)
Anti-Christian hostility is sweeping across Western Europe, where, during 2019,
Christian churches and symbols were deliberately attacked day after day.
Gatestone Institute reviewed thousands of newspaper reports, police blotters,
parliamentary inquiries, social media posts and specialized blogs from Britain,
France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Spain. The research shows (see appendices
below) that roughly 3,000 Christian churches, schools, cemeteries and monuments
were vandalized, looted or defaced in Europe during 2019 — which is on track to
becoming a record year for anti-Christian sacrilege on the continent.
Violence against Christian sites is most widespread in France, where churches,
schools, cemeteries and monuments are being vandalized, desecrated and burned at
an average rate of three per day, according to government statistics. In
Germany, attacks against Christian churches are occurring at an average rate of
two per day, according to police blotters.
Attacks on Christian churches and symbols are also commonplace in Belgium,
Britain, Denmark, Ireland, Italy and Spain. The attacks overwhelmingly involve
Roman Catholic sites and symbols, although in Germany, Protestant churches are
also being targeted.
The perpetrators of anti-Christian attacks — which include acts of arson,
defecation, desecration, looting, mockery, profanation, Satanism, theft,
urination and vandalism — are rarely caught. When they are, police and media
often censor information about their identities and ethnic backgrounds. Many
suspects are said to have mental disorders; as a result, many anti-Christian
attacks are not categorized as hate crimes.
In France and Germany, the spike in anti-Christian attacks dovetails with the
recent mass immigration from the Muslim world. The lack of official statistics
on perpetrators and motives makes it impossible to know precisely how many
attacks can be attributed to Muslim anti-Christianism or the jihadist cause.
In Spain, by contrast, attacks against churches and crosses are overwhelmingly
carried out by anarchists, radical feminists and other far-left activists, who
appear to be striving for Christianity to be permanently removed from the public
square.
The motives behind the anti-Christian attacks, which are often met with public
indifference, seem to fall into four broad categories:
Vandalism. Most attacks against Christian sites in Europe consist of acts of
vandalism. These often lack explicit anti-Christian intent, but cross over into
profanation and desecration when they target objects and symbols sacred to
Christians. From a strictly legal perspective, such crimes are difficult to
prosecute as hate crimes: according to the laws of most European countries,
prosecutors must prove that the vandalism was specifically motivated by an
animosity toward Christians or Christianity.
Theft. Many attacks have financial motives. In France, Germany and elsewhere,
thieves have stolen church bells, sacred metal objects and even drain pipes,
apparently with the aim of selling those items to scrap dealers. In Britain,
nearly half of all churches on the National Historical List for England have
been ransacked. Many of the crimes are being attributed to highly organized
gangs which use drones, online maps and global positioning systems first to
identify their targets through aerial footage and then plot their own escape
routes. The plunder is dominated by thefts of metal, with entire roofs being
removed from historic places of worship, according to the heritage agency,
Historic England.
Politics. Some attacks, especially those against Roman Catholicism, which some
radical feminists and radical secularists perceive to be a symbol of patriarchal
power and authority, are political in nature. Such attacks include defacing
churches and religious symbols with political graffiti, much of it anarchist or
feminist in nature. In Geneva, Switzerland, for instance, the iconic
International Monument to the Protestant Reformation, also known as the
Reformation Wall, was vandalized with multi-colored paint forming a rainbow, a
symbol of the LGBT groups.
Religion. Many attacks that appear to be religious or spiritual in nature
reflect a deep-seated hostility toward Christianity. Such attacks include
smearing feces on representations of Jesus Christ or statues of Mary, the mother
of Jesus. Other attacks involve the defilement or theft of Communion wafers,
which Roman Catholics believe are transformed into the real presence of Christ
when consecrated. Some of these attacks may be the work of Satanists, who use
the consecrated host in a ritual called the Black Mass.
Such attacks, especially on the essence of Roman Catholic beliefs, appear to be
aimed at intimidating or harassing Catholics or preventing them from practicing
their faith. These attacks, which do meet the definition of hate crimes, pose a
direct threat to the freedom of religion in Europe, but prosecutions are rare.
Writing for the Spanish newspaper ABC, Juan Pedro Quiñonero, its Paris
correspondent for more than 35 years, explained:
"The desecrations have an evident anti-Christian character. Drunk with fierce
hatred, the vandals want to give their actions a clear anti-religious dimension.
In recent months, anti-Semitic gangs have desecrated Jewish cemeteries,
'signing' their actions with swastikas. In the case of the desecration of
Catholic churches, vandalism is not 'signed.' It speaks for itself: heinous
mockeries of the figure of Christ on the cross and the desecration of high
altars."
European media outlets, which often amplify attacks on Muslims, have tended to
downplay malicious acts against Christians. The issue of anti-Christian
vandalism was rarely reported by the European media until February 2019, when
vandals attacked nine churches within the space of two weeks. The issue made
headlines again in April 2019, when a suspicious fire gutted the iconic Notre
Dame Cathedral in Paris. Since then, however, the European media are once again
shrouding facts in silence.
The French newspaper Le Monde has disputed the government's use of the term
"anti-Christian acts" and warned politicians not to "instrumentalize" the issue:
"More than a thousand acts a year, an average of three per day: the number is
high, but what does it cover? Can we really speak of 'profanations' — a strong
term — which implies an attack on the sacredness of a place of worship?
"Ideological motivations are in the minority: it is mainly about thefts and
vandalism. The perpetrators often are minors."
Annie Genevard, a French MP for the center-right Republicans party, has called
for a parliamentary investigation in order better to understand the nature and
motivations of anti-Christian attacks. In an interview with the French newspaper
Le Figaro, she said:
"Recently, two terribly serious acts of vandalism were committed in symbolic
places and shocked me greatly. A few days ago, the fire in the Church of Saint
Sulpice, a church that houses remarkable works: there is nearly a million euros
of damage and works are irretrievably lost! And some time ago, vandals broke
into the Basilica of Saint Denis and damaged stained-glass windows and the
organ. Saint Denis it is not only a place of Christian worship, it is the
necropolis of the kings of France! It is a meeting place between our national
history and our Christian roots. That one dares to attack this monument is
really shocking not only for Christians but for many citizens, whatever their
convictions. When an anti-Christian act is committed, we turn our backs on the
history of France, which has an intimate connection with the Christian religion.
"To attack a Christian tomb or a church, whatever the motivation of the author,
is a way to attack one part of our collective identity, because Christianity and
its monuments have shaped our culture, our history and our landscapes. Seeking
to destroy or damage Christian buildings is a way of 'wiping the slate clean' of
the past. In an era where the most absolute cultural relativism reigns, it is
all the more serious that some of our oldest and most valuable landmarks are
endangered. A civilization that would deny and turn away from its past would be
a civilization that would be lost. I think this is worrying, and there is a need
for a strong political response."
In an interview with the Italian magazine Il Timone, the Bishop of Fréjus-Toulon,
Dominique Rey, said that the attacks against churches in Europe are taking place
within the context of a European society marked by secularism, nihilism,
hedonism, cultural and moral relativism, consumerism, and the widespread loss of
the sense of the sacred. He noted:
"In the past, even those who said they were non-Christian lived in a cultural
context marked by Christianity.... roots that have been abandoned by our culture
and by our societies. Once the Christian roots, which were the common
denominator, were removed, people turned to communitarianism, which led to a
social fragmentation that is leading to a break. To find a common base of values
and points of reference, Europe must restore centrality to its Christian
roots....
"There is an evolution of acts of profanation against monuments, but also
against the Catholic faith itself. In the past, even if one was not a Christian,
the expression of the sacred was respected. We are facing a serious threat to
the expression of religious freedom. Secularism must not be a rejection of the
religious, but a principle of neutrality that gives everyone the freedom to
express his faith.
"We are witnessing the convergence of laicism — conceived as secularism, which
relegates the faithful only to the private sphere and where every religious
denomination is banal or stigmatized — with the overwhelming emergence of Islam,
which attacks the infidels and those who reject the Koran. On one hand, we are
mocked by the media ... and on the other, there is the strengthening of Islamic
fundamentalism. These are two joint realities."
The French political analyst Jérôme Fourquet, in his book — French Archipelago:
Birth of a Multiple and Divided Nation — shows how the de-Christianization of
France is taking place within the context of mass migration from the Muslim
world. He provides extensive statistical data — for instance, that less than 5%
of French people regularly attend Mass on Sundays — to show that France's
detachment from Christianity is so far-reaching that the country now is
effectively "post-Christian." He writes:
"There is a growing de-Christianization, which is leading to the 'terminal
phase' of the Catholic religion.... For hundreds of years the Catholic religion
profoundly structured the collective conscience of French society. Today this
society is the shadow of what it once was. A great civilizational change is
underway."
Appendix I: Attacks on Christian Churches and Symbols in Europe in 2019
Gatestone Institute reviewed thousands of newspaper reports, police blotters,
parliamentary inquiries, social media posts and specialized blogs from Britain,
France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Spain. The research found that approximately
3,000 Christian churches, schools, cemeteries and monuments were vandalized,
burned, looted or defaced in Europe during 2019 — at more than five a day, a
record year for anti-Christian hostility on the continent.
Suspicious Fires at Churches in Europe in 2019:
December 15. Saint-Just-en-Bas, France. A suspicious fire destroyed the roof of
the town's 15th century church. More than three dozen worshippers who were in
the building when the fire broke out were evacuated. The church's roof had been
renovated during the summer at a cost of €200,000 ($225,000).
December 5, Lyon, France. An arsonist set fire to the doors of the Church of
Saint-Georges.
November 16. Buschhoven, Germany. Arsonists set fire to the Catholic Church of
St. Katharina. It was the second arson attack on the church in as many weeks.
Arsonists also set fire to a nearby Protestant church, the Versöhnungskirche.
November 13. Chios, Greece. Arsonists set fire to three churches in the village
of Chalkios: The attacks against the Agios Haralambos Church, the Church of
Panagia and the Church Agios Petros and Pavlos were attributed to illegal
migrants, who are being house at a migrant camp situated 500 meters from one of
the churches.
November 12. Éauze, France. Two 15-year-olds set fire to the Éauze Cathedral.
The Gothic church, a national heritage site, sustained significant damage.
November 8. Lleida, Spain. Arsonists set two fires inside the Church of Sant
Joan.
September 20. Olivenza, Spain. Arsonists set fire to the front doors of the
Convent of San Juan de Dios. In August, the convent's chapel was defaced with
graffiti.
October 10. Naples, Italy. Arsonists set fire to the historic Basilica of San
Giovanni Maggiore.
September 10. Froncles, France. Arsonists set fire to the Church of
Saint-Joseph.
September 9. Witzenhausen, Germany. Arsonists tried to burn down Christuskirche,
a Lutheran church.
September 4. Wimbotsham, England. St. Mary the Virgin Church, an historic church
in Wimbotsham, was gutted by a fire. The church, originally built in 1175, was
"100% damaged" and all furniture was lost, including an altar table dating to
1638. "The history and heritage lost in this fire is irreplaceable and the costs
of repairing the physical damage will be substantial," said Peter Aiers, of the
Churches Conservation Trust. An investigation into the cause of the fire is
ongoing.
August 30. Wildeshausen, Germany. Arsonists set fire to St. Peter Catholic
Church, causing more than €100,000 ($112,000) in damage.
August 21. Rheine-Schotthock, Germany. Arsonists tried to burn down St.
Ludgeruskirche Catholic Church. Previously, thieves broke into the church on
August 6.
August 24. Saint-Amand-sur-Sèvre, France. A suspicious fire broke out at the
church of Saint-Amand, which dates to the 11th century.
July 30. Bad Schussenried, Germany. An arsonist set fire to a church in the
Schussenried Abbey, a former monastery founded in 1183.
July 29. Kippenheim, Germany. An arsonist set fire to hymnals in St. Mauritius
Catholic Church.
July 19. Hyvinkää, Finland. Arsonists set fire to the Old Church. The church was
saved but an adjacent storage facility was completely destroyed.
June 30. Bourg-Achard, France. Arsonists set fire to the organ at the Church of
Saint-Lô. The organ was completely destroyed. On June 26, arsonists set fire to
an altar cloth at the same church, which has now been closed.
June 12. Vienna, Austria. Arsonists set fire to the Dominican Church of St.
Rotunda. A tourist used holy water to put out the fire.
June 1. Ankum, Germany. Arsonists set two fires simultaneously at St. Nicholas
Church.
May 24. Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Holy Family Church in Ballymagroarty was
set on fire and completely destroyed. CCTV footage showed a group of
unidentified youths starting the fire.
May 16. Nordhausen, Germany. Arsonists set fire to the historic St. Blasii
church, originally built in the 12th century. The ante-chamber to the church was
burned.
April 21. Eyguières, France. A suspicious fire damaged the confessional of the
Church of Notre Dame de Grace.
April 15. Paris, France. A suspicious fire gutted the iconic 12th century Notre
Dame Cathedral.
April 19. Heek, Germany. Vandals attempted to set fire to a church in Nienborg.
March 19. Senigallia, Italy. An arsonist tried — twice on the same day — to set
fire to the Cathedral of San Pietro.
March 17. Paris, France. A suspicious fire destroyed the entrance to the Church
of Saint Sulpice, the second-largest church in Paris. Police said that the fire
was not accidental.
March 5. Skegness, England. St. Matthew's Church was damaged in an arson attack.
February 21. Hellenthal, Germany. An arsonist set fire to the Trinitatis
Lutheran Church. The church's roof was completely destroyed.
January 29. Sainte-Foy-Lès-Lyon, France. A 40-year-old man with a long criminal
record was arrested for trying to burn down the Church of Saint Foy. He was
placed in a psychiatric ward.
January 20, Almería, Spain. Arsonists attempted to burn down the hermitage of
Torregarcía; arsonists previously tried to burn down the chapel on January 11.
January 17. Grenoble, France. The Church of Saint Jacques was completely
destroyed by fire. Only the bell tower was left standing. Police initially had
concluded that the fire was an accident, caused by in an electric short circuit
in the roof of the church. On October 8, however, Grenoble Prosecutor Eric
Vaillant said that an anarchist group had deliberately started the fire,
although the perpetrators had not yet been identified.
January 10. Rovereto, Italy. Arsonists attempted to burn down the Church of Sant
Rocco. The attack was believed to be a response to the church's opposition to
abortion.
Attacks on Christian Historical Sites in Europe in 2019:
December 5. Valdecilla, Spain. Vandals destroyed a 16th century stone cross at
the Church of Solares-Valdecilla. A 14-year-old vandal broke his leg when part
of the stone fell on him.
November 4. Oloron-Sainte-Marie, France. Thieves rammed a car into the doors of
the Cathedral of Oloron-Sainte-Marie, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and stole
silverware, a monstrance, a chalice and liturgical garments from the 16th
century. Mayor Hervé Lucbéreilh said: "It is a considerable loss. Some pieces
are unique, like the monstrance of Saint Grat, and no insurance will replace
them. The thieves were obviously connoisseurs...they only stole the most
precious items which dated from the 16th century. Beyond the market value, the
inhabitants find themselves amputated of part of their history and their
heritage."
October 16. Bois-de-Céné, France. Three teenagers were arrested for stealing
relics from the Church of Bois-de-Céné, a national historical monument which
dates to the 14th century.
September 9. Seville, Spain. Vandals destroyed the historic Cross of the
Inquisition at the City Hall. Mayor Juan Espadas condemned the "absolutely
inexplicable vandal destruction" of a the "jewel" of Seville's heritage.
August 19. Brue-Auriac, France. Thieves stole an 85-kg (187-pound) bronze church
bell from a Romanesque chapel. Mayor André Rousselet said that he believed that
the bell was melted, and the metal was sold, possibly yielding up to €500 ($560)
for the thief.
July 19. Ginasservis, France. Thieves stole two bells from two chapels in the
village. The 80-kg bell of the Chapelle Saint-Damase dates from 1867; the 53-kg
bell of the Chapelle des Pénitents dates from 1737. The latter chapel is
classified as a national historic monument. Mayor Hervé Philibert said that the
bells were carefully removed and that nothing was broken. He said that he
believes that the purpose of the theft is "resale to a collector."
February 27. Hochheim, Germany. Vandals ransacked the St. Peter and Paul Roman
Catholic Church, an iconic landmark built in 1730. In January 2016, the church
was set on fire by an arsonist, causing more than half-a-million-euros in
damage.
February 26. Hanover, Germany. A burglar smashed the windows of the Kreuzkirche,
a medieval church consecrated in 1333.
February 23. Dublin, Ireland. A 36-year-old Dublin man, Brian Bridgeman
desecrated several mummies at St. Michan's, a church that dates to 1095. He
opened crypts in the church's vaults and twisted the head of a nun who had lived
400 years ago. He also decapitated an 800-year-old crusader and removed his head
from the site. The skull was later found by police and returned to the church.
Bridgeman, who was identified on CCTV and admitted guilt, was sentenced to 28
months in prison. "It's a sad day for the church and a sad day for humanity that
someone would do such a thing," said Archdeacon David Pierpoint.
February 5. Lavaur, France. Two teenagers desecrated the Cathedral of St. Alain,
which dates to the 13th century. They then set fire to a nativity scene that was
still in place from the Christmas holidays. The fire caused extensive smoke
damage to the cathedral, which had just undergone a five-year,
multi-million-euro renovation. The teenagers were identified through CCTV
footage.
January 18. Minden, Germany. Vandals smashed the stained-glass windows of St.
Simeon's Lutheran Church, which was consecrated in 1214. In November 2018, the
church was defaced with graffiti; in March 2017, vandals smashed a 19th century
stained-glass window.
January 10. Ripley, England: Thieves stole the lead roof of All Saints Church,
which dates to 1390. During the course of the theft the thieves caused extensive
damage to the stone parapet on the roof. The damage was estimated at tens of
thousands of pounds.
Desecrations of Cemeteries in Europe in 2019:
December 23. Villeroux, Belgium. More than a dozen graves at a local cemetery
were desecrated. Gravestones were knocked over and crosses were smashed.
December 14. Aron, France. Vandals desecrated 30 graves at a local cemetery.
They smashed crosses, stole marble plates as well as a statue of Jesus Christ.
November 30. Saint-Priest-la-Prugne, France. A local cemetery was ransacked.
November 24. Buré, France. A local cemetery was desecrated. Gravestones were
knocked over and crosses were smashed.
October 27. Zabrze Helence, Poland. A total of 29 tombstones and 22 crosses were
destroyed at the cemetery of the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of the Church.
August 30. Vals-près-le-Puy, France. Tombstones were overturned in three
different cemeteries in the town. Police said the attacks were not religiously
motivated.
July 21. North Jutland, Denmark. A 45-year-old man spray-painted the number
'666' on 87 gravestones at Hadsund Cemetery.
June 20. Evesham, England. Vandals defaced tombstones at St. Andrews Parish
Church Cemetery with satanic graffiti. On June 16, vandals desecrated more than
100 graves at the same cemetery.
February 14, Madrid, Spain. Gravestones were defaced at the cemetery of the
Almudena Cathedral.
February 6. Kamień Krajeński, Poland. Vandals ransacked a local cemetery.
Tombstones were destroyed, crosses were knocked down and a statue of Jesus was
destroyed.
Urination, Defecation and Exhibitionism at Christian Sites in Europe in 2019:
November 20. Tarbes, France. Vandals ransacked the Church of Saint-Jean. They
broke open the doors, smashed statues and burned hymn books. They also urinated
and defecated on the church floors and used Bibles and hymn books as toilet
paper.
October 27. Moncoutant-sur-Sèvre, France. Five teenagers vandalized a local
church. They urinated on confessionals and holy water fonts and set fire to
alter cloths and hymn books.
August 28. Montefiascone, Italy. The Church of the Madonna dell'Arco was
equipped with security cameras after vandals left excrement, vomit, condoms,
cigarettes and beer cans scattered throughout the building. The church, which
dates to 1796, has also been spray-painted with Satanist graffiti.
August 25. Argenthal, Germany. An exhibitionist exposed himself to worshippers
at a Catholic Mass.
August 20. Giovo, Italy. The doors of the Church of Santa Maria Assunta di Verla
were smeared with excrement.
August 1. Crebio, Italy. The Church of Sant Antonio was desecrated with
excrement that was smeared on the doors, walls and holy water fonts.
July 26. Jaén, Spain. An 18-year-old man defecated in front of the altar of the
Roman Catholic Santuario de la Fuensanta de Villanueva and then smeared his
feces on a statue of Jesus Christ. The act was captured on CCTV.
May 31. Lahntal-Caldern, Germany. Vandals broke into the Nikolaikirche, a
Lutheran church, set fire to a Bible and a hymnal and left a pile of feces at
the entranceway.
May 17. Großholbach, Germany. Vandals ransacked the Holy Trinity Catholic
Church, burned a Jesus statue and urinated on the pews. "This hurts," said Mayor
Michael Kohlhass. "These are values that have simply been trampled upon."
February 5. Nîmes, France. Vandals broke into the Notre Dame des Enfants church,
forced open the tabernacle which houses the Eucharist, scattered consecrated
hosts and spread excrement on the walls and inside and outside the church.
Anarcho-Feminist-Satanist and Politically-Motivated Attacks on Churches in
Europe in 2019:
December 5. Munich, Germany. Four churches in the Munich area were defaced with
political graffiti.
November 27. Mordelles, France. The Church of Saint-Pierre was defaced with
anarchist graffiti.
November 26. Rennes, France. November 26. Vandals defaced the Church of
Notre-Dame-de-Bonne-Nouvelle with Satanist graffiti.
November 13. Segovia, Spain. November 13. The Church of San Agustín, which dates
to the 16th century, was spray-painted with anarchist graffiti. An
"anti-fascist" group called Yesca claimed responsibility for the vandalism.
August 18. Singen, Germany. Vandals spray-painted Herz-Jesu Catholic Church with
the number, "666."
June 19. London, England. Vandals lit fires outside the doors of four churches
in east London. At each church, occult symbols and messages including
pentagrams, spirals, the number 666 and the word "hell" were etched into the
doors.
March 8. Madrid, Spain. The Church of Santa Mónica in Rivas Vaciamadrid was
spray-painted with anti-Catholic and radical feminist graffiti to mark
International Women's Day.
March 8. Logroño, Spain. The Cathedral of Santa María de la Redonda was defaced
with feminist propaganda.
March 8. Seville, Spain. The Church of San Roque was defaced with anarcho-feminist
graffiti.
March 8. Valladolid, Spain. Radical feminists broke into the archbishopric of
Valladolid.
March 5. Reichstett, France. Vandals smashed the stained-glass windows of a
Catholic church and painted "666" and "Satan" on the church walls.
March 4. Alicante, Spain. Satanists performed an occultist ceremony in front of
an evangelical church. They then defaced the entrance to the church with
Satanist graffiti.
February 22. Katowice, Poland. Four local chapels and churches were defaced with
Satanist graffiti.
January 31. Vendôme, France. Thieves broke into the Church of Madeleine and
stole a wooden tabernacle containing a ciborium and consecrated hosts. "The
consecrated hosts are sometimes used during black magic rituals," said Father
Pierre Cabarat. "This theft is a profanation, an assault on the Christian
community."
January 16. Córdoba, Spain. The Santa Victoria de Córdoba Roman Catholic school
was defaced with anarchist graffiti.
Attacks on Nativity Scenes in Europe in 2019:
December 25. Ourense, Spain. A municipal nativity scene was damaged and a statue
of the Christ Child was stolen. The same nativity scene was damaged on December
21.
December 19. Dijon, France. A nativity scene at the Church of Notre-Dame was
destroyed.
December 18. Saint-Éloy-les-Mines, France. A municipal nativity scene was
damaged. Mayor Marie-Thérèse Sikora said: "We are still a Judeo-Christian
country. It is deplorable to attack a crib and decorations. We do this for the
children, but this morning, they were devastated in front of the crib."
December 17. Torrelavega, Spain. Vandals a municipal nativity scene was
ransacked and a statue of the Christ Child was decapitated.
December 16, Tárrega, Spain. Town councilors representing the far-left parties
ERC and CUP dismantled the municipal nativity scene in order to "preserve the
secular character" of the municipality.
November 26, Vienna, Austria. A statue of the Christ Child was stolen twice from
a nativity scene at a Christmas market in the Simmering district.
January 1. Valencia, Spain. An historic nativity scene in Callosa de Segura was
destroyed.
Islam-related Attacks on Christians and Christian Sites in Europe in 2019:
December 6. Bandol, France. Vandals defaced with spray paint a memorial to
Franco-Armenian friendship. The graffiti included the word "Turk." In a
statement, the city said: "The mayor and the elected officials condemn with the
utmost firmness this act which stains the memory of Armenians. Armenia was the
victim of an atrocious genocide which resulted in more than a million victims
between 1915 and 1916. France recognized this genocide in 2001."
November 30. Marienthal, France. A 23-year-old man who claimed to be wearing a
suicide vest ransacked a chapel adjacent to the Convent of Carmel of the Sacred
Heart. Sister Donata, prioress of Carmel, explained: "A young man came to see
us. He was calm. He asked to go to the chapel to pray, and there, at one point,
madness took him. He started to ransack everything. He knocked over the crucifix
and the statue of the Sacred Heart, which he damaged. He knocked down the
candlesticks as well as the stalls. He chipped the altar. He attacked
everything. Never has such a thing happened here." The Strasbourg public
prosecutor's office requested a psychiatric assessment of the man, whose
identity has not been made public.
November 27. Trondheim, Norway. Four Muslim men threatened to kill a Christian
street preacher unless he converted to Islam.
September 6. Marseille, France. A teenager armed with a knife entered the La
Pauline elementary school, stabbed the canteen manager, and shouted, "I am a
Muslim. Today I am going to kill all Christians. 'Allahu Akbar!'" (Allah is
greater [than your God!]).
June 19. Graz, Austria. A 45-year-old Iraqi man set fire to four churches in the
city.
May 5. Toulouse, France. The Notre Dame du Taur church was defaced with the
words, "Allahu Akbar!" ("Allah is greater [than your God]!")
April 21. Rome, Italy. A Moroccan man stabbed a Georgian man for wearing a
crucifix. "Italian Catholic Sh*t," the Moroccan shouted as he tried to cut the
man's throat. The incident took place near Termini Station, the main railway
station in Rome.
April 17. Seville, Spain. A 23-year-old Moroccan jihadi plotted to attack Holy
Week processions.
April 1. Hendaye, France. Three Lebanese teenagers vandalized St. Vincent's
nursery school. They ransacked eight classrooms, destroyed computers and covered
the walls and floors with paint.
Appendix 2: Country-by-Country Attacks on Christian Churches and Symbols in
Europe in 2019
1. France
The French government recorded 1,063 anti-Christian attacks in 2018, compared to
1,038 such attacks in 2017 and 949 in 2016. Overall, the number of attacks
surged by 245% between 2008 and 2016, according to the Interior Ministry, which
noted that attacks on Christian sites account for approximately 90% of all
attacks on places of worship in France.
The trend shows no signs of abating. There were more than 1,000 anti-Christian
attacks in France during 2019, according to data compiled by Daniel Hamiche,
Editor-in-Chief of the blog, Observatory of Christianophobia. Hamiche has been
an indefatigable chronicler of the destruction of Christian heritage in France.
Gatestone Institute also consulted hundreds of national and local newspapers, as
well as dozens of blogs, specialized websites and police blotters. Following are
a few examples of anti-Christian attacks in 2019:
Billy-sous-Mangiennes, December 20. Vandals destroyed the stained-glass windows
at the Church of Saint-Loup.
Aire-sur-l'Adour, December 19. A man set fire to an altar at the Cathedral of
Saint-Jean-Baptiste d'Aire.
Amiens, December 16. Vandals destroyed a statue of Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes at the
Amiens Cathedral.
La Douze, December 11. Thieves stole copper pipes from the Church of
Saint-Pierre-ès-Liens, a Gothic church dating to the 14th century.
Châtillon-sur-Seine, December 4. Thieves broke into the Church of Saint-Nicolas.
Rennes, November 24. Thieves broke into two churches on the same night: offering
boxes were stolen at the Church of Notre-Dame-en-Saint-Melaine and the Basilica
of Saint-Sauveur.
Avolsheim, November 23. Vandals defaced the grotto of the Church of Dompeter,
one of the oldest churches in Alsace.
Porto-Vecchio, November 21. Vandals desecrated an open-air oratory at the Church
of San Ciprianu.
Tournissan, November 16. Thieves ransacked the Church of Saint-Adrien. They then
covered the site with bleach, apparently in an effort to erase traces of DNA.
Marseille, November 9. Vandals defaced the Red Cross Mission Cross adjacent to
the Church of Saint-Patrice. The cross was defaced a total of six times in 2019.
Tonnay-Charente, November 9. Vandals desecrated the Church of Saint-Etienne.
Crosses were overturned, the tabernacle was broken, the hosts were scattered on
the ground and the lunette containing a host for worship was stolen.
Carentan-les-Marais, November 5. Vandals broke into the Church of Notre-Dame de
Carentan. The same church was vandalized in July 2019.
Clermont-Ferrand, October 21. Three teenagers ransacked the Church of Notre-Dame
de Prospérité de Montferrand.
Renazé, October 14. Thieves broke into the Church of Renazé and stole the
tabernacle, which stores the consecrated hosts.
Veynes, September 13. Vandals desecrated the Church of Saint-Sauveur and stole
the ciborium, a chalice used to hold consecrated communion wafers.
Saint-Christol-de-Rodières, September 7. Vandals desecrated the Church of Saint
Christophe and stole the ciborium.
Les Houches, August 24. Vandals broke into the Saint-Jean-Baptiste church and
overturned pews, broke windows, destroyed a confessional booth and spray-painted
anti-religious insults on the walls.
Clermont, August 14. Vandals desecrated the Church of Saint-Samson. Hosts were
scattered and stolen, and the ciborium which contained them was also stolen.
Compiègne, August 10. Vandals desecrated the Church of Saint Éloi and stole the
ciborium and other liturgical items.
Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, July 17. A 44-year-old man was arrested for
vandalizing several churches in the area. He decapitated religious statues,
including one of Jesus, smashed stained-glass windows and destroyed paintings.
Police discarded an "anti-Christian motif" because the man "operated alone, on
impulse and without any real organization."
Bois de Cené, April 4. Vandals ransacked the Church of Saint-Etienne.
Uffholtz, March 30. Vandals destroyed a crucifix.
Péronne, March 27. A 40-year-old man was arrested for stealing at least 30
objects from the Church of Saint Jean Baptiste.
Strasbourg, March 11. Vandals ransacked the Catholic Church of St. Louis de la
Robertsau.
Angoulême, March 9. Vandals ransacked the Hope & Life Evangelical Church and
caused more than €10,000 ($11,000) in damage. The vandalism was aimed at
"defiling, destroying and preventing worship services from taking place,"
according to Pastor Joseph Miall.
Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, February 25. Vandals ransacked two churches: The
Church of Saint-Gilles and the Church of Saint-Croix. They overturned statues
and smashed stained-glass windows.
Maisons-Laffitte, February 10. Vandals ransacked the Saint Nicolas church.
Dijon, February 9. Vandals desecrated the Notre Dame church and stole the
consecrated hosts.
Houilles, February 4. Vandals ransacked the Church of Saint Nicolas and
destroyed a statue dating to the 19th century. It was the third attack at the
church in ten days.
Lusignan, February 3. Thieves broke into the Chapel of St. Anne, forced open the
tabernacle and stole the ciborium. The consecrated hosts were strewn across the
floor.
2. Germany
Aue-Bad Schlema, December 25. A parish worker was stabbed to death when he tried
to stop a fight between a Syrian and an Iranian migrant.
Mettlach, December 23. Vandals ransacked the Church of Sankt Martin.
Schwenningen, September 23. Vandals ransacked the St. Franziskus-Mariä
Himmelfahrt Kirche, a Catholic church.
Herxheim, September 13. Vandals damaged the front door of St. Mary of the
Assumption Catholic Church.
Goch, September 12. Thieves forcibly ripped out and stole the copper water pipes
from inside the walls of Maria Magdalena-Kirche, a Catholic church.
Iserlohn, September 11. Thieves dismantled and stole the copper drainpipes of
St. Gertrudis Kirche, a Catholic church.
Coesfeld, September 11. Vandals broke into St. Lamberti Catholic Church and
poured a strong-smelling liquid into the holy water font.
Sulingen, September 9. Thieves broke into St. Nicolai-Kirche, a Lutheran church.
Koblenz, September 9. Thieves broke into New Apostolic Church.
Weilburg, September 8. Thieves broke into a church on Limburger Straße.
Neustadt/Orla, September 8. Thieves broke into a church and stole property worth
€1,000 ($1,120).
Lahr, September 6. Thieves broke into Peter und Paul Kirche, a Roman Catholic
church.
Kusel, September 5. Vandals smashed the windows of a Protestant church.
Kirchhatten, September 4. Vandals damaged property at St. Ansgari Church.
Runkel, September 3. Vandals ransacked the Heilig Geist church.
Eisenach, September 3. Vandals spray-painted a statue at St. Elisabeth Catholic
Church.
Gosheim, September 3. Vandals broke into Längenberg Chapel.
Apolda, September 2. Thieves dismantled and stole the lightning rods and cables
of St. Bonifatius Catholic Church.
Velen-Ramsdorf, September 1. Vandals spray-painted the façade of St. Walburga
Catholic Church.
Pirmasens, August 31. Vandals ransacked Luther Church. The total damage is
estimated at €5,000 ($5,600).
Clingen, August 30. Thieves stole an outdoor pavilion from St. Gumbert Lutheran
Church.
Kevelaer-Winnekendonk, August 29. Thieves dismantled and stole copper pipes from
St. Antonius Catholic Church.
Mettmann, August 29. Thieves broke into St. Johannes Catholic Church.
Stuttgart-Möhringen, August 25. Thieves broke into a church and kindergarten.
Bochum, August 24. Thieves broke into St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church.
Altenhagen, August 21. Thieves broke into a Lutheran Church and tried to steal
the organ pipes, apparently to sell them as scrap metal for cash.
Ganderkesee, August 19. Thieves broke into St. Hedwig Catholic Church.
Ostbevern, August 19. Vandals desecrated St. Ambrosius Catholic Church; vandals
attacked the same church a day earlier.
Bad Waldsee, August 18. Vandals spray-painted St. Peter Catholic Church with the
words, "God is Dead."
Herne, August 18. Thieves broke into Cranger Kirche, a Lutheran church.
Kirchhundem, August 17. Vandals broke into the St. Peter and St. Paul Catholic
Church.
Greven-Reckenfeld, August 16. Vandals smashed the windows of St. Franziskus
Catholic Church.
Brakel, August 16. Vandals broke into St. Michael's Catholic Church.
Bösensell, August 16. Thieves broke into a church and stole intercession letters
from a mailbox.
Rheine-Schotthock, August 6. Thieves broke into St. Ludgeruskirche Catholic
Church.
Lahn, August 13. A man broke into St. Martinus Catholic Church and tried to
steal money.
Gevelsberg, August 12. Thieves entered St. Engelbert Catholic Church and stole
the tabernacle, a box holding consecrated hosts.
Karlsruhe, August 12. A thief tried to steal money from donation boxes at St.
Stephen's Catholic Church.
Greiz, August 11. Vandals broke into the Gottesackerkirche.
Zell im Wiesental, August 10. Thieves looted the Evangelical Church.
Lauenbrück, July 31. Thieves broke into Martin-Luther-Kirchengemeinde, a
Protestant church; they damaged windows and doors and stole donation money.
Heiden, July 23. Vandals attacked St. Paulus Kirche, an evangelical church. They
broke windows, spray-painted the walls and destroyed furniture.
Lübbecke, July 5. Vandals broke into St. Nikolaus Lutheran Church. The church
has been the target of repeated attacks and there are fears that the vandalism
will escalate to the point that arsonists try to burn it down.
Albstadt-Ebingen, June 9. Vandals ransacked a shrine at St. Joseph's Church.
Esslingen, May 31. Thieves broke into the Osterfeldkirche, a Lutheran church in
Berkheim, and stole property valued at €1,000 ($1,120).
Löffingen, May 24. Vandals ransacked St. Michael's Catholic Church. They damaged
or destroyed paintings, statues, the altar and the organ.
Kronach, May 22. Vandals spray-painted graffiti on the doors of the
Cristuskirche, a Lutheran church.
Rudolstadt, May 7. Vandals spray-painted the walls of the Lutheran Stadtkirche.
Winnweiler, May 6. Vandals broke into the Herz-Jesu-Kirche, a Roman Catholic
church, built a campfire and defaced the walls.
Hoxel, May 5. Vandals smashed a stained-glass window at a Roman Catholic chapel
in Morbach-Hoxel.
Bad Oldesloe, May 4. A thief broke into the Peter-Paul Lutheran Church stole an
intricately-carved wooden cross valued at €5,000 ($5,600).
Mannheim, April 29. Vandals ransacked the Liebfrauenkirche, a Roman Catholic
church.
Kirchberg, April 25. Vandals spray-painted graffiti on the doors of St. Margaret
Lutheran Church.
Wilhelmshaven, April 24. Vandals smashed nine windows in a downtown church.
Ennepetal, April 20. Vandals smashed the windows of Herz-Jesu Roman Catholic
Church.
Dillenburg, April 14. Vandals ransacked the Herz-Jesu Roman Catholic Church.
Ratingen-Hösel, April 11. Burglars broke into the Adolf-Clarenbach-Kirche, a
Lutheran church, and physically removed the safe.
Bremerhaven, April 8. A burglar broke into St. Mary's Catholic Church and stole
several weeks' worth of donations.
Oberschopfheim, April 7. Vandals destroyed the restrooms of the St. Leodegar
Catholic Church.
Münster, April 6. Vandals spray-painted the front door of a Roman Catholic
church.
Bösensell, April 5. Vandals ransacked the St.-Johannes-Kirche, a Roman Catholic
church. The church has been the target of repeated attacks. "We do not want just
to accept this anymore," a church member said.
Hamburg, March 14. A swastika was spray-painted on the front door of the
Kreuzkirche, a Lutheran church in the Wandsbeck district. State prosecutors
launched a criminal investigation.
Wenden, March 11. Vandals ransacked the St. Elisabeth of Schönau Roman Catholic
Church.
Schloß Holte-Stukenbrock, February 24. Vandals damaged the St. Ursula Roman
Catholic Church.
Kaiserslautern, February 2. The Christuskirche Lutheran Church was defaced with
graffiti.
3. Ireland
Dublin, November 11. Vandals desecrated the Star of the Sea Carmelite Nuns
monastery in Malahide. They broke into the monastery in broad daylight,
spray-painted a chapel with graffiti and shouted offensive slurs against the
nuns.
Longford, August 1. Vandals smashed the stained-glass windows of St. Michael's,
the oldest serving Catholic church building in the Diocese of Ardagh and
Clonmacnoise. This was the second attack on the church in two years.
Clonmel, July 30. The Holy Year Cross, a Catholic holy site in Tipperary, was
spray-painted with swastikas days before an annual pilgrimage. This is not the
first time the site was attacked in the days running up to the annual
pilgrimage; in 2011 someone vandalized the altar and burned statues.
Dundalk, July 21. Several people were injured when a man drove a car at high
speed into a crowd of people at St. Patrick's Cemetery. The man was charged with
reckless driving.
Thurles, June 27. Vandals decapitated a marble statue of Archbishop Patrick
Leahy outside the Cathedral of the Assumption, where the archbishop was buried
in 1875. Thurles Police Superintendent Pat Murphy said that the statue is "a
piece of the fabric of Thurles" and appealed to the public for information
related to the attack.
4. Italy
Scorrano, November 18. A thief broke into the Church of the Transfiguration and
stole a collection box as well as a gold necklace from a statue of Mary. He then
urinated on the altar. The crime was captured on CCTV.
Comacchio, September 9. Vandals destroyed donation boxes at the Church of the
Blessed Virgin of Sorrows. No money was taken.
Ceriano Laghetto, August 25. Vandals broke into the shrine of the Madonna del
Santo Rosario and spray-painted a painting depicting Jesus and Mary.
Naples, August 23. Vandals damaged a statue of San Gennaro at the Church of
Santa Croce.
Lecco, June 29. Vandals destroyed the outdoor lights of the Monumental Cemetery.
Lecco, June 3. Vandals uprooted crosses at Monte Magnodeno.
Montebelluna, May 25. The Church of Santa Maria in Colle was defaced with
graffiti. The church was previously defaced with graffiti in April.
Santorso, May 17. Vandals spray-painted the front of the Church of Sant Orso.
They were filmed by CCTV and two individuals, aged 27 and 17, were subsequently
arrested after they boasted about the crime on social media.
Orvieto, May 12. The Church of San Giovenale, which dates to the year 1004, was
defaced with blasphemous graffiti.
Narni, May 5. The Church of San Girolamo was ransacked by vandals who threw down
a large statue of Jesus and damaged sacred books.
Cesena, April 28. The church of the Istituto Lugaresi was ransacked during a
scuffle between two Romanians who were drunk. "Two immigrants entered the church
'Dei Lugaresi,' reducing it to this state," said Massimo Bitonci, representative
of the Lega party. "There are no words to describe so much barbarism."
Sasso della Vecchia, April 23. Vandals destroyed an iconic statue of Mary and
Jesus.
Trieste, April 21. A man entered the Church of San Giovanni on Easter Sunday,
took a communion wafer and began cursing Roman Catholicism.
Naples, April 8. An arsonist tried to set fire to an evangelical church. The
attack was captured on CCTV.
San Fior, April 5. Vandals ransacked the sacristy of the church of San Fior.
Three Romanians were arrested in connection with the crime.
Calolziocorte, March 27. Vandals damaged the walls of an old church in Sala.
Montevaccino, February 20. The Church of San Leonardo was damaged by vandals who
broke crosses, statues and windows.
San Fior, February 19. Vandals defaced the walls of the Church of Castello
Roganzuolo.
Rome, February 12. Vandals destroyed a marble plaque of the Martin Luther
square. The square was named in 2015 in recognition of the role that the
Protestant reformer played both in the church and in European culture. "We
lament this act of vandalism, which shows the lack of values we breath and the
climate of deterioration in which we live," said Leonardo de Chirico of the
Italian Evangelical Alliance.
Farra di Soligo, February 6. The Chapel of San Michele was ransacked by vandals
who broke open the iron gate and smashed statues.
5. United Kingdom
In Northern Ireland, churches and cemeteries are attacked, on average, every
other day, according to police statistics obtained in August 2019 under the
Freedom of Information Act. A total of 445 crimes were recorded as criminal
damage to religious buildings, churchyards or cemeteries across Northern
Ireland's 11 policing districts during the last three years, according to data
obtained by Christian Action Research and Education (Care NI) from the Police
Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). Incidents in 2019 include:
Abertridwr, September 16. Vandals damaged the Church of St. Ilan Eglwysilan,
which dates to the year 1188.
Hamble, September 4. Vandals destroyed a fence at St. Andrew's, a 900-year-old
church.
Ebbw Vale, August 30. Vandals broke into Christ Church.
Ballyclare, August 23. Unidentified vandals destroyed a large section of the
wooden walls of Ballyclare Free Presbyterian Church. Several of the church's
windows were smashed in a separate incident in late December. The church has
been attacked four times during the past year.
Glasgow, August 21. Vandals ransacked Carnwadric Church of Scotland.
Kimberley, August 11. Vandals smashed windows of Holy Trinity Church.
Scarborough, August 13. Thieves broke into the Church of the Holy Nativity,
stole items from inside the building and spray-painted the steps.
Liverpool, August 3. Vandals defaced St. Oswald King & Martyr Catholic Church
with graffiti and smashed windows.
Tamworth, June 14. Vandals defaced St. Editha's Church, one of the oldest
churches in the West Midlands, with anti-Christian graffiti. Among the messages
scrawled were, "God has failed," "Deliver us to evil," and "Lucifer runs this
capitalist ruin." Church warden Dawn Perry said: "We are totally shocked,
saddened and angered by this."
South Cerney, June 12. Vandals smashed a stained-glass window at All Hallows
Church.
Sussex, May 9. Vandals destroyed an historic lychgate at St. John the Evangelist
Church in Copthorne.
Glasgow, April 29. A bus stop in front of Holy Family Parish Church in Mossend
in North Lanarkshire was defaced with anti-Catholic graffiti. On 26 March,
vandals smashed the windows of Holy Family Primary School, which is next door to
the church.
Glasgow, April 28. St. Simon's Catholic Church was ransacked by vandals in a
daytime attack. Police said that there was significant damage to the inside of
the church, including damage to the altar area of the church as well as to a
shrine which has been in the church since the 1940 and caters to the Polish
parishioners who attend mass in their native language.
Bacup, April 26. Vandals ransacked St. Saviour's Church. The historic building
was defaced with graffiti, the stained-glass windows were smashed, and its organ
was stripped bare.
Willesden, April 21. Vandals destroyed the windows of Elim Pentecostal Church on
Easter Sunday.
Belfast, April 21. Sacred Heart Church in Ballyclare was vandalized with paint
on Easter Sunday. Police, who described the incident as a hate crime, arrested a
26-year-old man who was later released on bail.
Bath, February 16. Vandals toppled a one-ton stone sculpture of loaves and
fishes at St. Philip and St. James' Church.
West Midlands, January 16. More than a dozen churches received anonymous letters
threatening attacks. "Stop all your services straight away," warned one letter
sent to a church in Sheffield. "If you don't your church will be petrol bombed
while in service. Continue behind closed doors and your congregation members
will be stabbed one by one. Blood on your hands. You have been warned."
Cirencester, January 13. Burglars smashed stained-glass windows and stole the
collection box at Cirencester Parish Church.
6. Spain
Granada, December 12. The Church of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores was
spray-painted with anti-Catholic graffiti.
Barcelona, November 27. A Roman Catholic seminary was spray-painted with
anti-Catholic graffiti.
Zaragoza, November 16. Vandals ransacked the Chapel of the Santo Sepulcro de
Tauste and set fire to a statue of Jesus.
Madrid, November 11. The Church of Santa Catalina de Alejandría was
spray-painted with Satanist graffiti.
Zamora, October 28. The Church of San Esteban, which dates to the 11th century,
was defaced with graffiti.
Seville, October 28. The Basilica de la Macarena was defaced with graffiti.
Valencia, October 24. The Church of San Nicolás was defaced with graffiti.
Madrid, October 21. The Cathedral de la Almudena and several other churches in
the capital were defaced with graffiti.
Barcelona, October 18. The Church of Nuestra Señora del Rosario was defaced with
political graffiti.
Barcelona, October 14. The Church of San Juan Bautista de Gracia was defaced
with Satanist graffiti.
Córdoba, October 5. Vandals desecrated the Chapel of Rosa de Montilla.
Cuenca, October 1. Thieves broke into the Church of La Concepción de Casas de
Fernando Alonso and stole the tabernacle.
Madrid, September 27. The Church of San Miguel de Fuencarral was spray-painted
with anti-Catholic graffiti.
Carbonero, September 6. Vandals overturned large granite bollards in front of
the Church of San Juan Bautista.
Almería, August 31. The Church of Santiago Apóstol was defaced with graffiti.
Cambrils, July 25. A man repeatedly defaced the Church of Sant Pere with
graffiti. He was arrested when police observed him carrying paint and walking
toward the church.
Guadalajara, July 20. Vandals broke into the Church of Santiago Apostle and
stole the consecrated host.
Castellón, July 18. The Cross of the Fallen was defaced with graffiti.
Buelna, July 17. The Cross of the Fallen, a monument in the town center, was
defaced with anti-religious and pro-Communist graffiti.
Salamanca, July 16. The historic Church of San Marcos was defaced with paint.
San Cristóbal de La Laguna, June 21. Vandals defaced several churches with
graffiti.
Soria, June 23. Vandals damaged the Chapel of San Bartolomé, a 12th Century
Romanesque church that is currently undergoing renovations.
Córdoba, May 31. Thieves broke into a Roman Catholic fraternity and stole gold
crowns from several statues.
Málaga, May 24. Vandals broke into a Roman Catholic fraternity and defaced a
statue of Jesus with spray paint.
Almería, April 21. A Roman Catholic fraternity was defaced with anarchist
graffiti.
Segovia, April 18. Vandals threw eggs on a Holy Week procession.
Andújar, April 16. Vandals broke off the legs of a historic stone statue known
as Cristo del Altozano de Santiago.
Orense, April 14. On Palm Sunday, a Catholic church in Meside was defaced with
far-left anti-religious graffiti.
Tavernes de la Valldigna, April 1. Vandals defaced the Church of St Pere with
anarchist graffiti.
Madrid, March 29. Madrid Mayor Manuela Carmena removed all references to
Christianity from the city's Holy Week celebrations. "We seek to transcend the
immediate significance of Holy Week to delve into the timeless feeling and
universal emotions that this period of recollection arouses," according to the
City Hall.
Seville, March 19. Two women broke into the sacristy of the Church of San Julián
and then left the building wearing vestments used by priests to officiate the
mass. The incident was captured on CCTV.
Málaga, March 13. Vandals broke into the Sagrada Familia chapel in El Copo.
Santiago de Compostela, March 12. The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, a
World Heritage Site, was defaced with anti-religious graffiti. The cathedral was
previously defaced in August 2018; the cost of removing the graffiti exceeded
€10,000 ($11,200).
Málaga, March 11. Thieves broke into the Holy Trinity of Antequera church and
stole the consecrated host, the sacred bread used in the Roman Catholic Mass.
Madrid, March 10. Vandals caused significant damage to the Parish of San Rafael
Arnáiz in Sanchinarro. They also stole the consecrated host.
Ávila, March 10. Vandals defaced the Chapel of the Risen One.
Barcelona, March 8. The entrance to a Christian radio station was spray-painted
with anti-religious graffiti.
Córdoba, March 6. Arsonists threw a Molotov cocktail against the Parish of San
Miguel. The wick was burned but the device did not explode.
Camargo, March 5. A cross was defaced with anarchist and Communist graffiti.
Gijón, March 2. Vandals destroyed a marble railing in the Church of San José.
Jaén, February 18. Vandals broke into the Parish of Santa Isabel and stole the
consecrated host.
Seville, February 11. Vandals spray-painted the Church of San Martin with the
words, "The only church that illuminates is the one that burns."
Ávila, February 10. Vandals spray-painted two Roman Catholic churches with
anti-religious, pro-anarchist graffiti.
Cimadevilla, February 7. Vandals defaced the Church of San Juan Bautista with
graffiti.
Córdoba, January 30. The Trinidad Roman Catholic school in Vistalegre was
defaced with anti-religious graffiti.
Vigo, January 22. Two youths broke into a chapel at Álvaro Cunqueiro Hospital
and stole the consecrated host.
Pasaia, January 22. Vandals threw a Jesus statue into the town's harbor.
Almería, January 20. Arsonists attempted to burn down the hermitage of
Torregarcía; arsonists previously tried to burn down the chapel on January 11.
Ondarroa, January 14. Basque separatists destroyed a large cross raised by the
Franco regime in 1958 to honor "the children of Ondarroa who heroically gave
their lives for God and Spain."
Soria, January 4. The Church of Santa María la Mayor was spray-painted with
graffiti.
Córdoba, January 2. Vandals destroyed a cross commemorating the Spanish Civil
War at a cemetery in Puente Genil.
Appendix 3: Select Commentary and Reflections on Church Attacks in Europe in
2019
December 18, Saint-Éloy-les-Mines, France: "We are still a Judeo-Christian
country. It is deplorable to attack a nativity scene and decorations. We do this
for the children, but this morning, they were devastated in front of the crib."
— Marie-Thérèse Sikora, Mayor of Saint-Éloy-les-Mines.
November 21, Porto-Vecchio, Italy: "This attack reflects a deep lack of respect
in a sacred place. It is not normal to degrade a statue of piety in this way.
This should not happen in Corsica, a Christian land." — Frédéric Constant,
Priest, Church of San Ciprianu, Porto-Vecchio.
November 21, Tarbes, France: "The desecration of the Church of Saint Jean in
Tarbes takes place in a continuum of a devastating number of abominations of
chapels and churches. There is hardly a day when we do not learn of such facts,
illustrating an unprecedented increase since the French Revolution of
anti-Catholic hatred in France." — The general alliance against racism and for
the respect of French and Christian identity (AGRIF).
November 16, Zaragoza, Spain: "This has been an attack on a religious and
cultural symbol of our people. It is not a simple act of vandalism. It is a
place where our ancestors, family and friends have met for centuries." — Miguel
Angel Francés Carbonel, Mayor of Tauste.
November 16, Zaragoza, Spain: "This time it was not a robbery, it was evil. On
other occasions they came to steal but today it was to destroy." — Javier
Francés, Custodian, Chapel of the Santo Sepulcro de Tauste.
November 9, Tonnay-Charente, France: "This attack is an expression of hatred
against Christ and his Church, a manifestation of violence, cowardice and
stupidity." — Monsignor Georges Colomb, Bishop of La Rochelle and Saintes.
November 4, Oloron-Sainte-Marie, France: "These serious incivilities and this
total lack of respect for a sacred heritage are increasing in France. This
raises deep concerns about the civilizational values that characterize our
society." — Monsignor Marc Aillet, Bishop of Bayonne.
August 20, Giovo, Italy. "It is clear that anyone who has performed such an act
does not know our values. Such contempt for this place, a religious symbol of
yesterday and today that embodies the sensitivity of our people, discredits
those who have done this by acting in the shadows, in the illusion that darkness
can hide from its own cowardice." — Michael Moser, local resident.
August 14, Clermont, France: "As Catholic Christians, this new event saddens us
more, insofar as it suggests that people make churches a target to satisfy their
addiction or to appease their greed." — Monsignor Jacques Raymond Germain
Benoit-Gonnin, Bishop of Beauvais, Senlis and Noyon.
August 10, Compiègne, France: "The most essential issue for us is that the
tabernacle was forced open, and that the Blessed Sacrament, the presence of
Christ was touched and stolen. This is a profanation for us." — Julien Serey,
Communications Director, Diocese of Oise.
August 1, Longford, Ireland: "Let there be no ambiguity, this is not a
victimless crime. Vandalism of this kind is profoundly disrespectful to people
of faith and to places of worship. It is threatening and distressing. In a truly
pluralist society these examples of vandalism are of concern to our whole
community." — Bishop Francis Duffy.
May 21, Madrid, Spain: "It is very worrying that, year after year, attacks
against churches increase. This can cause fear in believers when they go to pray
or practice their faith. Religious freedom is the acid test of human rights. A
democracy like ours cannot allow such a high number of attacks on religious
freedom to occur. Religious freedom is a person's most intimate right because it
involves the conscience." — María García, President, Observatory for Religious
Freedom (Observatorio para la Libertad Religiosa y de Conciencia, OLRC).
May 24, Belfast, Northern Ireland: "All attacks on property are to be condemned,
but the deliberate targeting of a church is particularly heinous. Apart from the
obvious danger to life, attacks on churches cause a special revulsion because of
their historical role in providing sanctuary and a normally safe place for
worship.... This was not only an attack on a church, but as a peace-hungry
society, this was an attack on all of us." — The Belfast Telegraph.
May 17, Großholbach, Germany: "This hurts. These are values that have simply
been trampled upon." — Michael Kohlhass, Mayor of Großholbach .
April 4, Bois de Cené, France: "I condemn with the utmost firmness the
degradations committed in the church of Bois-de-Céné. They are absolutely
unbearable. Whether malicious or anti-Christian, such acts deeply hurt believers
who have the right to be able to freely live their faith. Places of worship are
places of meditation. Those who profane them at the same time attack secularism
which allows 'those who believe in heaven and those who do not believe' to live
together with respect for freedom of conscience." — Yves Auvinet, President of
the Departmental Council of Bois de Cené.
April 2, Paris, France: "The Church has occupied a very important place in
French society for so long that some people do not want to pay attention to the
attacks of which it is the victim." — Jérôme Fourquet, Director of Opinion, Ifop
polling agency.
April 2, Paris, France: "Christians, hostages of the war of civilizations in the
Middle East, are part of that which rages quietly in our regions." — Elisabeth
Lévy, Editor-in-Chief, Causeur magazine.
March 23, Leoben, Austria: "This was no simple act of vandalism. It was
spiritual anarchism. It is evil. They urinated at the altar and poured out the
holy water. This was a manifestation of their attitude toward the church." —
Markus Plöbst, Parish Priest, Stadtpfarrkirche Leoben.
March 11, Strasbourg, France: "This lack of respect for the sacred in our
society is very disturbing." —Alain Fontanel, Deputy Mayor of Strasbourg.
March 5, Reichstett, France: "It's a question of respect for religious
buildings. On Halloween the Protestant church was targeted, and now it's the
Catholic church. It's an attack on the freedom of worship." — Georges Schuler,
Mayor of Reichstett.
February 25, Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, France: "It is the moral prejudice that
is important, that is to say that it was an attack on the place of worship, an
attack on religion, in a somewhat complicated context in France. Therefore,
effectively, the moral prejudice is much more important than financial harm." —
François Blanchet, Mayor of Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie.
February 11, Ávila, Spain: "These acts of vandalism threaten first of all the
heritage of our city," said in a statement. Above all, however, they threaten
respect and religious freedom, recognized and protected in the Constitution, and
that must be the guarantor of a healthy and free peaceful coexistence in Spanish
society." — Bishopric of Ávila.
February 10, Maisons-Laffitte, France: "This vandalism is an attack on the
freedom of worship because it is attacking what is at the heart of belief." —
Jean-Jacques Brot, Prefect, Yvelines department.
February 5, Lavaur, France: "God will forgive, I will not. I expect justice, an
exemplary sanction for these acts of Christianophobia that have upset and
outraged the people of Lavaur and, well beyond this, the French who are proud of
their religious and cultural heritage." — Bernard Carayon, Mayor of Lavaur.
January 17, Grenoble, France: "This criminal action is an attack on freedom of
conscience, freedom of worship, and the value of coexistence," — Bishop of
Grenoble-Vienne, Guy de Kerimel.
January 10, Rovereto, Italy: "Expressing one's thoughts with violence and
arrogance by damaging the symbols and property of others is always wrong. In a
democracy there are other ways to express one's ideas. Whoever set fire to the
entrance of the church of San Rocco is the enemy of dialogue and peaceful
debate." — Maurizio Fugatti, President of the Autonomous Province of Trento.
Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute.
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