LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
January 09/19

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://data.eliasbejjaninews.com/eliasnews19/english.january09.19.htm

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to enter the LCCC Arabic/English news bulletins Achieves since 2006

Bible Quotations For today
We have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labours, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge & patience.
Second Letter to the Corinthians 05/20-21//06/01-07: "We are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, ‘At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.’ See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labours, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on January 08-09/19
Storm to Reach Peak Before Subsiding on Wednesday
Snow at 500 Meters, Schools Closed as Storm Wreaks Havoc across Lebanon
Russia Joins Efforts to Pressure for Hannibal Gaddafi’s Release
Tripartite Move’ to Accelerate Invitation of Damascus to Arab Summit
Hariri Refuses 32-Minister Govt. as Standoff with Hizbullah Flares Up
Bassil Seeks to Turn Economic Summit into 'Syria Reconciliation Summit'
Child Missing as Storm Wrecks Syrian Refugee Camps in Lebanon
Hariri receives Guinea Bissau Speaker
Guinea-Bissau Speaker of Parliament meets Choucair: We will give guarantees, provide facilitation to those wishing to invest
Rahi meets Ibrahim, Bukhari, Renard over current situation
Future bloc: Proposal to activate caretaker government will be followed up on to reach decision in line with Constitution
Kanaan after bloc meeting: We will not watch country be dragged into the unknown
Franjieh, Bukhari tackle current situation
Finance Minister from Hay Selloum deprecates state's inability to take radical decisions
Ghosn Lawyer Says Bail 'Very Difficult' before Trial
Lebanon Must Be Allowed to Break Free from Its Political Stasis

Litles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 08-09/19
Several people arrested, some killed in security operation in Qatif, Saudi Arabia
US State Department envoy working on Qatar crisis resigns
Fresh Turkish-US crisis: Erdogan refuses to see visiting US adviser, again threatens Kurds
Turkey-Qatar pact can be ‘misused for military missions’ in the Gulf
Canadian cleric says 'Merry Christmas' is worse than murder remarks were taken out of context
EU Hits Iran with Sanctions after Murder Plots
Advocate of Iran Sanctions Joins US National Security Council
Erdogan Slams Bolton’s ‘Unacceptable’ Comments on Kurdish YPG
Turkey Angered by US ‘Sykes-Picot’ Plan in Eastern Syria
Turkey’s Erdogan Refuses to Meet With Trump Adviser Bolton
Turkey Denies Promising to Protect Syrian Kurdish Fighters
Egypt Border Closed to Gazans Leaving amid Palestinian Feuding
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi speaks during presidential session at Africa 2018 Forum
Israel Arrests Palestinian Wanted for Shooting 2 of its Troops
Palestinian President Approves Harsh Measures to Force Hamas to Handover Gaza
Egypt Border Closed to Gazans Leaving amid Palestinian Feuding
Demands to Investigate Iraqi Delegations’ Visit to Israel
Saudi Yemen Ambassador: We Won’t Allow Houthis to Become New Hezbollah
Advocate of Iran Sanctions Joins US National Security Council

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on January 08-09/19
Ghosn Lawyer Says Bail 'Very Difficult' before Trial/Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 08/19/
Lebanon Must Be Allowed to Break Free from Its Political Stasis/The National/January 08/19
Has the Stock Market Established a Bottom/Mohamed El-Erian/Bloomberg/January 08/19
The Return of the Americans to Syria/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/ASharq Al Awsat/January 08/19
Trump’s Long Shutdown Could Destabilize the World/Noah Feldman/Bloomberg/January 08/19
Apologists for Extremism in the West/Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute./January 08/19
Multiculturalism and the Transformation of Britain in 2018: Part II/Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute./January 08/19
Pompeo, Bolton on damage control mission in Middle East/Osama Al-Sharif/Arab News/January 08/19
Why a new Turkish offensive in Syria is unlikely/Sharif Nashashibi/Arab News/January 08/19
Israel, Russia in new paradigm in Syria created by the US/Maria Dubovikova/Al Arabiya/January 08/19

Latest LCCC English Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on January 08-09/19
Storm to Reach Peak Before Subsiding on Wednesday
Kataeb.org/Tuesday 08th January 2019/The heavy storm "Norma", that has been battering Lebanon over the past two days, is expected to intensify later on Tuesday with more snowfalls, strong winds, low temperatures and downpours forecasted up until Wednesday. The bad weather conditions prompted caretaker Education Minister Marwan Hamadeh to extend the holidays vacation for schools nationwide until Thursday morning. Daycare centers will also shut their doors on Wednesday as per a decision issued by the Ministry of Health. According to Beirut airport’s Meteorological Department, the winds speed will reach up to 100 kilometers/hour starting Tuesday afternoon, and snow is expected to fall at altitudes as low as 600 meters overnight. The Internal Security Forces warned citizens against approaching beaches and parking their cars alongside seashores as winds will churn up high waves.
The storm will start abating as of Wednesday as the day goes on, the weather forecast reports noted.

Snow at 500 Meters, Schools Closed as Storm Wreaks Havoc across Lebanon
Naharnet/January 08/19/A powerful storm wreaked further havoc across the country on Tuesday, causing a fatality and major material damage and forcing the closure of all public and private schools and vocational institutes. Caretaker Education Minister Marwan Hamadeh said schools will remain closed until Thursday morning to preserve the safety of students. In the South, a young man in his twenties, Osama Jomaa, was killed after his pickup truck flipped over in the vicinity of the al-Zahrani River. According to the National News Agency he hailed from the town of Houmine al-Fawqa. Heavy rains meanwhile closed the entrances of the coastal southern city of Tyre overnight, damaging crops and forcing the shutdown of the city's port. A load-bearing wall meanwhile partially collapsed onto a road in the Sidon town of Bqusta. Elsewhere, the Civil Defense announced that it had rescued several citizens who were stranded in three cars on the al-Sahha road in Hammana, Mount Lebanon. They were eventually allowed to continue their trips. In the Northern region of Koura, Civil Defense crews pumped out flood water from a number of shops and restaurants on Amioun's highway. Flash floods meanwhile turned the Akkar Plain area, especially between the al-Kabir and al-Ostwan rivers, into a "large lake" with the overflowing of the rivers towards properties, agricultural fields and homes in several towns in the area. Crops were completely destroyed as the flooding forced some families to flee to safer locations, NNA said. A large piece of glass from a balcony meanwhile landed on a car in the Beirut area of Karakoul al-Druze, causing material damage. Moreover, the Lebanese Red Cross rescued four citizens stranded in snow in the high mountains of Tasheh in Akkar's Qamoua. It also reported 581 medical emergencies, 703 evacuations and the distribution of 95 blood units. Other damages were also reported across the country.

Russia Joins Efforts to Pressure for Hannibal Gaddafi’s Release
Hannibal Gaddafi/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 January, 2019/Russia has entered the communications line in the file of Hannibal Muammar Gaddafi, as the Syrian regime is pressuring for his release three years following his detention in Lebanon on charges of concealing information about the disappearance of the founder of the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council, Imam Moussa Sadr during a visit to Libya in August 1978. Sources close to the matter told Asharq Al-Awsat that Moscow has decided to work on this file at the request of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, brother of Hannibal, who currently resides in a mountainous area of Libya, under the protection of loyal tribal groups. The sources revealed that Saif al-Islam, who “maintains a good relationship, even by correspondence, with Moscow,” sent his representatives to the Russian capital, asking officials to intervene to release his brother who was arrested in Lebanon on charges of concealing information that is punishable by a maximum of three years of imprisonment. Lebanese sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Director-General of the General Security, Major General Abbas Ibrahim, had conveyed a message in this regard to Speaker Nabih Berri, and that Ibrahim met with Gaddafi at his detention cell in the Information Division prison. Political sources noted that efforts have intensified for the release of Hannibal so he will be able to reunite with his family (his Lebanese wife Helene Skaff and his three children), who were staying with him in Damascus on the day he was kidnapped more than three years ago. The sources added that Lebanese officials responded to the request of Moscow “and made contacts that remained secret, to inquire about the reasons behind the continued detention of Gaddafi.”The sources said they believe that his case was "political par excellence"; especially that the forensic investigator in Sadr’s disappearance case did not investigate with him for more than a year.

‘Tripartite Move’ to Accelerate Invitation of Damascus to Arab Summit
Beirut- Caroline Akoum/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 January, 2019/Lebanese President Michel Aoun confirmed Monday that the Arab Economic Summit would be held on time next January 19, referring to the absence of any reason or justification for its postponement. "The Arab Economic Summit will take place on time and the fact that the current government is a caretaker government will not be a reason for its postponement," Aoun said. The President’s assertions come as his son-in-law caretaker Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil leads an initiative to allow the invitation of the Syrian regime to Beirut and therefore, transform the Arab Economic Summit into a “place for reconciling with Damascus,” sources close to Bassil’s moves told Asharq Al-Awsat. “Bassil’s initiative aims to propose a tripartite Lebanese-Iraqi-Jordanian proposition, backed by Egypt, during the upcoming assembly of the Arab League’s permanent members expected next Wednesday in Cairo,” the sources said. They did not rule out the possibility that the Foreign Minister’s initiative could be supported during the AL’s meeting. Bassil and Hezbollah support inviting the Syrian regime to Beirut, while Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri opposes such move, causing controversy in the Lebanese political sphere. Sources assert that Lebanon “hosts the Economic Summit” and does not invite for it, and therefore sending an invitation to the Syrian regime is in the hands of the Council of Arab Foreign Ministers. The Arab League has postponed a meeting that was due to take place Sunday to discuss a number of issues including ways to restore normal relations with Syria. On Monday, Aoun received an official invitation from his Tunisian counterpart, Qaed Baji Essebsi, to attend the Arab Summit to be held in March in Tunisia. The personal representative of Tunisian President, Al-Azhar Al-Karawi Al-Shabbi, handed the invitation letter to Aoun during a visit to Baabda palace. "Lebanon will attend the Arab Summit in Tunis to emphasize the importance of Arab solidarity," Aoun said. Syria was suspended from the Arab League in 2011 in response to the Syrian government's violent attacks on protests.

Hariri Refuses 32-Minister Govt. as Standoff with Hizbullah Flares Up
Naharnet/January 08/19/Hizbullah has returned to the approach of focusing its attacks on Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri in an attempt to divert attention from its standoff with President Michel Aoun and the Free Patriotic Movement, sources close to Hariri have suggested in remarks to al-Hayat newspaper. Hariri meanwhile told FPM chief MP Jebran Bassil that he will not accept the idea of forming a 32-minister cabinet "no matter what happens because Hizbullah is behind it," Asharq al-Awsat daily reported. Hizbullah "wants to impose it on the PM-designate, who does not want to introduce new norms in the formation of governments," the newspaper said. Hizbullah secretary-general's political aide Hussein al-Khalil meanwhile told al-Akhbar newspaper that "the party's leadership has no decision or intention to attack the PM-designate," after several Hizbullah officials criticized Hariri in recent days. "Despite everything, Hizbullah still believes that Hariri is the right PM for this period," Khalil added.

Bassil Seeks to Turn Economic Summit into 'Syria Reconciliation Summit'
Naharnet/January 08/19/Caretaker Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil is “vigorously” seeking to turn Beirut’s upcoming Arab economic summit into a summit for Arab “reconciliation” with Damascus, a media report said. “He is working on the Arab level to secure Syria’s return to the Arab League and therefore inviting it to the summit,” informed sources told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published Tuesday. “Bassil’s initiative is based on a tripartite Lebanese-Iraqi-Jordanian proposal that is backed by Egypt and will be presented tomorrow Wednesday at an Arab coordination meeting at the level of permanent envoys that will be held in Cairo,” the sources said. While not ruling out the success of Bassil’s initiative, the sources added that the minister is seeking to turn the summit into a “summit for reconciliation with Damascus.”“Lebanon is hosting the summit and the invitations are not for it to decide on. The decision whether or not to invite Damascus will be issued by the council of Arab foreign ministers,” the sources went on to say, downplaying the significance of a possible Lebanese dispute between Bassil -- backed by Hizbullah and its allies -- and the Hariri-led camp. Bassil had recently voiced similar remarks. “It is not up to Lebanon to invite anyone; it rather abides by the Arab League’s decision. But Lebanon can take the initiative and seek Syria’s return to the League, and we as a political camp and a Lebanese foreign ministry have a well-known opinion,” the minister said. President Michel Aoun had confirmed Monday that the summit will be held on time despite the presence of a caretaker cabinet.

Child Missing as Storm Wrecks Syrian Refugee Camps in Lebanon
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 08/19/Heavy rains and snow wrecked several informal settlements housing Syrian refugees in Lebanon and left thousands in need of emergency assistance, aid workers said on Tuesday, as a toddler girl was reported missing.
The Syrian child went missing in the Minieh-al-Dhour area in the North after she was swept away by flash floods from outside her home to nearby valleys, the National News Agency said, adding that she is yet to be found despite strenuous search efforts. “The 8-year-old child was playing with her sister on the street before being swept away by the floods,” NNA said. Some of the worst affected were the refugees living in Arsal, a mountainous border area in northeastern Lebanon where the roofs of rudimentary shacks caved under the weight of the snow. "Look at this weather, we are cut off from everything, the tent has collapsed, we turn to God," one refugee there told AFP as snow flakes landed on her black head dress. "The storm arrived yesterday and more than one meter of snow has fallen," another refugee said. "There's no food, no bread, and the road has been closed since yesterday."
Snowfall is not unusual in the area but Lebanon has in recent days been hit by a prolonged patch of severe weather and a storm dubbed "Norma". Schools closed across the country, roads were cut off by flooding and pools of water formed in major underpasses in Beirut, wreaking traffic chaos across the capital. Lebanon hosts an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees, many of whom live in informal settlements that have little or no infrastructure. The United Nations' refugee agency (UNHCR) said emergency measures had been put in place to rescue stranded families and help those suffering from the cold. "Across Lebanon, at least 66 informal settlements have been found heavily impacted by the flooding, 15 of which have completely flooded or collapsed," Lisa Abou Khaled, a spokesperson for the UNHCR, said. "Around 300 people have been relocated so far in the north and the (eastern) Bekaa" region, she told AFP. She said the UNHCR and its partners were distributing relief items such as new tents, blankets, mattresses and drainage kits. "UNHCR and partners estimate that approximately 850 informal settlements, hosting 50,000 refugees, are at risk of flooding," Abou Khaled said.

Hariri receives Guinea Bissau Speaker
Tue 08 Jan 2019 /NNA - Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri received this evening at the Center House the President of the National People's Assembly of Guinea Bissau Cipriano Cassama at the head of a delegation, in the presence of Minister Jamal Jarrah and MPs Bahia Hariri, Michel Moussa, Dima Jamali and Nazih Najem. The meeting focused on the good relations between the two countries, the positive and constructive role played by the Lebanese community in Guinea-Bissau and its efficient contribution to the country's development.
At the end of the meeting, Prime Minister Hariri and his guest exchanged souvenir gifts.

Guinea-Bissau Speaker of Parliament meets Choucair: We will give guarantees, provide facilitation to those wishing to invest
Tue 08 Jan 2019/NNA - Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, Cipriano Kassama, visited the Chamber of Beirut and Mount Lebanon this Tuesday afternoon, accompanied by two Guinean deputies, holding a meeting with the economic bodies headed by Mohammad Choucair, in the presence of a number of Lebanese businessmen and the Consul of Guinea-Bissau in Lebanon, Mohammad Sleiman, with talks featuring high on means to promote economic cooperation between the two countries. Choucair noted that "Lebanon has a great interest in developing its economic relations with Guinea-Bissau, especially since small countries like ours are looking for balanced relations that benefit both sides.""There are many promising opportunities in Lebanon, especially the infrastructure projects discussed at the Cedre conference, and oil and gas projects," he said. "Lebanon has major products meeting the highest international standards and can cover many of the needs of this friendly country."Speaker Kassama said "I was honored today to visit the Beirut Chamber and Mount Lebanon and meet with this elite of Lebanese businessmen and discuss with them the development of economic cooperation between the two countries.""I chose to visit this friendly country to tell Lebanese businessmen that investment opportunities in my country are many and open," he said, noting that "Guinea-Bissau is rich in natural resources, such as oil that has not be invested in, as well as phosphate, gold, cement and so on. It has 82 islands, 22 of which are inhabited, and we also have a very important marine and fisheries wealth," the Speaker said, calling upon Lebanese businessmen to "come to Guinea-Bissau to invest in these various promising opportunities," pointing at the presence of 200 Lebanese in his country "about 80 percent of them carrying Guinean nationality.""Guinea-Bissau has a promising future, and we want to share with the Lebanese this future, so we will give all the guarantees and provide facilitation to those who wish to invest in our country, especially in terms of exemption from taxes and customs," he assured.

Rahi meets Ibrahim, Bukhari, Renard over current situation
Tue 08 Jan 2019/NNA - Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Rahi welcomed this Tuesday in Bkirki General Security Chief, Major General Abbas Ibrahim, who well-wished him on the festive season. The visit was a chance to dwell on most recent developments, notably current efforts and proposals to form the new government. Both sides underlined the need to find a swift solution to impediments hindering the formation of the cabinet, since "delay in the [cabinet] formation shall lead to exacerbate the crises at various levels." This afternoon, Patriarch Rahi met with French Senator Damien Regnard, who briefed him on the situation of the Christians in the Orient. Senator Regnard underlined the need to find a solution for the displaced Iraqis and Syrians and to help them to return to their homeland. Regnard hailed Lebanon's hosting of this remarkable number of displaced Syrians. Patriarch Rahi also welcomed in Bkirki the Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon, Walid Bukhari, who well=wished him on the festive season. Ambassador Bukhari wished Lebanon stability and peace, notably a swift government formation to work on socio-economic development. Bukhari underlined the Saudi Kingdom's permanent stand by Lebanon. Later, Rahi chaired a meeting of the Maronite Research and Documentation Center in the presence of Bishop Samir Mazloum, to discuss organizational and administrative affairs. Among the Patriarch's itinerant visitors for today had been the President of the Knights of Malta Organization, Marwan Sehnaoui, and Government Commissioner to the Military Court, Judge Peter Germanos.

Future bloc: Proposal to activate caretaker government will be followed up on to reach decision in line with Constitution
Tue 08 Jan 2019/NNA - The Future parliamentary bloc held its regular meeting this Tuesday at the Center House, under the chairmanship of MP Bahia Hariri, with talks touching on the political developments in the country and the overall situation.
At the end of the meeting, MP Rola al-Tabash recited the issued statement saying that "PM-designate Saad Hariri has shouldered all his constitutional and political responsibilities in order to reach a national unity government. The opportunity to announce the government birth first presented itself on the eve of the Independence Day, before the proposed formula was overthrown and the representation of the six Deputies was forced. Another chance presented itself at the eve of the New Year, after a solution was found to the dilemma on the representation of the six deputies. It all then went back to square zero in terms of polarization. The formation process details are all available to the Lebanese, and the renewed attempts to throw the responsibility of the government formation delay on the Premier-Designate will prove pointless."
The bloc underlined the "shared constitutional responsibility between the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister-designate in issuing government formation decrees," noting that "any practices working to overthrow them otherwise fall within the category of political innovations which have no function other than violating the Constitution and disrupting the normal course of political life and mechanisms specified in the Taif agreement."Tackling the proposal made to reactivate the caretaker government and the need to prepare the Budget plan and refer it to the Parliament, the bloc said "This proposal will be studied and followed up on so as to reach a decision that is in line with the Constitution and the public interest, especially that the Head of the caretaker government is the one to determine the direction of such a decision."

Kanaan after bloc meeting: We will not watch country be dragged into the unknown
Tue 08 Jan 2019/ NNA - The "Strong Lebanon" bloc held its regular meeting this Tuesday under the chairmanship of caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Gebran Bassil, and discussed the latest hot files. Conferees observed a minute of silence at the beginning of the meeting on the soul of former minister and MP Edgar Maalouf. After the meeting, the secretary of the bloc, MP Ibrahim Kanaan, said "We discussed the economic summit scheduled to be held in Beirut, and we consider that inviting Syria is the responsibility of the League of Arab States as it is the authority that decides on the invitees. Our official Lebanese position was not in favor of the decision to remove Syria from the League. In light of this situation, we consider that after the return of the majority of the Arab countries to the diplomatic recognition of Syria, and after talks about the reconstruction of Syria and deeming Lebanon the main economic and financial base for starting this reconstruction course, it is only natural for Syria to be present at the summit. We are keen on calling not to create a problem from a subject that is no longer on the table." Tackling the governmental issue, Kanaan reiterated persistence to "resolve the crisis through the initiative of President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, or the ideas put forth by Minister Gebran Bassil, which are still under discussion." He said "We recognize the rights of everyone according to the results of the recent elections, for a government of national unity. It is required to resolve and address this issue. We consider that our submission to any idea does not mean added complication.""We have an interest, as bloc, that a government be formed today. We are the most concerned with this mandate. (...) Serious and effective movement is needed, next to a positive consideration of the proposals. We are in favor of the representation of all the parties in a national unity government, but if the situation continues as such, we will have another position. We will stand motionless, watching the country and the Lebanese be dragged to an unknown fate," Kanaan affirmed."The economic situation is cumulative as a result of years-old policies, and no one should consider that what we are living today is the result of a present crisis. The issue needs to be dealt with. We do need a government, but we also a follow-up by the parliament. The political community ought to assume its full responsibilities. Our priority in the next phase is the economic reality," he assured.

Franjieh, Bukhari tackle current situation
Tue 08 Jan 2019/NNA - Marada Movement head Sleiman Frangieh, on Tuesday welcomed at his Bnachai residence the Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon, Walid Bukhari.The meeting took place in the presence of Caretaker Public Works and Transport Minister Youssef Fenianos.
Talks reportedly touched on an array of matters, as well as the current situation in Lebanon and the broader region.

Finance Minister from Hay Selloum deprecates state's inability to take radical decisions
Tue 08 Jan 2019/NNA - After inspecting the damages incurred by the flood of Al Ghadir River in the neighbourhood of Hay Selloum, the Caretaker Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, deprecated the state's inability to take radical decisions and carry out its duties. "We are in front of a state incapable of taking radical decisions and carrying out its duties," Minister Khalil said during his inspection tour along with Caretaker Agriculture Minister Ghazi Zoayter.
"Al Ghadir River is an example of such a failure," Khalil corroborated.

Ghosn Lawyer Says Bail 'Very Difficult' before Trial
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 08/19/
It will be "very difficult" to win bail for former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn before trial and it could take six months before his case reaches court, his lawyer said Tuesday. Motonari Otsuru, speaking shortly after Ghosn made his first public appearance in a Tokyo courtroom since his shock November arrest, said he would nonetheless apply to end the businessman's detention later today. Ghosn has been held in a Tokyo detention centre since his November 19 arrest, and faces three sets of allegations of financial misconduct. In court on Tuesday he protested his innocence and said all his actions at Nissan had been legal and approved by the appropriate executives. But Ghosn appears unlikely to win release anytime soon, as Japan's justice system allows prosecutors to seek lengthy pre-trial detention as well as further detention periods to investigate allegations even before pressing charges. "We are uncertain in this case as to what will happen. However, in general in such cases in Japan it is indeed the case that bail is not approved before the first trial does take place," Otsuru told reporters at a press briefing. "It would be indeed a very difficult situation to expect bail before trial." "I believe it could be considered that at least six months will be needed before being able to go to the first trial," he added, citing the complexity of the case and the fact that the documents involved are in both Japanese and English.
- 'Calm and logical' -
He said nonetheless that he would apply later Tuesday to end Ghosn's detention, though he gave little indication he expected the application to be successful. The auto tycoon has seen his detention repeatedly extended and his requests for release denied since his arrest on a first set of allegations of under-reporting his salary. He has now been charged with those accusations, and prosecutors have levelled other allegations involving further under-reporting of his pay and a complex scheme in which he allegedly tried to transfer losses to Nissan and used company funds to compensate a business contact who put up collateral. Otsuru also said Ghosn had been moved to a larger cell with a Western-style bed, but was not being permitted to receive visits from his family. Ghosn's current detention period on the third set of allegations against him ends on January 11, and Otsuru said it was likely prosecutors would indict him. They could also rearrest Ghosn on additional allegations, or in theory allow him to seek bail. Otsuru denied reports that Ghosn had been pressured to sign a confession in Japanese, insisting all interrogations and documents were translated. "Not once has Mr Ghosn said to us he has any concerns about being asked to sign something in a language he doesn't understand."And he said the businessman used their regular meetings to focus on the case, making no mention of any discomfort he might be in. "He's very calm and logical in his current situation."

Lebanon Must Be Allowed to Break Free from Its Political Stasis
The National/January 08/19
Lebanon must be one of the few countries in the world in which protesters take to the streets to demand not that a government falls, but that it be formed. It has been eight months since Lebanese Prime Minister designate Saad Hariri was tasked with forming a national unity government. He has yet to do so and Lebanon enters the new year with little prospect of an end to a crippling political impasse. Friday’s strike was the latest protest by citizens outraged by the apparent inability of Lebanon’s political class to look beyond self-serving sectarian squabbling and act in the best interests of the entire country.
A great deal is at stake for all Lebanese people, no matter their political or religious allegiance. Lebanon’s economy is faltering but political wrangling over power sharing is stalling badly needed fiscal reforms. Lebanon is not the only democracy that struggles to function, as witnessed by the current shutdown of the US government over President Trump’s plans to build a wall along the border with Mexico, and the ongoing Brexit chaos in the UK. But stasis is written into Lebanon’s unique confessional constitution, a worthy but cumbersome attempt to ensure equality in government between Christians and Muslims.
Disagreements over the fair distribution of seats led to the 1975–1990 civil war, which in turn spawned the 1989 Taif Agreement, under which Christians and Muslims are each allocated half of the 128 seats in parliament. With 18 officially recognised religious groups, seven Christian and four Muslim and Druze political groupings in parliament, and a system under which the key posts of government are distributed between the country’s four main sects, the machinery of democracy in Lebanon has many moving parts.
This contributes to Mr Hariri's unenviable task but he says that he is entering the new year determined to form a government. After eight months of stalemate, few would disagree with his understatement that “we have fallen behind”. In truth, Mr Hariri has been frustrated at every turn by the divisive machinations of the powerful pro-Iranian Hezbollah, enjoying a far stronger position preventing a government being formed than it would as a minority player in any administration.
But it is a task Mr Hariri must accomplish if Lebanon and its people are to be spared a looming descent into economic calamity. The Taif Agreement, crafted with the aim of returning Lebanon to “political normalcy”, enshrined the principle of abolishing political sectarianism as “a fundamental national objective”. This remains a principle to which all parties pay lip service. But 30 years on, such divisions continue to impede the competent governance of Lebanon and, to the great cost of the Lebanese people, inertia remains this country’s political norm.

Latest LCCC English Miscellaneous Reports & News published on January 08-09/19
Several people arrested, some killed in security operation in Qatif, Saudi Arabia
Arab News/January 08/19/JEDDAH: Several people were arrested and some killed in a security operation that took place in Qatif, Saudi Arabia yesterday. Those killed, died after security personnel demanded that they surrender but they opened fire instead, Al Arabiya reported. The people were wanted for targeting security and disrupting development projects in Qatif. Saudi Arabia's state security presidency is due to issue a statement on the Qatif raid.

US State Department envoy working on Qatar crisis resigns
Staff writer, Al Arabiya EnglishTuesday, 8 January 2019/Anthony Zinni, a retired Marine Corps general and former head of US Central Command who has been working as State Department envoy for the Trump administration to resolve a feud between Qatar and its neighbors, has resigned from his post. Zinni said he resigned after coming to the conclusion that he could not solve the Gulf dispute because of an inability to agree on what the mediation effort should be. Zinni was a Marine general who once commanded US forces in the Middle East. After the military he served as special envoy to Israel and the Palestinian Authority. On June 5, 2017, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut ties with key US ally Qatar, accusing it of backing extremism and building ties with Iran.

Fresh Turkish-US crisis: Erdogan refuses to see visiting US adviser, again threatens Kurds
DEBKAfile/January 08/19/Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan waited for John Bolton, US national security adviser, to land in Ankara on Tuesday, Jan 8, before refusing to see him and casting relations into a fresh crisis. Bolton arrived in the company of Gen. Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the US Chiefs of Staff and James Jeffrey, Trump’s special adviser on Syria and the war on ISIS. He came from talks in Jerusalem. The high-ranking US officials had to make do with meeting only presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin, while Erdogan used a speech in parliament to rebuff any American proposals for the US-backed Kurdish group to play a key role in Syria after the US withdrawal. According to DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources, Bolton had planned to inform the Turkish president of Washington’s consent for the Turkish army which invaded Syria to stay in areas outside the Kurdish-ruled cantons. This would have averted a Turkish military takeover of the regions evacuated by US forces. Erdogan has already slammed a recent statement by Bolton as a “serious mistake” and reiterated that Turkey could never compromise on the issue of the Kurdish YPG militia.
Erdogan then announced that his army “will very soon mobilize to eliminate terrorist organizations in Syria,” in a transparent reference both to ISIS and Syrian Kurdish fighters, whom he refers to as “terrorists” and plans to push out of their lands along the Turkish border. This declaration, say our sources, will make it difficult for the Trump administration to go through with the withdrawal of the US army from northern Syria, given the repeated US commitment to the safety of its Kurdish allies.

Turkey-Qatar pact can be ‘misused for military missions’ in the Gulf
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, Staff writer, Al Arabiya EnglishTuesday, 8 January 2019/Turkey’s military agreement with Qatar is full of loopholes and vague terms that appear to have been deliberately inserted, according to a report by the Nordic Monitor, a Sweden-based monitoring site. The report by Abdullah Bozkurt, reveals that the bilateral agreement would allow Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to use Turkish air, land and naval assets to promote his own ideological and personal interests in the Gulf and beyond by using the hard power of the NATO military alliance’s second largest army. “If not checked, the agreement carries huge risks of escalation of Turkey’s involvement in potential conflicts that may have nothing to do with protecting or promoting Turkey’s national interests. This further confirms the view that the vagueness in the agreement provisions were deliberate and systematic to allow Erdogan to use them as he sees fit,” writes Bozkurt.
Combat missions
The agreement goes beyond mere training and joint exercises and also incorporates “operations,” which may very well suggest combat missions for Turkish troops. According to the report in the Nordic Monitor, “The agreement was rushed through the cumbersome and slow-moving process in the Turkish Parliament in 2017 when Turkey wanted to send a message to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Arab states that had picked a fight with Qatar, Erdogan’s sweetheart Islamist ally.” Article 4 of the “Implementation Agreement Between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the Government of the State of Qatar on Deployment of Turkish Forces into Territory of Qatar,” which was signed on April 28, 2016 in Doha, includes the undefined phrase “any other missions” for the deployment of Turkish troops. This means Erdoğan can also bypass the Turkish Parliament for authorization of overseas missions, using the vague definition to fit his whims and would not need to obtain the advance approval from Parliament that is required for the deployment of Turkish troops abroad according to the Turkish Constitution.
The full text of this provision in the agreement reads as follows: “The main mission of the unit is to support enhancement of defense capabilities of Qatar through joint/combined exercises and training, and subject to approval by both parties, execute training/exercises with other nations’ armed forces and contribute to the counter-terrorism and international peace support operations and any other missions mutually agreed upon by written consent of both parties.”
Ambiguity in the agreement
Another ambiguity in the agreement, which was incorporated into Turkish law on June 9, 2017, is that it does not say how long Turkish troops will remain in Qatar. Article 1 of the agreement on the scope and the purpose of the agreement say that the deal regulates “the long term, as well as temporary, presence and activities of Turkish Armed Forces.” What “the long term” prospect is and who defines the duration of the commitment for Turkish troops and on what criteria are not specified in the agreement. Article 17 specifies the duration of the agreement to be 10 years with automatic renewals for an additional term of five years for each extension. Whether that term applies to the presence of troops remains an open question. The agreement does not specify force level or the number of troops. Article 2 states that Turkey will send air, land and naval assets to Qatar without setting any number or level of the forces. Although section two of this article states that “the deployment of the forces shall be in accordance with the plan to be accepted by the Parties,” the following section says Turkey will make a determination on “the duration of the mission of personnel to be assigned.”Furthermore, Turkey’s military agreement with Qatar does not foresee a third-party dispute settlement mechanism, either. Article 16 of the agreement says disputes “shall be resolved by negotiation between the Parties, without referring to the jurisdiction of any third party, establishment, or national or international tribunal.”This implementation agreement is actually a follow-up of the “framework” military cooperation agreement that was signed by the two countries on December 19, 2014, and entered into force on June 15, 2015. In contrast to the framework deal, the implementation agreement gives detailed clues as to what Turkey and Qatar hope to accomplish in the Gulf. Turkey considers ties with Qatar to be strategic, and Turkey’s Erdogan and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in 2014 set up a High-Level Strategic Council (HLSC), an intergovernmental mechanism that brings together most ministers at summits led by the heads of state and government.

Canadian cleric says 'Merry Christmas' is worse than murder remarks were taken out of context
Cillian O'Brien, CTVNews.ca Staff
Monday, January 7, 2019
A Muslim cleric who said wishing someone Merry Christmas is a sin worse than murder claims his comments were taken out of context. During a sermon on December 23, Sheikh Younus Kathrada, a preacher in Victoria, B.C., said that Muslims must be offended when people worship Jesus.
Sheikh Kathrada can be seen addressing worshippers in a video titled ‘Greeting Non-Muslims On Their Holidays,’ published to YouTube by Muslim Youth of Victoria. “If a person were to commit every major sin, murder, committing adultery, dealing with interest, all of these sins, if a person were to do all of those major sins, they are nothing compared to the sin of congratulating and greeting the non-Muslims on their false festivals,” he said. “It is not possible that a true believer will allow himself or herself to congratulate people, we have no shame.”By the end of the sermon, Sheikh Kathrada stressed that he never calls for the killing of non-Muslims, who should be treated justly. In a follow-up video posted on January 5, he accused media outlets of stirring up trouble by selectively cutting and pasting parts of his speech to boost sales. “Tonight’s session is neither a retraction nor an apology,” he said in the video posted to the Muslim Youth of Victoria Facebook page. “I stand by what I said and I will not retract unless I am proven to be wrong. What you see is what you get, unedited, uncut.”According to the Washington D.C.-based Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Sheikh Kathrada was born in South Africa, studied in Medina, and is now based in British Columbia. He grew up in Canada and has lived here for approximately 45 years. He is affiliated with the Vancouver-based Dar Al-Madinah Islamic Society, MEMRI said. “We cannot simply get emotional and take words that people who are out to cause trouble put out there out of context,” he said. Social media commentators accused the cleric of being divisive. According to its Facebook page, Muslim Youth of Victoria was formed in 2014. In 2018 it established the Dar Al-Ihsan Islamic Centre in Victoria. Led by Sheikh Kathrada, the aim of the centre is to “serve the community of Victoria with fun and educational activities and to provide a place for Muslims to gather for religious and social events, provide religious education for children, teens and adults and a place for non-Muslims to come to learn about Islam.”

EU Hits Iran with Sanctions after Murder Plots
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 08/19/The EU hit Iran's intelligence services with sanctions Tuesday after accusing Tehran of being behind plots to assassinate regime opponents on Dutch, Danish, and French soil. The move by the 28-nation bloc was announced as the Dutch government said it believed Iran was behind the murders of two dissidents in 2015 and 2017. "Very encouraging that (the) EU has just agreed on new targeted sanctions against Iran in response to hostile activities and plots being planned and perpetrated in Europe, including Denmark," Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said.
The "EU stands united -- such actions are unacceptable and must have consequences," he tweeted. Sanctions include the freezing of funds and other financial assets of the Iranian intelligence ministry and individuals, officials said.Denmark led efforts for sanctions after allegations that Tehran tried to kill three Iranian dissidents on Danish soil. A manhunt related to the alleged plot against three Iranians suspected of belonging to the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA) led to the shutdown of bridges to Sweden and ferries on September 28. France last year imposed sanctions on two suspected Iranian agents and others from Iran's ministry of intelligence and security.  The French security services concluded that the head of operations at the Iranian intelligence ministry had ordered a plot to bomb a rally of the People's Mujahedeen of Iran (MEK) opposition group in a suburb of Paris in June last year -- which Tehran strongly denied. "When the sanctions were announced, the Netherlands, together with the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Denmark and Belgium met Iranian authorities," Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said. The meeting conveyed "serious concerns regarding Iran's probable involvement in these hostile acts on EU territory," Blok said in a letter to the parliament in The Hague, also signed by Interior Minister Kajsa Ollongren. "Iran is expected to cooperate fully in removing the present concerns and, where necessary aiding in criminal investigations," the letter said. "If such cooperation is not forthcoming, further sanctions cannot be ruled out," it added.
Nuclear deal
In the past, the EU has trod cautiously on Iran as it sought to save a beleaguered nuclear deal with Tehran after the U.S. withdrew last year and imposed new sanctions. The Dutch ministers said that at a meeting with Iranian officials "it was emphasized that the measures were not linked" to the Iran nuclear deal. "Nevertheless, Iran will be held to account for all matters that affect EU and international security interests...," including the assassinations in the Netherlands in 2015 and 2017, the letter said. Dutch police have previously named the two victims as Ali Motamed, 56, who was killed in the central city of Almere in December 2015, and Ahmad Molla Nissi, 52, murdered in The Hague in November 2017. Dutch news reports had said Motamed was living in the Netherlands under a false name and is really Mohammad Reza Kolahi Samadi -- the man behind the largest bomb attack in Iran in 1981. Nissi was shot dead in The Hague from a moving car, later found to have been stolen from a suburb outside Rotterdam. Dutch police said Nissi was the chairman of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz, a group working for the independence of the Ahwaz area in southwestern Iran. Last June, the Netherlands expelled two Iranian embassy workers in connection with the murders. Tehran at the time protested the expulsion as an "unfriendly and destructive move" and threatened to retaliate.

Advocate of Iran Sanctions Joins US National Security Council
Washington - Heba al-Qodsi/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 January, 2019/One of Washington’s most vocal critics of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal has joined the Trump administration in a senior policy role, according to several sources in Washington. Richard Goldberg will become Director for Countering Iranian Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) at the National Security Council, and he will work closely with Brian Hook, US Special Representative for Iran and Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary of State. Goldberg is a leading analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a Washington-based think tank chaired by Mark Dubowitz. Goldberg has experience in legislative work between the years 2004 and 2014. He previously served as foreign policy advisor for Illinois Republican Senator Mark Kirk. At that time, he led bills supporting Israel, as well as discussing sanctions against Iran. During his tenure as chief of staff at the office of Senator Kirk, Goldberg led a major effort to remove Iran from the SWIFT system. The Obama administration opposed it at the time, but the Congress unanimously passed the legislation in 2012, and by 2013 that action was activated. From 2015 to 2017 he served as Chief of Legislative Affairs for Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner. In 2013 he played a major role in the Republican campaign in Congress to oppose President Barack Obama's nomination of Republican Senator Chuck Hagel as defense minister. Goldberg has a strong friendship with FDD’s President and together they worked over the past years to promote sanctions against Iran’s Central Bank and impose sanctions on entire sectors of the Iranian economy. Since joining the Foundation, Goldberg has been a strong advocate of a US military action against Iran. In February 2018, Goldberg urged Trump’s administration to “re-establish a robust military deterrent toward Iranian expansionism in close collaboration with regional allies.” He recommended that the US “should target key Guards’ bases and weapons in Syria accordingly. Such an approach could help prevent a larger-scale conflict.”
In one of the articles, Goldberg called for opportunities for sanctions on the Iranian media, pointing out that state media is an integral part of the circle of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei Goldberg has repeatedly cited human rights abuses in Iran, and has rejected the former administration’s allegations that signing the nuclear deal helps achieve security. oldberg's views are in line with the positions and views of the Republicans in the administration, as well as that of John Bolton, National Security Adviser, in dealing with Iran and its nuclear threat. He is one of the ideological activists who defend Israel at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. It is noted that in one of his articles, he asked President Trump to limit the definition of Palestinian refugees to those who were displaced in 1948.

Erdogan Slams Bolton’s ‘Unacceptable’ Comments on Kurdish YPG
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 January, 2019/Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed on Tuesday US national security adviser John Bolton’s recent comments on the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) as a “grave mistake.”Erdogan's comments came shortly after Bolton held more than two hours of talks in the Turkish capital with Erdogan's adviser Ibrahim Kalin, in a key meeting focusing on the surprise US decision to withdraw US troops from Syria. US President Donald Trump caused a political storm last month when he announced the troop pullout because the battle against the ISIS terrorist group had been won. Bolton said Sunday in Israel the retreat was also conditional on the safety of US-backed Kurdish fighters, considered terrorists by Turkey. "It is not possible to accept or swallow the message given by Bolton from Israel," Erdogan told his party's lawmakers in parliament.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also drew wrath of the Turkish leadership when he said Washington will ensure Ankara does not "slaughter" Kurds in Syria as American troops withdraw. Erdogan lambasted the remarks Tuesday and said: "That Turkey targets the Kurds is the most vile, the most dishonorable, the ugliest and the cheapest slander." Criticizing US comments that Ankara must agree to Washington’s Kurdish allies, he said the YPG fight with ISIS in Syria was "a huge lie."Erdogan said Turkey would confront the YPG in the same way that it will take on ISIS. "If they are terrorists, we will do what is necessary no matter where they come from," he added. “It is not possible for us to make compromises on this point." Turkey had reached a clear understanding with Trump over the withdrawal plans, but "different voices have started emerging from different segments of the administration," Erdogan said.
A senior Turkish official said Bolton had asked to see Erdogan, and that his earlier remarks may have been a factor in the meeting not going ahead. Erdogan later told reporters there was no need for him to meet Bolton, reported Reuters. Bolton’s spokesman meanwhile said the US official had held “productive” talks with Kalin on how the withdrawal would take place. "They had a productive discussion of the president's decision to withdraw at a proper pace from northeast Syria, identified further issues for dialogue," Garrett Marquis said on Twitter after the meeting. Joining Bolton were General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the anti-ISIS group envoy James Jeffrey. When Trump first announced the pullout of 2,000 ground troops on December 19, Ankara was a lonely voice among NATO allies welcoming the decision. Erdogan has promised Trump that Turkey could finish off the remnants of ISIS in Syria. "A military victory against the terrorist group is a mere first step," he said in the New York Times, warning against premature declarations of victory. Trump said Monday the fight against ISIS was not over. "We will be leaving at a proper pace while at the same time continuing to fight ISIS and doing all else that is prudent and necessary!" he tweeted. The US had been working closely with the YPG under the banner of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance. But US-Turkey relations have been especially rocky over American military support to the YPG. Ankara says the YPG is a "terrorist offshoot" of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984. The PKK is proscribed as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies. And Erdogan's comments on Tuesday showed disagreements still existed over the future of the YPG. "Those who are in the terror corridor in Syria will learn necessary lessons," he said. "To us, there is no little difference between the YPG and the PKK." Last month, Erdogan threatened to launch a cross-border operation against the YPG, east of the Euphrates River, which he said later would be delayed after Trump's order.
But Turkey has sent military convoys to its border with Syria and inside the war-ravaged country. On Tuesday, Erdogan said that preparations have been complete for the Syria operation.

Turkey Angered by US ‘Sykes-Picot’ Plan in Eastern Syria
Ankara, London – Saeed Abdul Razek and Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 January, 2019/A US delegation headed by President Donald Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton arrived in Ankara to discuss the withdrawal of American troops from Syria.  The visit comes amid reports that Turkey is upset from a color-coded map carried by US officials and which highlights the zones where Turkish soldiers are “prohibited” from entering, in order to “share control” with Kurds in eastern Syria. Sources said Turkey compared the map to the Sykes-Picot plan, which laid out France and Britain’s spheres of influence in the Middle East 100 years ago following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I.  Bolton arrived in Turkey from Israel on Monday, as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is about to kick off a regional tour of eight Middle Eastern states to discuss a number of files, including arrangements for the post-US withdrawal from Syria.  On Monday, Trump said he vows a “prudent” withdrawal of troops from Syria, while the White House said he wants to “ensure the safety of our troops and the safety of our allies as well.” The comments came a day after Bolton outlined some preconditions that seem to delay the US pullout for months. Last week, The Wall Street Journal revealed that James Jeffrey, the State Department’s representative for Syria engagement, had developed a plan to partition the area of Syria currently occupied by US forces and its military proxies. Before Bolton arrived in Ankara, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin described as "irrational" US calls for Ankara to give security guarantees for the Syrian Kurdish Prople’s Protection Units (YPG), which it views as a terrorist group. Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar lashed out at Bolton Monday, saying Turkey’s fight is not against Kurds but against the YPG and ISIS militants who pose a threat to all ethnic groups.

Turkey’s Erdogan Refuses to Meet With Trump Adviser Bolton
By Onur Ant/bloomberg/8 January 2019/Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan refused to meet with U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton and used a prescheduled speech in parliament to tear apart American proposals that a U.S.-backed Kurdish group play a key role in Syria after U.S. troops withdraw.Turkey has nearly completed all preparations to fight remnants of the Islamic State in Syria in the wake of the planned U.S. pullout and will soon move to “neutralize” all terror threats, Erdogan said Tuesday, addressing members of his ruling AK Party at the parliament in Ankara.
“We will very soon mobilize to eliminate terrorist organizations in Syria,” he said. “If there are other terrorists who would attempt to intervene in our intervention then it is our duty to eliminate them as well,” Erdogan added, in a thinly veiled reference to Syrian Kurdish fighters he wants to push from Turkey’s border. Egypt Discontent With US-CBS, Says Politically Manipulated Sisi’s InterviewTuesday, 8 January, 2019

Turkey Denies Promising to Protect Syrian Kurdish Fighters
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 08/19/ Turkey has denied promising the United States it would protect Syrian Kurdish militia forces in Syria, a presidential spokesman said Tuesday as Washington prepares for a troop pullout. "Nobody should expect Turkey to provide assurances to a terror organization," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told journalists in Ankara after a meeting with White House National Security adviser John Bolton.

Egypt Border Closed to Gazans Leaving amid Palestinian Feuding
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 08/19/The Egyptian border crossing was closed for Palestinians seeking to leave Gaza on Tuesday, a border official said, as infighting between Palestinian factions increases. Gazans seeking to return from Egypt would still be allowed through but no one would be able to leave the Palestinian enclave, a spokesman for the Hamas-run authority in charge of the border crossing said. "For now, it is just for one day, it is not clear if it will be extended," spokesman Wael Abu Omar told AFP. The Palestinian Authority announced on Sunday it would withdraw its staff from the Rafah border crossing -- the only way for Gazans to leave the Palestinian enclave that bypasses Israel. It blamed interference by Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza, following claims of widespread arrests of members of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas' Fatah party in the enclave. Hamas has since resumed full control of the border. The Palestinian Authority had retaken control of the border crossing in late 2017 as part of a reconciliation deal between Fatah, which dominates it, and Hamas. The deal has since broken down and Abbas has taken a series of measures against Gaza. Hamas won the last Palestinian parliamentary election in a landslide in 2006, triggering a dispute with Fatah. The Islamists ousted Abbas' forces from Gaza the following year and the two have since been at loggerheads. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi speaks during presidential session at Africa 2018 Forum
Cairo- Mohammed Nabil Helmi/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 January, 2019/Egyptian parliamentarians expressed their discontent with what they described as “political manipulation” by the CBS network, of its interview with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, which was broadcast through “60 minutes” program on Sunday evening. Prior to broadcasting the interview, the US channel said the Egyptian government requested not to air it. During the meeting, the interviewer asked Sisi whether the current cooperation between Egypt and Israel was “the deepest and closest”. The president replied: “That is correct. The Air Force sometimes needs to cross to the Israeli side. And that’s why we have a wide range of coordination with the Israelis.”Former Egyptian foreign minister and member of the House of Representatives Mohammed al-Arabi told Asharq Al-Awsat that the channel exercised “political manipulation to promote the interview and try to attract the attention of a larger sector of viewers. It suggested that it contained what can be embarrassing for Sisi, but the full interview showed that the answers of the Egyptian president were consistent with his previous statements on the same issues in other public appearances or press interviews.”The controversial interview was held last September on the sidelines of Sisi’s visit to New York to participate in the meetings of the United Nations General Assembly. In a report on Sunday, the editor-in-chief of the Egyptian daily Al-Dustour, quoted a senior Egyptian official as saying that Egypt has tried to prevent airing the interview and noting that it was not appropriate for the channel to record a dialogue with the president and delay its broadcasting for nearly four months, without proving any convincing reason for the delay.

Israel Arrests Palestinian Wanted for Shooting 2 of its Troops
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 January, 2019/The Israeli military arrested overnight on Tuesday a Palestinian suspected of shooting dead two soldiers in the occupied West Bank in December. Assam Barghouti is accused of shooting the soldiers at a bus stop near the Givat Assaf settlement in the Ramallah area on December 13, police said. Israel's domestic security service, the Shin Bet, also accused him of involvement along with his brother in another shooting attack nearby, close to the Ofra settlement, that caused the death of a baby and wounded seven. In the December 9 shooting, a pregnant woman was seriously wounded and her baby was born prematurely and later died. Barghouti's brother, Salah, 29, was killed during an arrest raid on December 12. Israel has arrested more than a 100 Palestinians in the manhunt for Barghouti. Jewish settlers and their right-wing supporters had held angry demonstrations over the December attacks. Assaf Barghouti was arrested at the home of an alleged accomplice in the West Bank village of Abu Shukheidim near Ramallah and was allegedly preparing more attacks, the Shin Bet said. An AK-47 rifle, night-vision equipment and ammunition were seized during his arrest, according to the Shin Bet. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the arrest and said that "the long arm of Israel will reach all those who harm our citizens."

Palestinian President Approves Harsh Measures to Force Hamas to Handover Gaza
Ramallah - Kifah Zboun/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 January, 2019/Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has approved a series of harsh measures against Hamas in the Gaza Strip in an attempt to restrain the movement’s authority or force it to handover the sector. Well-informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Palestinian president said that the “game was over” and informed his Egyptian counterpart, Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, of his decision, including his intention to withdraw Palestinian Authority members from the Rafah border crossing. The two leaders had met in Cairo last week. The PA has ordered its staff to withdraw from the Rafah border with Egypt, effectively closing the main exit for Gaza residents. Hamas took over the crossing and tried to persuade Egypt to pressure the PA to back down on its decision. But the sources confirmed that the PA was committed to its measures, which also include halting the financing of the sector. This coincided with the Israeli government’s decision to freeze the transfer of the third installment of the Qatari grant to the Gaza Strip, worth $15 million, after the launch of a rocket from Gaza. Meanwhile, an official in Ramallah told Asharq Al-Awsat that Egypt “does not deal with Hamas as a legitimate entity.”He added that Sisi expressed “great support” for Abbas, stressing that Cairo “deals only with the Palestinian leadership as the legitimate representative of the Palestinians. The PA has repeatedly accused Hamas of refusing to implement reconciliation. Their relationship worsened last week, with the Gaza-based movement preventing Fatah from celebrating its 54th anniversary. Abbas described Hamas leaders as “spies”. Fatah accused Hamas security services of summoning and arresting of around 500 of its members in the Gaza Strip. “The Hamas militia has arrested more than 500 of its leaders and sons in Gaza ... because of their insistence on commemorating the anniversary,” the movement said in a statement.

Egypt Border Closed to Gazans Leaving amid Palestinian Feuding
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 08/19/The Egyptian border crossing was closed for Palestinians seeking to leave Gaza on Tuesday, a border official said, as infighting between Palestinian factions increases.Gazans seeking to return from Egypt would still be allowed through but no one would be able to leave the Palestinian enclave, a spokesman for the Hamas-run authority in charge of the border crossing said. "For now, it is just for one day, it is not clear if it will be extended," spokesman Wael Abu Omar told AFP. The Palestinian Authority announced on Sunday it would withdraw its staff from the Rafah border crossing -- the only way for Gazans to leave the Palestinian enclave that bypasses Israel. It blamed interference by Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza, following claims of widespread arrests of members of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas' Fatah party in the enclave. Hamas has since resumed full control of the border. The Palestinian Authority had retaken control of the border crossing in late 2017 as part of a reconciliation deal between Fatah, which dominates it, and Hamas.The deal has since broken down and Abbas has taken a series of measures against Gaza. Hamas won the last Palestinian parliamentary election in a landslide in 2006, triggering a dispute with Fatah.The Islamists ousted Abbas' forces from Gaza the following year and the two have since been at loggerheads. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008.

Demands to Investigate Iraqi Delegations’ Visit to Israel
Baghdad - Fadel Al-Nashmi/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 January, 2019/Iraqi First Deputy Speaker of Parliament Hassan Karim al-Kaabi called on Monday for “an investigation” with officials who went to Israel in 2018 in three delegations, according to reports announced by the Jewish state. “To go to the occupied territory is a red line, and an extremely sensitive issue for all Muslims,” Kaabi said in a statement. The First Deputy Speaker, who is close to Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr, called for "an investigation... to identify those who went to the occupied territory, particularly if they are lawmakers."Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on Twitter Sunday three Iraqi delegations visited Israel in 2018, and that the last of such trips was conducted few weeks ago. Baghdad does not recognize Israel and has prohibited its passport holders from traveling to Israel. Later, Israeli media reports said 15 Iraqi visitors of “influential Shiite and Sunni personalities in the country,” visited Israel in 2018 but did not give names. The reports said that the Iraqis visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, in addition to other sites. A spokesman for the memorial told AFP that “a group of 10 Iraqis” had “undertaken a guided tour in late December.” Israeli Hadashot TV news had reported Sunday that three delegations met with government officials, as well as academics, to discuss Iraqi-Jewish heritage and build a foundation for future ties between the two countries. An Iraqi Jewish community in Israel calls for a normalization of ties between Baghdad and the Jewish state. No Iraqi official had previously made a public visit to Israel in the past, except former lawmaker and leader of Iraq’s Ummah Party Mithal al-Alusi in October 2014.  The visit got him expelled from the Iraqi National Congress, which was headed by late politician Ahmad al-Jalabi. Hisham al-Rikabi, director of Former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's office, told Asharq Al-Awsat on Monday that the visit of Iraqi lawmakers to Israel is a “joke and an Israeli lie we got used to hear.” He said those lies aim to “take the pulse of Iraq concerning the possibility of normalizing ties” between Baghdad and the Jewish State.

Saudi Yemen Ambassador: We Won’t Allow Houthis to Become New Hezbollah
Riyadh - Abdulhadi Habtor/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 January, 2019/Saudi Ambassador to Yemen Mohammed bin Saeed Al-Jaber stressed on Monday that the Kingdom supports the political process in the war-torn country and will not allow it to become a “new Somalia.” Speaking from Riyadh, he warned that the Iran-backed Houthi militias must not become a “new Hezbollah” on Saudi borders. “We hope the political course will succeed and believe that it is the solution,” he added. The Houthis have however been stalling in implementing the recently agreed ceasefire that was reached in Sweden in December, said Jaber. The militias are known for reneging on all agreements, he remarked. “We are confronted with a gang and terrorist group. Military and political pressure have been exerted on it to return to political dialogue. It is now standing before a real test to withdraw from Hodeidah and its three ports and restore control to the legitimacy forces,” he stressed. The Sweden deal calls for the Houthis to pull out from Hodeidah city and its three ports and return them under the control of the legitimate forces that were there before their 2014 coup. “We hope the deal will be implemented soon,” added Jaber. The Houthis have destroyed hopes, the state and Yemen’s social fabric and military, he charged. Moreover, he accused the Houthis of following foreign agendas dictated by the Iranian regime that calls for seizing the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb Strait. He explained that after capturing Sanaa, the Houthis did not head to nearby Marib, which boasts oil and gas facilities, but they turned directly to distant Aden. The move, ordered by Iran, was aimed at seizing the strategic Mandeb Strait. The Saudi-led Arab coalition’s operation Decisive Storm in Yemen will end by restoring security in the country through the help of its brothers in Saudi Arabia, the Arab Gulf and international community, Jaber continued. This requires a political solution between all sides, he said.

Advocate of Iran Sanctions Joins US National Security Council
Washington - Heba al-Qodsi/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 January, 2019/One of Washington’s most vocal critics of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal has joined the Trump administration in a senior policy role, according to several sources in Washington. Richard Goldberg will become Director for Countering Iranian Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) at the National Security Council, and he will work closely with Brian Hook, US Special Representative for Iran and Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary of State. Goldberg is a leading analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a Washington-based think tank chaired by Mark Dubowitz. Goldberg has experience in legislative work between the years 2004 and 2014. He previously served as foreign policy advisor for Illinois Republican Senator Mark Kirk. At that time, he led bills supporting Israel, as well as discussing sanctions against Iran.
During his tenure as chief of staff at the office of Senator Kirk, Goldberg led a major effort to remove Iran from the SWIFT system. The Obama administration opposed it at the time, but the Congress unanimously passed the legislation in 2012, and by 2013 that action was activated. From 2015 to 2017 he served as Chief of Legislative Affairs for Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner. In 2013 he played a major role in the Republican campaign in Congress to oppose President Barack Obama's nomination of Republican Senator Chuck Hagel as defense minister. Goldberg has a strong friendship with FDD’s President and together they worked over the past years to promote sanctions against Iran’s Central Bank and impose sanctions on entire sectors of the Iranian economy. Since joining the Foundation, Goldberg has been a strong advocate of a US military action against Iran. In February 2018, Goldberg urged Trump’s administration to “re-establish a robust military deterrent toward Iranian expansionism in close collaboration with regional allies.” He recommended that the US “should target key Guards’ bases and weapons in Syria accordingly. Such an approach could help prevent a larger-scale conflict.”
In one of the articles, Goldberg called for opportunities for sanctions on the Iranian media, pointing out that state media is an integral part of the circle of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Goldberg has repeatedly cited human rights abuses in Iran, and has rejected the former administration’s allegations that signing the nuclear deal helps achieve security. Goldberg's views are in line with the positions and views of the Republicans in the administration, as well as that of John Bolton, National Security Adviser, in dealing with Iran and its nuclear threat. He is one of the ideological activists who defend Israel at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. It is noted that in one of his articles, he asked President Trump to limit the definition of Palestinian refugees to those who were displaced in 1948.

Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on January 08-09/19
Has the Stock Market Established a Bottom?
Mohamed El-Erian/Bloomberg/January 08/19
The Jan. 4 monster rally in risk assets, which saw major US stock indexes surge by 3 percent to 4 percent and the “risk-free” yield on 10-year US Treasuries rise by 11 basis points, was a stark illustration of the power of a favorable alignment of the trifecta of economic fundamentals, central bank liquidity and technical factors. Whether markets have reached the bottom of what has been a brutal few months for investors is, however, a much more complicated and uncertain question. The strong employment data released early Jan. 4 ensured a solidly higher open for markets. Not only did the economy create 312,000 new jobs in December, or almost twice the rate of consensus expectations, but wage growth also picked up (to 3.2 percent annually), and revisions bolstered the October and November jobs tallies. Concerns that the latest report would push the Federal Reserve into a more hawkish policy stance were offset by another encouraging component in the monthly data: a rise in the participation rate (from 62.9 percent to 63.1 percent), which indicated there is a further element of slack in the labor market.
Shortly after the open, markets got a big push from Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Countering earlier concerns about the central bank being too rigid in its policy and insufficiently sensitive to economic risks, Powell signaled at a meeting of the American Economics Association exactly what the markets wanted to hear: The Fed would be “patient,” he and his colleagues were monitoring a broad sets of risks, all policy instruments were available for use, and therefore the central bank wasn’t on “autopilot” when it comes to reducing its balance sheet.
The favorable effects on asset prices of this alignment of fundamentals and liquidity was amplified by the reversal of disruptive technical dynamics. Instead of amplifying the markets’ fall, algorithmic trading and pockets of patchy liquidity turbocharged the risk rally at the end of last week; and the wide use of exchange-traded funds and passive products ensured that the upswing was broadly based among different sectors of the marketplace.
Yet this break in what has been a volatile selloff does not guarantee that a bottom has been established, at least yet. The three factors governing markets remain fluid.
Fundamentals: The strong jobs report, as important as it is in terms of confirming the health of household consumption, is dominated by current and backward-looking metrics. It does not counter the more worrisome forward-looking indicators that appeared in the weak ISM manufacturing data released Jan. 3. Nor do the fundamentals contain much information about the risk of spillovers from economic weakness in Europe and China (the latter highlighted by Apple’s earnings warning earlier last week), spillbacks from the recent market volatility, the scope for pro-growth measures, and the potential resolution of trade tensions. Liquidity: The Fed's more market-supportive comments do not change what has become a more difficult reality for central banks as they confront policy challenges that are largely outside their control and that have turned the institutions from effective suppressors of volatility to inadvertent enablers. Moreover, the challenges facing another systemically important monetary institution -- the European Central Bank -- are even more daunting given the region’s more difficult economic, financial and political environment. Technicals: Although more favorable market technicals could buy time, especially as they are the most likely to pivot first in a more durable fashion, this is far from assured. Absent a more permanent alignment between fundamentals and liquidity, technical factors are likely to remain unstable and largely unpredictable, creating the possibility over the next few weeks that investors will still use rallies to sell rather than buy, which would solidify a bottom-formation process.
It was natural for investors to applaud the Jan. 4 economic and policy developments and the encouraging market rally that was breathtaking in its magnitude and broad reach. However, it is far from certain that the good news signals a decisive end to the unsettling downward-trending price volatility. Caution is still warranted.

The Return of the Americans to Syria
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/ASharq Al Awsat/January 08/19
US President Donald Trump’s climb-down on troop withdrawal from Syria is a natural consequence of the failure of regional powers to view it as a peaceful move, but as a defeated withdrawal. Washington’s ally Iraq displayed unease and retreated in the face of pressure from Tehran. Meanwhile, Turkey was quick to make concessions to Russia and Iran, as the US-backed Syrian Kurdish militia pivoted towards Damascus and Iran. While all this was happening, Tehran has increased its military shipments to the battlefield.
Diplomatically speaking, countries in the region considered it a new phase in the conflict now dominated by Iran and Turkey, with the onset of steps to establish an Iranian-Turkish-Iraqi-Qatari alliance. The countries of the region and the Arab League sought to restore relations with the Syrian regime, but there was no goodwill gesture from Damascus towards its millions of displaced and refugees.
This all happened following the Trump tweet announcing his intention to withdraw forces from Syria, claiming that the war on ISIS was over and that it was pointless to have a continued presence on Syrian soil. However, the tweet backfired and the result was catastrophic, leading to Trump's order to slow down the withdrawal, which would most likely be a re-positioning of forces.
The battles may be in Syria, but the real war is against Iran. Tehran has made Damascus the cornerstone of policies used to control Lebanon and Iraq, while threatening Jordan and Israel; imposing a new, dangerous balance of power in the region.
Unexpectedly, Trump’s secretaries then adopted strong rhetoric, to compensate for their previously perceived defeatist stance. National security advisor John Bolton warned the Turks that the US would not withdraw its troops from Syria unless its Kurdish alliesthere are protected from any planned Turkish offensive. He also said that Turkey shouldn’t undertake military action that’s not fully coordinated with and agreed to by the US. While Ankara may have considered this dialogue arrogant, it didn’t dare challenge it. If the Turks were to pledge not to attack the Kurds, Washington would then have to work out what to do about the Iranian-backed militias brought to Syria to exert pressure on Israel.
This makes me doubtful over Washington's desire to exit Syria without adopting a different policy toward Turkey and Iran.
In short, peace will not yet come to Syria.
The Syrian regime cannot get rid of Iran, however much it promises. In order to regain regional recognition, the regime will promise that the Iranians will leave Syria in a year or two, and will even formally request this from Iran, but this promise will remain worthless. The Iranian regime’s forces will only exit when they feel it has become too costly for them to stay in Syria and the region. This can only mean that there will be escalating confrontations with Iran, no US military escape from Syria, and no re-opening of Arab embassies there.
Iran's military presence in Syria is a pivotal threat to the region. If Tehran were to exit Syria, its influence on the Baghdad government would diminish and political balance in Lebanon will return. And if Khamenei's influence in Syria were to end, his influence would also weaken within Tehran. Despite all the promises, Damascus will not be able to distance itself from Iran; neither today nor in 10 years from now, except through military confrontation and exerting pressure on it in more than one area.

Trump’s Long Shutdown Could Destabilize the World
Noah Feldman/Bloomberg/January 08/19
President Donald Trump in a meeting with congressional Democrats on Friday said he was prepared for the partial government shutdown to continue for months — or even years — if he doesn’t get the money he wants for a wall along the Mexican border. It’s not hard to see how that prediction comes true. Both sides have framed the issue such that a victory for one side on funding a border wall entails defeat for the other. Neither side has much incentive to compromise. Suppose Trump is right. The longest shutdown on record is 21 days, from late December 1995 to early January 1996. (This is the 21st in the modern era.) What would a much longer shutdown mean for US political life? Judging by public reaction thus far, you might think the answer is, not much. After all, we’ve become increasingly inured to Trump’s attempts to break established quasi-constitutional customs. Maybe keeping the government open is just another unwritten norm; maybe breaking it isn’t the end of the world.
Yet the likelihood is that a long shutdown would exert real negative gravitational pull on the stability of American government. There are key factors at play. First, there’s the message of dysfunction. Passing a budget — even a stopgap budget — to keep the government open is a sign that both the Democratic and Republican parties see the management of the government as a common task. They might differ deeply on policy priorities. But they agree that the government is necessary to effectuate the commands of the legislature and the president and to keep the country humming. When and if the two parties reach a standoff they are genuinely unwilling to resolve, the message they are sending to the country and the world changes. Instead of a message of underlying cooperation, the message will be of underlying disagreement — with cooperation only accidental and occasional. In other words, the organs of US government will be saying they have higher priorities than actually governing.
Short shutdowns are manageable because the public assumes that they will soon be resolved. That assumption makes sense because we believe that both sides think they will gain by reaching agreement — because the public wants the government to govern.
In Trump’s political experiment, he’s open to the idea that the public doesn’t care, or at least care enough to punish him or the Republicans for shutting down government over the principle of the wall. Meanwhile, the Democrats are letting him run his experiment — by refusing to be bluffed.
If the quasi-constitutional norm that Congress and the president compromise to fund the government is broken, it means the assumption that the public wants government will have to be re-evaluated.
Then comes the enforcement gap.
The world’s confidence in the US government — and by extension, the US economy — depends on seeing the American polity as basically functional. A functional federal government performs the basic tasks of preserving societal stability. Stability depends on more than just national security, which will be maintained during the shutdown. It includes basic regulatory functions: of the markets, the environment, food and drugs, and so on. Those functions aren’t consistently sustained during a shutdown. In a short shutdown, the public understands that the government will play catch-up in the aftermath. So stability isn’t disrupted. In a long shutdown, it is far from clear that the catch-up will make up for the regulation that will be lost. Slowly, gradually, maybe even imperceptibly, the social functions that depend on regulatory stability will begin to erode.
It isn’t that bad actors will immediately start insider trading or breaking environment laws on some specific day in the shutdown. Or at least not exactly. Rather, people will eventually begin evaluating whether the costs of compliance outweigh the benefits of violating the regulations — less enforcement will lead to more rule-breaking. The odds of being caught are always part of the calculus. Less regulatory enforcement means lower odds of being caught – hence more violations.
Weaker enforcement isn’t something that the American public will notice right away. Its consequences will accumulate subtly, over time. But the rest of the world will eventually get the message that the institutions that create American political and economic stability are eroding. That will reduce confidence in American leadership. Rationally, it should also reduce confidence in the American economy. In the Trump era, it’s becoming commonplace to assume that the economic fundamentals that make the US attractive for investment will remain unaffected by our political dysfunction.
That’s a mistake that confuses short-term predictions with the long-term institutional structures being damaged.
In the long run, the national commitment to effective government and meaningful regulation is necessary and unavoidable. Eroding it by a long-term shutdown will be costly — not today or tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of our lives.

Apologists for Extremism in the West
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute./January 08/19
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13468/apologists-extremism-west
Many apologists say that Islam is a religion of peace. What they do not say is that, according to Islam, "peace" is to come only after all the world has converted to Islam. Until then, all the world is divided in two: dar al-Islam ("the House of Islam"), made up those who already believe, and dar al-harb ("the House of War"), made up of those who have yet to "believe". If one is to follow the conclusions of doctrines based on jihad and sharia, after all the disbelievers believe, then there will be peace.
What is odd, is that even after countless attacks in Europe just since 2001, when we have all seen and felt this House of War on our flesh, no one ever mentions its existence. How come we never hear more about this House of War?
What we are seeing, but may not wish to see, is -- as Erdogan pointed out -- mainstream Islam.
My message to apologists for Islamism is simple: Those who are whitewashing the purveyors of radical violence and extremism -- by changing the subject or accusing others, often unjustly, of racism, discrimination, oppression, or "Islamophobia" -- are contributing to their empowerment.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi delivers a historic speech to top Islamic scholars and clergy at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, December 28, 2014. (Image source: MEMRI)
As someone who grew up in fundamentalist Muslim countries, the continuing spread in the West of apologists for sharia law is, to say the least, intriguing. It is, of course, good-hearted to wish people from other cultures to feel welcome. Many of these apologists, however, have no first-hand experience of how it feels actually to live in that part of the world or to be a victim of day-by-day radical Islam. What is painful is that although many of these apologists have never lived under Islamist rules, they often act as if they had.
First, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan correctly said, "There is no moderate Islam; Islam is Islam."
Islam, however, can be interpreted. Even Erdogan has said -- although it is not clear what he meant by it -- that, "Islam must be updated."
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, also expressed similar views:
"We must revolutionize our religion... We must take a long, hard look at the current situation... It is inconceivable that the ideology we sanctify should make our entire nation a source of concern, danger, killing, and destruction all over the world. It is inconceivable that this ideology... I am referring not to 'religion,' but to 'ideology' -- the body of ideas and texts that we have sanctified in the course of centuries, to the point that challenging them has become very difficult... It has reached the point that [this ideology] is hostile to the entire world..."
Such views are further echoed by other devout Muslims. Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser's highly respected American-Islamic Forum for Democracy, in 2015, "convened and helped launch the Muslim Reform Movement... a coalition of over 15 Western Muslim Leaders (from the U.S., Canada, and Europe) whose goal is to actively fight radical Islam from inside by confronting the idea of Islamism at its roots."
Its "Declaration for Muslim Reform" states, in part:
We reject interpretations of Islam that call for any violence, social injustice and politicized Islam... [W]e can transform our communities based on three principles: peace, human rights and secular governance.... We reject violent jihad...,We stand for the protection of all people of all faiths and non-faith who seek freedom from dictatorships, theocracies and Islamist extremists..... We support equal rights for women, including equal rights to inheritance, witness, work, mobility, personal law, education, and employment.... We are for secular governance, democracy and liberty. We are against political movements in the name of religion. We separate mosque and state.... We oppose institutionalized sharia. Sharia is manmade....We believe in life, joy, free speech... Every individual has the right to publicly express criticism of Islam. Ideas do not have rights. Human beings have rights. We reject blasphemy laws. They are a cover for the restriction of freedom of speech and religion. We affirm every individual's right to participate equally in ijtihad, or critical thinking, and we seek a revival of ijtihad....Apostasy is not a crime. Our ummah--our community--is not just Muslims, but all of humanity....We stand for peace, human rights and secular governance. Please stand with us!
Many apologists, nonetheless, when engaged in a debate about Islam, still defend its fundamentalism by deploying implausible "shields" to deflect incoming questions rather than answer them. These deflections can be seen in conferences, seminars, and media outlets. Instead of addressing underlying issues and facts about fundamentalism -- for instance, sharia law and terrorism -- some of these apologists blame other individuals, as if whatever is being questioned is the fault of someone else. Under no circumstances do the apologists criticize the teachings, even if a few words could, as suggested, bring about some sorely needed "updates."
Apologists, instead, find other places to point the finger of blame, often preferably at the West (for instance, here, here and here); and then use the West as a scapegoat.
Some blame Westerners as colonialists and imperialists -- even though historically, throughout the last 1400 years, it was jihadists who invaded and colonized the Christian Byzantine Empire, now Turkey; then conquered and colonized all of the Middle East, North Africa, the Balkans, Hungary, Greece, Spain -- and recently, in 1974, northern Cyprus, which, the Turks -- claiming they were "protecting their rights" -- invaded. Currently, the only country that recognizes Turkey's occupation of northern Cyprus is Turkey.
Yet another deflection apologists use is to omit any mention of the suppression of women, as well as violence or terrorist attacks committed the name of Islam, even if those took place in the last month or so.
Instead, many apologists say that Islam is a religion of peace. What they leave out, regrettably, is that, according to Islam, this "peace" is to come only after all the world has converted to Islam. Until then, according to Islam, all the world is divided in two: dar al-Islam ("the House of Islam"), made up those who already believe, and dar al-harb ("the House of War"), made up of those who have yet to believe. If one is to follow the conclusions of doctrines based on jihad and Sharia, after all the disbelievers believe, then there will be peace.
"And fight them until there is no fitnah [disorder, unbelief] and [until] the religion, all of it, is for Allah."
(Quran 8:39 Sahih International translation)
What is odd, is that even after countless attacks in Europe just since 2001, when we have all seen and felt this House of War on our flesh, no one ever mentions its existence. Rather, we hear so often, even after terrorist attacks, that "Islam is the religion of peace". How come we never hear more about this House of War?
Many apologists also remind the world that Islam is not allowed to "transgress" but only to defend itself from "oppressors":
Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress. Indeed. Allah does not like transgressors.
And kill them wherever you overtake them and expel them from wherever they have expelled you, and fitnah is worse than killing. And do not fight them at al-Masjid al- Haram until they fight you there. But if they fight you, then kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers.
And if they cease, then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.
Fight them until there is no [more] fitnah and [until] worship is [acknowledged to be] for Allah. But if they cease, then there is to be no aggression except against the oppressors.
(Quran 2:190-193; Sahih International translation)
The problem with this requirement, however, is that people may feel tempted to see threats where there may not actually be any. Many people, for instance, might find it a bit of a reach to think that "oppressors" included the occupants of the World Trade Center (twice), or commuters riding the London transit system on July 7, 2005, or shopping at a French or German Christmas market. Someone so inclined might, in fact, start seeing just about anyone who is not a Muslim, or even who is, as an "oppressor". Does that mean, then, that just being at a concert or a sports stadium, or watching fireworks or riding bicycles in a New York park makes you an "oppressor"? Or being a Christian, or other non-Muslim or even supposedly the "wrong" kind of Muslim?
Meanwhile, as these atrocities have been taking place, there have also been countless aggressions committed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, both against foreigners and its own citizens.
In Iran, as in similar countries, it is sharia law -- not the West -- that imposes executions on gays; treats treats women as second class citizens (here, here and here); hangs those who decide to leave Islam; executes minors; suppresses and kills Christians and Jews, and stones women to death for even alleged adultery, which can include having been raped (here and here). Iran imprisons and lashes people for "crimes" such as dancing, listening to music , having a party, writing poetry, drinking alcohol, going on a date, taking off a hijab, wearing "un-Islamic" clothing or "being in close proximity to [a] boyfriend."
Sometimes, rather than discuss these grisly retributions, apologists might use the charge of "racism" as a shield to try to stop a debate before one can start. Critics are condemned as racists, while the "detail" that religion has nothing to do with race is ignored.
Many of these apologists, when asked about such unspeakable acts, reply that they have "nothing to do with Islam" (here and here) and are not the fault of Islamic teachings. Some political and religious leaders (here, here and here) also try to insist that ISIS has "nothing to do with Islam," even though many commentators accurately contradict them (here and here).
That Al-Azhar University, the center of Sunni learning in Cairo, refuses to accuse terror groups of heresy should dispel any fantasy about the contents of Islam. Most Muslims, of course, do not do any of these gruesome things and would not dream of doing them. The apologists in the West, however, seem only to see the sentimentalized fantasies in their heads.
What we are seeing, however, but may not wish to see, is -- as Erdogan pointed out -- mainstream Islam.
Some apologists prefer to claim that they are the actual victims – of "racists" and "Islamophobes", and sound angry and bewildered that people who have witnessed or read about countless attacks in the name of Islam, might have begun to look at Muslims a bit skeptically.
Still other apologists blame terrorist attacks on the victims. Their behavior, these apologists claim, has "caused" the attack. According to them, "Spanish foreign policy" caused the Madrid train bombings in 2004; and the Manchester Arena bombing of 2017 was "caused" by girls who wished to attend a concert.
No country probably has a spotless past, but at least the West tries to repair injustices, as by the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution granting women's sufferage, or the Civil Rights Act of 1964 , or current work on prison reform.
Sometimes these corrections even appear to be overcorrections -- as in sanctuary cities, where foreigners who have broken the law are favored over citizens who have not. At a certain point, such decisions can render one defenseless.
Finally, my message to such apologists is simple: Those who are whitewashing the purveyors of radical violence and extremism -- by changing the subject or accusing others, often unjustly, of racism, discrimination, oppression, and "Islamophobia" -- are contributing to their empowerment. You are emboldening these fundamentalists and, by reinforcing sharia laws, enabling the suppression and subjugation of millions of women and children. You are enabling child marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM), the oppression and execution of children, gays, ethnic and religious minorities, and the increasing religious terrorism across the world. The cause, as pointed out, is born of a radical, outdated belief system. The cause is not the West.
**Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US Foreign Policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
© 2019 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Multiculturalism and the Transformation of Britain in 2018: Part II
Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute./January 08/19
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13513/britain-multiculturalism-transformation-ii
Not a single Christian was among the 1,112 Syrian refugees resettled in Britain in the first three months of 2018. The Home Office agreed to resettle only Muslims and rejected the four Christians recommended by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees — The Sunday Times.
Islamist groups are "weaponizing" Islamophobia and "cynically" using human rights to promote their ideology. Islamist groups accuse their critics of being anti-Muslim, in an attempt to shut down "legitimate debate" about Islamic extremism. The "use and abuse" of the language of human rights is "perhaps the most concerning" tactic employed by fundamentalist groups — Sara Khan, the UK government's new counter-extremism tsar.
Women and girls who are coerced into marriage by their families will be allowed to give evidence in secret so they can object to their foreign spouses' visas without fear of repercussions, according to legal changes announced by UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid. Pictured: Javid addresses the media in Dover, England on January 2nd, 2019.
JULY 2018
July 1. Mubarek Ali, a 35-year-old former ringleader of a Telford child sex abuse gang, was sent back to prison after breaching the terms of his parole. In 2012, Ali was sentenced to 22 years in prison for child prostitution offenses, but was automatically released in 2017 after serving only five years. Telford MP Lucy Allan said there are "many questions to be answered" about why Ali was released, and also about how the justice system treats so-called grooming cases:
"Now he is back in jail, justice demands that he must serve the remainder of his sentence in custody; anything less would show a casual disregard for the nature of his crimes and for the victims whose lives he changed forever."
July 2. Abdul Rauf, a 51-year-old imam from Rochdale, was imprisoned for one year and five months after admitting to assaulting more than 20 children at a mosque. Inspector Phil Key, of Greater Manchester Police, said:
"Abdul Rauf is a nasty, bully of a man who beat the children in his classes until it became normalized. The children were left cowering and holding onto their ears, their arms and their legs after he repeatedly used violence as a punishment. The parents of the children had no idea that they were leaving their children in the care of a man who would leave them writhing in pain and covered in marks and bruises."
(Rauf is different from Abdul Rauf, 49, formerly of Rochdale, who was convicted as part of a child sex gang that targeted girls as young as 13 in the town.)
July 3. A judge in Iraq said that British jihadis found in the country would be executed by hanging. Abdul Sattar Beraqdar, spokesman for the Supreme Judicial Council, said that such a form of capital punishment would be good for British security:
"The punishment, as much as it seems strong, will affect the security of your country. I am sure there are hundreds of people in Britain at this moment thinking of committing similar crimes. That's why we, as Iraqis, if we are tough in sentencing these people, they will think thoroughly before taking any action."
Some 800 Britons have journeyed to Syria and Iraq to fight for the Islamic State; 130 have been killed in the conflict, according to British officials. It is unclear, however, how many British jihadis have been captured or have faced the death penalty. "We oppose the death penalty in all cases," a British Foreign Office spokesman said.
July 5. Laurel Ellis, a conservative candidate for a council by-election in Merthyr Tydfil, a town in Wales, was suspended after sharing social media posts critical of Islam. Labour Assembly Member Dawn Bowden had claimed that the posts were Islamophobic. A spokesman for the Welsh Conservatives said that the party seeks "to reach out to, and represent, all communities and people from all walks of life in Wales."
July 6. Police in London revealed that they intervened to stop a suspected "child sex party" at a kebab shop in Bethnal Green. So-called "uck parties" (the word uck is a colloquial term for oral sex) involve young girls being plied with alcohol and drugs before older men have sex with them. Authorities in Tower Hamlets, which has the highest percentage of Muslim residents in England and Wales, has since revoked the kebab shop's alcohol license.
July 7. The Daily Mail reported that Imran Waheed, a 41-year-old psychiatrist with the National Health Service in Birmingham, was also working as an expert witness to British courts, even though he is an Islamist who has openly said he "does not believe in democracy" and is "not obedient" to secular law. In a BBC interview he said: "I've got no respect for any law other than Allah's, so I don't care about the law to be honest... I care for the law of Islam. I don't care for the law of any man."
July 8. An opinion essay published by the Guardian claimed that a new a new art exhibition in Florence reveals the "deep connection" between Europe and Islam:
"Embodied in the Renaissance view is certainly a sense of Islam as the other. But it is intertwined with curiosity, respect, even awe. There is a willingness, too, to reach beyond the otherness of Islam and to see the Muslim world not as demonic or exotic but as a variant of the European experience....
"At a time when many politicians present Islam as alien to the European experience, such shows are a useful reminder of how historically deeply intertwined are the worlds of Europe and Islam."
July 9. Amanda Spielman, the head of Ofsted, the schools regulator, accused Muslim groups of having a "sense of religious or cultural entitlement" and attempting to exert an outsize influence on school policy:
"For some children, school may be the only time in their lives that they spend time every day with people from outside their immediate ethnic or religious group, or at least where the values of people outside their own group can be explained and openly discussed.
"Islamist extremists, particularly fueled by the online propaganda of Daesh [Islamic State] and others, prey on a sense of isolation and alienation in some minority communities."
July 12. Thousands of Muslim pupils in Blackburn, Burnley, Hyndburn, Nelson, Preston and Rawtenstall were instructed to boycott all school meals when they return to class in September. The move followed the decision by the Lancashire County Council to stop supplying schools with unstunned halal meat, and instead to serve meat from pre-stunned cattle and sheep.
July 13. Sophie Rahman, the former head teacher of Eton Community School, a primary school in Ilford, was banned for life from teaching after it emerged that she had allowed the "London Bridge jihadi," Khuram Butt, to teach Arabic classes after school at the facility. Butt reportedly told children that non-Muslims were the "worst creatures" and that it was acceptable for them to lie to their parents. A panel found Rahman guilty of unacceptable professional conduct. She confirmed that the last day Butt taught the children was June 2, 2017. The next day, Butt, along with Rachid Redouane and Youssef Zaghba, plowed a van into people on London Bridge before launching a knife rampage around Borough Market. The attackers were shot dead by police officers.
July 15. Samantha Lewthwaite, a 34-year-old British convert to Islam, was reported to be recruiting suicide bombers to target summer holidaymakers in Britain, Cyprus, Greece, Spain and Turkey. The mother-of-four — known as the White Widow after her jihadi husband, Germaine Lindsay, killed himself along with 26 others in the 2005 London suicide bombings — was feared to have recruited up to 30 jihadis, who have been taught how to build suicide vests and choose their own targets. An intelligence source said:
"The White Widow hates Britain and everything the West stands for. She has completely turned her back on her country and her former life. She has mentored dozens of female terrorists and favors white converts to Islam because she feels they attract less suspicion by the security services."
July 17. The Independent reported on an inquiry which found that the British government received information detailing the activities of Muslim pedophile gangs in Rotherham as far back as 2002 but failed properly to act on it, apparently out of fear of being accused of racism. A large-scale inquiry was not launched until a decade later, after a Times report on the scale of grooming in Britain provoked a national scandal. Sarah Champion, Labour MP for Rotherham, said it was clear that the Home Office knew about child sexual exploitation in Rotherham since 2002:
"Why, when so many in authority knew the scale and severity of this crime, did it take until 2014, with the publication of the Jay report, for a large-scale investigation to occur? How many lives could have been protected if swift action had been taken a decade before?"
July 20. Khalid Ali, a 28-year-old plumber-turned-jihadi from London, was handed three life sentences, with a minimum term of 40 years in prison, for plotting a knife attack on MPs and police outside the Houses of Parliament. Ali had three knives when he was arrested by armed police in Parliament Square on April 2017, following surveillance by counter-terrorism police. Ali had spent five years in Afghanistan, where he made Taliban bombs used to maim and kill British and NATO troops. In an interview with officers, Ali said he wanted to deliver a message to British leaders telling them to leave "Muslim lands," destroy the state of Israel and release prisoners of war. "I would consider myself as a mujahid [Islamic warrior]," he added. "Jihad is what we do."
July 20. Former Prime Minister David Cameron said it is a mistake to understand terrorism as a clash between Christianity and Islam: "Listening to [President] Trump makes me feel that it is a clash between Christianity and Islam. It is wrong." He added that there was "a clash within Islam, between the civilized ones who want to practice their faith peacefully and those who had taken a radicalized and perverted view of the religion."
July 21. The Sunday Telegraph reported that former Prime Minister Tony Blair was being paid £9 million (€10 million; $11.5 million) to advise the government of Saudi Arabia. An article on Blair's website states:
"[T]he Crown Prince has demonstrated a level of conviction, clarity and coherence in identifying and understanding the nature of Islamist extremism that Western policymakers should seek to learn from. Britain should learn from Saudi Arabia and how it has demonstrated a clear commitment to tackling the politicization of Islam to inform policymaking, with no moral ambiguity in delineating Islam, the faith, from Islamism, a politicized ideology."
July 24. Majud Hussain, a 41-year-old police officer from Nottingham, was sentenced to seven years in prison for raping a 17-year-old girl. Judge James Sampson told Hussain, a married father of four: "You have shown absolutely no remorse whatsoever. You are clearly a disgrace to the uniform of police officers and you are obviously unfit to be a police constable."
July 24. Khalid Baqa, a 54-year-old man from East London, was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison for circulating jihadi literature on the London Underground. Commander Clarke Jarrett, Head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command said:
"Baqa was reproducing and distributing terrorist related material in the hope of getting others involved and drawn into the same toxic ideology he was peddling. Not only that, but he also radicalized and involved a young impressionable 17-year-old, whom he then used to help distribute his pamphlets and CDs."
July 25. Home Secretary Sajid Javid ordered research into the ethnic origin of sexual grooming gangs, apparently in order to discover why men convicted of child sex crimes are disproportionately of Pakistani origin. Javid, a British-Pakistani, said that exploring the "particular characteristics" of offenders was "critical to our understanding" of what happened across the country, including in Newcastle, Telford and Rotherham.
July 25. Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, Northern Ireland's biggest health trust, reported 17 cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) between April 2017 and January 2018. The women's ages ranged from 24 years to 46 years. Their countries of origin were not recorded.
July 26. The director of the Royal College of Midwives in Northern Ireland, Breedagh Hughes, said that women are being let down by a lack of clarity over procedures for reporting incidents of female genital mutilation (FGM):
"The fact that there have been no official, practical guidelines for nurses, midwives, social workers, anyone working at the coalface [on the front lines], means it's very difficult for anyone to know what to do when confronted with a case of FGM....
"There is also an issue of jurisdiction. If the offense was carried out on someone over 18 outside of Northern Ireland, what do they do?"
July 27. Members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Britain expressed fear of violent persecution after cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan announced victory in Pakistan's general election. The Ahmadiyya community is considered heretical by orthodox Muslims: its followers do not believe that Mohammed was the final prophet. This belief, under Pakistan's blasphemy laws, is an offense punishable by death. "We are standing with Article 295c," Khan said at a gathering of Muslim leaders in Islamabad, "and will defend it." Khan was referring to a clause of the Pakistani Constitution that mandates the death penalty for any "imputation, insinuation or innuendo" against Mohammed. Some 30,000 Ahmadiyyas are living in Britain.
July 28. Six men were charged in connection with an acid attack on a three-year-old boy, who was on a shopping trip with his mother. The boy's father, a 39-year-old Afghan asylum seeker, was among those charged in the attack. Police believe the man had intended to attack his estranged wife, who, with their three children, left him last year and moved to another house to start a new life.
July 29. The Sunday Times reported that not a single Christian was among the 1,112 Syrian refugees resettled in Britain in the first three months of 2018. The Home Office agreed to resettle only Muslims and rejected the four Christians recommended by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
July 30. A couple who tricked their teenage daughter into travelling to Bangladesh in an attempt to force her to marry her first cousin was sentenced to four-and-a-half years and three-and-a-half years to prison, respectively. The husband and wife, who were not named for legal reasons, were found guilty in May of using violence, threats or coercion to force her into marriage. During a three-week trial in Leeds, a jury heard that in 2016, the couple's daughter, then 18, was taken out of college during classes to go on what she thought was a six-week holiday to Bangladesh to see family and celebrate an Islamic holiday. She was told of the marriage plans less than a week after arriving in the country. When she refused to take part, her father threatened to slit her throat.
AUGUST 2018
August 1. In a landmark ruling, a high court judge declared that a Muslim wife could divorce her husband and claim his assets, despite the fact that they married in an Islamic ceremony called a nikah [a mutual agreement of bride and groom of their own free will], which is not legally recognized in Britain. In a written ruling, Mr. Justice Williams, who heard the case in the family division of the high court in London, concluded that the marriage fell within the scope of the 1973 Matrimonial Causes Act because the couple had expectations similar to those of a British marriage contract. The decision came after Nasreen Akhter divorced her husband, Mohammed Shabaz Khan, who attempted to block her separation on the basis that they were not legally married according to English law and only under Sharia law. Previous cases involving nikah marriages concluded that they were legally non-existent, meaning that spouses had no redress to the courts for a division of matrimonial assets if a marriage broke down. The ruling will make it easier for women who are married under Sharia law to divorce their husbands and split their assets. The ruling also appears to enshrine two parallel justice systems — British law and Sharia law — in Britain.
August 2. British teenagers are being forced to marry abroad and are therefore effectively raped and often impregnated while the Home Office "turns a blind eye" by handing visas to their husbands, according to The Times. Officials received dozens of reports last year that women wanted to block visas to the UK for men they had been made to marry in countries Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates. In almost half of the cases, records show, the visas were approved. Yvette Cooper, chairwoman of the home affairs select committee, said that she would demand answers from the Home Office over the findings. Experts believe there are thousands of victims in Britain, but that the vast majority are too afraid to come forward.
August 3. Safaa Boular, 18, of Vauxhall, was sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum 13-year term, for plotting a jihadi attack on British soil. Alongside her mother and sister, who were imprisoned in June, Boular was part of Britain's first all-female ISIS cell. Boular presented herself at the trial in Western clothing and declared herself deradicalized, but Judge Mark Dennis QC warned that she posed an ongoing threat: "There is insufficient evidence...to conclude at this stage that the defendant is a truly transformed individual."
August 4. A police officer phoned a charity to ask whether it was "culturally acceptable" for an Iraqi pedophile to have a 12-year-old girlfriend, according to an investigation carried out by The Times. The officer had arrested the 26-year-old man but wanted to be "culturally sensitive" after the suspect said the relationship was acceptable in his community. The charity that took the call, Karma Nirvana, told the officer to deal with the man as he would any other suspected child abuser. The charity, which works with victims of forced marriage, said the case showed the danger of officers whose professional judgment was clouded by fear of being called racist.
August 5. Former foreign secretary (and possible future prime minister) Boris Johnson sparked a political firestorm after making politically incorrect comments about the burka and the niqab, the face-covering garments worn by some Muslim women. He compared Muslim women wearing burkas to bank robbers and letter boxes, but added, "that's still no reason to ban it." The ensuing debate over Islamophobia revealed the extent to which political correctness is stifling free speech in Britain. It also exposed deep fissures within the Conservative Party over its future direction and leadership. London Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said that Johnson's remarks did not "reach the bar" to be a criminal offense.
August 6. The Daily Mail removed a report from its website that described the French capital as "Powder Keg Paris" after a French activist, Marwan Muhammad, complained that the report was Islamophobic. The article reported that 300,000 illegal migrants were living in the suburb of Saint-Denis, north of Paris, where drug dealing, crime and poverty were rising due to "immigration on a mammoth scale."
August 6. Muhammed Mucahid, a 57-year-old a Turkish migrant living in London, was arrested after allegedly sexually assaulting a 13-year-old boy in the restroom of a McDonald's restaurant in Southend-on-Sea. Mucahid was accused of watching the boy attempt to use a urinal, then ushered or pushed him into an empty cubicle. It is alleged he kissed him on the cheek before the boy managed to escape and get back to his father, who had been waiting in line to order food.
August 7. Ishaq Al-Noor, a 21-year-old Sudanese asylum seeker, was sentenced to 16 years in prison for raping a 17-year-old student in a cemetery in Spring Bank in Hull, East Yorkshire. When the rape charge was put to him, Al-Noor, through his interpreter, told Hull Crown Court: "Guilty. Yes, I did that. Why not?" Al-Noor, of West Hill, needed the services of one of the few interpreters in Britain who could speak his particular Sudanese dialect.
August 8. A Sky Data Poll found that 60% of Britons surveyed said that it is not racist to compare Muslim women wearing burkas to bank robbers and letter boxes, while 59% were in favor of a burka ban.
August 9. Three members of a Rochdale pedophile grooming gang were stripped of their British citizenship and now face possible deportation to Pakistan. Taxi drivers Adil Khan, Abdul Aziz and Abdul Rauf were among nine men imprisoned for gang-raping teenage girls in 2012. In 2016, Theresa May, Home Secretary at the time, ruled that the three should have their names deleted from the roll of British citizens. The trio, all of whom have British children, challenged the decision. They claimed it violated their human right to a family life. Senior judges at the Court of Appeal ruled that stripping them of citizenship is "conducive to the public good."
August 10. A bus driver in Bristol was disciplined after asking a Muslim woman to remove her face veil. "This world is dangerous," he told her. The 20-year-old woman was with her two-month-old baby when the driver of a bus destined for Bristol's city center explained that if he could not see her face, he did not know what she was capable of doing. "I've been humiliated in public, and I'm disappointed," the woman said. "It's 2018, we shouldn't be like that. I'm being stereotyped." The bus company apologized for the driver's actions and said they took action against him.
August 10. Lewis Ludlow, a 26-year-old convert to Islam from Rochester, pled guilty to plotting a terror attack on London's Oxford Street. Ludlow, who also used the name Ali Hussain, planned to rent a van and hit pedestrians. He also targeted Madame Tussauds and St Paul's Cathedral, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said. Ludlow said that he had hoped to kill up to 100 people.
August 10. Prime Minister Theresa May was accused of trying to censor photos of her at a halal butcher for fear of alienating voters. The photo was taken during a campaign stop at London's Smithfield Market, but her aides begged photographers not to use it, according to the Sun. The source said: "Her staff pleaded with us. They were terrified it would alienate people. Her team were petrified." The Prime Minister's office insisted that there were no restrictions on photos.
August 11. Liam Bradley, a 48-year-old motorcycle instructor, accused a Shell gasoline station in Blackburn of "racism" after he was told to remove his helmet while a woman next to him was not required to remove her burka while refueling her vehicle. Venting his frustration on Facebook, Liam branded the double standard as "racism at work in Britain," and urged people to share his post so as to not "let them get away with it." The post quickly went viral.
August 13. Razwan Faraz, a former deputy head teacher at the Nansen Primary School in Birmingham, lost an appeal to get his job back. Faraz, who was fired after saying that homosexuals should be "eradicated," had alleged that he was the victim of religious discrimination, but a judge threw out his claim for unfair dismissal. Nansen Primary was embroiled in the "Trojan horse" scandal, in which an anonymous letter exposed an alleged plot by a group of conservative Muslims to take over several Birmingham schools and impose an Islamist ethos there.
August 14. Salih Khater, a 29-year-old British citizen of Sudanese origin, swerved his car into cyclists and pedestrians before driving towards police and crashing into a barrier outside the Houses of Parliament. Police said his case was being treated as terrorism due to the location, methods and alleged targeting of civilians and police officers.
August 15. Thirty-two members of a Muslim sex gang were charged with offenses including rape and trafficking after an investigation into sex crimes against children in Huddersfield. Police in West Yorkshire said the five alleged victims were girls aged between 12 and 18, with the offenses said to have occurred between 2005 and 2012. Those charged include: Banaras Hussain, 37; Banaris Hussain, 35; Mohammed Suhail Arif, 30; Iftikar Ali, 37; Mohammed Sajjad, 31; Fehreen Rafiq, 38; Umar Zaman, 30; Basharat Hussain, 31; Amin Ali Choli, 36; Shaqeel Hussain, 35; Mubasher Hussain, 35; Abdul Majid, 34; Mohammed Dogar, 35; Usman Ali, 32; Mohammed Waqas Anwar, 29; Gul Riaz, 42; Mohammed Akram, 41; Manzoor Akhtar, 29; and Samuel Fikru, 30. A further 12 men who were not named for legal reasons were charged with "numerous offenses in connection with the same investigation."
August 16. A sermon at the Didsbury Mosque, where the Manchester bomber worshipped, called for the support of armed jihadist fighters, according to the BBC. In December 2016, an imam at the mosque was recorded praying for "victory" for "our brothers and sisters right now in Aleppo and Syria and Iraq." The imam, Mustafa Graf, said that his sermon did not call for armed jihad and he has never preached radical Islam. The recording the BBC obtained is of Friday prayers at the mosque six months before Salman Abedi detonated a suicide bomb after an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena in May 2017. Abedi and his family regularly attended the mosque and his father sometimes led the call to prayer. The family's whereabouts on the day of the sermon are not known, but the BBC reported that Abedi bought a ticket for the concert 10 days after the sermon. The bomb killed 22 people as well as the attacker, and injured hundreds of others.
August 17. A three-year-old girl was hospitalized after allegedly being subjected to female genital mutilation, which left her severely wounded. A London couple — the man, 42, and woman, 36, of African heritage — was accused of carrying out the procedure. The case is only the third time that charges of FGM have been brought to court. The two previous cases both resulted in acquittals, meaning that there has not been a single FGM conviction in the UK despite its being illegal in the country since 1985.
August 19. The number of girls being forced into marriage ahead of the summer holiday period has increased by more than a third in recent years, according to the national charity Karma Nirvana, which provides training to the police, National Health Service and social services. The group condemned the Home Office for shelving a campaign to raise awareness of the practice of girls taken abroad to be married off to strangers during the "critical" run-up to the summer break — the time of the year when the problem is at its peak. Speaking to The Independent, Karma Nirvana revealed that it had learned of 150 new cases of forced marriage from May to July, an increase of more than a third compared to the same period in 2015, when it received 99 new cases. The charity also found that cases of forced marriage had soared by 40% at the start of the school holidays in 2018. The charity also said that in July, it was receiving reports of cases at a rate of two a day, more than double the average of 25, seen in the first four months of the year, with 44 cases reported in May and June. Karma Nirvana's founder, Jasvinder Sanghera, warned that thousands of girls would not be returning to school in September, having had their educations cut off and, in many cases, been left trapped in a cycle of poverty after falling victim to the crime of forced marriage.
August 20. Senior politicians and animal welfare groups condemned the British government over a deal that allows meat from lambs slaughtered without first being stunned to be exported to Saudi Arabia. They said that the deal, estimated by the government to be worth £25 million (€28 million; $33 million) over the next five years, showed a disregard for animal welfare.
August 22. Abdul Jalil, a 64-year-old migrant from Bangladesh, was found guilty of cheating the British welfare system out of £28,000 (€32,000; $37,000) over a period of eight years. Jalil was spared time in jail after he told probation officers that "he would do unpaid work as long as it's light work." The judge ordered him to complete 120 hours.
August 24. A Muslim family was filmed butchering animal carcasses on a patio in public housing in Dagenham, Essex. The footage sparked a hygiene probe from the local council but a woman at the property denied any wrongdoing. It was not known if the family — celebrating Eid al-Adha, the Muslim festival of sacrifice — slaughtered the animals at home or were simply butchering them. A columnist, for the Sun, Anila Baig, said that Muslim families traditionally sacrifice a goat or sheep and divide it into portions for Eid al-Adha, but added: "In this day and age, it's extremely unusual for someone to do this themselves at home." Mohammed Shafiq, of the Ramadhan Foundation, insisted the family had done nothing wrong in practicing their religion.
August 24. The Lancashire County Council temporarily suspended its ban on beef and lamb from animals that are not stunned. The move was aimed at giving all of Lancashire's county councillors the chance to reconsider the authority's ban on halal meat from unstunned animals. The county council's cabinet decided in July to provide only stunned halal meat, except poultry, to schools. The Lancashire Council of Mosques, however, objected and threatened to ask Muslim families across the county to boycott all school meals.
August 25. Yusuf Aka, 22, from Leicester, was sentenced to five years in prison for randomly stabbing a man during a violent rampage at a hospital in the city. Aka, on parole from a seven-year sentence for armed robberies when the incident happened, told the Leicester Crown Court that he did what he did because he wanted "attention."
August 26. British Somali teenagers are being taken back to their parents' homeland under the pretense of a holiday vacation and then kept in detention centers before being forced into marriages, according to the Guardian. The latest government figures showed a 100% year-on-year increase in the number of forced marriage cases handled by Home Office involving Somali children and teenagers. In 2017, the figure rose to 91. There were calls from 65 females and 26 males. Of those, 23 were under the age of 15. London had the highest number of victims at 64. When the Guardian contacted several UK-based Somali community organizations and charities, most said they had not heard of the practice or denied that forced marriage involving British Somali nationals was taking place.
August 30. Mohammed Hamza Siddiq, a 37-year-old convert to Islam, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on charges of encouraging terrorism on Facebook. Siddiq, formerly known as Andrew Calladine, did not enter a plea and was remanded in custody.
August 30. Abubaker Deghayes, 50, a former leader of the al-Quds Mosque in Brighton and brother of Guantanamo detainee Omar Deghayes, was sentenced to 18 months in prison after being found guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice. Blackfriars Crown Court in London heard how Deghayes, who arrived in Britain from Libya in 1991 and is the father of two jihadis killed in Syria, threatened to have his wife shot if she gave evidence against him in a separate trial. In it, he was accused of assaulting his wife and children in what was described as an exorcism. Judge Rajeev Shetty reprimanded Deghayes for refusing to stand for the court: "You appear rather arrogant with no respect for the secular nature of our laws. You have refused to stand with the court opening and closing. This does not insult me but insults our proud legal system."
August 31. Naa'imur Zakariyah Rahman, a 20-year-old British-Bangladeshi jihadi from North London, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for plotting to behead Prime Minister Theresa May. Rahman, who pledged allegiance to ISIS, had planned to bomb the gates of 10 Downing Street, kill guards and then attack the prime minister with a knife or gun. His plan was discovered by a network of undercover counter-terrorism officers from the Metropolitan police, the FBI and MI5. During his trial, the court heard how Rahman told undercover officers of his plans:
"I want to do a suicide bomb on Parliament. I want to attempt to kill Theresa May. There are lorries [trucks] here with big gas tankers, if a brother can drive it next to Parliament I will bomb. [God willing] will be very big if I'm successful. I can't mess up. I can't get [martyrdom] if I get caught."
Judge Charles Haddon-Cave said that Rahman was "a very dangerous individual" and that it was "difficult to predict when, if ever, he will become deradicalized and no longer be a danger to society."
SEPTEMBER 2018
September 4. Prosecutors accused Andy Sami Star, 32, of Chesterfield, and Farhad Salah of Sheffield, of plotting a jihadi attack with an explosive device involving a driverless car. Prosecutor Anne Whyte QC told Sheffield Crown Court that Star and Salah, both of whom are Kurdish asylum seekers from Iraq, were supporters of the Islamic State. She said the two had decided that improvised explosive devices could be made and used in the UK in a way which would spare their own lives but harm others they considered "infidels."
September 5. Sara Iftekhar, a 20-year-old law student from Huddersfield, became the first hijab-wearing woman to take part in the Miss England final. "I did not expect to be making history," said Iftekhar, of Pakistani origin. "I do feel proud."
September 7. Girls are being pressured in British playgrounds to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM), a survivor warned. Dr. Leyla Hussein, who underwent the procedure when she was seven years old in Somalia, said pressure was being put on children by their peers as well as relatives. "Some of my clients are 19-year-old girls who were children or were born in this country, and they will say they were pressured in a playground in a school in London to go and have it done." She urged people in affected communities to confront the idea of FGM as a "tradition."
September 8. Ayaan Ali, a 28-year-old woman from Isleworth, was charged with attempted murder after she stabbed someone at Barnsley town center. Market trader Abdul Razzaq, 43, said he confronted the woman after she produced "a huge kitchen knife" and shouted "kill, kill, kill" as she stabbed a man in the shoulder and then walked around the busy streets. Ali's defense attorney attributed the attack to a "deterioration" in her mental health.
September 9. The Muslim Council of Britain called on the Home Office to stop Franklin Graham, an evangelical preacher from the United States, from entering the UK. Graham, who was accused of making comments that were supposedly Islamophobic, was invited to preach at a Christian festival in Blackpool. The event went ahead as planned.
September 14. A senior Scotland Yard officer was in danger of losing his job for allegedly racist language in a briefing to colleagues. The detective superintendent reportedly addressed colleagues about the need to be faultless and above reproach in carrying out inquiries. He said that they needed to be "whiter than white." The Met later received a complaint about his comment and passed it to the police watchdog for investigation. The officer was placed on restricted duties while the Independent Office for Police Conduct investigated. He was told the inquiry may take up to 12 months to complete.
September 15. Four in ten Britons believe multiculturalism has undermined British culture and that migrants do not properly integrate, according to a new research into the population's attitudes to immigration. The study, conducted over the last two years, also reflected widespread frustration with the government's handling of immigration, with only 15% of respondents feeling ministers have managed it competently and fairly. More than a quarter of the people surveyed believe that MPs never tell the truth about immigration and half the population wants to see a reduction in the numbers of low-skilled workers coming into Britain from the EU.
September 16. Islamist groups are "weaponizing" Islamophobia and "cynically" using human rights to promote their ideology, according to Sara Khan, the government's new counter-extremism tsar. She said that Islamist groups accuse their critics of being anti-Muslim, in an attempt to shut down "legitimate debate" about Islamic extremism. She added that the "use and abuse" of the language of human rights is "perhaps the most concerning" tactic employed by fundamentalist groups. "Groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir, for example — who traditionally rally against what they perceive to be western human rights — increasingly and cynically use human rights to promote Islamist ideology," she said.
September 17. West Yorkshire Police introduced an alternative, looser fitting police uniform for Muslim women. The change was said to be part of efforts to recruit more minority ethnic officers. Assistant Chief Constable Angela Williams said:
"For the last month we have been trialing a new uniform for women which is designed not to show the female form. This was suggested by a Muslim female officer and was designed by our Clothing Manager in conjunction with the officer.
"The tunic is a looser and longer fit, and has full sleeves. This has been well-received from officers in the force and we have now made further supplies of this uniform for other officers to trial it if they wish.
"I hope this uniform will encourage people from underrepresented groups to consider a career in policing if they had previously been put off joining the force due to the uniform, and we are open to suggestions from all communities on how our uniform can be styled to better suit their needs."
September 20. The illegal immigrant population Britain was estimated to be increasing by 70,000 per year — nearly equivalent to the size of the full-time British Army, according to a new report by Migration Watch UK.
September 22. The Times reported that Hizb ut-Tahrir, an extremist group banned in more than a dozen countries, launched a recruitment drive in Birmingham's Sparkhill area, an inner-city neighborhood linked to more homegrown terrorists than anywhere else in Britain. Campaign materials for its youth roadshow made no mention of the group's name and did not feature its usual logo of the Islamic state flag. They instead presented the group, which two prime ministers considered banning, as an innocuous community organization.
September 23. The new head of the Police Federation, John Apter, said that common sense policing has "gone out of the window" with officers forced to spend their time intervening in social media disputes rather than attending burglaries and other serious crimes. Apter, who represents 120,000 rank and file officers across England and Wales, said his members were "incredibly frustrated" because they felt they were no longer able to do the job they had signed up to do. Rather than attending burglaries and helping to prevent soaring levels of violence, police officers were often being deployed to sort out petty arguments on Facebook and Twitter, he said.
September 26. The Charity Commission announced the appointment of an interim manager to the Fazal Ellahi Charitable Trust due to misconduct and mismanagement at the charity. The Commission opened a statutory inquiry into the charity to look into a number of concerns including the use of the charity's premises to support or condone terrorism. The investigation was opened following the conviction of the charity's imam, 40-year-old Kamran Hussain, for six counts of encouragement of terrorism, and two counts of encouraging support for a proscribed organization.
September 27. Ashfaq Khan, a 60-year-old "predatory and manipulative rapist" who targeted "lone, vulnerable" gay women in the Manchester Gay Village before raping them was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Khan pretended to be a taxi driver, or allowed women to think he was one, offering them a lift before attacking them. Remorseless Khan, from Longsight, denied the three rapes he was found guilty of committing.

September 30. British authorities destroyed more than 47,000 kilos of onions after more than 20 migrants were discovered hiding in trucks at the Port of Poole. The migrants, who were discovered by Border Force staff, identified themselves as from Afghanistan, Albania, Iran and Iraq. Borough of Poole said the items had to be disposed of to prevent any contaminated goods from coming into contact with the public. The overall cost of the onions was estimated at more than £35,000 (€39,000; $45,000).
OCTOBER 2018
October 1. So-called cutters are being flown into Britain to perform female genital mutilation (FGM) on young girls, according to The Independent. "The practicing community talk together, saying, 'My girl needs to be cut,' and pay the cutters to come into the UK and cut the girls here," said Hoda Ali, an FGM activist who works in West London. She added: "The reality is we need to open our eyes. We don't need to think just about faraway countries because right now we have girls who are in their late teens or even early twenties who were cut in this country. They are British girls who were born here and they were cut here."
October 2. Women and girls who are coerced into marriage by their families will be allowed to give evidence in secret so they can object to their foreign spouses' visas without fear of repercussions, according to legal changes announced by Home Secretary Sajid Javid. The changes came two months after The Times revealed that the Home Office was issuing visas to known abusers in forced marriage cases.
October 3. Zakaria Mohammed, a 21-year-old drug dealer from Birmingham, was sentenced to 14 years in prison after admitting to charges of modern slavery. Mohammed groomed his victims — a 14-year-old girl and two runaway 15-year-old boys — before making them sell class-A drugs from squalid flats a hundred miles from their homes. The teens, who were transported from Birmingham to Lincoln to work as "expendable workhorses" in drug dens, were found by police in a drug-infested apartment in Lincoln. The Telegraph reported it was the first time in British legal history that a drug-dealer has been convicted for breaching the Modern Slavery Act by trafficking children.
October 4. Rahman Ullah, a 38-year-old father of two from Croydon, was sentenced to 14 months in prison for beating his estranged wife and live-streaming the battering to relatives in Pakistan. Ullah, wielding a kitchen knife, made stabbing motions at his wife and boasted to his relatives: "I'm going to kill her today." Ullah initially told police that his wife was the aggressor.
October 5. Ten baby girls, all of whom were less than a year old, underwent female genital mutilation (FGM) in Birmingham between April and June 2018, according to the Birmingham Mail, citing official statistics. The data also revealed that 15 children aged between one and four were reported as FGM victims. In total, there were 140 new cases of FGM in the city in those three months. Most victims were between five and nine.
October 6. A report for the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) found that one-third (33%) of Britons surveyed believed that efforts to provide equal opportunities to Muslim immigrants had gone "too far." The report, the first of an annual "barometer" testing public opinion, also found that 22% of Britons had negative views of Muslims.
October 7. The outgoing head of Karma Nirvana, a charity that supports victims of honor-based abuse, launched a scathing attack on the government's failure to tackle forced marriage. She said she feels "let down by the lack of leadership" and warned that more children will suffer as a result. Jasvinder Sanghera, who announced she was stepping down as head of Karma Nirvana after 25 years, said that working with the government to address the issue had at times been like "pushing a rock up a hill." She added: "The government has not done enough to raise awareness and mainstream the issue so there remains a huge problem with professionals viewing forced marriage as a cultural issue rather than a crime. Many aren't even aware there is a law."
October 8. A leaked letter showed that Home Secretary Sajid Javid agreed to hand evidence on two British jihadis to American authorities for a federal prosecution, but without assurances that the death penalty would not be used. El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey, allegedly members of a jihadi cell dubbed "The ISIS Beatles," beheaded a series of hostages in Syria. They have been the subject of a legal dispute between Britain and the United States since being captured in January 2018. Edward Fitzgerald QC, a lawyer for Elsheikh's mother, argued at the Administrative Court in London that Javid wrongly exposed the suspects to the risk of an "inhuman" punishment." Lawyers for Javid countered that there is no prohibition on providing legal assistance to another country where it may result in proceedings leading to the death penalty. "This group [the ISIS Beatles] is associated with some of the gravest offenses perpetrated against civilians in Syria during the conflict," James Eadie QC told the court. "These beheadings are notorious globally, all but one having been filmed and posted on the internet."
October 9. Teachers should look out for girls who have difficulty walking, sitting and standing, or who request to be excused from PE lessons, according to a new guide on spotting signs of female genital mutilation (FGM). Schools should also be aware of girls who have a prolonged absence from school, noticeable behavioral changes after these absences, or girls speaking about being on holiday to their country of origin or another country where the practice is prevalent. The indicators were published by Islington Council and the Manor Gardens Welfare Trust as part of a risk assessment tool to help teachers to identify and evaluate the damage done by FGM. The 12-page workbook takes teachers through the signs that a child may be at risk, that FGM may have already taken place, and what educators should do if such a situation arises.
October 10. The British Army launched an investigation after an anti-Islamization activist known as Tommy Robinson posted a photo of himself with a group of young soldiers. The photo appeared to have been taken at a highway rest stop, and Robinson had described the group as "young recruits." Robinson wrote on Facebook, "A moment like this makes it all worthwhile. Today I met real British heroes." An Army spokeswoman said, "Far-right ideology is completely at odds with the values and ethos of the armed forces. The armed forces have robust measures in place to ensure those exhibiting extremist views are neither tolerated nor permitted to serve." Robinson said that he had met the soldiers by chance and they should not be "left hung out to dry" for having their photo taken with him.
October 11. The retailer Marks & Spencer sparked a row after including hijabs — head coverings worn by some Muslim women — in its school uniform section. The company's social media pages were flooded with angry messages and dozens of disgruntled customers said they would not use the store until the black headscarves removed from the stock. The founder of the Quilliam Foundation, Maajid Nawaz, said that M&S had reverted to "medievalism" by including a child-size hijab in the school-wear category.
October 13. A 29-year-old Somali whose deportation from Britain was halted after airline passengers staged a mutiny and demanded his release was exposed as a convicted gang rapist being deported because of his crime. Officials escorting Yaqub Ahmed on a flight from Heathrow to Turkey on October 9 were forced to abandon his deportation when around a dozen holidaymakers who felt sorry for him angrily intervened shortly before take-off. At one stage a traveler complained, "They're separating him from his family," while others chanted "take him off the plane." It later emerged that Ahmed and three other youths had gang-raped a 16-year-old in London's Leicester Square in August 2007. Ahmed served only half of a nine-year sentence. When a video of the protest was published by MailOnline, hundreds of readers expressed their outrage. One wrote, "The police should have been called and all the passengers who were interfering should have been arrested and removed from the plane." Another reader wrote, "Now it will cost a lot more to fly the man back on a private charter! Well done silly interfering, self-seeking, do-gooding idiots!"
October 14. Belal Ahmed, 24, and Mizad Miah, 24, both from Tower Hamlets, were sentenced to a combined 24 years in prison for spiking a 21-year-old woman's drink with MDMA ("Ecstasy"), raping her after she became unconscious, and then dumping her at the side of the road in her underwear. Both men were arrested at Gatwick Airport in November 2017 when they returned to Britain after vacationing together in Morocco.
October 15. The Ministry of Justice blocked plans for an academic study into why prisoners convert to Islam and how it can lead to radicalization, according to The Times. Supporters of the three-year project said they were dismayed by the decision and believe the prison service did not want outsiders studying such a sensitive topic. "The corporate culture of the service is defensive, and they will have been concerned about what this proposed project will discover," a source said. The number of Muslim prisoners in jails in England and Wales has more than doubled in recent years, rising from 5,500 in 2002 to 12,894 this year, The Times, citing official data, reported.
October 17. Lancashire County Council decisively voted to stop supplying halal (legally permitted according to Sharia law) meat from un-stunned animals to area schools as of 2019. The decision — 49 to 23 with nine abstentions — will affect 12,000 Muslim pupils in the 27 schools in Blackburn, Nelson, Burnley, Rawtenstall, Hyndburn and Preston. The Chief Executive of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, Abdul Hamid Qureshi, said he was considering calling for Muslim pupils to boycott school meals.
October 18. A Tesco worker sued the supermarket chain for harassment and racial discrimination after a colleague "broke wind in his face." Atif Masood, 42, a customer assistant at a branch in Thornton Heath, demanded £20,000 (€23,000; $26,000) — claiming that passing wind amounts to "bullying." In legal papers submitted to a London employment tribunal, Masood claimed there was "too much racism" in the Thornton Heath store, and felt he was discriminated against by colleagues because he was a Pakistani Muslim.
October 19. The radical preacher Anjem Choudary, described as Britain's "most dangerous extremist," was released from prison after serving only half of the five-and-a-half-year sentence he received in 2016 for pledging allegiance to the Islamic State. Prison authorities could not prevent his release: under British sentencing guidelines, prisoners — even those still a risk to the public — automatically become eligible for release under license (parole) after serving half their terms.
October 20. Sheikh Faiz-ul-Aqtab Siddiqi, a 51-year-old Muslim cleric who runs Britain's largest network of Sharia courts, was questioned over allegations that he had raped children. West Midlands Police are investigating claims that Siddiqi raped two Dutch women in the 1980s and 1990s. The women claim they were sexually abused from the ages of 11 and 12 until they turned 16. They were sent to Britain by their parents to be educated by Sheikh Siddiqi's father, a respected Muslim scholar. Siddiqi is the head of the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal, an Islamic legal service in England that operates a string of controversial Sharia law courts which critics say discriminate against women. He has denied the claims against him, which first appeared in the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, and said they are part of a campaign to discredit his family.
October 23. Nearly 2,000 young people in Britain, the vast majority of them girls, were wed before the age of 18 between 2010 and 2015, according to Thomson Reuters Foundation, citing official data. Child marriage — defined internationally as marriage under 18 — remains legal in Britain. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, teenagers can wed at 16 with parental consent. In Scotland, at the age of 16, they do not need consent, Thomson Reuters noted. British parliamentarian Pauline Latham, who introduced a bill to raise the marriage age to 18, said it was "crazy" that Britain still allowed child marriage when it was spending £39 million (€44 million; $51 million) over five years to support efforts to end it in developing countries.
October 24. An Islamic school teaching that only Muslims and animals were saved on Noah's Ark was the first to be successfully prosecuted for operating illegally. The Al-Istiqamah Learning Centre in West London marketed itself as a study center where home-educated children could attend part-time classes, but government inspectors found that almost 60 children of compulsory school age were regularly attending the center during school hours. The case was referred to the Crown Prosecution Service after the center failed to respond to a government warning notice. The Chief Inspector of Schools, Amanda Spielman, said that the verdict sent an important message to other unregistered schools, some of which she said deny children a proper education and leave them at risk of radicalization. Photographs posted on the school's website identified Noah as a prophet of Allah.
October 25. A Muslim family complained about the use of pork gelatin in three vaccines used by the National Health Service, according to the BBC. Porcine gelatin is derived from pigs and used in vaccines against flu, shingles, measles, mumps and rubella. A spokesperson for Public Health England said the gelatin is used as a stabilizer and developing an alternative "may never happen." A parent who contacted the BBC said he was "offended" by the use of porcine gelatin in a nasal flu vaccine. He said that his wife was told about the ingredient by a doctor when she took their children to be vaccinated. She refused the vaccine because of their religion. The Muslim Council of Britain said the vaccines are not permitted in Islam unless lives are at risk and there are no alternatives. "There should be more work towards an alternative," said Dr. Shuja Shafi, the chairman of the council's research and documentation committee. "We should be trying to find a long-term solution. The needs of the people must be met."
October 26. The diocese of Oxford defended a decision by the University of Oxford to invite an imam to deliver the University Sermon at the end of a eucharist on October 21. A spokesman for the diocese said that inviting Imam Monawar Hussain to preach at the university church of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford, was "a good piece of interfaith engagement." The spokesman said that the diocese had received a dozen complaints about the invitation but added, "If we had had 100 complaints we would have stood by the university's decision." A blog post by Adrian Hilton on his Archbishop Cranmer site noted that as a Muslim, Hussain would not believe in Jesus's death on a cross or in his resurrection. "By inviting an imam to preach not just a sermon, but a eucharistic sermon," he wrote, "it is hard to understand how this glorifies the crucified Son of God." The Bishop of Buckingham, Alan Wilson, dismissed the objections: "Hussain's work has been fundamental in deepening our understanding of Islam and combating the threat of terrorism in this country. He is promoting a charitable and wise interpretation of Islam."
October 27. Forty-three percent of Britons believe that Western liberal society can never be compatible with Islam, according to a ComRes "Islamophobia" poll. Two-fifths (43%) of the population would be concerned if a mosque was built in their neighborhood or a family member married a Muslim. One in five (22%) would be concerned if a Muslim family moved next door and three in ten (30%) would object to their child visiting a mosque.
October 28. As many as 80 jihadi brides and their children, who were detained in Syria since the fall of the Islamic State, are expected imminently to return to Britain, according to The Times. It also reported that the British Home Office has started issuing them British passports.
October 30. Mohammed Ghani, a 65-year-old former imam in West Yorkshire who sexually assaulted a young child over a period of seven years, had his sentence increased. In August, Leeds Crown Court sentenced Ghani to two years in prison, but his sentence was increased after it was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Solicitor General, Robert Buckland QC MP, under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme. The Court of Appeal increased Ghani's sentence to five years in prison. Speaking after the hearing, the Solicitor General said: "Ghani abused his position of authority and subjected a vulnerable child to a campaign of sexual assaults. I hope that the Court of Appeal's decision today brings the victim and their family some comfort."
October 31. The Times reported that Anjem Choudary was ordered to attend Britain's first compulsory deradicalization program. Choudary, who was released from prison on October 19, halfway through his sentence for supporting the Islamic State, was ordered to attend the Desistance and Disengagement Program (DDP) as part of his probation. The course, which requires him to receive mentoring and theological "advice," is the government's latest attempt to combat the heightened jihadist threat. Convicted jihadis are being freed from prison at a rate of one a week. More than 40% of those found guilty of terrorism offenses in the past decade, according to The Times, will be eligible for release by the end of 2018.
NOVEMBER 2018
November 1. Alice Weidel, the leader of Germany's anti-mass-migration party Alternative for Germany (AfD), cancelled a scheduled speech at the Oxford Union due to "concerns with security." The decision followed growing pressure from students and local groups to cancel the event. The president of the Union, Stephen Horvath, stood by Weidel's right to speak at the event, saying that the Union remained "committed to the principles of political neutrality and free speech."
November 2. A 6-foot-tall Iranian migrant claiming to be 15 years old began attending Stoke High School in Ipswich. The man, named Siavash, arrived in Britain in early 2018 posing as an unaccompanied minor. He was removed from the school after he admitted that he was 25, married and had two children. School officials initially dismissed the concerns of parents, saying they were motivated by racism.
November 3. Two Birmingham Islamic schools were reported to the government for segregating boys and girls. The Avecinna Academy in Bordesley and The Wisdom Academy in Nechells were flagged for "sex discrimination" by the education watchdog Ofsted. Avecinna was found to be practicing segregation across year groups, including during breaktimes, while Wisdom was said to be "failing to prepare students for life in modern Britain." Ofsted inspectors said in their reports that the mixed sex schools were in breach of the Equality Act 2010.
November 6. The Labour Party invited a known extremist preacher to an anti-racism rally. Shakeel Begg, an imam at the Lewisham Islamic Center, was listed as a speaker at a Lewisham Labour Against Racism meeting, alongside two Labour MPs, local activists, trade unionists and students. The London rally, attended by many of the area's prominent Labour officials, aimed to "challenge the hostile environment," "stop Tommy Robinson's far-right allies" and "oppose Islamophobia and antisemitism." In 2016, Begg was declared "an extremist Islamic speaker who espouses extremist Islamic positions" by the High Court. It ruled that he had recently "promoted and encouraged religious violence by telling Muslims that violence in support of Islam would constitute a man's greatest deed."
November 14. Kirklees Council, responding to a freedom of information request, revealed that 40 schools in the council were serving halal meat from non-stunned animals to schoolchildren. The revelation sparked a debate and a petition to ban non-stunned meat. The petition, signed by more than 7,000 people, stated:
"Every day children in Kirklees schools are served meat from animals that have been slaughtered while fully conscious, suffering unnecessary pain and distress. It is a legal requirement that animals must be humanely stunned before slaughter, but non-stun slaughter is still permitted for some religious communities....
"Kirklees Council has been serving non-stunned halal meat in 42 schools without the knowledge or consent of the majority of pupils and parents. In some schools all of the meat served is non-stunned and there is no alternative option for pupils. The council has refused to say which schools are affected.
"There is no need for the council to supply non-stunned halal meat when the majority of halal meat is pre-stunned. Most Muslims are content with stunning."
November 16. Six British-Pakistani men — Mohammed Imran Ali Akhtar, 37, Asif Ali, 33, Tanweer Ali, 37, Salah Ahmed El-Hakam, 39, Nabeel Kurshid, 35 and Iqlak Yousaf, 34 — were sentenced to a combined total of 101 years in prison for grooming and raping five teenage girls in Rotherham. The men subjected the five girls to "degrading and violent" acts using alcohol, drugs and the "excitement of friendship" to lure them in. Sheffield Crown Court heard that one girl had been sexually abused by "at least 100 Asian men" by the time she was 16. The men targeted and groomed the girls, who were aged between 13 and 16, over seven years between 1998 and 2005. The case was the first major prosecution arising out of Operation Stovewood, the National Crime Agency's inquiry into historical child sexual exploitation in the South Yorkshire town. The inquiry, which identified more than 1,500 victims, will cost British taxpayers more than £90 million (€102 million; $117 million) by 2024, the date to which current planning extends, even though few people think it will be completed by then.
November 17. An imam recited the adhan, the Muslim call to prayer, at Blackburn Cathedral, a Church of England cathedral, in front of an audience of about 400 people. In Arabic, the imam stated: "Allah is the greatest; I bear witness that there is no other God but Allah; I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah." Gavin Ashenden, a former chaplain to the Queen, criticized the church for trying to move from "being a religious organization to a cultural one." Peter Howell-Jones, the dean of Blackburn Cathedral said that the cathedral was not only a place for Christians, but for people of all faiths.
November 18. The broadcasting regulator Ofcom launched an investigation into the Islam Channel, a Muslim television station accused of promoting divisive and hardline views in Britain. Ofcom said it was "conducting an assessment of content on Islam Channel to determine whether it complies with the broadcasting code." Ofcom has censured the channel in the past for political bias, advocating violence against women and supporting marital rape. The station, which claims it has one million viewers a day, reaches 59% of British Muslims, according to government estimates. The move came after a Sunday Times investigation showed that the channel has been supported by Saudi money.
November 21. A new report from the Henry Jackson Society think tank revealed that the personal television station of Zakir Naik, a prominent Islamist preacher linked to the Glasgow airport bomber, continued to hold a UK broadcast license. Founded in 2006, Peace TV repeatedly broadcast speeches by prominent extremist preachers with links to global jihad. The station has been repeatedly sanctioned by Ofcom for individual infractions of the Broadcast Code due to its extremist content. Despite this, Ofcom has failed to revoke Peace TV's license. In June 2010, Naik was banned from entering Britain on the basis that his entrance would "not be conducive to the public good." The decision, which was later upheld by the High Court, came three years after one of Naik's followers, Kafeel Ahmed launched a jihadi attack on Glasgow airport.
November 23. Five fraudsters, who ran a fake Bangladeshi visa scam and falsely claimed £13 million (€14 million; $17 million) in tax refunds, were sentenced to total of 31 years in jail. London law student Abul Kalam Muhammad Rezaul Karim, 42, was the ringleader of the group, which set up 79 bogus companies and created fake documentation used by Bangladeshi nationals in fraudulent visa applications. Officers found that Karim, his brother-in-law Enamul Karim, 34, Kazi Borkot Ullah, 39, Jalpa Trivedi, 41 and Mohammed Tamij Uddin, 47, charged clients for temporary visas to remain in the UK a minimum of £700 in cash for their fraudulent immigration services. The gang, as part of their tax and immigration fraud, claimed their clients were employees. The gang also created fake pay slips and provided false information on approximately 900 visa applications. An investigation into their wrongdoing was the "longest ever undertaken" by Immigration Enforcement's Criminal and Financial Investigation team.
November 24. Prime Minister Theresa May was accused of personally intervening to deny asylum to Asia Bibi, a Roman Catholic woman convicted of blasphemy in Pakistan. Home Secretary Sajid Javid reportedly argued passionately that Bibi should be given refuge in Britain, but May refused because of fears that allowing Bibi to claim asylum would "stoke tensions" among British Muslims.
November 25. Muslim rape gangs preyed on British Sikh girls for decades, but police ignored the abuse due to political correctness, according to a report by the Sikh Mediation and Rehabilitation Team. Sikh girls would be lured by "fashionably-dressed adult Pakistani men travelling in flamboyant vehicles to predominantly Sikh dominated areas and schools," the report disclosed. Titled, "Religiously Aggravated Sexual Exploitation of Young Sikh Women Across the UK," the report said it was not intended to be a "witch-hunt against any individual, community, culture or faith" but that nothing would change unless the facts were known.
November 26. A jailed sex offender was allowed to play a part in the future of the child of a woman he raped. The man, who was reportedly part of a grooming gang, was contacted in jail by a council who gave him a chance to seek visits from the child. Baroness Newlove, Victims' Commissioner for England and Wales, said:
"This is a perverse situation. It appears to be a case in which a victim of the worst sexual violence faced the prospect of continuing to be abused by her perpetrator, this time via the family courts. I believe that where a child has been conceived by rape that the presumption of joint parental rights should be abolished."
Louise Haigh, shadow policing and crime minister, added:
"This case potentially reveals a huge issue in the family courts where rapists are not only able but actively encouraged to gain access to their children and traumatize their victims all over again. If a child is born through rape, the father should under no circumstances be able to weaponize the courts against their victim."
November 27. People smugglers were reportedly telling migrants that they must enter Britain before "the borders shut properly" after Brexit, a BBC investigation disclosed. More than 100 people, the majority claiming to be Iranian, entered British waters in boats in November. An undercover reporter found smuggling operations were being organized at makeshift camps in northern France. "When the UK is out of Europe, the borders will be shut properly," a smuggler told an undercover reporter posing as an Iranian migrant at a camp in Dunkirk. "This jungle will be cleared. They will put everyone in jail." An Afghan, who gave his name as Farhad, told the BBC that he was part of a failed attempt to enter Britain aboard a dinghy with 11 others. "There is a rush," he said. "Everyone is talking about it saying we need to get in quick in case the security gets tighter."
November 30. Rahim Mohammadi, a 42-year-old Kurdish-Iranian from Hackney, was sentenced to 19 years in prison for murdering 80-year-old Lea Adri-Soejoko. Mohammadi, a Kurdish-Iranian, strangled Adri-Soejoko, the secretary of Colindale Allotments in North London, because he feared he would be thrown off his allotment, a plot of land for growing fruits and vegetables. Mohammadi sought political asylum in Britain in 2005 and was given indefinite leave to remain in 2010.
DECEMBER 2018
December 1. The Muslim Council of Britain and other Islamic groups demanded full legal protection from Islamophobia. They called on Prime Minister Theresa May, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and all other party leaders to adopt a newly proposed working definition of Islamophobia, apparently in an attempt to put pressure on a reluctant Home Office to follow suit. The definition was set out in a report published by a cross-party group of MPs and states: "Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness." The Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, Harun Khan, said that he hoped political leaders would "all understand the importance of listening to communities" and make a "positive response" by adopting the definition. A Home Office minister, Victoria Atkins, said that the department had no intention of adopting a "definitive definition" of Islamophobia. She said that there were "many definitions of Islamophobia" and that "we have very effective monitoring systems of all race-hate crimes."
December 5. Chaudry Mahmood, 51, from Ravensthorpe, pled guilty to assault by beating after he punched his girlfriend in the face. Prosecutor Natalie Chapman said a passerby witnessed the attack and called police. Mahmood claimed it was acceptable in "Asian culture" to hit women to "shut them up." When asked if he would do anything differently, he said 'no.' He was fined £80 and ordered to pay £85 prosecution costs plus £30 victim surcharge.
December 6. The Charity Commission, the government agency that regulates charities in England and Wales, condemned the former management of Muslim Aid, one of Britain's largest charities with a budget of £34 million (€38 million; $43 million) a year, for failing to safeguard against funding illegal groups. The charity, which worked in some of the most sensitive conflict zones in Africa and the Middle East, failed to check whether its money was going to blacklisted groups.
December 11. A 33-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of plotting a jihadi attack in Newcastle. More than a hundred officers swooped in on a quiet cul-de-sac in Newcastle upon Tyne to arrest the man, a "lone wolf plotter" said to be inspired by the Islamic State. Fearing that explosives may be present, more than 150 houses were evacuated as well as a school.
December 12. Miqdaad Versi, a spokesperson for the Muslim Council of Britain, complained that British media had accurately reported that Chérif Chekatt, the 29-year-old French-Moroccan jihadi who killed three people and injured a dozen more at a Christmas market in Strasbourg, shouted "Allahu Akbar" during the attack. He tweeted: "Disappointing to see BBC and Sky News lead with 'Allahu Akbar' in their headline on the awful shooting in #Strasbourg vs. ITV and Al Jazeera who are being far more responsible. This matters and it's wrong."
December 15. Abdulrahman Alcharbati, a 32-year-old Syrian from Benwell, was sentenced to seven years in prison for sharing jihadi propaganda. During his trial at Newcastle Crown Court, jurors were told how one of the films showed Syrian soldiers being violently beaten to death and dragged away. The court also heard how another of the videos depicted young children at an orphanage being given Islamic State "indoctrination" and being taught how to be a "thorn in the side of enemies of religion." Facebook had suspended his page on eight occasions between December 2016 and March 2017, but the father-of-one managed to get it reinstated each time by claiming that he was merely "exposing what was happening."
December 15. A 38-year-old Iranian asylum seeker who raped a teenage girl was spared deportation even though a judge believed his supposed conversion to Christianity was a deliberate ploy to cheat the justice system. The man, referred to in court documents as AM, arrived in Britain in 2006. In August 2013 he was sentenced to five years in prison for raping the 17-year-old in 2012. After his release from prison, a judge ruled that his claim to be Christian meant his deportation to Iran would be a breach of his human rights. The judge, who acknowledged that the man's religious conversion was part of a ruse to avoid deportation, ruled that his 850 twitter posts quoting the Bible and Christian theology placed him at risk of persecution if he was sent back to Iran.
December 17. Mohammed Karrar, 44, Bassam Karrar, 39 and Anjum Dogar, 36, were found guilty at Oxford Crown Court of ten counts of rape, indecent assault and conspiracy to rape for grooming and sexually abusing a "vulnerable" school girl in Oxford. During the trial, prosecutor Oliver Saxby QC said that the men had groomed and sexually abused their victim over a number of years in the early 2000s. He told jurors that they had formed part of a wider group of men who "sexually exploited vulnerable young girls for regular, casual and entirely functional sexual contact, in a car, in a park, in someone's flat." He added: "The common theme being sexual gratification that had the appearance of being consensual but in reality, courtesy of the level of exploitation and grooming involved, was anything but consensual."
December 18. Saheed Rasoolli, 30, and Araz Abdulla, 23, were sentenced to a combined 22 years in prison for abducting and raping a woman in Sunderland. Newcastle Crown Court heard how the woman was waiting for a bus in the city center on May 23 when she was approached by Rasoolli. She was then taken to a property in Roker Avenue and raped. Once Rasoolli had left the room, Abdulla entered and forced himself on the victim. She managed to flee to a nearby shop and reported the rapes to police. Rasoolli was sentenced to 12 years in prison and Abdulla was given a 10-year prison term.
December 19. Mohiussunnath Chowdhury, a 27-year-old Uber driver from Luton, was acquitted of terrorism charges. In August 2017, Chowdhury drove his car at a police van and attacked police with a samurai sword outside Buckingham Palace. Chowdhury shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("Allah is greatest") as two officers grappled with him. The court heard that three hours before the incident, Chowdhury left a note marked "read this" at the family home in Luton. The note said:
"By the time you read this note I will be in paradise with Allah. Tell everyone that I love them and that they should struggle against the enemies of Allah with their lives and property. The Queen and her soldiers will all be in the hellfire. They go to war with Muslims around the world and kill them without mercy. They are the enemies that Allah tells us to fight."
Chowdhury told the court that he had no intention of hurting the police and instead wanted to commit suicide because of British government policy against Muslims. He was unanimously acquitted after jurors deliberated for eleven-and-a-half hours.
December 20. The trial of William "Billy" Charlton, a 54-year-old activist accused of stirring up racial hatred during protests in Sunderland, was suspended after the jury at Newcastle Crown Court was unable to reach a verdict. Charlton was accused of targeting "immigrants, Asians, black people and police" during a series of public rallies to protest an increase in sexual assaults against women and children in the city. He allegedly referred to "immigrant rapists" and women being "used and abused by cowardly immigrants." Referring to Muslim rape gangs, Charlton said: "This will never be Rotherham, it will never be Rochdale, this is Sunderland." The case was be back in court in January 2019 for prosecutors to declare whether Charlton would be tried again. Charlton was granted bail in the meantime.
December 21. Statues of the Virgin Mary and Joseph were smashed, and a figure of baby Jesus was decapitated, at a nativity scene in Ilford. The nativity scene was installed and paid for by the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA) to remind residents about the real meaning of Christmas. Councillor Jas Athwal said that he will not let "mindless people" ruin the nativity. "If we have to have it protected in the future then we will do it," he said. "We want to be making sure that all religions are living here peacefully."
December 22. London Police launched a murder investigation after a man in his 20s was stabbed to death in Haringey, North London. He was the 131st person to be violently killed in the capital in 2018 — the most since 2009.
December 25. Forty migrants, including two children, were rescued from boats in five separate incidents on Christmas Day in the English Channel. A Home Office spokesman said:
"The evidence shows there is organized criminal gang activity behind illegal migration attempts by small boats across the Channel. We are working closely with the French and law enforcement partners to target these gangs, who exploit vulnerable people and put lives at risk."
December 26. Home Secretary Sajid Javid defended a controversial tweet in which he attacked "sick Asian pedophiles" and said that ignoring the men's ethnicity would boost extremism. He added that he took the Rochdale grooming scandal personally because it involved men from his hometown and defended the government's right to strip the men of their British citizenship and deport them back to Pakistan. Javid said it was his job was to keep the British public safe even if it meant offenders being sent to a country where they may face fewer checks on their actions.
December 27. Mohammed Aqib Imran, 22, from Sparkhill in Birmingham, was found guilty of preparing to join terrorists abroad. Imran arranged to travel for jihad around the same time that his friend Naa'imur Zakariyah Rahman, 21, was plotting a suicide attack against Prime Minister Theresa May. The pair were caught by a network of online role players from the Metropolitan police, MI5 and the FBI. Rahman's plan to kill May was thwarted when undercover officers handed him a rucksack packed with fake explosives. Following a trial in July, Rahman was convicted of preparing acts of terrorism and Imran was found guilty of possessing a terrorist handbook. Prosecutor Mark Heywood QC told jurors:
"At the heart of this case is a developing radicalization in the minds of two men who came to know each other online, and afterwards met and began to collaborate. Both thought about travelling abroad to further their cause, going to a conflict zone such as Syria to lend support to violence. Each also contemplated carrying out terrorist acts of violence here in the UK.
"Mohammed Imran elected to travel and set about assembling money, acquiring a fake passport, engaging in research and otherwise equipping himself with the information and means to travel abroad for violence for terrorist purposes."
December 28. David Wood, a former senior Home Office official who used to lead immigration enforcement, warned that human smugglers were being emboldened by the fact that British lifeboats were rescuing travelers out at sea, with the rescuers then taking them on to dry land where they can claim asylum. He explained:
"Britain's border force, coastguards and lifeboats are being used as a taxi service for migrants. As far as organized crime is concerned, it's de-risked their business. They know they don't have to get right across the Channel and land, they can get half way across and the migrants will be taken the rest of the way.
"We have to stop this or it will grow and grow. The answer is to return them to France as soon as they are picked up. Given that the immigrants travelled from France, it would not be unlawful if the French agreed."
December 29. Home Secretary Sajid Javid cut short a Christmas holiday to return to Britain to deal with a surge in illegal crossings of the English Channel. Two boats were intercepted off the Kent coast on December 28 containing a total of 12 migrants, prompting urgent calls for the British and French authorities to do a better job of tackling people smuggling operations in northern France. Javid said he was ensuring that "everything possible" was being done to disrupt and prosecute organized people-smuggling gangs. Javid said that 539 people had made the crossing in 2018; 80% of those, in the last three months of the year. In "almost every case," he said, they went on to seek asylum.
December 31. A 25-year-old Somali man wielding kitchen knife and shouting "Allahu Akbar" stabbed three people, including a police officer, at Manchester's Victoria Station. The suspect, who had been living in Britain for a decade, reportedly shouted "Long live the Caliphate" and "As long as you keep bombing other countries, this sort of s*** is going to keep happening." The suspect, who appears to have acted alone, was initially held on suspicion of attempted murder, but later was detained under the Mental Health Act.
Part 1 of this series can be found here.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13494/britain-multiculturalism-transformation
Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute.
Follow Soeren Kern on Twitter and Facebook
© 2019 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Pompeo, Bolton on damage control mission in Middle East
Osama Al-Sharif/Arab News/January 08/19
Two top US officials have been dispatched to the Middle East on a salvaging mission aimed at calming allies and clarifying policy following last month’s surprise decision by President Donald Trump to pull his troops from northern Syria within a few months. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday began a major tour of the region that will take him to Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait. His agenda is full and will cover a wide range of topics. Meanwhile, National Security Adviser John Bolton has visited Israel and Turkey.
Their visits followed Trump’s declaration on Sunday that he did not tie the US troop withdrawal from Syria to a timetable. He appeared to be walking back on his initial position, which was taken without consultation with senior officials or with allies. His unilateral decision last month forced his Defense Secretary James Mattis to resign in protest and was criticized by top lawmakers in Congress from both the Republican and Democratic parties.
Trump’s tweets on the issue have rattled US allies, including Israel. Russia, Iran and the Syrian government welcomed Trump’s withdrawal decision and triggered a domino effect. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that his troops would soon launch an operation east of the Euphrates aimed at quashing Kurdish militias who are backed by the US. Syrian Kurds, feeling abandoned and fearful of a Turkish onslaught, began negotiations with Damascus and asked for Moscow’s mediation to hand over key positions to the Syrian government in return for some form of self-rule.
Meanwhile, reports confirmed that Daesh remains active in Syria’s eastern desert and that Trump’s claim that he has defeated the terrorist organization was exaggerated. The US president was apparently assured by Erdogan that Turkey can take over from the Americans in fighting Daesh in Syria. But Ankara’s agenda in Syria has more to do with crushing the Kurds than anything else.
Now Bolton has warned Turkey not to attack the Syrian Democratic Forces and to coordinate with Washington before deploying its troops in Syrian Kurdish areas. The warning has put a damper on Erdogan’s ambitions, drawn his ire and reshuffled the cards once more.
This state of uncertainty will have geopolitical consequences for the Kurds, Turkey and the Syrian regime, as well as for Israel, Russia and Iran.
No matter whether the damage control missions by Pompeo and Bolton succeed for now, Trump’s unpredictability and his maverick approach to complicated issues has left his allies, not to mention his foes, wondering what will come next. For Israel, the US disengagement from Syria constitutes a major blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has campaigned locally, regionally and internationally to warn of Iran’s menacing presence not far from his borders.
Pompeo is expected to realign US policy on a number of regional issues, from confronting Iranian threats to crushing Daesh and ending the war in Yemen. One senior State Department official was quoted as saying that Pompeo's visit would demonstrate that the US was “not leaving the Middle East” and that there had been “false narratives surrounding the Syria decision.”
But, while both US officials will seek to explain Trump’s decision on Syria and reassure allies, the fact remains that American troops will be pulling out some time in the next few months — that is unless the president reverses his stand. One US official said last week that “we are formulating plans to withdraw in a deliberate and coordinated way,” adding that “we will be leaving in such a way that we do not leave a vacuum for terrorists to exploit.” This state of uncertainty will have geopolitical consequences for the Kurds, Turkey and the Syrian regime, as well as for Israel, Russia and Iran.
Trump’s view of the US presence in the Middle East, and the world, may reach a tipping point at any moment. His reaction toward Israel’s possible vulnerability as a result of the proposed pullout has shocked the Israeli establishment. He said that the US pays Tel Aviv billions of dollars each year and that it can take care of itself. His statement resonates with previous tweets on how the US spends billions of dollars in the region and gets nothing in return.
So, while at least some of America’s allies may be reassured by Bolton and Pompeo, for now, the reality is that, in Trump’s world, the status quo can change at any moment. The political fallout from his whimsical and rushed decisions on Syria and Afghanistan are already being felt.
*Osama Al-Sharif is a journalist and political commentator based in Amman. Twitter: @plato010

Why a new Turkish offensive in Syria is unlikely
Sharif Nashashibi/Arab News/January 08/19
Since President Donald Trump announced in mid-December that US troops would be withdrawing from Syria, speculation has been rife regarding Turkey’s threat to launch another military offensive against Syrian-Kurdish forces.
The threat by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan followed talks with Trump, and the latter’s surprise withdrawal announcement came just days later, leading to the widespread belief that the US president had given the green light for such an offensive.
With Turkish and allied Syrian rebel forces reinforcing their positions near areas controlled by Syrian Kurds, and Turkey’s defense minister threatening after Trump’s announcement that Syrian-Kurdish fighters “will be buried in their ditches,” the speculation was that, if not imminent, the offensive was a matter of when, not if.
But such speculation rested on the very shaky assumption that implementation of the US withdrawal would adhere to Trump’s initial announcement, particularly in terms of the timeline. As has happened so often in his foreign policy, not even Trump has adhered to it.
His initial announcement caused a major political backlash at home, including from within the Republican Party and even his own administration, with high-profile resignations in protest. That has led to a series of vague, confusing and contradictory follow-up statements in a clumsy attempt to limit the damage caused by what seems to have been one of Trump’s hallmark whims on major policy issues.
Having first said US troops would be “coming back now,” he then said it would happen within 30 days. Trump later said the withdrawal would be carried out “slowly,” but days afterward refused to give a timeline. The State Department confirmed that there will be no timeline.
Then, on Sunday, National Security Adviser John Bolton said the withdrawal is conditional on Turkey assuring the safety of Syrian-Kurdish forces allied with the US (the antithesis of what Ankara has threatened), and on Daesh’s defeat in Syria (Trump already declared the group defeated there last month, when he announced the withdrawal). Confused? You should be. But surprised? No — this is the Trump administration in its chaotic quintessence.
Unsurprisingly, Erdogan denounced Bolton’s condition regarding Syrian Kurds as “seriously mistaken.” Erdogan even refused to meet Bolton, who was in Turkey on Tuesday to discuss the US withdrawal and seek assurances regarding Syrian-Kurdish forces. The snub was Erdogan’s answer.
Having seemed imminent just a few weeks ago, a US withdrawal from Syria any time soon now looks like an increasingly distant prospect. And, as long as American troops are stationed among Syrian-Kurdish forces, there will be no Turkish-led offensive.
Having seemed imminent just a few weeks ago, a US withdrawal from Syria any time soon now looks like an increasingly distant prospect.
The longer the US withdrawal takes to implement, the more time Syrian Kurds have to negotiate the deal they have been seeking with the Assad regime and its key backer Russia to stave off a Turkish assault regardless of what Washington does. Given the failure of previous talks between the regime and the Kurds, and the gulf that divides the two sides on certain key topics, the Kurds need all the time they can get.
One of the biggest hurdles will be reconciling the Kurds’ self-declared autonomy with Syrian President Bashar Assad’s repeated vow to extend his authority to the entire country. Syria’s foreign minister recently said federalism was unacceptable.
Time may also be required on the Turkish side too, given that allied Syrian rebels are now focused on countering a major extremist advance that has included the capture of more than 20 towns and villages from rebel groups since last week.
In any case, the Turkish and Russian foreign ministers said their governments would coordinate military activities in Syria in the wake of the US withdrawal announcement. Turkey’s foreign minister added that Ankara would work with Moscow and Tehran “to speed up the arrival of a political settlement” to the war in Syria.
With pro-regime and Turkish-allied forces massing around the Kurdish-controlled city of Manbij, Russia and Iran will no doubt exert pressure on Ankara to abandon any military action that could result in direct clashes with the regime. This will likely be the focus of a summit that Russia has said it will host with Iran and Turkey early this year.
Moscow and Tehran will probably push for an accommodation between Ankara and Damascus that would entail Assad extending his control over Kurdish-controlled territory in exchange for security guarantees to Turkey. This would be a bitter pill to swallow for both sides given the enmity between Damascus and Ankara, but swallow it they probably would.
Assad’s forces would be no match for Turkey’s, and the latter would want to avoid falling out with Russia and Iran, particularly at a time of tense relations between Ankara and other regional powers. Assad knows that Moscow and Tehran want to maintain and cultivate ties with Ankara, while Turkey knows that Russia and Iran are intent on expanding his authority.
It is between these considerations that an accommodation will be found. Damascus could sell it as a victory in terms of extending its authority, and Ankara could sell it as a negotiated defeat of its Syrian-Kurdish enemies.
The Kurds would be the losers because, with a US withdrawal and their subsequent pleas for help from the regime and its allies, they do not have the leverage to negotiate favorable terms, and Moscow and Tehran know that Ankara would reject any deal that it views as concessionary to the Kurds. All these factors make a Turkish military offensive unlikely, but that will not be the cause for celebration that Syrian Kurds might have hoped for.
Sharif Nashashibi is an award-winning journalist and commentator on Arab affairs Twitter: @sharifnash

Israel, Russia in new paradigm in Syria created by the US
Maria Dubovikova/Al Arabiya/January 08/19
Israel at present is considering the repercussions of the US decision to withdraw from Syria, and continues to monitor how it will affect Israeli operations in Syria.
They are keen to learn whether there will be serious consequences for Israel after the withdrawal of its major ally from Syria. American President Donald Trump made a big surprise for all the parties more or less involved in the matter, when he declared all of a sudden that ISIS has been defeated. As a result, he said, the US mission in Syria is over and there is no reason for the US troops to stay. For Israel this move is alarming. Israel is concerned with the Iranian threat that it considers imminent as Iranian-backed militias are present and heavily armed.
But does Israel have any reasons to worry about the US withdrawal? What does US President Donald Trump’s move mean to Israel? Such a move will not harm Israel as some have predicted because the decision to withdraw does not mean the United States will leave these areas in Syria.
The military confirm that Washington has given assurances to Israel that the decision does not mean abandonment of those areas as the US has bases in countries close to Syria.
Moreover, withdrawal from Syria does not mean withdrawal from the region. American sources have confirmed that the United States launched a new mili-tary base on the border of the Iraqi city of Anbar, near the Iraqi-Syrian border. Withdrawal of American forces that are symbolic from a military perspective will affect the balance of power on the ground in non-liberated areas in North Eastern part of Syria. While the situation in Syria remains imbalanced and unstable, this better serves Israeli interests as it provides Tel Aviv with a significant margin for maneuvers and actions aimed to secure itself from Iranian threats
Just a review
The sudden announcement is nothing more than a review by the US president of military expenses. The reality on the ground suggests that it is very difficult for American troops to keep training other forces, at lower cost, at a time when other loyal factions can handle it and implement what is planned.
Nevertheless, Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Russian president Vladimir Putin on January 4, 2019 to discuss the developments in Syria, considering the ramifications of American pullout from Syria, fight against terrorism and the necessity to strengthen bilateral coordination and cooperation via military and diplomatic channels. Netanyahu stressed that Israel is determined to continue its efforts to block Iran from establishing its presence in Syria. Israel in recent years has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria against Iran and Iran-backed militias’ sites, trying to prevent Iran from establishing a kind of fort-post for its further alleged attacks on the Jewish state.
In circumstances of the US even relative withdrawal, the importance of Russia for Israel is increasing in relation to what is happening in Syria. In such circumstances, Russia appears the vital player being able to contain Iran in Syria. Though Russia has been expressing anger over Israeli movements and attacks on Syria, one of which cost lives of Russian officers and a crash of Russia’s military jet, Moscow has been allowing Israel to go with whatever it has been doing so far without any “punishment”. Russia needs Israel in its global foreign policy strategies, and Israel knows this; thus, Tel Aviv blackmails and abuses Moscow for this purpose, especially at a time Russia is under sanctions.
Erdogan’s image
Israel needs Russia now not only because of Iran that makes Israel feel threatened but Turkey as well. Erdogan’s image in the Middle East and his popularity is growing, even among Arabs. Turkish president does not miss any chance to target Israel and its leadership in his speeches, blaming Israel for the chaos in the region. Taking into account that both Israeli allies, Moscow and Washington, have more or less good ties with Turkey, Israel is looking forward to use both channels to contain Turkey. Furthermore, according to some Russian sources, among other topics, Netanyahu and Putin have been discussing S-300 anti-air missiles which have been deployed in Syria recently shortly after the downing of a Russian military jet. The Israelis asked Russia to move the S-300 batteries in Tartus to the Syrian city of Deir al-Zor, adjacent to the Iraqi border. While the situation in Syria remains imbalanced and unstable, this better serves Israeli interests as it provides Tel Aviv with a significant margin for maneuvers and actions aimed to secure itself from Iranian threats. This plays in the hand of Israel as it leaves Tel Aviv a significant marge of maneuvers in terms of its national borders and security protection policies. Furthermore Israel is looking to keep the Golan Heights exclusively for itself and considers Syrian instability as helpful. Israel is purely balancing between the US and Russia and is trying to pursue its own agenda manipulating both Washington and Moscow.