English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese
Related, Global News & Editorials
For June 23/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://data.eliasbejjaninews.com/eliasnews19/english.june23.20.htm
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Bible Quotations For today
Woe to the world because of stumbling-blocks! Occasions for
stumbling are bound to come, but woe to the one by whom the stumbling-block
comes
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 18/06-10:”‘If any
of you put a stumbling-block before one of these little ones who believe in me,
it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck
and you were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of
stumbling-blocks! Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to the one
by whom the stumbling-block comes! ‘If your hand or your foot causes you to
stumble, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life maimed
or lame than to have two hands or two feet and to be thrown into the eternal
fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it away; it
is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and to be
thrown into the hell of fire. ‘Take care that you do not despise one of these
little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of
my Father in heaven.”
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on June 22-23/2020
Lebanon Records 16 New Coronavirus Cases
Ministers of Health, Industry broach means to boost pharmaceutical industries
Aoun Says Baabda Talks Aim to 'Immunize Civil Peace'
Baabda Says Preparations for National Meeting Ongoing
Exchange Shops Change Dollar Sale Mechanism after Fiasco
Aoun addresses Association of Media Economists: Main topic of Thursday’s
dialogue is to fortify civil peace
Ministry of Finance: 14th meeting with IMF broached Civil Service Council's
role, powers
Former PMs will boycott Baabda meeting: Without horizon and a waste of time
Hitti participates in virtual dialogue session organized by EU as part of
Brussels 4 conference
Army Chief meets U.S. Ambassador
Del Col tells NNA Israeli violations could trigger incidents endangering
cessation of hostilities
Canadian Ambassador pays Berri farewell visit
UN Secretary-General appoints Najat Rochdi of Morocco as Deputy Special
Coordinator for Lebanon
Bukhari meets Central Bank Governor
Ministers of Industry, Information sign MoC: 'Media production a need for
industrial production'
Abu Malek al-Talli Detained by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham
Israeli Force Crosses Electronic Border Fence
Detained Lebanese Activist Accused of Dealing With Israel
As Lebanon Sinks into Crisis, Fear of Crime Grows
Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah calls for closer ties to China/Joe.Truzman/FDD/June
22/2020
Which 'East' are we Heading to and Immersing Ourselves in?/Hazem Saghieh/Asharq
Al-Awsat/June 22/2020
Avoiding the Abyss/Michael Young/Carnegie MEC/June 22/2020
The Caesar Act Comes Into Force (Part 2): Pressuring Hezbollah in Lebanon/Hanin
Ghaddar/The Washington Institute/June 22/2020
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on
June 22-23/2020
Protest Against Iran, Hezbollah During Funeral in Daraa
Iran won’t negotiate with Trump because he is a ‘criminal, not a president’:
Official
Iran arrests founder, members of student charity organization for unknown
reasons
Iran Arrests Founder of Student Charity Organization
Iran's Currency Reaches Lowest Value Ever against the Dollar
UK government issues official warning for Soleimani vigil at London Islamic
center
Syrian Suspected of Crime against Humanity Arrested in Germany
Germany arrests Syrian doctor for ‘crimes against humanity’: Prosecutor
Israeli Defense Sales $7.2 Billion in 2019
Israeli IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi : Iran is the most dangerous country in
the Middle East
Egypt Sentences 16 Convicts to Prison in 'al-Nusra Front' Case
US ‘strongly opposes military escalation’ in Libya, calls for ceasefire,
negotiations
Turkey's Lonely Tourist Attractions Face Make-or-Break Week
Libyan Knife Attack Suspect Known to MI5
Kurdish-led authorities in northeastern Syria in talks over US sanctions
exemption
Readout: Minister Champagne holds call with Iranian Foreign Minister regarding
PS752
Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources published on June 22-23/2020
Is Cairo Going to War?/Yezid Sayigh/Caranegie MEC/June 22/2020
Egypt, Turkey, and the Libyan Test/Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat/June 22/2020
Return to Normal as Coronavirus Remains/Salman Al-Dossary/Asharq Al-Awsat/June
22/2020
The U.S. Is Right to Push to Extend the U.N. Arms Embargo on Iran/Behnam Ben
Taleblu/Newsweek/June 22/2020
Washington’s Muted Response Emboldens Erdogan’s Hostage Diplomacy/Aykan Erdemir/Policy
Brief/Kune 22/2020
Iranian proxy in Iraq targets US bases/Cable Weiss and Joe Truzman/June 22/2020
Will the EU Ever Stop Appeasing Iran's Mullahs?/Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone
Institute/June 22/ 2020
Palestinians: The 'Un-Islamic' Family Protection Law/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone
Institute/June 22/ 2020
The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News &
Editorials published
on June 22-23/2020
Lebanon Records 16 New Coronavirus Cases
Naharnet/June 22/2020
Lebanon on Monday recorded 16 more COVID-19 cases, which raises the country’s
tally to 1,603, the Health Ministry said. Eleven of the cases were recorded
among residents and five among expats repatriated from Nigeria, Qatar, Ivory
Coast and Belarus, the Ministry said in its daily statement. Ten of the local
cases have been traced to known infected individuals, it added. The local cases
were recorded in Beirut’s Zarif area (3), the Beirut southern suburbs of Bir
Hasan (4), Shiyyah (1) and Ghobeiri (1), Tripoli’s el-Mina (1) and the southern
town of Harees (1).
The expat cases were meanwhile registered in Hermel (1) and the southern towns
of Adloun (1), Jwayya (1), Toura (1) and Aitaroun (1).
Ministers of Health, Industry broach means to boost
pharmaceutical industries
NNA/June 22/2020
Ministers of Public Health, Dr. Hamad Hassan, and Industry, Dr. Imad Hoballah,
on Monday held a meeting at the Ministry of Health and discussed the best means
to boost pharmaceutical industries under the joint cooperation and supervision
of both of their respective ministries.
The pair discussed practical ways to enhance cooperation between the two
ministries in several fields, the most important of which is the promotion of
local pharmaceutical industries. In the wake of the meeting, Hassan said that
the meeting had reached an agreement on several issues of interest, including
the manufacturing of food supplements under a license from the Ministry of
Industry -- provided that joint technical committees undertake follow-up on the
production process, with a view to preventing individualization and preserving
investors' rights.
As for other pharmaceutical industries, the Health Minister highlighted the need
for further research in a bid to reach the desired agreement. Hassan did not
fail to underscore the importance of taking the successful and positive
cooperation between the two ministries as an ideal model to follow among public
administrations. In turn, Hoballah said that the Ministry of Industry would
start issuing licenses to water and food supplement factories, provided that a
joint committee representing both ministries and concerned parties would follow
up on their activity.
"Our goal is to achieve three points: the first is to encourage investments in
Lebanon's industrial field, especially in the pharmaceutical industry; the
second is to preserve public safety and health in the service of investors and
consumers; the third is to implement laws and avoid corruption and suspicion in
their implementation," Hoballah explained.
Aoun Says Baabda Talks Aim to 'Immunize Civil Peace'
Naharnet/June 22/2020
President Michel Aoun on Monday announced that the objective of the all-party
meeting he has scheduled for Thursday is to “immunize civil peace through
pushing each of the domestic parties to shoulder its responsibilities.”“This
aims to avoid a descent into the worse or to bloodshed, especially after what we
witnessed on the streets of Beirut and Tripoli during the latest protests,” Aoun
said. Noting that the dialogue meeting will not propose a national unity
government, Aoun stressed that he is shouldering his full responsibilities as a
president in order to “find solutions to the current crisis.”“We are working on
rebuilding Lebanon and this takes a long time,” the president added.He was
speaking during a meeting in Baabda with a delegation from the association of
economic journalists.
Baabda Says Preparations for National Meeting Ongoing
Naharnet/June 22/2020
Preparations for the upcoming all-party talks at the presidential palace are
ongoing, a spokesman said. “As for us, preparations at the palace are ongoing,
and today most of the invited parties will meet to take their stances on the
meeting,” said Rafik Chalala, the head of the Presidency’s press office.
“Some parties have said that they will take part in the meeting while others are
mulling attendance and some will meet with their blocs to take the appropriate
decision,” he added. He noted that the objective of the talks is to “confront
the developments of the past two weeks, especially in Tripoli and Beirut.”
“The invitation addressed by President Michel Aoun was clear, and he has sensed
from the vandalization and attacks on the army in Beirut and Tripoli that
someone is plotting to re-ignite strife in Lebanon, especially after the slogans
that were repeated,” Chalala went on to say. Addressing the invited political
leaders, Chalala said they “understand the importance of coexistence and civil
peace” and must accordingly be “at the level of responsibility.”“This critical
and sensitive file requires national consensus,” he added. Noting that the
security file will be the main topic of the meeting, Chalala pointed out that
the “economic challenges” will also be raised in light of “the presence of the
top leaders who represent the biggest popular base in the country.”Chalala's
remarks come amid a flurry of media reports suggesting that a lot of parties
will boycott the summit following the belligerent remarks that were voiced by
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Saturday and in light of the
absence of a clear agenda for the meeting.
Exchange Shops Change Dollar Sale Mechanism after Fiasco
Naharnet/June 22/2020
The Syndicate of Money Changers in Lebanon on Monday issued a statement
officially declaring an end to a mechanism under which citizens had been allowed
to buy $200 each every month at a rate approved by the central bank. The
mechanism, which had required citizens to only present a national ID card, had
been adopted on the hope that it would lower the dollar exchange rate on the
black market but it quickly fired back. Crowds of citizens started gathering
outside money change shops every day to buy dollars with the aim of selling them
on the black market for higher rates.
According to media reports, some money changers would even give any citizen
presenting a national ID card LBP 200,000 "in return for nothing." Those money
changers sought to withhold dollar banknotes in order to sell them later at
higher rates.The new mechanism announced Monday by the Syndicate will require
citizens to present documents proving that they actually need the dollar
banknotes. Citizens allowed to benefit from the mechanism are those seeking to
pay the salaries of their foreign domestic workers; those seeking to buy travel
tickets; those seeking to pay for higher education and student accommodation
abroad; and those seeking to pay a housing installment or a U.S. dollar debt in
Lebanon.
Aoun addresses Association of Media Economists: Main topic
of Thursday’s dialogue is to fortify civil peace
NNA/June 22/2020
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, asserted that the main topic of
next Thursday’s dialogue is “To fortify civil peace by each of the internal
parties assuming their responsibilities in order to avoid slipping towards the
worst and bloodshed, especially after we saw what happened in the Streets of
Beirut and Tripoli following recent movements”. The President denied that the
goal of such a dialogue meeting is to return to a Government of national
reconciliation, noting that “The consensual system lacks democracy in the
absence of the so-called minority and majority”.
President Aoun also stressed that “Through industry and agriculture, the
Lebanese Lira is supported, and not through borrowing from abroad, which we have
always relied on in the past in addition to rentier economy”, asserting that he
bears all his responsibilities as President of the Republic in order to find
solutions to the current crisis.
“We are working to build Lebanon again, and this takes long” the President
added.
President Aoun then received a delegation from the Administrative Board of the
Association of Economists Media, headed by President of the Association, Mrs.
Sabine Oueiss.
Mrs. Oueiss delivered a speech in which the concerns of workers in the sector
were presented, and the goals of the association were specified. Oueiss stressed
the necessity of work, with all available means, to strengthen the banking
sector and restore confidence to it locally and externally, out of the
conviction that this sector does not bear the sole responsibility for the
current financial crisis. “The banking sector is an essential pillar of the
economy, and one of its pillars is to restore recovery and launch industry and
agriculture as part of the transition from the rentier economy to a productive
economy capable of securing sustainable growth and economic and social
prosperity for the Lebanese” Mrs. Oueiss said.
Mrs. Oueiss also considered that the shift to a productive economy should not be
at the expense of eliminating Lebanon’s advantages in the services, financial
and banking fields, and called for removing the economy from the circle of
political attraction, after paying exorbitant prices as a result of that, which
led to collapse and lossof elements of Lebanon’s steadfastness and immunity.
“This is the correct and only way to address the economic, financial and banking
crisis, and to immediately take fast measures to address the problem of high
prices, especially in light of the depreciation of the Lira exchange rate, and
to put an end to the failure in the exchange market, through serious measures
that reflect the sovereignty of the state over its cash” Oueiss said.
Moreover, Oueiss considered that the decision to resort to the IMF “Is a bold
and advanced option on the path of restoring Lebanon to the path of recovery,
but it is not enough and could be harmful if Lebanon does not initiate the
country to take bold reform decisions which protect its people from the painful
path”.
Finally, Mrs. Oueiss called for supporting the media sector with its various
institutions because Lebanon and the media are an inseparable title, focusing on
the importance of expediting the development of a modern law that guarantees
public freedoms, and that includes a new structure capable of absorbing all
workers in the visual, audio, written and electronic sectors, after the absence
of the organization led to neglect and reflects negatively on freedoms in
general.
Then the association’s Vice President, Bahij Abi Ghanem, spoke about the
association’s goals, and its role in the economic media.
President Aoun’s Reply:
For his side, President Aoun welcomed the association’s administrative body,
stressing the importance of free press, “Which is an essential element in
governance, because it gives an ultimatum to the ruler to pay attention to the
defect wherever it exists”. On the other hand, the President stressed the need
to distinguish between the meaning of Media Freedom and the freedom of insults
common today on social media, asserting the need to draft a law which puts an
end to this type of practice.
Then, President Aoun spoke about the economy, stating the risks encountered by
the banking sector, which were reflected on the economy. The President pointed
out to the ongoing efforts to evaluate the economic and financial conditions,
reminding of what was said in his oath speech regarding the transition to a
productive economy, especially since production sectors were completely idle in
light of the prevailing rentier economy, over thirty years.
President Aoun praised the interest shown by the Lebanese people today in
agriculture, pointing out that he has always stressed the importance of industry
and agriculture supporting the Lebanese currency and not borrowing from abroad,
“Which we have always depended on in addition to the rentier economy”, asking:
“Is it reasonable to support the Lira with debt?” President Aoun also cited the
experiences of a number of countries, especially US and China, who have
preserved the value of their national currency by their national production.
Concerning corruption, President Aoun explained that he had always received
delegations who complained of corruption. “I used to ask each of its members if
they had evidence and if they were ready to present, but their answers came in
the negative. How can we fight corruption if the ones who complain are not
willing to present evidence to the judiciary? Today we are working to build
Lebanon again, and this takes a long time.Circumstances that Lebanon has gone
through in recent years have not helped it in its turn much, starting from the
global economic crisis through wars in a number of countries in the region, in
addition to the Syrian displacement. Which has placed burdens on Lebanon until
the end of 2018, according to International Monetary Fund figures, $ 25 billion,
as well as the loss to its economy due to the closure of the border with Syria,
which is estimated at $ 18 billion over a period of 9 years” President Aoun
said.
On the possibility of achieving reform and securing a decent life for the
Lebanese to gain the trust of the international community, President Aoun
pointed out that, since he assumed the Presidency, he drew attention to many of
the reasons which led to the situation we live in today.In this context, the
President pointed out that “If there are external economic causes disobeying us
as a country to solve it, then we see that the internal causes can be solved.
The current system is not appropriate, especially in light of the possibility of
obstructing the implementation of taken decisions, in addition to the absence of
accountability”, recalling when he presented law proposals, to the Parliament,
related to reform back when he was an MP, indicating that these proposals are
“Still on shelves”.
Then, President Aoun affirmed that he bears all his responsibilities as
President of the Republic aiming to find solutions to the crisis, “However, the
society does not help that, it is critical and in return does not provide the
required assistance”.
President Aoun called on everyone, as well as the media, to bear responsibility
and highlight the accomplishments that have been achieved, especially in
security, and to draw up a new electoral law. “The difficulty for us lies in
changing the mentality of some, and I am convinced that people should not give
in to despair, and I hope that we will be able to cross this stage and reach a
solution. We are working on that, but the situation is not easy” the President
said.
And concerning next Thursday’s dialogue, President Aoun assured that “The main
issue of this dialogue is to fortify civil peace by assuming each of the
internal parties their responsibilities, in order to avoid slipping towards the
worst and bloodshed, especially after we saw what happened in the streets of
Beirut and Tripoli after Recent moves”.
In response to a question, President Aoun denied that the goal of holding the
dialogue table was to return to a Government of national reconciliation,
indicating that “The consensual system lacks democracy in the absence of the
so-called minority and majority”.
Banking Control Committee:
The President met a delegation from the Banking Control Committee, headed by
Chair, Mrs. Maya Al-Dabbagh, and discussed their work after recent financial
appointments.
The chairperson and members of the committee presented the tasks assigned to
them and their importance, especially in this financial and economic
circumstance that Lebanon is going through.
MP Rahme:
Politically, President Aoun received Chief of “Solidarity” Party, former MP
Emile Rahme, and discussed with political developments and the situation in the
northern Beqaa region and its needs.
After the meeting, Rahme said that he conveyed, to the President, the atmosphere
of relief left by the invitation extended to the political leaders to
participate in the “National Meeting” to be held next Thursday in Baabda Palace,
to emphasize the unity of the national ranks and the importance of preserving
civil peace after the rejected practices that took place in Beirut and Tripoli,
during the past weeks, which almost awakened sedition, which no one wants.
“It is normal for political leaders to respond to this call with national goals,
away from any political or interest considerations, in order to reaffirm the
national constants that are unanimous in fortifying the country’s front and
preventing the recurrence of incidents such as that experienced in years 1975
and 1976” Rahme indicated.
“JAD” Association:
President Aoun received the head of “JAD” association, Joseph Hawwat, in the
presence of MP, Mario Aoun, and was briefed about the five-year plan to combat
drugs in Lebanon.
The delegation briefed President Aoun on starting work on a five-year plan set
by the association with the aim of investing in youth energy by establishing an
integrated preventive village,dealing with the drug problem on 5,000 square
meters land, in the region of Al-Mounsef, Byblos District.
Hawwat pointed out that the aim of this plan is to reduce the risks of drugs and
protect young people to create a future advanced concept to highlight the
seriousness of drug use and the danger of all psychotropic substances.
Moreover, Hawwat said that investing in the health of youth is the goal of the
association’s work in its new plan, especially since drug addiction rates rise
dramatically among young people, which exceeds the ability of prisons to absorb
the numbers of detainees, which necessitated giving instructions from higher
bodies not to arrest the abusers, who are a direct threat to their surroundings.
For his side, the President praised the work of the “JAD” Association, stressing
the importance of treating drug addicts to save them from this dangerous social
scourge, asserting the necessity of monitoring drug traffickers, arresting them
and imposing the severest penalties against them. President Aoun also assured
the need to take care of the new generation and keep it away from all social
pests, “because the future of Lebanon is based on the muscles of the children of
this generation, which we want healthy and safe”.
Preventive village:
The following are the most prominent characteristics of the village as a
preventive measures against the effects of psychotropic substances:
- The first preventive village in terms of content and number of parts.
- 37 years of preparation for the completion and assembly of these scientific
subjects.
- Materials were brought from ninety countries around the world.
- The number of pieces of scientific and training materials exceeds seven
thousand.
At the level of the Arab world and the world as a whole:
- Museum / exhibition / training center / laboratory / data bank for
psychotropic substances, or any similar work (please see the main departments
and administrative departments).
- Or a place in the world that brings together all these addictive subjects and
topics in innovative and modern ways to serve all age groups.
- This village aims at Arab and international communication and interaction, and
it will be the biggest example in the world in terms of the idea and its
contents.
-Achieving immediate and long-term expected results, where worked with companies
specialized in studies to show the low number of addicts by reducing the supply
and demand process.
-Creating a new concept in advanced ways for cooperation between the countries
of the world. Entering through history through the establishment of the first
educational center of this size and comprehensiveness on the problems of
addiction.--Presidency Press Office
Ministry of Finance: 14th meeting with IMF broached Civil
Service Council's role, powers
NNA/June 22/2020
The Press Office of the Ministry of Finance indicated in a statement on Monday
that "The Lebanese negotiating delegation, chaired by Finance Minister Ghazi
Wazni, held its 14th meeting with the International Monetary Fund."
The 14th meeting with the IMF mainly focused on the role of the Civil Service
Council and its powers, adding that discussions will be followed up upcoming
Thursday, statement indicated.
Former PMs will boycott Baabda meeting: Without horizon and
a waste of time
NNA/June 22/2020
Former Prime Ministers Najib Mikati, Fouad Siniora, Saad Hariri and Tammam Salam
held a meeting this afternoon at the Center House.
At the end of the meeting, Former PM Siniora delivered the following statement:
“We received an invitation from His Excellency President General Michel Aoun to
attend a meeting at the Presidential Palace next Thursday. We never failed to
respond positively to such invitations, and we often overlooked many
sensitivities and formalities to respond to the requirements of national
interest.
But this invitation today, and its declared aim, seem out of place in form and
content. Is a waste of time, at a moment when the country needs different
approaches to pull it out of the acute crisis that it is facing, to restore the
confidence of citizens and reassure them about the future. This should be done
by emphasizing the respect of Taif, the constitution and the unified national
decision, by controlling the borders, by ensuring the independence of the
judiciary through a publication of the judicial appointments decided by the
Supreme Judicial Council instead of harming the principle of separation of
powers, by stopping false interpretations of texts to invent concepts that are
outside the provisions of the constitution and the law, or searching for gaps
that do not exist to destroy the national balance and disassociation that the
Lebanese drafted in the "Taif Agreement".
The real threat to stability may come from the deteriorating economic and
financial situation the country has reached, which contributed to the delay in
initiating reform from the part of those in position of responsibility, who do
not have an agenda to protect civil peace from social explosion. This cannot be
solved by large meetings that do not have a clear agenda, but rather by getting
out of the state of confusion and complaining, by ceasing to blame others, and
by embarking on reforms that restore confidence and save the economy and the
national currency according to a serious plan of action that convinces the
Lebanese, the international bodies and the donors.
The performance of the government in the past months (the electricity file, in
particular the issue of Selaata, circumventing the Appointment Mechanism Law
passed by Parliament, the selective fight against smuggling and the confusion in
dealing with exchange rates or the government's failure to develop a unified
study and plan for reform) indicates a blatant inability to make the country
meet the serious challenges and be at the level of the current serious events.
This can only be done by a program that draws a clear road map that includes a
unified stance on the issues that led to the political, financial, economic and
social collapse, and to the security and military exposure, and a program that
corrects options and paths, launches reforms, restores Lebanon to its place and
position, so it reconciles with its Arab environment and regains the world's
confidence.
We do not find in the meeting a serious opportunity to revive the table of a
national dialogue that leads to serious decisions that settle Lebanon's position
as a free, independent and sovereign State that belongs to its Arab surrounding,
and restores the best relations with it.
We agree with what Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rai said yesterday and salute
his national positions.
Our non-participation in this meeting is a clear objection to the inability of
this authority to devise solutions that can save Lebanon with all its
components. Today, Lebanon is threatened by a complete collapse that affects
especially the middle class, that was always the backbone and the true lever of
Lebanese society.
While we are aware of the criticality of the stage, we invite everyone to a
rapid move to stimulate productive energies with all its economic, labor, union
and civil components. In order to return to the fundamentals and defend:
1- The respect and implementation of the Lebanese constitution.
2- The approval of a reform plan and program that is clear and convincing
economically and financially.
3- The respect of the decisions of the Arab and international legitimacies.
4- The respect of the social commitment to disassociation.
5- The integration with the Lebanese interest system in the relationship with
the Arab world.
We express our deep regret of not participating in the meeting called for by His
Excellency the President, as a clear protest message against the inability of
this authority to devise solutions that can save Lebanon with all its
components. And based on our national position and our respect for the minds and
aspirations of the Lebanese, we announce our unwillingness to participate in a
meeting without a horizon. May God help Lebanon and its people”.
Question: With this stance, you are removing the Sunni legitimacy from this
table, as if you cut off the path to dialogue?
Answer: Our stance is always national and will continue to be so.-- Hariri Press
Office
Hitti participates in virtual dialogue session organized by EU as part of
Brussels 4 conference
NNA/June 22/2020
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Nassif Hitti, on Monday participated
in a virtual dialogue session organized by the European Union within the
framework of the Brussels 4 conference on "regional recovery in the face of the
Coronavirus", along with a number of international officials.
Minister Hitti presented the difficult economic and financial conditions that
Lebanon is going through and exacerbated by the impact of the spread of the
Coronavirus pandemic, calling on the international community to better assist
Lebanon and the host countries of the displaced and contributing to the
socio-economic cost of displacement. He also dwelt on what Lebanon has
undertaken at the health and medical levels in confronting the coronavirus and
protecting citizens, the displaced persons and refugees on its territories, by
providing them with medical services.
Army Chief meets U.S. Ambassador
NNA/June 22/2020
Army Commander, General Joseph Aoun, on Monday received at his Yarzeh office the
U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea, with talks reportedly touching on the
general situation in the country and the US aid program for the Lebanese
military.
Del Col tells NNA Israeli violations could trigger incidents endangering
cessation of hostilities
NNA/June 22/2020
UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander, Major General Stefano Del Col, on
Monday said that Israeli overflights into Lebanese airspace were violations of
UN Security Council resolution 1701, as well as of Lebanese sovereignty. "Such
violations of Lebanese sovereignty and of resolution 1701 escalate tensions and
could potentially trigger incidents endangering the cessation of hostilities
between Lebanon and Israel," Del Col told the National News Agency.
Responding to questions by the NNA on the recent Israeli violations of the
Lebanese airspace, UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General
Stefano Del Col said: "UNIFIL has observed an increase in activities of Israeli
fighter aircraft flying in the Lebanese skies.
Israeli overflights into Lebanese airspace are violations of UN Security Council
resolution 1701 as well as of Lebanese sovereignty.
Such violations of Lebanese sovereignty and of resolution 1701 escalate tensions
and could potentially trigger incidents endangering the cessation of hostilities
between Lebanon and Israel. They are in contravention of our objectives and
efforts to reduce tensions and establish a stable security environment in
southern Lebanon. Once again, I reiterate the call to Israel to cease all
overflights of Lebanese territory immediately."
Canadian Ambassador pays Berri farewell visit
NNA/June 22/2020
Speaker of the House, Nabih Berri, on Monday welcomed at his Ein Al-Tineh
residence Canadian Ambassador to Lebanon, Emmanuelle Lamoureux, who paid him a
farewell visit upon winding up her diplomatic mission in Lebanon.
UN Secretary-General appoints Najat Rochdi of Morocco as
Deputy Special Coordinator for Lebanon
NNA/June 22/2020
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced Friday the
appointment of Najat Rochdi of Morocco as his Deputy Special Coordinator for
Lebanon, in the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL)
and Resident Coordinator. Ms. Rochdi will also serve as Humanitarian
Coordinator. Rochdi succeeds Philippe Lazzarini of Switzerland, who
completed his assignment on 31 March. The Secretary-General is grateful for his
accomplishments and wishes him continued success in his new appointment as
Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Rochdi brings over 20 years of experience in
development and humanitarian assistance and international coordination in
conflict and post-conflict areas, including through her latest assignment as
Senior Adviser to the Special Envoy for Syria and Director of Peer to Peer with
the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA),
Geneva. Prior to this, Rochdi served as Deputy Special Representative of the
Secretary-General and Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator with the United
Nations peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic (MINUSCA). Earlier, she
served as Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Cameroon and Deputy Director
of the Representative Office of the United Nations Development Programme in
Geneva.
Rochdi holds a doctorate in information systems from the National Institute of
Statistics and of Applied Economics in Rabat and a Master’s degree in
Mathematics and Fundamental Applications from the University of Paris Sud 11.
She is fluent in Arabic, English and French. --UNIC
Bukhari meets Central Bank Governor
NNA/June 22/2020
Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon, Walid bin Abdullah Bukhari, on Monday welcomed at
his Yarzeh residence Lebanese Central Bank Governor, Riad Salameh, and former
BDL Vice Governor, Dr. Mohammed Baasiri.
They held a tour d'horizon bearing on most recent developments and issues of
mutual concern.
Ministers of Industry, Information sign MoC: 'Media production a need for
industrial production'
NNA/June 22/2020
Minister of Industry, Dr. Imad Hoballah, and Minister of Information, Dr. Manal
Abdel Samad Najd, on Monday inaugurated a media gathering at the Industrial
Research Institute, titled "Media production is a need for industrial
production". The MoC signature event, which aims to activate cooperation between
the industrial and media sectors, took place in the presence of the Director
General of the Ministry of Industry, Danny Gideon, the Director General of the
Ministry of Information, Dr. Hassan Falha, and other senior officials and
dignitaries. Minister Abdel Samad gave an address in which she affirmed that her
participation in the aforementioned event was an attempt to stress the
importance of cooperation between the media and industry sectors. "Today, the
industry sector meets with the media sector to launch their cooperation; this
cooperation is between one of the pillars of national production, the industry,
and the public and private media. We emphasize the substantial role of the media
to market an industrial plan which encourages investments, whether at home or
abroad," Abdel Samad said.
She went on to capitalize on the need to encourage citizens to purchase Lebanese
products, adding that this should resonate better with citizens when the media
succeeds in shedding light on the importance of the Lebanese industry and
industrial products.
"We aim to encourage the Lebanese industry to move the economic wheel through
this initiative," the Minister said. She pointed out that meetings would be held
between the two sectors, and that there would be cooperation projects to
encourage the agricultural, health, environmental and commercial media. "This is
necessary to shed light on the pillars of the Lebanese economy and production."
Abdel Samad also expressed hope that the much-needed solutions would be swiftly
discovered, away from political intervention, "so that we can revamp our economy
and resolve all the outstanding issues in Lebanon."
For his part, Minister Hoballah gave a speech in which he made clear that
today's gathering between the media and industrial sectors aimed at mobilizing
the joint media-industrial energies and for crafting new and creative industrial
programs.
"Despite the fact that corruption and the rentier economy have been deeply
rooted in our system, many have become fully convinced that the local industry
plays a pivotal role in achieving growth," Hoballah said.
He explained that local industries directly supported the national economy, not
to mention safeguarded food and social security. "The importance of industry is
that it is the basis for a transition from a rentier economy to a productive
one, a thing which has prompted us to develop integrated economic plans and to
set forward-looking goals on such basis," maintained Hoballah. "We have worked,
in our capacity as the Ministry of Industry, with stakeholders to develop an
integrated vision for the industrial advancement with short, medium, and
long-term implementation programs aimed at raising the level of investor
confidence -- this is what we have presented to the Lebanese, Arab, and
international investors," the Minister of Industry added. Hoballah finally
listed a number of proposals to move forward with the national industry and the
MoC with the Minister of Information. "We have reached an agreement on a
memorandum of cooperation between the Ministries of Industry and Information,
which forms a solid base for the contribution of private and public media in
developing local industries, and in calling for investments in this sector."
Abu Malek al-Talli Detained by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham
Associated Press/Naharnet/June 22/2020
The main al-Qaida-linked group in Syria on Monday detained one of its own former
commanders who had defected and set up his own hard-line outfit earlier this
year after coming out against a cease-fire, opposition activists said. The
activists said a big force from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, raided the house
of Jamal Zeina, better known as Abu Malek al-Talli, on the outskirts of the
northwestern city of Idlib and detained him. Al-Talli was behind major
operations for the group that used to be known as al-Nusra Front, including the
December 2013 kidnapping of 12 Orthodox nuns from Maaloula, a Christian village
in Syria that insurgents controlled for few months during the country's
nine-year conflict. Al-Nusra Front exchanged the nuns four months later with
women held in Syrian government prisons. In 2014, militants under al-Talli's
command briefly stormed the Lebanese border town of Arsal and captured more than
two dozen Lebanese soldiers and policemen. Al-Nusra Front exchanged the troops
it was holding with prisoners held in Lebanon after executing at least two of
them. Al-Talli, a Syrian citizen, is known to be a hard-liner who is opposed to
a truce reached in March between Russia and Turkey that stopped a Syrian
government offensive on Idlib province, the last remaining rebel stronghold in
the country. The three-month offensive under the cover of Russian airstrikes
killed hundreds and sent a million people fleeing toward the Turkish border.
Al-Talli defected in April and set up his own group that became close to
al-Qaida-linked Horas al-Din group, Arabic for "Guardians of Religion." Horas
al-Din are hardcore al-Qaida elements who broke away from HTS. The Britain-based
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said al-Talli defected from HTS in April,
adding that he had personally acquired large sums of money from the deal to
release the nuns. The Shaam Newtork, an activist collective, said al-Talli and
other former HTS commanders have been opposed to recent policies adopted by the
group's top commander, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, who has been taking cautious
steps since Turkey sent thousands of soldiers into Idlib earlier this year. Al-Talli's
son, Orwa, was shot dead in 2017 in an apparent internal feud between militants
in northwest Syria.
Israeli Force Crosses Electronic Border Fence
Naharnet/June 22/2020
An Israeli infantry force comprising 10 soldiers and several K9 dogs on Monday
crossed the electronic border fence that faces the Lebanese Army’s checkpoint in
the town of Adaisseh, Lebanon’s National News Agency said. “It inspected and
scoured the newly-carved road without breaching the Blue Line,” NNA added. Two
Israeli bulldozers and two trucks later crossed the border fence from the same
area and resumed trench-drilling works alongside the road. The Lebanese Army
meanwhile went on alert on the Lebanese side of the border as a precaution.
Detained Lebanese Activist Accused of Dealing With Israel
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 22 June, 2020
A Lebanese political activist who was detained last week was charged on Monday
with collaborating with Israel and referred to a military prosecutor, Lebanon's
state-run news agency reported. The National News Agency said Government
Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Fadi Akiki charged Kinda El-Khatib with
visiting Israel and "dealing with spies of the Israeli enemy." The report added
that the judge referred El-Khatib to a military investigative judge for
questioning. The military judge is expected to issue a formal arrest warrant.
Lebanon and Israel are in a state of war and each bans its citizens from
visiting the other country. Khatib was detained last week with her brother, who
was later released. According to local media reports, she had visited Israel by
crossing from Jordan. She has been active on social media, where she harshly
criticized Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group and its strong ally, Lebanese
President Michel Aoun. Hezbollah and Israel fought a monthlong war in 2006.
Shortly before the charges were filed Monday, dozens rallied in Beirut demanding
Khatib's release and saying that she was innocent. The protesters say El-Khatib's
case is similar to that of Ziad Itani, a Lebanese stage actor who was released
in 2018 after being cleared of charges of collaborating with Israel. Itani spent
about four months in prison.
As Lebanon Sinks into Crisis, Fear of Crime Grows
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 22 June, 2020
Vincent al-Boustani's local council, in a small town north of Lebanon's capital,
runs a tight ship: staff and volunteers conduct 24/7 patrols, cameras monitor
the streets and motorcycles are banned after 9 pm. Boustani believes this is the
best way to offer security as the economy crumbles, people become poorer and
fear of crime increases. "The need for money, for food, I believe things will
get even worse. I hope I'm wrong," he said, according to Reuters. "That's why we
must remain alert, aware of the danger ... We're going towards the unknown." A
financial crisis that has swept Lebanon since last year means more and more
families have little means to cope as the currency collapses and the state
offers little or no help. The country faces what is seen as the biggest threat
to its stability since the 1975-1990 civil war. In the first four months of
2020, murders in Lebanon doubled from the same period last year. Car thefts
jumped nearly 50% and burglaries 20%, according to a report by the Beirut-based
research firm Information International, based on police data. As the currency
plunges, more unrest is feared in a country with a tumultuous history and where
sectarian tensions are never far from the surface.
The prices of imported foods upon which Lebanese depend have been driven up by a
70% decline in the Lebanese pound's value since October. A World Food Program
report this month found that 50% of Lebanese, as well as 63% of Palestinians and
75% of Syrians in the country, had feared they would not have enough to eat over
the past month. A security official linked spiraling prices to what he described
as friction in the streets. "We're still at the start, it's only going to get
bigger," he said. "There's no justification, of course, for any crime. But there
are many things we used to deem, in normal days, a violation and now we turn a
blind eye to keep things going."The crisis has already stoked tensions, with
protests targeting the ruling elite and banks that have frozen depositors out of
their savings as dollars grow scarce. Some banks have erected steel barriers to
shield against attack. So too have luxury stores in central Beirut. Earlier this
month, a manager at a major Lebanese bank was found murdered near his home in a
Beirut suburb, though the motive remains unclear. Still, Colonel Joseph
Moussallem, head of public relations for the Internal Security Forces, said
comparing this year's crime figures to past years did not necessarily show an
overall rise. While the economy's collapse has some impact on violence,
"security is under control," he said. But, Myriam Tawk, 28, an architect whose
purse was stolen from her car and whose friend was also robbed in a separate
incident, feels less safe these days. "As soon as I arrived at the police
station with my car window broken, they told me 'you got robbed on the corniche?',"
she recalled. "Apparently this is happening every day."
Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah calls for closer ties to China
Joe.Truzman/FDD/June 22/2020
Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah June 17, 2020 speech
During a June 17 speech eulogizing former Palestinian Islamic Jihad
Secretary-General Ramadan Shalah and Hezbollah commander Hajj Abu Ali Farhat,
Hassan Nasrallah called for a realignment with China in an attempt to end
Lebanon’s dependence on western aid during its economic crises.
“I have information that is absolutely definite, if I am not sure about
something, I wouldn’t talk about it. Chinese companies are ready to bring in
money, and without any of the complications that we talk about in Lebanon. We
don’t have to give them money, they will bring money into the country,”
Nasrallah stated.
Nasrallah was referring to a series of letters sent by Chinese companies,
including one by China Machinery Engineering Company (CMEC), to Lebanese Prime
Minister Dr. Hassan Diab.
“As the government of Lebanon will be undertaking Beirut to Bekaa Express Way,
Train and Tunnel project in Lebanon, we would like by this letter to express our
serious interest to participate in said project as well as any other Railway and
Infrastructure Projects,” the CMEC statement read.
Lebanon has been suffering from years of fiscal mismanagement, corruption,
political crisis and social unrest – which has factored into the Lebanese pound
losing more than half of its value. Other factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic
and the Syrian war have contributed to the current crises the country finds
itself in.It is worth noting the newly enacted U.S. Caesar Law, which targets
foreign entities who deal with the Assad regime’s military, aviation, gas and
oil facilities, could add more instability to Lebanon’s current crisis due to
any future business deals with Syria being scuttled due to the threat of U.S.
sanctions.
From listening to Nasrallah’s speech, it is evident there is concern about the
crises in Lebanon and the pressure campaign the Trump administration is placing
on Syria’s allies, chiefly among them, Hezbollah.
“The American administration, the U.S. Treasury, the U.S. State Department, and
their representative here, the American Embassy, have banned the dollar from
entering Lebanon. This is a first. And second, they are exerting pressure on the
Central Bank from supplying the market with what it currently has which could
alleviate the problem,” Nasrallah said.
It is uncertain if Lebanon will decide to pivot eastward to obtain needed
Chinese investment – or if it will ultimately accept an International Monetary
Fund bailout that could have clauses excluding Hezbollah from benefiting from
the aid.
Regardless of what Lebanon’s government decides, Nasrallah emphasized to the
U.S. and its allies that Hezbollah will not give up its resistance against it
and Israel despite the pressure it finds itself under.
Nasrallah said: “Whoever is going to make us choose between being killed by
weapons or being killed by starvation, I tell them: We will continue to carry
our weapons and we won’t starve; and we will kill you. We will kill you.”
*Joe Truzman is a contributor to FDD's Long War Journal.
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Which 'East' are we Heading to and Immersing Ourselves in?
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat/June 22/2020
Chinese Maoism used to sum up its politics during particular stages with easily
remembered, almost poetic slogans. For example, in 1957, Mao ZeDung said, “let a
hundred flowers blossom”, to encourage intellectuals to critique party and
government policies. The intellectuals who believed in it and did indeed
critique were all imprisoned.
In Lebanon, we woke to a new phrase-slogan a few days ago- that of the next
phase: “heading towards the East”. Since the call’s economic meaning undermined
itself the moment it was uttered, we assume that what is demanded of us is
furthering our immersion in the East. For heading somewhere to get aid
necessarily entails an impact that goes beyond aid as such. The Arabs who headed
West early on are the ones who produced what came to be known as the Nahda
(Renaissance), which, when it comes down to it, signifies nothing more than
approaching the Western model and imitating it.
With regard to the situation that we are faced with, some clarifications are
called for: the new call does not, for example, imply that we ought to learn
from the great civilizations of China, India and Persia, or from and about
Indian democracy or to study the process through which hundreds of millions of
Asians dramatically improved their economic conditions as a result of Western
economies’ adoption of outsourcing. Of course, the wonderful book "Kama Sutra"
is not to join our "respectable" library.
The East, here, refers to what is opposite of the West or being anti-Western.
Defining through negation is always insufficient, but this inherent
insufficiency is exacerbated by the fact that no one is absolutely anti-Western
today. Neither China nor India or Russia, if we consider it to be Eastern, are
absolutely anti-Western, to say nothing of Japan and South Korea. This so-called
East may have died with the Maoists who declared once that "the east wind will
overcome the west wind" only to dive into the "Cultural Revolution", whose
number of millions of casualties historians are still tirelessly working to
determine. North Korea may be the last remaining example of an absolutely
estranged "East", totally isolated from the "West" and following the “Juche”
theory of self-reliance and self-sufficiency.
In all likelihood, heading East, defined as an antithesis to the West,
signifies, above all else, a rejection of Western democracy and the assumption
that it is a cultural invasion that “tears the nation apart” and weakens it.
It is indicative that a particularly large number of those who had been
adherents to Maoism, promptly embraced nationalist and religious movements, most
prominently Iranian Khomeinism. Resisting the West is what matters to them, be
it under the banner of Maoism, Khomeinism or under any other faction hostile to
democracy and pluralism. The important thing is to find a totem to worship who
can lead our struggle and whose leadership can unite us: Mao, Kim, Khamenei,
Assad ... any of them would do.
As for Lebanon in specific, this easternization entails blowing it to pieces, a
task that remains impossible without one possibility or a second, or both of
them occurring simultaneously: seizing direct control of its political and
economic system and maintaining a state of permanent war with an enemy. Such a
situation, if actualized, necessarily entails civil war, sectarian and regional,
becoming the regime that governs our lives.
Conversely, Lebanon’s value lies precisely in that it belonged to the East and
was able to belong, at the same time, to a wider world. It could perhaps be said
that Lebanon provided a reasonable model for transcending the concept of
"belonging" in its narrow and parochial sense.
Of course, “belonging”, in this sense, is not new. Once upon a time, a campaign
was waged against Orientalists, who had moved between many worlds and cultures,
because they were, according to their critics, fabricating a non-existent East,
but the West-East dichotomy had not been entrenched as it was, at the hands of
Orientalism’s critics, after the critique was made.
The phrase "Eastern Christianity" was magnified, undermining any kind of
pluralism within this East, and claiming that Christianity is about to merge
into Islam and that the Crusades are nothing but an anomalous transient
betrayal. Out of this Easternism, a new "Levantinism" concerned with supporting
Bashar al-Assad, the symbol of our identity and protector of our dignity, was
later conceived!
As for our criticism of Israel, we have not focused on its racism and
settlements as much as we have on the fact that it does "not belong" to this
region that is rife with racism and tyranny. What fool would freely choose to
belong to this region?
But to market this Easternism, the Easternism of wars and civil wars, lies had
to be conjured up. In order to perpetuate war, it was said that ISIS had been
about to enter the homes of Lebanese, house by house, but for the saviors who
came to our rescue at nick of time.
To perpetuate war, we removed from history and our memory the 1949-1968 period,
when Lebanon managed, through peaceful means, to avoid "the wolves" that
Secretary-General of Hezbollah warned us about. The fact is that the "wolves"
did not arrive until after the first resistance paved the way for an occupation
that ended with the Liberation of the second resistance, which thus demanded
that we indefinitely lead lives of a very Eastern resistance.
They erased our knowledge of the past, which, as we well know, is a requisite
for moving to the future in such a strange way: miserable souls, hungry stomachs
and gagged mouths from which only talk about dignity and allegiance to the
leader come out. This is the East that it is demanded we head towards and
immerse ourselves in.
Avoiding the Abyss
Michael Young/Carnegie MEC/June 22/2020
مايكل يانك: تجنب الهادية في لبنان
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/87528/%d8%b3%d8%a7%d9%85-%d9%85%d9%86%d8%b3%d9%89-%d8%a7%d8%ac%d8%aa%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%b9-%d8%a8%d8%b9%d8%a8%d8%af%d8%a7-%d8%b1%d8%af-%d8%b9%d9%84%d9%89-%d8%a8%d9%86%d8%af-%d9%88%d8%ad%d9%8a%d8%af/
بدون إبرام اتفاق مع صندوق النقد الدولي ، سيواجه لبنان تضخمًا كبيرًا وانتشاراً
الفقر وانهياراً لللدولة وانقسامات مجتمعية خطيرة وعندما تفقد الليرة قيمتها ،
ستفشل مؤسسات الدولة ، وخاصة الجيش وقوات الأمن
* التأكيد على فشل مفاوضات لبنان مع صندوق النقد الدولي سابق لأوانه.
*Without an IMF deal, Lebanon will face hyperinflation, widespread poverty,
state breakdown, and fragmentation. As the pound loses its value, the
institutions of the state will fail, particularly the military and security
forces
*Asserting the failure of Lebanon’s negotiations with the International Monetary
Fund is premature.
The resignation last week of Henri Chaoul from his advisory position at the
Lebanese Finance Ministry helped to bolster the sense of gloom that many
Lebanese are feeling about their government’s negotiations with the
International Monetary Fund. Chaoul’s stated reason for resigning was that he
had concluded there is “no genuine will to implement either reforms or a
restructuring of the banking sector.”
Chaoul may be correct, but chances are that the picture is more complicated. The
intention of the political class to pursue reform was never sincere, and will
never be. But what is at play here is not intentions; it is existence. Lebanon’s
politicians and parties are perfectly aware of what no agreement with the IMF
would mean. If we had any doubts, Gebran Bassil dispelled them last week when he
declared in a press conference, “If we lose the IMF option, we will lose all
possibility of Western financing and any possibility of investment and projects
such as electricity and infrastructure and any possibility of reviving the
banking sector and the economy.” The consequences of such a failure would lead
to a scenario “like the Venezuelan example.”
Without an IMF deal, Lebanon will face hyperinflation, widespread poverty, state
breakdown, and fragmentation. As the pound loses its value, the institutions of
the state will fail, particularly the military and security forces. This need
not imply civil war, but political parties will take over the security of their
sects, leading to a reemergence of sectarian enclaves reminiscent of the war
years. While this might seem as if it would reinforce the sectarian parties,
caring for entire communities would have major downsides in a time of grave
economic crisis. It would represent a monumental burden that would ultimately
overwhelm the parties, with no prospect of a solution. The situation could bring
the entire edifice that the politicians and parties have sought to preserve
crashing down.
Nor is such an outcome apparently what Hezbollah wants. The party has not taken
over the commanding heights of the Lebanese state, an advantage it has gifted to
Iran, to give all that up just so the political class can continue stealing. And
anyway, without an IMF deal, as Bassil unintentionally implied, there is little
prospect that most of the corruption channels the politicians have spent years
putting in place would survive. A crumbling state has already made it infinitely
more difficult for Hezbollah to contemplate a military confrontation with
Israel, if Iran were to require it. A state in advanced disintegration would
invite Israel to attack the party with devastating intensity.
In other words, sincere or not, the politicians and parties need an IMF deal in
the same way that a body needs blood. Then how do we explain the lack of
momentum in negotiations between the government and the IMF? Quite simply by the
fact that no one in Lebanon ever gives something up without trying to secure
something in exchange. It’s obvious that for Lebanon to progress in negotiations
with the IMF, the members of the political class will have to surrender a
significant share of their networks of patronage and theft. They don’t want to
do that without gaining politically in the process.
For example, Bassil holds a ministry whose reform is a priority for the IMF. He
also aspires to be president, his serial denials notwithstanding. Does it make
sense for him to offer concessions on the electricity front and not try to
secure guarantees of a sort on the presidency? The same goes for all the other
politicians, and for Hezbollah. We are in an initial phase today not of
negotiations between Lebanon and the IMF, but between the Lebanese politicians
and parties themselves as preparation for a deal with the IMF.
How can this knot of clashing ambitions be untied, and does the IMF have the
patience to wait until the Lebanese get their house in order? The answers are
unknown. The politicians may be so dismal that they will bicker until Lebanon is
in the grave. But their understanding of the terrible outcome of this may
actually contain their worst instincts.
The IMF, in turn, has the option of imposing a deadline on the Lebanese to reach
an internal consensus, otherwise it will turn elsewhere. At that point its
leverage would rise immensely, since the Lebanese would have no alternative but
to come back to the organization in a state of greater need and tractability.
Moreover, the relatively limited amounts of aid the IMF are likely provide to
Lebanon give it the latitude to play the long game. Lebanon is not an IMF
priority, which means the organization can put the country on hold, coercing the
distressed Lebanese into coming around.
Then there is the question of whether the United States would veto an IMF
package. While this cannot be ruled out, particularly when the attitude in
Washington is hardening toward Lebanon, it will not be easy to block a limited
bailout and condemn millions of people to unrelenting poverty. The European
allies will probably advise against such a path, while there will even be voices
in the United States warning of the risks that would come from creating another
failed state in the Middle East. If Lebanon and the IMF were to reach an accord,
meaning the Lebanese had taken steps that persuaded the IMF, it would make a
U.S. veto far more complicated.
So what is the way out of the current impasse? It’s unfortunate but only the
political class, whatever its depravity and incompetence, can answer that
question. The Diab government has served its purpose in neutralizing the
momentum of protests that began in October 2019. It was an invention of the
politicians that was never destined to last long. Diab has proven himself to be
out of his depth, thinking that because he was backed by most political forces,
he could operate independently. The reality is that he has been hindered by a
political class that wants to see him fail. His recent comments on his
government’s stellar achievements, as well as how he had weathered a “coup,”
were ridiculous in their self-puffery and discredited him.
It’s sad to have to admit it, but probably the only way out of this situation is
that the parties and politicians reach a package deal that defines the
conditions of their endorsement of an IMF bailout. It won’t be easy, but
everyone sees there is no other possibility. Even Hezbollah Secretary General
Hassan Nasrallah’s advice to “look east” and embrace Iran, Syria, and China
cannot be taken seriously, unless his true aim was to present an alternative so
unpalatable that it would push the politicians to compromise on their maximalist
demands and conclude with the IMF. Of those countries, Iran and Syria are in
dire economic straits, while China has expressed no interest whatsoever in
reviving the Lebanese economy. Nor is Nasrallah’s vision shared by a majority of
Lebanese. Bassil made that very clear in his remarks last week, and the
country’s Sunnis are profoundly hostile to giving up on the Arab world in favor
of Iran.
President Michel Aoun’ has called for a national dialogue at the presidential
palace in Ba‘bda, which can, potentially, provide a forum for exchange among the
country’s political forces. The contours of such a forum are still being
discussed, however something like it could be necessary to move things forward.
There will be many obstacles to an IMF deal in the months ahead, but Lebanon
simply has no other choice but to agree to one. Therefore, as tempting as it may
be to assume failure today, reality points in a different direction.
The Caesar Act Comes Into Force (Part 2): Pressuring Hezbollah in Lebanon
Hanin Ghaddar/The Washington Institute/June 22/2020
In addition to targeting Hezbollah and other local actors who support the Assad
regime and harm Lebanon’s economy, the new U.S. legislation can help bolster
Beirut’s sovereignty.
As noted in Part 1 of this PolicyWatch, Washington’s imminent implementation of
the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act is setting off alarm bells in Lebanon.
Although the law’s main intent is to punish Bashar al-Assad’s government for
atrocities committed against the Syrian people, the regime would not have been
able to survive long enough to commit these abuses without direct and indirect
support from Lebanese militias, officials, and businesses.
Most notably, Hezbollah was at the forefront of the Syria war for years, helping
Bashar al-Assad conduct his brutal campaigns more efficiently by drawing on
fighters and resources from Lebanon. The group’s deep ties with the regime
persist today, including in the fuel industry and other sectors explicitly
targeted by the Caesar Act. This gives U.S. officials an opportunity to sanction
Lebanese individuals, channels, and instruments that Hezbollah and Damascus use
to keep the regime afloat.
Indeed, the ground is fertile for more pressure on the group and its allies
inside Lebanon. The Hezbollah-led government in Beirut has asked the
International Monetary Fund for an aid package of $10 billion, so local
officials understand the repercussions of defying U.S. law and the broader
international community at this critical moment. Accordingly, Washington and its
partners should make clear that the country cannot expect IMF aid until it
begins cutting specified military and commercial ties with the Assad regime.
Despite what Hezbollah has been telling the Lebanese people, the country can
still save itself by complying with the reforms and conditions laid out by the
IMF, the Paris Conference, and UN Security Council Resolutions 1559 and 1701.
The Caesar Act is a chance to reinforce this argument, while also curbing
Hezbollah’s smuggling activities and strengthening the country’s border
controls.
WHO SHOULD BE ALARMED?
Lebanon has long been connected to Syria politically, economically, and
financially. The fact that the border between the two countries is still not
officially demarcated allows for unchecked daily smuggling operations, making it
difficult to estimate the size of financial exchanges between the two countries.
But some details are evident—as Reuters reported in November, “Wealthy Syrians
are believed to have deposits of billions of dollars in Lebanese banks.” Much of
this money became trapped when Lebanon’s economy cratered and local banks
imposed tight limits on cash withdrawals in U.S. dollars.
Some of these banks and their associated Lebanese partners and businesses may be
subject to new sanctions for materially assisting the Assad regime, particularly
if they are tied in any way to logistical support for Hezbollah military
operations in Syria. Yet the Caesar Act’s most significant effect may be
deterrence—namely, Lebanese companies that were hoping to gain access to the
Syrian market through trade or reconstruction projects will now have to
reconsider those plans.
Fuel smugglers are another important group who could be affected by the act. At
a time when Lebanon cannot afford to lose more of its foreign currency reserves,
Central Bank governor Riad Salameh hinted last month that the country is
hemorrhaging $4 billion per year due to Hezbollah and other actors smuggling
government-subsidized fuel into Syria. Companies involved in these deliveries
are already alarmed, and many locals believe that the Caesar Act was
purposefully created to target smuggling in both directions—not just fuel going
into Syria, but weapons coming into Lebanon. U.S. officials should therefore use
the threat of Caesar sanctions to press Lebanese officials on tightening border
controls and instituting other measures that help curb fuel smuggling via
illegal crossings.
Some of Hezbollah’s political allies should be worried about the new U.S.
legislation as well. Although President Michel Aoun, Free Patriotic Movement
leader Gebran Bassil, and Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri have been careful in
their dealings with the Syrian regime, other allies have been less shy in
announcing their military support for Assad, including the Syrian Social
Nationalist Party and the head of the Arab Tawhid Party, Wiam Wahab. For
example, Wahab reportedly sent personnel to fight alongside the regime in past
years (e.g., a number of them were killed during a 2014 clash in Suwayda
province).
STRENGTHENING THE BORDER, SEPARATING FROM ASSAD
By using these and other Syria-related violations as leverage, the Caesar Act
could help Lebanon strengthen its sovereignty and empower its institutions
against nonstate actors. In particular, if the threat of Caesar sanctions
convinces Lebanese officials to formally demarcate their border and begin
properly implementing Security Council Resolutions 1559, 1680, and 1701, then
Hezbollah would be less free to exploit national institutions in support of the
Assad regime next door. Moreover, smugglers would be less free to continue
activities that damage Lebanon’s economy and bring dangerous weapons into its
territory. On the regional level, bolstering Lebanon’s sovereignty would help
the international community put more pressure on Iran’s “land bridge” to Beirut
and the Israeli frontier.
On the diplomatic level, the Caesar Act can be leveraged in two ways. First, it
could help discourage efforts to normalize Lebanese relations with Syria so long
as an unreformed regime holds power in Damascus. When Lebanese activists and
opposition figures raised concerns last month about how fuel smuggling is
hurting the economy, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah stated that the only
solution is to normalize relations in order to properly coordinate with Syria on
resolving the problem. The group prefers this solution because it needs to keep
the estimated 120 illegal crossings under its control, instead of having the
border demarcated and supervised by the Lebanese Armed Forces. Yet Lebanese
citizens (and banks) can no longer afford the damage caused by loose borders and
Hezbollah involvement in Syria.
Second, the Caesar Act can push Lebanon to suspend its longstanding military
agreements and coordination bodies with Damascus. These include the Syrian
Lebanese Higher Council, a body created by the 1991 Treaty of Brotherhood,
Cooperation, and Coordination during the Syrian occupation. According to the
pact—which was not abolished when Syrian troops left Lebanon in 2005—the two
countries “shall endeavor to achieve the highest levels of cooperation and
coordination in the political, economic, security, cultural, scientific, and
other fields.” The treaty also provides a mechanism for institutionalizing this
coordination via several bilateral committees. Moreover, the Defense and
Security Agreement, signed later that year, calls for comprehensive coordination
and cooperation between each country’s military, security, and intelligence
establishments.
The Caesar Act is a strong instrument to reinforce the argument that Lebanon can
no longer be tied to the current Syrian regime on the economic and security
levels. In order to prevent a total economic collapse, the country needs to
distance itself from the Assad-Iran axis and defy any normalization with the
present regime in Damascus. The threat of Caesar sanctions is one way of
prodding Lebanese citizens to realize that clear, firm distancing is a
prerequisite for international aid.
At the same time, U.S. officials should emphasize that the legislation is not
intended to harm Lebanese businesspeople who have not been involved in
supporting the Assad regime. For many local industrialists, merchants, and
farmers, Syria is the only land route to send their goods to the rest of the
region. These businesses need to be reassured that Caesar is not meant to target
them or further damage the fragile economy. Toward that end, the Treasury
Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control should detail the types of
legitimate cross-border trade and transshipment that will not be affected by the
legislation.
*Hanin Ghaddar is the Friedmann Fellow in The Washington Institute’s Geduld
Program on Arab Politics.
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News
published on June 22-23/2020
Protest Against Iran, Hezbollah During Funeral in Daraa
Damascus/Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 22 June, 2020
Thousands of civilians and members of the Russian-affiliated fifth brigade
participated Sunday in a mass demonstration against the Syrian regime, Iran and
Hezbollah in the city of Basra al-Sham in the eastern countryside of Daraa
during the funeral of the victims of a roadside bombing. The demonstrators
chanted anti-regime slogans, called for toppling the regime and demanded Iran
and Hezbollah to leave Syria. The protest took place during the funeral of the
casualties of the attack on a bus of fifth brigade fighters. The Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights said Sunday’s demonstration was the largest since
regime forces controlled Daraa province in 2018. The Haron Free League website
posted video footage showing civilians from Daraa calling for the fall of the
Syrian regime and the withdrawal of fighters from Hezbollah and Iran. It said
that since its establishment, the eighth battalion of the fifth brigade acts as
a “barricade” in the face of the Iranian expansion in Horan. It said the attack
on the bus came after Iran fortified a checkpoint of the fourth Brigade led by
Maher al-Assad, brother of the regime's head, Bashar Assad, in the western
countryside of Daraa. By competing with Iran, Russia seeks to control the south
of Syria. In the past weeks, Moscow has sought the recruitment of fighters to
join the fifth brigade in Daraa. Around 400 men, mostly former opposition
fighters from Quneitra and Yarmouk, have so far joined the ranks of the brigade.
This came as the Division of Al Ghaith forces, which is close to the Iranian
Revolutionary Guards, was seen deploying in the countryside of western Daraa
after carrying out assassination attacks on figures opposing the Iranian
expansion in the area.
Iran won’t negotiate with Trump because he is a ‘criminal,
not a president’: Official
Yaghoub Fazeli, Al Arabiya English/Monday 22 June 2020
Iran will neither enter talks with US President Donald Trump nor will it abandon
its current foreign policy, a senior military advisor to Supreme Leader Ali
Khamenei said. “We will not negotiate with Donald Trump in any way, because we
consider him a criminal, not a president,” state media quoted Maj. Gen. Hossein
Dehghan as saying on Monday. “We will not negotiate about our ballistic missile
programs, and we will continue our regional policy,” said Dehghan. Iran has
sought to expand its influence in the region using its vast network of proxies
known as the “resistance axis.”Some of the militias supported by Iran include
the Houthi militia in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad
Movement in Gaza, and dozens of other militias in Syria and Iraq. Any US action
against Iran in the Arabian Gulf will be met with an extensive response, warned
Dehghan. Tensions between the US and Iran have escalated since Trump withdrew
from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 and launched a “maximum pressure” campaign
against Tehran. The Trump administration wants a more comprehensive deal that
would cover nuclear issues, Iran’s ballistic missile program and Iranian
activities in the Middle East. Iran is willing to hold talks with Saudi Arabia
without any preconditions, claimed Dehghan.
Iran arrests founder, members of student charity
organization for unknown reasons
Yaghoub Fazeli, Al Arabiya English/Monday 22 June 2020
Iran has arrested the founder and two members of one of the largest
non-governmental charities in the country for unknown reasons, the charity said
on Monday. Student charity the Imam Ali’s Popular Students Relief Society
tweeted early Monday that security forces arrested its founder Sharmin Meymandi
at his home. Morteza Keymanesh and Katayoun Afrazeh, two other members of the
charity, have also been arrested, the charity said. Judicial authorities have
not yet said why the three have been arrested. Figures and outlets close to the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have in recent years been critical of
the charity, accusing it of smearing the regime by highlighting Iran’s problems.
The charity mainly organizes students and other volunteers to help low-income
Iranians and others in times of natural disasters. “Certain institutions” in
Iran pressure groups to stop cooperating with the charity, the charity’s
managing director Zahra Rahimi told the official IRNA news agency last year.
Individuals and groups who previously cooperated with the charity were ordered
to stop doing so, said Rahimi. “They link you to all kinds of groups without any
evidence. They have linked us to groups that I do not even know, they have
linked us to the monarchists and others. Please let us do our job,” she said. In
response to Rahimi’s interview, an official from the ministry of interior said
at the time that the charity should take legal action if it knows the source of
the threats, and if it does not, it should ignore the threats. The charity had
also previously said that some of its members received “threatening” phone calls
when they were helping those affected by floods last year. In a statement on the
country’s anti-government protests last November, the charity had criticized
authorities’ labeling of protesters.
“Calling the poverty-stricken protesters outlaws, rioters and enemy agents” does
not solve any problems, the charity said.
Iran Arrests Founder of Student Charity Organization
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 22 June, 2020
Iranian security forces on Monday arrested the founder of an influential student
charity organization and two of his aides, and sealed the group´s offices in
Tehran, a local news website reported. The report by fararu.com said authorities
appeared at the home of Sharmin Meimandinejad, the charity's founder, and
arrested him. It said that around the same time, Morteza Kaymanaeh, the
spokesman for the charity, and another of its employees, Katayoun Afrazeh, were
also arrested. The report gave no details or the reason for the arrests and the
police did not announce any charges against the three or the charity, named
after Imam Ali, the Shiite Muslim sect´s most revered figure after the Prophet
Muhammad. Iranian hard-liners have in recent years criticized the charity, the
Imam Ali´s Popular Students Relief Society, accusing it of misusing the
organization for political purposes and defaming the system by highlighting
Iran's problems, as well as working with foreign countries and international
bodies. The charity mainly organizes university students and other volunteers to
help the poor and others in times of natural disasters such as earthquakes and
floods. Iran's moderate President Hassan Rouhani recently said charities and
non-governmental groups should not allow "dishonest individuals" to assume
positions in them. In May, judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi warned about alleged
plans by Iran's "enemies" to fund charities for "hostile" purposes. Iranian
hard-liners accuse the West of seeking to topple the clerical establishment.
These accusations have increased amid mounting US pressure following President
Donald Trump's moves that pulled America out of Iran's nuclear deal with world
powers and Washington's reimposing of economic sanctions on Tehran.
Iran's Currency Reaches Lowest Value Ever against the
Dollar
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 22 June, 2020
Iran’s currency on Monday dropped to its lowest value ever against the dollar
and officials warned Iranian exporters to bring their foreign earnings home from
abroad. Money exchange shops briefly traded the Iranian rial 200,000 for a
dollar and later in the day, the currency was valued at 198,000 rials against
the dollar. The lows were a new record after the rial on Saturday traded at
190,000 for the dollar. The plunge of the rial comes amid severe US sanctions
imposed on Tehran. Iran's Senior Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri on Monday urged
Iranian exporters to bring home their earnings from abroad. Last week, Jahangiri
said Iran’s oil revenues have plummeted to $8 billion from $100 billion in 2011.
The country’s commerce ministry warned that it would revoke export licenses for
those who fail to comply and bring the hard currency home while Iran's central
bank said on Sunday that it would publish the names of the violators. Iranian
companies reportedly export non-oil products in the value of more than 40
billion dollars a year, and officials say about half of that money stays abroad.
The rial has tumbled from a rate of 32,000 rials to $1 at the time of Tehran’s
2015 nuclear deal with world powers. The currency unexpectedly rallied for some
time after President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the nuclear
deal and reimpose crippling trade sanctions on Iran more than two years ago.The
sanctions have caused Iran’s oil exports, the country’s main source of income,
to fall sharply.
UK government issues official warning for Soleimani vigil
at London Islamic center
Yaghoub Fazeli, Al Arabiya English/Monday 22 June 2020
An Iran-affiliated London-based Islamic center was issued an official warning by
the charity regulator for holding a memorial service for slain Iranian military
commander Qassem Soleimani and describing him as a “great martyr” earlier this
year.
The Islamic Center of England (ICE), run by the UK representative of Iranian
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, praised Soleimani on its website and held
a vigil to mourn his death at its headquarters in London in January, an event
that was also attended by Iran’s ambassador to London.
“We are very fortunate to live at a time to see, touch and feel a man like
Soleimani and we hope and we pray and we work hard to make sure that there will
be many, many more Qassem Soleimanis,” Massoud Shadjareh, the head of the
Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), was filmed saying at the event.
IHRC organises the annual Quds Day rallies in the UK, an event launched by
former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and held on the last
Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan during which demonstrators condemn
countries Iran views as “enemies.”
“We inspire to become like him, we are jealous [of] his [martyrdom], and we want
the same thing for ourselves and our loved ones,” Shadjareh added. Soleimani,
who headed the Quds Force, the overseas arms of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps (IRGC), was killed alongside Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes
in a US airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport on January 3. In a
statement on its website, the ICE had described Soleimani and al-Mohandes as
“great martyrs.”The ICE has been given an official warning and has been ordered
to review the content on its website by the Charity Commission, an independent
government department that registers and regulates charities in England and
Wales.The Charity Commission pointed out that Soleimani had been under UK
sanctions for terrorism and terrorist financing since 2011.
“Any charity being associated with terrorism is completely unacceptable and we
are concerned by the corrosive effect this might have on public confidence in
this and other charities,” Tim Hopkins, assistant director of investigations and
inquiries at the Charity Commission, was quoted as saying on the UK government
website.
Syrian Suspected of Crime against Humanity Arrested in
Germany
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 22 June, 2020
A Syrian man accused of torturing an inmate while working as a doctor at a
prison run by regime military intelligence in his homeland has been arrested in
Germany, prosecutors said Monday. The suspect, identified only as Alaa M. in
line with German privacy rules, was arrested in the central state of Hesse on
Friday, federal prosecutors said. He is suspected of bodily harm and committing
a crime against humanity, reported The Associated Press. The case relates to
M.'s alleged actions at a prison in the Syrian city of Homs in late 2011, when a
doctor was called as a man arrested for taking part in a demonstration suffered
an epileptic fit after being tortured, according to a statement from
prosecutors. The suspect beat the man with a plastic pipe and then kicked him
after he fell to the ground, they said. After the victim's condition worsened
the following day, the suspect is accused of joining another prison doctor in
beating the man again until he lost consciousness. The victim was put in a
blanket and carried away by prison guards. He later died, although the cause is
unclear, prosecutors said. The suspect left Syria in 2015 and came to Germany,
where he has practiced as a doctor. Alaa M.'s arrest comes as two former members
of the Syrian secret police are being tried at a court in the German citizen of
Koblenz, accused of crimes against humanity for their role in a regime-run
detention center where thousands of opposition protesters were tortured. Those
proceedings, the first war crimes trial outside Syria linked to the country’s
years-long conflict, have been described as a pivotal moment in the effort to
bring Syrian officials accused of crimes to justice.
Germany arrests Syrian doctor for ‘crimes against
humanity’: Prosecutor
AFP, Berlin/Monday 22 June 2020
A Syrian doctor living in Germany has been arrested on suspicion of carrying out
crimes against humanity at a prison in his war-torn country of origin,
prosecutors said Monday. The suspect, identified as Alaa M., is accused of
having “tortured a detainee ... in at least two cases” at a prison run by Syrian
intelligence services in the city of Homs in 2011, said German federal
prosecutors in a statement. Alaa M. was called to the assistance of a man who
had suffered an epileptic fit after being detained for taking part in a protest,
the statement said. He then proceeded to beat the man with a plastic pipe. “Even
after he had gone down, Alaa M. continued the beatings and additionally kicked
the victim,” the statement said. The next day, Alaa M. and another doctor are
said to have subjected the victim to further beatings. He later died, though the
cause of death is unclear. Alaa M. left Syria in mid-2015 and moved to Germany,
where he also practiced as a doctor. Syria's civil war, which started with the
brutal repression of anti-government protests, has killed more than 380,000
people and displaced nearly half the country's pre-conflict population. The
UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group estimates that at
least 100,000 people have died from torture or as a result of horrific
conditions in government prisons. In April, the first court case worldwide over
state-sponsored torture by Bashar al-Assad's regime opened in Germany. The two
defendants are being tried on the principle of universal jurisdiction, which
allows a foreign country to prosecute crimes against humanity. Germany has taken
in more than 700,000 Syrian refugees since the start of the conflict.
Israeli Defense Sales $7.2 Billion in 2019
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 22/2020
Israel's defense exports amounted to $7.2 billion in 2019, slightly down from
$7.5 billion the previous year, the government said Monday. As in 2018, the bulk
went to Asia and the Pacific region, according to a defense ministry statement.
The head of Israel's International Defense Cooperation Directorate, Yair Kulas,
said the novel coronavirus pandemic was likely to impact this year's sales. "We
were expecting to see a trend of growth in G2G (government-to-government)
agreements throughout the year 2020, but the corona(virus) pandemic has
devastated the global economy and the defense sector," Kulas said in the
statement. The Israeli government does not comment on individual arms contracts,
but Monday's statement said radar and early warning systems accounted for 17
percent of sales, with missiles, rockets and air defense systems bringing in 15
percent. It said that piloted aircraft and avionics contributed to 13 percent of
2019 sales, with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and drone systems amounting to
eight percent. Other areas included cyber and intelligence systems, ammunition
and armament and naval systems. Sales to Asia and the Pacific region accounted
for 41 percent of the total, according to the statement, with 26 percent going
to Europe, 25 percent to North America and four percent each to Latin America
and Africa.
Israeli IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi : Iran is the most
dangerous country in the Middle East
Jerusalem Post/June 22/2020
Despite the distance, Tehran's role in funding terror groups along Israel's
borders makes it Israel's top threat.
Despite its distance from Israel, Iran is the most dangerous country in the
Middle East, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi said Sunday evening. “Iran
has become the most dangerous country in the Middle East,” Kochavi said at a
ceremony marking Strategy and Third-Circle Directorate, an entirely new position
on the General Staff, which will focus principally on Israel’s fight against
Iran. “It’s made significant progress with its nuclear program, but the nuclear
[threat] is no longer the only threat. Iran also possesses conventional
weapons,” Kochavi said, adding that while “it is located in the third circle,
but is highly effective in influencing the first and second circle,” he said
referring to financing terror groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria as well
as Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip.
Israel has warned repeatedly about Iran’s nuclear ambitions as well as
aspirations of regional hegemony and has admitted to hundreds of airstrikes as
part of its “war-between-wars” (known as MABAM in Hebrew) campaign to prevent
the transfer of advanced weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon and the entrenchment of
its forces in Syria where they could easily act against Israel. With more active
and explosive fronts on Israel’s borders, with enemy arsenals turning groups
like Hezbollah into terror armies, the guiding principle for the IDF’s Momentum
multi-year plan is to win any future war as quickly as possible.
The new directorate was formed as part of the IDF’s Momentum plan and under
Kalman it will bolster the IDF’s attack capabilities, including technological
means for the IAF jets to destroy enemy targets, increase the military’s
intelligence superiority and expand its intelligence gathering on the Islamic
Republic. This includes using satellites as well as bolstering Israel’s cyber
(both defensive and offensive) capabilities. And while Iran will be the
directorate’s primary threat, it will also focus on other countries in the
region that pose a threat to Israel. The “third circle” refers to three tiers of
direct threats to Israel, the first being terror groups along Israel’s borders
like Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas; the second being larger threats like
Hezbollah and neighboring enemy militaries and the third being countries that do
not share a border with Israel like Iran and Yemen.
Speaking at the ceremony, Kalman said that the reality of the global and
regional environment “has changed significantly” and that while “the IDF has
strengthened its position as a player in international security...faced with
these challenges, the IDF is required to operate in a variety of arenas and
dimensions.”
Kalman, a former fighter pilot, previously led the IDF’s Strategic Division.
Under the Momentum plan, the IDF’s Liaison Unit which maintains relations with
foreign militaries will be absorbed into the Strategy and Third-Circle
Directorate which will also focus on developing the IDF’s larger strategies and
international relations. Also during the ceremony Maj.-Gen. Tomer Bar took over
from Maj.-Gen. Amir Abulafia, who led the Planning Division which has been
renamed as the Force Design Directorate.
Bar, also a former fighter pilot, will command over the newly focused
Directorate which will oversee the development of new combat and weapons
techniques, specifically those which require cooperation between various
branches of the military.
“By correctly making use of the technology we will expose the hidden enemy and,
with high lethality and by realizing the multilateral spaces, carry out what is
expected of us, creating force multipliers on the battlefield and reaching a
rapid victory in every arena and facing any threat,” he said.
*Hagay Hacohen contributed to this article
Egypt Sentences 16 Convicts to Prison in 'al-Nusra Front' Case
Cairo - Asharq Al-Awsat//Monday, 22 June, 2020
The Cairo Criminal Court sentenced 16 suspects to life in prison, and three
others to 15 years for their connections to the formation of the terrorist al-Nusra
Front organization. The State Security Prosecution had previously referred them
to the state security criminal court and ordered the arrest of fugitive suspects
in the case. Investigations revealed that the first defendant formed and led a
terrorist group aimed at disrupting the implementation of the constitution and
laws, preventing state institutions and public authorities from practicing their
duties, assaulting civilian and public freedoms and harming national unity and
social peace. He is also accused of leading a terrorist group, affiliated with
al-Qaeda, which calls for overthrowing the ruling regime, fighting the armed
forces and police and destroying public establishment. It also calls for killing
Christians and seizing their money, and seizing civilian private properties with
the aim of disturbing public order and endangering the safety and security of
society. Meanwhile, the Department of Terrorism of Tura Courts Complex postponed
to June 23 the re-trial of two defendants, who had been sentenced in absentia to
seven years in prison. The case dates back to 2013 when security forces
dispersed the Muslim Brotherhood sit-in. The suspects are convicted of inciting
violence in Cairo’s May 15 district. The order stated that the defendants
“participated in a demonstration without a license designed to destabilize the
country. They joined a group that was established contrary to the provisions of
the law and uses force and violence to achieve its goals.
US ‘strongly opposes military escalation’ in Libya, calls
for ceasefire, negotiations
Tuqa Khalid, Al Arabiya English/Monday 22 June 2020
The United States opposes military escalation in Libya and calls for a ceasefire
and for parties to negotiate, the US National Security Council said on Monday.
“The United States strongly opposes military escalation in Libya – on all sides.
We urge parties to commit to a ceasefire and resume negotiations immediately. We
must build on progress made through the UN’s 5+5 talks, the Cairo Initiative,
and the Berlin process.”Clashes between the two main warring parties in Libya,
the Libyan National Army (LNA), commanded by Khalifa Haftar and the Government
of National Accord (GNA), led by Fayez al-Serraj, have intensified. And tensions
between the countries backing the different sides of the civil conflict have
also risen. On Saturday, Egypt warned that it may resort to military
intervention in Libya to protect its national security. There have been several
initiatives over the years to restore order in the country which crumbled in
2011 after toppling of dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Since then, the unrest and the
conflict has displaced hundreds of thousands of Libyans and killed thousands
more. The latest peace initiative was the “Cairo Initiative,” put forth by Egypt
on June 6. The initiative included a ceasefire, talks in Geneva, election of a
leadership council, disbanding of militias and exit of all foreign fighters from
Libya. However, Turkey, which backs the GNA and has been ramping up its military
operations in Libya, rejected Egypt’s initiative.
Turkey's Lonely Tourist Attractions Face Make-or-Break Week
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 22 June, 2020
Turkey’s Mediterranean coasts and historic attractions face a critical week as
the government presses to open borders and salvage at least part of a tourist
season already battered by the coronavirus pandemic. With beaches largely empty
and many hotels deciding whether to open, Tourism Minister Mehmet Ersoy told
Reuters he hoped the world’s sixth-largest destination could attract up to half
of last year’s 45 million arrivals. But much depends on talks to begin flights
from Russia, Germany and Britain - also hard hit by the virus - which should
reach some conclusions by early next week, he said. The stakes are high for
Turkey, where a rebound this month in COVID-19 cases has raised concerns in a
country where tourism accounts for up to 12% of the economy. Foreign arrivals
fell by two thirds in the first five months of the year. To convince foreigners
and their governments that travel is safe, Ankara launched a “healthy tourism”
program including health and hygiene checks, and more than 600 hotels have
applied for certification. It is lobbying some 70 countries with a focus on the
European Union. Yet flights are only beginning to trickle in, including from the
United States. In the Mediterranean hub of Antalya at the weekend the historic
town center was virtually empty and very few foreign tourists were seen at
hotels. Such hotels “cannot survive with only Turkish tourists,” Ersoy said in a
Friday interview. “The next 10 days will be critical as decisions are made on
borders ... so far it’s not clear how international traffic will start.”
Asked whether tourism would be halted if foreigners sparked new outbreaks, he
said “we have to watch the numbers” and decisions would be taken with a separate
scientific committee. Turkey hopes top tourist source Russia - which has the
world's third-highest coronavirus cases here - will start flights in mid-July.
Second-place Germany has a coronavirus travel warning until the end of August
but could lift it sooner. Since a lockdown was lifted this month, new official
cases doubled before settling around 1,200 per day. President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan said Turkey lost some ground.
‘Longest recession’ Some $35 billion in tourism revenues helped briefly turn
Turkey’s current account positive last year. In April, the deficit was $5
billion as revenues disappeared and empty hotel rooms this summer would drive it
higher. A growing external imbalance will put more pressure on Turkey’s lira,
which hit a record low last month, and could raise more concerns over Turkey’s
diminished foreign currency reserves. “Tourism is probably the sector which will
go through the longest recession” and its seasonal workers face “a very bad
period,” said Seyfettin Gursel, economist at Istanbul’s Bahcesehir University.
Ankara decided to halt state funding that partially covered lost wages of formal
employees, including some in tourism. Workers and a union said some hotels have
begun training on hygiene and social distancing even while many have held off
hiring. Okan Osman, from Frankfurt, was one of very few tourists to arrive in
Antalya, which he said was “much better and cleaner” than years past. “Of course
it’s difficult for everyone and for the staff, but they seem to have been well
trained and everyone is really well prepared.”
Libyan Knife Attack Suspect Known to MI5
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 22 June, 2020
The English town of Reading held a minute's silence on Monday for the victims of
a deadly stabbing attack carried out by a Libyan man who had come across the
radar of Britain's domestic security agency MI5 in 2019. Three people were
killed and three others were hospitalized after the man wielding a five-inch
knife went on the rampage in Forbury Gardens park on Saturday, randomly stabbing
people enjoying a sunny, summer evening. A Western security source, speaking on
condition of anonymity, told Reuters that the suspect was a 25-year-old Libyan
called Khairi Saadallah.Calling the incident terrorism, police said a
25-year-old had been arrested but they were not hunting others. "What we saw
here on Saturday evening in Reading was the actions of one lone individual,"
Home Secretary (interior minister) Priti Patel said. The security source told
Reuters that Saadallah had come to the attention of the MI5 last year over
intelligence he had aspirations to travel for extremist purposes, although his
plans then came to nothing. "The security services have records on thousands of
people and rightly so," said Patel, adding she was limited in what she could say
because the investigation was live. Shocked residents of Reading, about 65 km
west of London, held a minute's silence at 0900 GMT. The attack was reminiscent
of some recent incidents in Britain that authorities also called terrorism.
Kurdish-led authorities in northeastern Syria in talks over
US sanctions exemption
Reuters/Monday 22 June 2020
Kurdish-led authorities in northeastern Syria are in talks with their military
allies in a US-led coalition on a promised exemption from US sanctions targeting
the Syrian government, a senior Kurdish official said. Washington says the
sanctions, which took effect last week, mark the start of a sustained campaign
of economic and political pressure on President Bashar al-Assad to stop the war
in Syria and agree to a political solution. Northeastern Syria is controlled by
Kurdish-led militia who have helped the US-led coalition fight ISIS terrorist
group, driving the extremists out of swathes of Syrian territory.
Badran Jia Kurd, a vice president of the regional administration, said the
sanctions would have an impact on his area, which trades with government-held
Syria via local merchants and uses the Syrian pound, which has plunged in value.
“They will lead to an increase in prices to a very great degree and to weakness
in trade activity with the Syrian interior, while on the other hand crossings to
Iraq are closed, meaning the region was already living an economic siege,” Jia
Kurd said. “They told us the self-administration regions will be exempt from the
Caesar sanctions but the mechanisms and means to achieve this exemption are
being discussed with the international coalition.”The sanctions are named after
a Syrian military photographer who smuggled thousands of photos out of Syria
showing mass killings, torture and other crimes. A US State Department
spokesperson said the United States had provided exemptions for humanitarian aid
in all areas of Syria since the beginning of sanctions against the government
and would remain in close coordination with its partners. “We do not comment on
the substance of private, diplomatic conversations,” the spokesperson wrote in
emailed comments. The coalition has said the sanctions do not impede
humanitarian assistance or hinder “coalition stabilization activities in
northeast Syria.”The new sanctions allow for the freezing of assets of anyone
dealing with Syria, regardless of nationality.
Readout: Minister Champagne holds call with Iranian Foreign
Minister regarding PS752
June 22 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today
held a call with Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran.
Minister Champagne was clear: immediate action is required from Iran to ensure
they conduct a comprehensive, transparent investigation and provide compensation
for families.
Minister Zarif committed to Iran sending the flight recorders to France for
analysis without further delay. Iran will detail its progress on this issue at
the International Civil Aviation Organization this week.
He also agreed to enter into negotiations for reparations, and to provide an
update to Canada and the other grieving nations at the next meeting of the
International Coordination and Response Group.
Canada will continue working with its partners to ensure Iran follows through on
its commitments and to ensure transparency, accountability, justice and closure
for the families of the victims of this tragedy.
The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources published on June 22-23/2020
Is Cairo Going to War?
Yezid Sayigh/Caranegie MEC/June 22/2020
The Egyptian military may intervene in neighboring Libya, but it likely wants to
avoid a major confrontation.
Carnegie senior fellow Yezid Sayigh has written extensively on the Egyptian
military, particularly in the context of the Program on Civil-Military Relations
in Arab States, which he leads. In a recent Carnegie report, he provided a
detailed anatomy of Egypt’s military economy. In light of this, Sayigh was asked
by a journalist to comment on the warning by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi
on June 20 that Egyptian forces would intervene in Libya if Turkish-backed
forces of the Government of National Accord crossed the Sirte-Jufra frontline.
His answers are reproduced below.
Question: How likely is Egypt to intervene militarily in Libya or enter into
direct confrontation with Turkish forces there?
Yezid Sayigh: The possibility that Egypt will intervene directly is increasing,
although I think the Sisi administration strongly prefers not to, and will only
do so as a last resort. If it does intervene, this does not have to be a full
intervention in order to be effective in dissuading forces loyal to the
Tripoli-based Government of National Accord and its Turkish backers from
advancing to or past the Sirte-Jufra line. Nor does the Egyptian military need
to advance to that line itself or confront Turkish-backed forces directly.
I expect that Egypt’s first step would be to cross the border in force, in other
words through a sizeable deployment, and then pause. In that way it would signal
its seriousness and persuade the other side to stop its advance. But if worse
comes to worst, Egypt has the ability to move a significant number of forces
into Libya since it is right next door to the country. In this regard, its
capacities are greater than Turkey’s. But even then Egyptian forces are likely
to remain in the eastern border region of Libya.
Question: Do you think Egypt might seek goals in Libya that go beyond concerns
about security on their shared border?
YS: No. Egypt’s primary interest in Libya is to protect its own security on that
border. It distrusts the Government of National Accord and sees Turkey’s
involvement as a serious threat. However, its support for the Libyan National
Army led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar only really derives from the hope that
he can deliver a secure and stable common border. Egypt has economic interests
in Libya, which provides a market for Egyptian labor and contractors. However,
these are not major and Cairo would not risk a potentially costly military
deployment over them.
Question: Would Egypt come out as a political winner or loser from an
intervention?
YS: The state would probably gain domestically, since it controls public media
and can manipulate how its actions and their outcomes are seen. Moreover,
Egyptians have a heightened threat perception of Libya and would view the
government’s behavior as legitimate. There will probably also be a certain
amount of international sympathy and even open support for Egypt from Russia and
some European countries. The United States and main European countries would
probably express their understanding for such a move, but not voice
unconditional support. That is because they will worry about the potential for
further military escalation in Libya, conflict in the Mediterranean, and
enhanced Russian influence. So we are likely to see diplomatic efforts to make
sure that the Egyptian intervention is defensive, limited, and gradual.
Question: Could Egyptian military intervention tip the scales back in favor of
Haftar’s forces after their major recent setbacks?
YS: Egypt already supports Haftar’s forces. Direct intervention would help them
considerably by securing their rear, freeing up troops to redeploy to central
Libya, and strengthening morale. It would also dampen rising discontent with
Haftar in the east as well as within the Libyan National Army, unless the
Egyptians also decide to nurture a successor to him. In all cases it is very
likely that Egypt will seek to rein Haftar in and prevent him from making a
second attempt to seize western Libya and Tripoli, a move it opposed last year.
I believe that Egypt will make it clear to Haftar that any future support,
including intervention, is aimed at preventing his collapse but no more, and
that he must accept a new political process to resolve the conflict. Egyptian
intervention will not represent a blank check for Haftar.
Question: Could declared United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabian backing
for an Egyptian military intervention help win the war against Turkish-backed
forces in Libya?
YS: There will not be a total war involving Egyptian forces in Libya. The UAE
could resume and expand both arms supplies and the combat role of their air
force in support of the Libyan National Army, in coordination with the Egyptian
military. But I don’t expect the UAE to tip the balance any more than they
already have in the past. I suspect that Saudi support will mostly be
declaratory.
Most important, however, is that Egypt will not engage in a major war in Libya
just to fulfill the strategic agenda of the UAE or Saudi Arabia. We saw that
with the Sisi administration’s refusal to join the joint Emirati-Saudi war
effort in Yemen, despite the strength of their political relationship and the
massive financial and economic investment the two Gulf monarchies had made in
Egypt. The outcome of Egyptian intervention will be strategic stalemate, which
hopefully could lead to a more serious diplomatic effort by the international
community to produce a lasting political settlement of the Libyan conflict.
Egypt, Turkey, and the Libyan Test
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat/June 22/2020
What does Erdogan’s Turkey want from its direct military intervention in Libya?
Does it want to be the first player in the country that has a strategic location
and oil wealth in its land and water? Or is it seeking to pressure Egypt, harm
its security and interests, and punish it for the damages it has caused to the
“Brotherhood” project during the “Arab Spring”?
Does it want to grab the status of the “big local power”, which has the right to
move its forces, militias, and mercenaries across the region’s countries? Does
it consider that the current international climate is suitable for Ankara to
reserve a privileged position in future arrangements that concern the region’s
security, wells, and rivers?
Does Erdogan’s Turkey want to reproduce the experience of Khamenei in
controlling the decision-making in Arab capitals? Did Turkey in Libya benefit
from America’s desire to cut off any attempt by Russia to establish a base on
the Libyan coast after it strengthened its presence in Syria? What is the truth
about the intricate tango between Erdogan and Putin from Idlib to Sirte?
Can Europe, despite its lack of unity, see Libya falling into the hands of the
man who, from time to time, threatens to submerge the Old Continent with the
waves of refugees? Does Erdogan consider the Middle East as a jungle, in which
the strongest prevail over the United Nations and the tears of its
Secretary-General or the Secretary-General of the Arab League and his appeals?
Does he think that what Iran has done and is doing in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and
Yemen justifies Turkey’s infiltration into Arab maps?
These questions will linger as long as Erdogan continues to rush in the region
as if he were in a race against time. His forces are on Iraqi soil without
Baghdad’s approval, and on Syrian soil without the consent of Damascus.
His aircraft are conducting raids in Iraq. And his forces are changing the
features of regions in Syria, not to mention his military presence in Qatar,
Somalia, and Cyprus, although in different circumstances, and his attempt to
impose a fait accompli in oil exploration in the Mediterranean.
It is no exaggeration to say that the speech of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi
opened a new page in the Libyan crisis. The speech was important for its
location, time, and rhetoric. The Egyptian president approached the borders with
Libya to announce with a clear tone that his country cannot resign from the fate
of the African country, not only because it is Arab, but also for Egypt’s role,
stability, and vital interests.
The speech came shortly after Turkey’s attempt to impose conditions on the
situation in Sirte and Al-Jafra. As for the vocabulary, it was calm and strict
at the same time, and enough to send the message to those who are supposed to
listen.
In front of the Egyptian forces, Sisi declared that any direct interference by
the Egyptian State enjoys international legitimacy, whether in the United
Nations Charter: the right to self-defense, or based on the sole elected
authority of the Libyan people, which is the House of Representatives.”
Sisi sent a clear warning that drew a “red line” between Sirte and Al-Jafra,
stressing that Egypt “will allow nobody to breach it.”
Further emphasizing his warning, he addressed the members of the Egyptian
forces, saying: “Be prepared to carry out any mission here within our borders,
or if necessary, outside our borders.”
It is a very clear message to Turkey. Sisi considered that developments in Libya
“and sending mercenaries and militias to it” constituted a “threat to Arab,
regional and European national security, international peace and stability, as
well as a direct danger to Egyptian interests.”
In a phrase used for the first time since the outbreak of the Libyan crisis,
Sisi said: “If the army advances to Libya, the Libyan tribes will be at the
forefront,” pointing out that the Egyptian army will train and arm the country’s
tribes.
The truth is that Libya, suffering from wounds, is now at a crossroads: speeding
up a ceasefire and curbing the appetites of Turkish interference, or turning
into an arena for a multi-lateral confrontation internally and externally.
There is no doubt that the Egyptian leadership exerted extraordinary efforts to
move away from the option of intervention, but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
did not leave it with any other option.
The Turkish interference in Libya has surpassed its previous limits, which Cairo
was able to turn a blind eye to or tolerate. It turned into a direct military
intervention, blew the equations on the ground, and moved to the stage of
imposing conditions around the Libyan future.
What’s more, Turkey moved mercenaries from Syrian territories to engage in the
fight against Libyan citizens. This means recruiting Arabs to fight Arabs, but
within the context of a Turkish scheme. This is not a simple matter.
Egypt could not ignore the fact that the Turkish military presence on Libyan
soil threatens not only its role but also its stability. Moreover, Erdogan
spares no occasion to express his desire to settle scores with present-day
Egypt, which has dealt a painful blow to his regional dream by overthrowing
President Mohamed Morsi.
Erdogan’s involvement in the Libyan file is dangerous. In this context, it is
possible to understand the open solidarity with Egypt, which Saudi Arabia was
quick to express, soon after Sisi’s speech.
Saudi Arabia, which was the first to warn against Iranian policies to penetrate
maps and destabilize countries, has also rushed to caution against the major
coup represented by Turkish intervention policies.
The support expressed by Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, and Bahrain for the
Egyptian position is in fact a reflection of Arab eagerness to restore the
balance between the components in the Middle East region.
Exploiting the Arab land as an arena for the Iranian-Turkish hegemony race is a
harbinger of endless wars.
It is no secret that the Arab barrier in the face of these winds begins with a
Saudi-Egyptian understanding to build a unified Arab position that turns the
Libyan test into an opportunity to deter Erdogan’s dreams.
Return to Normal as Coronavirus Remains
Salman Al-Dossary/Asharq Al-Awsat/June 22/2020
Life returned to normal in Saudi Arabia on Sunday after nearly three months
since lockdown was imposed. Life also returned to normal throughout most of the
world after the worst health, social and economic crisis witnessed by the modern
world.
Businesses and commercial and sports activities will resume according to strict
health protocols even as the coronavirus monster continues to lurk without
abating. In fact, the pandemic has become more widespread since the lockdown.
The world today is forced to find a new different and practical equation to deal
and coexist with the coronavirus. Infections have topped 8.67 million worldwide
and 460,000 have died. Estimates, however, say that the actual infections are in
the hundreds of millions given that it is impossible to test every single person
on the planet no matter how advanced health means become.
We can say that the critical phase that saw the spread of COVID-19 at the
beginning of the year was like a trial for governments to buy time. They were
confronted with the great danger of the collapse of health systems and hospitals
and clinics were overwhelmed by patients. Some intensive case units could no
longer take in more critical cases, as witnessed in Italy, Brazil and other
countries.
During the first six months of the year, countries bolstered their health
systems and found best ways to deal with rapidly growing infections. Most
importantly, they came up with strict health protocols that could help curb the
outbreak, which had become inevitable and unavoidable. Given that it is
impossible to halt social and economic life any longer, countries now have to
approach this enemy from an angle of incurring least harm, not preventing or
uprooting the disease.
In my view, after six months of the pandemic, strictly addressing the number of
infections is not the only way to deal with the coronavirus. There are two main
factors that can determine the ability of countries to coexist with the disease
on the long-term, at least until a cure or a vaccine is available: The first is
the ability of health systems to take in critical cases, and the other, is
lowering the number fatalities as much as possible.
In Germany, 2 percent of COVID-19 infections succumbed to the disease. This is a
relatively low percentage compared to the rest or the world and compared to
countries that have been hit hard by the outbreak. Take Italy, for example,
where some 12 percent of infections have passed away.
Saudi Arabia has reported a 0.6 percent fatality rate, which is among the lowest
in the world. This reflects success in confronting the coronavirus. Relative to
the number of infections and the size of the population, this figure is among
the lowest in the world.
The planet may be trying to return to the pre-coronavirus world, but the virus
is still there, its infections are increasing and it is still deadly. Several
aspects of the disease are still unknown, as is how come it differs from one
country to another. However, one of the most important lessons to derive from
the coronavirus is the dire need for more global vigilance in combating
pandemics, given the threat of more disease outbreaks in the future. It also
demands the need for adopting a united health policy that requires the
cooperation of several sectors in fighting this pandemic and others. Health
ministries are no longer the sole parties concerned with combating the
coronavirus pandemic, but whole countries, with all of their departments, are
involved in this war against this virus, which will unfortunately live with us
for years to come.
The U.S. Is Right to Push to Extend the U.N. Arms Embargo
on Iran
Behnam Ben Taleblu/Newsweek/June 22/2020
It’s not every day that Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, borrows from the
lexicon of international relations theory. Highlighting the Islamic Republic’s
proliferation of conventional arms, Khamenei bragged in a recent address that
Iran managed to change “the balance of power” in the Levant against Israel.
Rhetorical flourishes aside, the content of Khamenei’s statement is not new. For
years, Tehran has spread weapons across the Middle East to further its
revisionist vision of an ideal regional order.
But this is only part of a larger problem.
Barreling down on the international community this October is a lapsing U.N.
arms embargo on Iran. The ban covers both exports and imports of conventional
weapons, as defined in the U.N. Conventional Register of Arms. Subject to a
five-year limit, the ban is enshrined in U.N. Security Council Resolution (UNSCR)
2231—which codified the 2015 Iran nuclear deal (known by its acronym, the “JCPOA“).
This temporary ban replaced the previous, and incrementally more restrictive,
UNSCRs on Iran that contained no expiration dates.
The end of the embargo brings with it a two-fold conventional arms challenge:
Iranian military modernization through the legal importation of weapons, as well
as Iran’s greater export of weapons that enhance the lethality of its proxies
and partners. While Iran has already violated UNSCR 2231’s arms ban through
attempts to both procure and proliferate weapons, losing the international
architecture with which to call this activity a “violation” and rally the
international community to act permits Tehran, to Khamenei’s point, to more
easily chip away at the existing balance of power in the Middle East.
On exports, the loss of the embargo would mean the loss of the highest-level
blanket international prohibition against Iranian weapons transfers, a move sure
to complicate the political predicate for future multi-national efforts to
interdict weapons or address threats to international shipping. Moreover, if the
ban terminates this October, there will be only country-specific resolutions
with general arms bans, such as those pertaining to Lebanon and Yemen—both of
which Iran has already violated.
On imports, if the embargo lapses, the most significant multilateral restriction
on Iranian military modernization will go with it. For the U.S., which has long
sought to impede the Islamic Republic’s military power, the next best policy
tools are almost all unilateral. They range from enforcing an existing
U.S.-origin embargo on Iran that has been in place since the early 1980s, to
threatening various sanctions against foreign sales nodes, to engaging in covert
action to thwart purchases, to introducing defective material into Iran’s supply
chain.
While the Trump administration has shown how effective U.S. unilateral pressure
can be, there is no reason to let the international prohibition lapse. In fact,
Iranian leaders like President Rouhani have cited the expiring embargo as one
reason to keep the JCPOA (instead choosing to incrementally violate the accord)
despite the return of sanctions. Blunter still was the secretary of Iran’s
Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, who threatened that the JCPOA
would “die forever” if sanctions against Iranian arms purchases were extended.
Underscoring that threat was a semi-official Iranian news outlet, which recently
broadcast five retaliatory options Tehran has to turn the screws on Washington
if the embargo is extended. For Rouhani, Shamkhani, and others in the Islamic
Republic, the JCPOA is more than just a “patient pathway” to a nuclear weapon.
It is also a patient pathway to an enhanced Iranian military.
Washington has been ringing the alarm bell on this issue for some time, with the
administration (and voices in Congress) openly calling for, at the very least,
extending the arms embargo at the U.N. Security Council. Should that fail, they
will reportedly press for restoring all U.N. sanctions on Iran, which resets the
international baseline for pressure against Iran back to what existed from 2010
to 2015.
This strategy is not lost on America’s adversaries, who are gearing up to oppose
any extension of the embargo. At the helm of this effort are Russia and China,
two states Iran has already lobbied to oppose the U.S. at the Security Council.
Despite its rhetoric about “self-sufficiency,” it is no accident that Moscow and
Beijing are the two places where Tehran now seeks help. Both played an outsized
role in Iran’s post-Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) re-armament, helping it gain
access to a limited quantity of fighter jets, diesel submarines and anti-ship
missiles. Both states also signed up during that era to aid Iran’s nuclear
program.
According to a 2019 Defense Intelligence Agency assessment, Iran is again likely
to turn to Russia and China for “advanced conventional capabilities” after the
embargo ends. These capabilities could reportedly include advanced fighter
aircraft, tanks, coastal defenses and air-defense systems. What the report
overlooks, however, are the potential cruise missiles Tehran may seek to procure
from Russia and China. Another land-attack cruise missile would significantly
enhance Iran’s long-range strike capabilities. It would also help the regime
achieve parity between its cruise and ballistic missile arsenal. Iran is
believed to have proliferated cruise missiles in the past, and currently seeks
to grow the lethality of these weapons. Last September, cruise missiles featured
prominently in Iran’s attack against oil facilities in Saudi Arabia.
While Russia and China are not predisposed to provide Tehran with every
capability it desires, empowering Iran would create more headaches for
Washington and yield less time and resources for the Russian and Chinese problem
sets. In 2017, the U.S. National Security Strategy warned that the era of “great
power competition” was back, with Russia and China more inclined to challenge
Washington’s “geopolitical advantages” around the world. Iran is now set to be
one theater for this contestation.
Although Iran is classified as a “rogue” power in that same strategy document,
there are growing linkages between it and Russia and China. Since the advent of
the JCPOA, Iran has purposely drawn itself closer to both powers. If the arms
embargo lapses in October, Washington could witness in real time the merging of
the great and regional power challenge.
But not everyone believes enhanced Iranian conventional capabilities are a bad
thing.
In fact, some scholars have implicitly embraced the idea. This school of thought
hopes that a more conventionally capable Islamic Republic could mean a more
secure Islamic Republic, which over time might dampen the regime’s desire for
unconventional warfighting tools like terror proxies or even nuclear weapons.
Other analysts have sought to temper concerns over a deluge of foreign weaponry
arriving in Iran by citing the legacy of past procurement hurdles (such as over
the S-300 system), as well as by raising the question of financing.
It is no secret Iranian military planners are conscious of their conventional
shortcomings, but focusing only on the above driver downplays other, more
path-dependent components of Iranian security policy. This includes the legacy
of conflicts like the Iran-Iraq War, which taught Tehran the value of
deterrence—as well as the legacy of Iran’s asymmetric interventions and proxy
wars, which taught Tehran how to bleed its adversaries in a plausibly deniable
fashion.
Both legacies mean that Iran would be less likely to divest from its quest for
the ultimate deterrent (a nuclear weapon) or cheap and relatively successful
war-fighting tools—like using proxies—when presented with the option to grow its
conventional military. If anything, the regime would work to retain its
asymmetric capabilities and layer on greater conventional capabilities when they
become available, pocketing the arms embargo’s termination as a concession from
an irresolute West.
Worse, the newfound capability could spur an escalation in Iranian low-intensity
warfare in the region. With the regime feeling more secure—and thus more
confident in its deterrence and ability to protect the homeland using
conventional weapons—it will turn its sights abroad.
None of this is to mean that Tehran will immediately become a conventional
military power in October 2020. However, as new hardware is procured, reverse
engineered, incorporated into existing doctrine, rendered interoperable (if
possible) and perhaps even proliferated, the net effect will be a more
hybridized and lethal war-fighting capability. When placed in the hands of
Iran’s revolutionary and Islamist leadership, such capability is not inclined to
promote responsibility and restraint.
It is this outcome that an extended arms embargo seeks to avoid. Washington has
no philosophical gripe with Iranian military power, or the idea of Iran having a
defense policy. However, it does take issue with how such power is wielded.
Therefore, Washington opposes the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is the world’s
foremost state sponsor of terrorism and already the largest missile power in the
Middle East, attaining a significant conventional military capability.
“Normal” nations do not face such embargoes or impediments. Revolutionary
regimes ought to. Tehran should be permitted to access international arms
markets if and only if it acts like a normal nation. Otherwise, Washington
should press ahead with its plans to extend the embargo.
*Behnam Ben Taleblu is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies, where he focuses on Iranian political and security issues.
Washington’s Muted Response Emboldens Erdogan’s Hostage Diplomacy
Aykan Erdemir/Policy Brief/Kune 22/2020
A Turkish court on June 11 convicted Metin Topuz, a Turkish national and liaison
officer for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration at the U.S. Consulate
General in Istanbul, to eight years and nine months in prison on baseless
charges of aiding an armed terror organization. Topuz is just the latest victim
of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s hostage diplomacy, but he will not
be the last if Washington continues to grant impunity to Turkey’s Islamist
strongman.
Turkish prosecutors have brought spurious and politically motivated charges
against some 50 individuals with ties to the United States and the European
Union, including citizens, permanent residents, and employees, since Turkey’s
failed coup attempt in 2016. Borrowing from Tehran’s hostage-taking playbook,
Erdogan has used these prisoners as bargaining chips to extract concessions from
Turkey’s U.S. and European treaty allies in NATO.
Erdogan’s highest-profile victim, American pastor Andrew Brunson, spent almost
two years in pre-trial detention on farcical charges of terrorism,
coup-plotting, and espionage. The Turkish president first offered to trade
Brunson for Reza Zarrab, the ringleader of Iran’s sanctions-evasion network
arrested by U.S. authorities in March 2016, and then for Fethullah Gulen,
Erdogan’s former-ally-turned-archnemesis residing in Pennsylvania. Similarly,
the Turkish president tried to trade German national Deniz Yucel, the German
daily Die Welt’s Turkey correspondent, who was arrested in February 2017 on
charges of spreading terrorist propaganda. Erdogan reportedly offered to release
Yucel in exchange first for Berlin’s extradition of two Turkish generals and
then for the unblocking of German arms exports to Turkey.
Other U.S.-affiliated individuals held hostage by Erdogan over the course of the
last four years include Turkish-American dual citizens Ismail Kul, a chemistry
professor at Widener University, and Serkan Golge, a NASA scientist, along with
two U.S. consular employees, Hamza Ulucay and Nazmi Mete Canturk. Turkey
released Kul and Golge in early 2019, after 17 months and 34 months of
imprisonment, respectively. Yet Ankara still prevents both scholars from
returning to the United States, which prompted the Committee of Concerned
Scientists to pen a letter to President Donald Trump in December 2019, urging
him to assist Kul and Golge “in any way possible so they may … get back to their
lives.” The two consular workers – Ulucay, released in January 2019 after 18
months in prison, and Canturk, freed from house arrest in June 2018 – are
similarly banned from leaving Turkey.
Eric Edelman, former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, and Jake Sullivan, former
national security adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, observe that the U.S.
administration’s “lack of clear messaging has only reinforced Erdogan’s
conviction that the United States will not meaningfully challenge him.”
Similarly, Henri Barkey, former member of the State Department Policy Planning
Staff, warns that a “U.S. failure to show that it stands by its people will
cripple the State Department’s ability to represent America overseas.”
To push back against Erdogan’s hostage diplomacy, Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS),
co-chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, introduced a bill with bipartisan
support, S.1075, the Defending United States Citizens and Diplomatic Staff from
Political Prosecutions Act of 2019, which would require the president to impose
sanctions on all senior Turkish officials responsible for the wrongful
detentions of locally employed staff and citizens. In a Washington Post op-ed
last year, Sen. Wicker warned that any negotiation over the fate of U.S.
hostages “would only reward Erdogan’s bad behavior,” and that “[a]s with
Brunson, only stiff political and economic pressure will work.” In its 2020
Annual Report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
recommended passing S.1075 and “the imposition of sanctions on responsible
Turkish officials.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement on June 11 noting that the
United States is “deeply troubled” by the conviction of Topuz, a sentiment
reiterated in tweets expressing “deep disappointment” from the U.S. Embassy in
Ankara. Al-Monitor Senior Correspondent Amberin Zaman rightly called this a
“muted response” that will strengthen Erdogan’s conviction that Trump will
“continue to leave Turkey off the hook.” Unless Washington makes clear to
Erdogan that there will be serious consequences for hostage diplomacy, the list
of victims will only continue to grow.
*Aykan Erdemir is a former member of the Turkish parliament and a senior fellow
at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where he also contributes to
FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP). For more analysis from
Aykan and CMPP, please subscribe HERE. Follow him on Twitter @aykan_erdemir.
Follow FDD on Twitter @FDD and @FDD_CMPP. FDD is a Washington, DC-based,
nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
Iranian proxy in Iraq targets US bases
Cable Weiss and Joe Truzman/June 22/2020
A recent graphic released by the League of the Revolutionaries.
In a recently published video, the Iranian-backed front League of the
Revolutionaries (LoR) claimed responsibility for recent attacks including the
crash of an American C-130 military cargo plane and several rocket attacks
against American-led coalition bases in Iraq.
The LoR publication begins by claiming the group was responsible for a June 8
Camp Taji crash of an American C-130 which led to the injury of 4 aboard
including a Wyoming Air National Guard member. A night time recording of the
incident shows two rockets being launched towards the Camp Taji runway.
“The bombing of the runway at the Taji base at the time of the landing of a
Lockheed C-130 which led to the plane crashing and causing a great loss to the
enemy,” the LoR statement read. The Associated Press has quoted US officials as
downplaying any link to hostile activity, but added that they were
“investigating” the incident.
Furthermore, LoR claims it was able to position a drone over Camp Taji to
monitor movements of the “enemy” before the attack occurred. It’s not the first
time LoR has claimed to position a drone over an American-led coalition base.
As previously detailed in FDD’s Long War Journal, LoR published several videos
of its commercial drones monitoring the American Embassy in Baghdad and Ayn al
Asad Airbase.
This is also not the first rocket strike on Camp Taji claimed by LoR. In March,
2 US personnel and one UK soldier were killed in a rocket barrage on the base.
Not long after, LoR emerged to take credit for the strike, beginning its
campaign against Coalition troops in Iraq.
The publication goes on to claim responsibility for a June 11 attack against the
U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Similar to the previous videos of the Camp Taji attack,
a night time recording of a rocket launch adjacent to a road is depicted.
“Targeting of the United States Embassy on June 11,” read the LoR statement in
the description of the attack.
Lastly, LoR claimed responsibility for the June 16 rocket attack near the
Baghdad Airport. According to local reports, two rockets struck near the Baghdad
Diplomatic Support Center with no casualties being involved.
“Targeting the place where the American occupier forces are located at the
Baghdad Airport 06/16,” read the LoR statement.
It is noteworthy to mention that of the newly emerged Iranian-backed groups, LoR
has consistently published material claiming attacks on American-led coalition
bases.
The steady rocket attacks against American interests and bases suggest that the
group has legitimized itself as an Iranian-backed front against American-led
forces in Iraq.
As previously detailed by FDD’s Long War Journal, the League of the
Revolutionaries is likely a front group for other, more established Iranian
proxies in Iraq. LoR is just one of many purported groups to have emerged this
year to claim attacks against US or Coalition personnel.
This influx in supposed militias inside Iraq is likely a propaganda game being
played by Iran and its allies to create political cover for anti-American
activities in the country for more established groups. It also may serve to
create a narrative of a far-reaching movement that is opposed to the presence of
American troops.
Will the EU Ever Stop Appeasing Iran's Mullahs?
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/June 22/ 2020
Germany, Britain and France also appear to have turned a blind eye to a recent
statement made by the IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, who raised
serious concerns about possible clandestine and undeclared nuclear sites in
Iran.
Germany, Britain and France must put a stop to their mercenary appeasement
policy and corrupt loyalty to the Iranian regime. It is the equivalent of
enriching the Third Reich during WWII or Soviet Russia during the Cold War. It
would have been so much less costly in life and treasure to stop Hitler before
he crossed the Rhine. The more the EU kisses up to the ruling mullahs, the more
it empowers their rogue, soon-to-be-nuclear regime.
In refusing to support the US plan to extend the United Nations arms embargo on
the Iranian regime, Germany, Britain and France appear to have turned a blind
eye to a recent statement made by the IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano
Grossi (pictured), who raised serious concerns about possible clandestine and
undeclared nuclear sites in Iran. (Photo by Joe Klamar/AFP via Getty Images)
The ruling mullahs of Iran are being handed yet another gift courtesy of the
leaders of Europe. On June 19, 2020, Germany, Britain and France issued a
statement that they will not support the United States' plan to extend the
United Nations arms embargo on the Iranian regime. The arms embargo is set to
expire in October 2020. Germany, Britain, and France, known as E3, were members
of Iran nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which,
revealingly, Iran never signed.
The foreign ministers of these three European countries pointed out in a
statement that "We firmly believe that any unilateral attempt to trigger UN
sanctions snapback would have serious adverse consequences in the UN Security
Council". They added, "We would not support such a decision, which would be
incompatible with our current efforts to preserve the JCPOA."
Did Germany, Britain and France fail to read the latest report from the UN
nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which
highlighted that Iran is violating all the restrictions of the JCPOA?
The European Union has refrained from criticizing the Iranian regime even
though, as of May 20, 2020, it has increased its total stockpile of low-enriched
uranium from 1,020.9 kilograms (1.1 tons) to 1,571.6 kilograms (1.73 tons). That
is approximately eight times more than what the regime was allowed to maintain
under the misbegotten JCPOA "nuclear deal." According to the terms of the JCPOA,
Iran had been permitted to keep a stockpile of 202.8 kilograms (447 pounds), and
enrich uranium up to 3.67%. Iran is now enriching uranium up to the purity of
4.5% and possesses far more heavy water than permitted under the nuclear
agreement.
The EU has remained silent about all that, as well as the dangerous fact that
Tehran regime now has enough enriched uranium to refine and build a nuclear bomb
if it desired to do so. Approximately 1000kg of uranium enriched at just 5% can
be further refined to create one nuclear bomb. Moreover, according to the IAEA
report, Iran is still not allowing the IAEA to inspect its sites.
Germany, Britain and France also appear to have turned a blind eye to a recent
statement made by the IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, who raised
serious concerns about possible clandestine and undeclared nuclear sites in
Iran. "The agency [IAEA]," he warned, "identified a number of questions related
to possible undeclared nuclear material and nuclear-related activities at three
locations in Iran. The agency," the report clarified, "sought access to two of
the locations. Iran has not provided access to these locations and has not
engaged in substantive discussions to clarify the Agency's questions."
The EU has not only managed to disregard Iran's dangerous nuclear defiance, they
have also been willing to lift the United Nations arms embargo despite all the
terror and assassination plots Iran has brought to the EU since the beginning of
the JCPOA. These include, in recent years, a series of assassination and
terrorist plots across Europe -- some successful, others not, but all committed
in the EU by Iran's agents, and traced back to Tehran. In July 2018, a foiled a
terrorist attack in Paris targeted a large convention attended by high-level
speakers including former US House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich,
ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and former Canadian Foreign Minister John
Baird. A few months later, in October, and Iranian diplomat and several other
individuals of Iranian origin were arrested in France, Belgium and Germany for
what French intelligence officials concluded was a foiled bomb plot, behind
which was the Iranian regime.
Iran's regime has also been murdering dissidents on European soil. Ahmad Mola
Nissi, a Dutch citizen of Iranian origin and a critic of the Iranian regime, was
gunned down at his front door in November 2017. The Dutch authorities publicly
acknowledged that it had "strong indications" that the Iranian government had
commissioned the murder.
Another of Tehran's political opponents, Mohammad Reza Kolahi Samadi, was killed
in similar circumstances in Amsterdam in 2015. He had apparently been targeted
for his opposition to the Iranian government since the 1980s. Furthermore, the
Iranian regime, the top state sponsor of terrorism, has a long and distinguished
track record of complete disregard for human rights and international law.
Germany, Britain and France must put a stop to their mercenary appeasement
policy and corrupt loyalty to the Iranian regime. It is the equivalent of
enriching the Third Reich during WWII or Soviet Russia during the Cold War. It
would have been so much less costly in life and treasure to stop Hitler before
he crossed the Rhine. The more the EU kisses up the ruling mullahs, the more it
empowers their rogue, soon-to-be-nuclear, regime.
*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
© 2020 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.
Palestinians: The 'Un-Islamic' Family Protection Law
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/June 22/ 2020
"I understand the head of the clan, who does not want sovereignty other than the
rule of the male, but what do the lawyers refuse?" Harhash asked. "This means
that the woman here would not have a law that protects here or a lawyer who
represents her if she is killed, beaten or assaulted." — Nadia Essam Harhash ,
Palestinian journalist, raialyoum.com.
"Is preserving the Palestinian family by beating and killing the woman and
denying her right to inheritance? How can a lawyer stand against a law that
might do justice to an oppressed woman or person? How can a lawyer stand against
a law that might do justice to an oppressed woman or person?" — Nadia Essam
Harhash , Palestinian journalist, raialyoum.com.
For now, it appears that the PA government is hesitant to pass the law out of
fear of alienating Islamists and conservative clan leaders. The widespread
opposition to the proposed legislation is further proof of the growing
popularity... of Hamas and other extremist Islamist groups among Palestinians.
According to them, criminalizing the beating or murder of women is a clear-cut
violation of Islamic teachings and values.
Palestinian women and human rights organizations are under attack by Hamas and
other Islamic groups and figures for supporting a new family protection bill.
According to them, criminalizing the beating or murder of women is a clear-cut
violation of Islamic teachings and values.
Palestinian women and human rights organizations are under attack by Hamas and
other Islamic groups and figures for supporting a new family protection bill
that is currently being drafted by the Palestinian Authority (PA) government.
The PA's Ministry of Women's Affairs says the proposed law would amend the penal
code to establish a minimum age for marriage, review current legal protections
for victims of domestic violence, impose harsher penalties on perpetrators, and
train the police force in assisting victims.
For many Palestinians, particularly Islamists, the proposed law is like a red
rag to a bull.
Several Palestinian political and religious figures and groups have strongly
condemned the proposed law as "un-Islamic" and called on the PA not to endorse
it. Alarmed by the fierce opposition and public outcry, the PA government has
been reluctant to approve the controversial bill.
The Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) said it was
following the controversy surrounding the draft law to protect families from
domestic violence, as well as the attacks on those who support the bill.
ICHR said that passing a law to protect the family from violence "is a national
requirement and a societal need to confront the increasing family violence that
amounts to killing in many cases, especially against women."
"This type of crime requires special legislative interventions that take into
account the conditions of our society, in order to provide protection for all
family members and specifically women, children, persons with disabilities and
the elderly, according to procedures that guarantee privacy and maintain the
community fabric."
Noting that the proposed bill would "enhance family values and respect for
their unity," the human rights group expressed concern over the campaign of
incitement waged against women and human rights activists who are working to
advance the law. ICHR pointed out that Palestinian female lawyer Khadija Zahran
is among those who have been bullied and threatened for supporting the law.
The Palestinian Women's Affairs Team group condemned the "ferocious attack"
against by Palestinian feminists who are calling for the passage of the law to
protect families from violence.
In a statement, the group denounced the campaign of threats, bullying and
defamation against feminist activists, women lawyers, and human rights advocates
who voiced support for the draft law:
"This campaign is a form of violence and a flagrant violation of the right of
individuals to express an opinion, an expropriation of rights, and an attempt to
impose [a different] opinion by force."
The proposed law, the group explained, aims to "confront the worrisome and
increasing family violence in our Palestinian society, which in some cases has
reached the point of killing, especially against women."
Referring to ongoing defaming and bullying of women who support the bill, the
group said:
"The attacks on women and feminist activists is clear evidence of the need for a
protective law that takes into account the situation of women, and broadens the
view of the concept of violence."
The group urged PA President Mahmoud Abbas and the PA government, as well as
human rights organizations, civil society institutions, and political parties,
"to guarantee the safety and security of Palestinian activists from threats,"
and called for "respecting opinions and views from all parts of our Palestinian
people to reach a state of law and Palestinian democracy."
The feminist activists and human rights groups are particularly worried after a
group of Islamic "scholars" published a strongly worded statement against the
proposed family protection bill. The "scholars" ruled that the proposed bill
contradicts "the provisions of Islamic law and the values of society" and
warned that it would lead to the "destruction and weakening of the Palestinian
family."
The "scholars" said their main concern was that the bill would pave the way for
the intervention of external powers in private family affairs.
"The families will be dismantled, and all the foundations of affection, mercy,
coexistence, tolerance and mutual respect will be destroyed... The law
constitutes a violation of family privacy and the special relations between the
husband and his wife, the father and his children, and transfers these
relationships from the private sphere to the public sphere."
The "scholars" are also opposed to the bill because they believe it is
"un-Islamic" for a woman to complain to the police or go to a non-religious
court to seek justice.
The Islamic "scholars" said they feared that the bill would legitimize
interference in family matters "by giving everyone in the community the right to
complain to the relevant authorities," adding that this would "strengthen
individual and personal values that are not bound by Islamic values."
The "scholars" said they also opposed the bill because it "eliminates any
disciplinary, legal or religious authority of parents over their children, or
the husband over his wife and family" and ends gender discrimination at
workplaces between men and women. They are saying, in other words, that Islamic
sharia law forbids equality between men and women at work.
Hamas, the Islamist terror group ruling the Gaza Strip, has also joined the
campaign to thwart the proposed bill. Hamas representatives have expressed their
"absolute rejection and categorical opposition to the draft law."
"We believe that Islamic law and the benign values and ethics of our society
contain enough solutions and remedies to achieve justice, fairness and stability
for all segments of society without the need to import strange foreign concepts
that do not fit our society.
"We view with great gravity the pressures exerted and practiced to enact this
law, which would be used to spread abnormal practices, such as sexual relations
outside of marriage, absolute freedoms, moral chaos, and homosexuality in all
its forms."
The Hamas officials called on Abbas to reject the approval of the draft family
protection law and to work towards strengthening the sharia judiciary instead.
In a bizarre twist, senior Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar went as far as claiming
that the law aims at protecting women from domestic violence and abuse was
somehow connected to Israel and the US administration "schemes" against the
Palestinians. "This law aims to appease external parties at the expense of Islam
and Islamic values and morals," Zahar said. "The law destroys the Palestinian
family and is incompatible with Islamic law and inconsistent with Palestinian
identity, culture and morals."
The Palestinian Council of Sharia Attorneys said that the bill was "a violation
of the true Islamic religion and its teachings." The lawyers warned that, if
implemented, the law would "effectively contribute to the loss of our sons and
daughters and allow them to carry out actions that are contrary to the teachings
of Islam and Islamic laws and traditions."
The lawyers considered that the bill contains "a clear targeting of the sharia
courts, affects the security of the Palestinian family and contributes to its
destruction and dissolution."
Prominent Palestinian journalist Nadia Essam Harhash scoffed at the lawyers'
claims and said Palestinians are witnessing "a breakdown of the moral system."
Harhash said that while she understands the opposition of male clan leaders to
the proposed bill, she's perplexed by the lawyers' position.
"I could only ask myself, if this is the position of lawyers, what is the
position of the tribes? I understand the head of the clan, who does not want
sovereignty other than the rule of the male, but what do the lawyers refuse?..
This means that the woman here would not have a law that protects her or a
lawyer who represents her if she is killed, beaten or assaulted. What Islam and
religion are these lawyers talking about? Is it an Islamic religion that we do
not know? What Palestinian family are they talking about and want to preserve?
Is preserving the Palestinian family by beating and killing the woman and
denying her right to inheritance? How can a lawyer stand against a law that
might do justice to an oppressed woman or person?"
For now, it appears that the PA government is hesitant to pass the law out of
fear of alienating Islamists and conservative clan leaders. The widespread
opposition to the proposed legislation is further proof of the growing
popularity and influence of Hamas and other extremist Islamist groups among
Palestinians. According to them, criminalizing the beating or murder of women is
a clear-cut violation of Islamic teachings and values.
*Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem, is a
Shillman Journalism Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 2020 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.