LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
November 15/2019
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
Jesus said, I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me. And the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 08/21-30/:”Again he said to them, ‘I am going away, and you will search for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.’Then the Jews said, ‘Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by saying, “Where I am going, you cannot come”?’He said to them, ‘You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.’ They said to him, ‘Who are you?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Why do I speak to you at all? I have much to say about you and much to condemn; but the one who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.’ They did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me. And the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.’As he was saying these things, many believed in him.”’ “

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on November 14-15/2019
Alaa Abu Fakhr Laid to Rest in Choueifat
Huge funeral for martyr Alaa Abou Fakher in Choueifat
Army Intelligence Agent Referred to Judiciary over Abu Fakhr Death
Amnesty Urges Civilian Probe in Abu Fakhr Death as Taalabaya Protesters Clash with Army
Farnaud: To form a government capable of restoring confidence
Upbeat Aoun says government might see light within days
Lebanon’s Aoun hopes a government is formed in the coming days
Lebanon: Aoun’s Political ‘Confrontation’ with Protesters Takes Center Stage
Hariri Meets Aides of Nasrallah, Berri, Wants Consensus on 'Competent' PM Candidate
Hariri receives Italian Defense Minister
Berri tackles current situation with Bou Saab, UN's Kubis
Reports: Hariri Agrees with Hizbullah, FPM, AMAL on Naming Mohammed Safadi as PM
Major roads reopened in Lebanon after 2-day closure
Bou Saab Says Firing on Protesters Prohibited, Slams 'Civil War' Scenes
Protesters Reopen Major Tunnel, other Roads after 2-Day Closure
Loyalty to the Resistance: Meeting people's rights entails cooperation
Bassil Warns of ‘Separation Wall’
Rahi Meets Bassil: To Form Govt. Trusted by People
Rouhani: Some Want to Alter Course of Protests in Lebanon and Iraq
‘We won’t back down’: Anger mounts in Lebanon after protester shot dead and president tells anyone unhappy to leave country
AMCD Calls on Trump to Press Erdogan on ISIS Murder of Priest in NE Syria

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 14-15/2019
Rouhani Warns of Turning Fight Against Corruption into Internal Disputes
Report: Iran Road Accident Kills 28 Afghans
Rouhani Warns of Turning Fight Against Corruption into Internal Disputes
IRGC commander: Iran will ‘never’ hold any talks over its missile program
Sweden Arrests Iranian Suspect in 1980s Mass Executions
Iran Appoints New Ambassador to Russia
Uncertainty Surrounds Political Future of Iran Parliament Speaker
Iran Accuses Europeans of 'Hypocrisy' Over Nuclear Deal
Thousands Protest in Southwest Iran after Activist’s Death
Russia Bolsters New Syria Base on Turkish Border
Pompeo urges coalition to take back ISIS detainees, boost funding
Four killed, scores wounded in Baghdad protests
Tear Gas Grenades Kill Iraq Protesters as Authorities Feel Heat
Egypt under Fire over 'Shrinking' Freedoms during U.N. Rights Review
Kuwait Cabinet Quits after Disputes in Parliament
U.N. Experts Say Qatar Over-Using Jails for Non-Violent Crimes
Gaza ceasefire faces real test on Friday at weekly Palestinian border disturbance
Pompeo meets with Saudi Arabia’s FM Prince Faisal bin Farhan
Turkey’s Erdogan says US proposal to drop Russian defenses not right: Report

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 14-15/2019
Analysis/As Protests Refuse to Abate, Lebanon Is on the Verge of a Financial Abyss. Here's How It Got There/Zvi Bar'el/Haaretz/November 14/2019
Lebanon uprising: the road to reform?/Christina Farhat/Annahar/November 14/2019
A Cacophonous Revolution: When pans and pots become the voice of the protests/Nessryn Khalaf/Annahar/November 14/2019
Suppression is Tehran’s Next Step in its new Colonies/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Awsat/November 14/2019
The Lebanese revolution must abolish the kafala system/Joey Ayoub /Aljazeera/November 14/2019
Gaza ceasefire faces real test on Friday at weekly Palestinian border disturbance/DebkaFile/November 14/2019
Muslim Brotherhood Subversion vs. Jihadist Rage/Raymond Ibrahim/FrontPage Magazine/November 14/2019
Europe: The New Political Weapon of 'Islamophobia'/Alain Destexhe/Gatestone Institute/November 14/2019
Europe Backs Iranian Nuclear Breakout/Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/November 14/2019
Deportation of Shakir is a Win for Democracy/Matthew Mainen/JNS/November 13/ 2019
The Real Reason Behind America’s Control of Syrian Oil/Robert Ford/Asharq Al Awsat/November 14/2019
The 2020 Economy Should Feel a Lot Better/Conor Sen/Bloomberg/November 14/2019
America may no longer rely on Middle Eastern oil, but it still needs stable markets/Cyril Widdershoven/Al Arabiya/November 14/ 2019
UN must respond to Iran’s breaches of nuclear deal/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/November 14, 2019

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on November 14-15/2019
Alaa Abu Fakhr Laid to Rest in Choueifat
Agence France Presse/November 14/2019
The body of Alaa Abu Fakhr named as the “martyr of the revolution” by some was laid to rest on Thursday in his hometown of Choueifat. Abu Fakhr, 38-year-old father, was shot dead in front of his wife and son by an army intelligence agent at a protest Tuesday night in Khaldeh. His death marked the first such fatality since the economically driven demonstrations against the government engulfed Lebanon on Oct. 17. He has become an icon of the revolution. Mourners from across the country flooded Choueifat, shouting "revolution, revolution". Carrying Lebanese flags, mourners joined his family in Choueifat for a religious ceremony and then the burial. "We are free revolutionaries and we will continue our movement," the mourners chanted as they marched behind Abu Fakhr's coffin, which was draped in the Lebanese flag. News of his death late Tuesday was met with shock and anger among protesters in Beirut and major Lebanese cities and towns. Demonstrators that night blocked roads and set tires and rubbish bins ablaze, then rallied for massive nationwide protests on Wednesday during which they held up pictures of Abu Fakhr. The army intelligence agent involved in the Khalde incident was referred to the judiciary on Wednesday. The Army Command’s Orientation Directorate said in a statement: “The Intelligence Directorate has referred First Adjutant Charbel Hjeil to the relevant judicial authorities after interrogating him over the incident that resulted in the martyrdom of Alaa Abu Fakhr.”
Cross-sectarian outcry
In the northern port of Tripoli, Lebanon's second city, a street artist has painted a commemorative mural of him on the facades of a building overlooking Al-Nour Square, the main hub of the largely peaceful protests for nearly a month. Abu Fakhr is the second fatality since the start of the demonstrations. Another protester was shot by a man as demonstrators blocked the airport road.

Huge funeral for martyr Alaa Abou Fakher in Choueifat
NNA -Thu 14 Nov 2019
Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) and the people of Choueifat and Mount Lebanon on Thursday mourned Martyr Alaa Abou Fakher during a huge funeral held at Dhour Choueifat. The funeral was attended by the Druze Sheikh Akl, Naim Hassan, at the head of a delegation from the community, and Caretaker Ministers Akram Shehayeb and Wael Abou Faour, as well as Head of the "Democratic Gathering" MP Teymour Jumbaltt. "Democratic Gathering" bloc MPs were also present. Also attending the funeral had been a large number of spiritual, army, party and political delegations, most notably Caretaker Minister May Chidiac and MPs George Edwan and Anis Nassar, representing "Lebanese Forces" leader Samir Geagea. Alaa Abou Fakher's coffin was covered with the Lebanese flags and flower wreaths, surrounded by his family members, wife and children, amidst feelings of grief and sorrow.
In his delivered word, MP Teymour Jumblatt said today was the day to pay loyal tribute to a couragoeus, devoted young man who sacrificed his life till martyrdom, deeming him as "the martyr of the revolution."
MP Jumblatt eulogized Alaa Abou Fakher, saying "We only have the country for which you have struggled for and gave up your life for its birth," stressing the need to resort to the voice of reason and called for a just and fair judiciary to do justice to Alaa's blood.
Jumblatt also called for continuing struggle together, peacefully and calmly, towards the future of Lebanon. In his delivered word, Sheikh Hassan eulogized the late Abou Fakher as the "martyr of the nation," urging politicians to exercise prudence and wisdom and to regard responsibly the national supreme interests of the independent and constitutional state and fair governance.Sheikh Hassan also categorically deplored shooting as strictly prohibited,

Army Intelligence Agent Referred to Judiciary over Abu Fakhr Death
Naharnet/November 14/2019
An army intelligence agent involved in the Khalde incident that resulted in the death of the protester Alaa Abu Fakhr was referred to the judiciary on Wednesday. “The Intelligence Directorate has referred First Adjutant Charbel Hjeil to the relevant judicial authorities after interrogating him over the incident that resulted in the martyrdom of Alaa Abu Fakhr,” the Army Command’s Orientation Directorate said in a statement. Media reports said Hjeil was in a white vehicle carrying an army colonel when an altercation with protesters erupted in the Khalde area where demonstrators were blocking the road. An army statement issued Tuesday had said that military personnel opened fire in a bid to disperse protesters.

Amnesty Urges Civilian Probe in Abu Fakhr Death as Taalabaya Protesters Clash with Army
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 14/2019
Amnesty International on Thursday condemned the killing of Lebanese protester Alaa Abu Fakhr and said it must be investigated by civilian and not military prosecutors. "Only a fully independent court can bring justice to Alaa and his family," said Heba Morayef, Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Regional Director. Abu Fakhr is the second fatality since the start of the demonstrations. Another protester, Hussein al-Attar, was shot early on in the movement as demonstrators blocked the airport road.
On Thursday, protesters clashed in at least two places with security forces attempting to re-open blocked roads. Television network LBCI aired video footage appearing to show protesters in Taalbaya in the eastern region of Bekaa, throwing rocks and plastic chairs at soldiers, who do not respond.
In the evening, army troops scuffled with protesters trying to re-block the Jal el-Dib highway, reportedly making several arrests. The protest movement first erupted in opposition to a proposed tax on calls made via free phone apps, but it has since grown into a cross-sectarian outcry against everything from perceived state corruption to rampant electricity cuts.

Farnaud: To form a government capable of restoring confidence
NNA - Thu 14 Nov 2019
Director of the Department of North Africa and the Middle East at the French Foreign Ministry, Ambassador Christophe Farnaud, on Thursday highlighted the necessity to swiftly form an efficient and active government that would be able to restore confidence and fulfil the aspirations of the Lebanese people.
"The hardships Lebanon is witnessing are critical and they are a matter of concern for everybody," Farnaud told a news conference at the French Embassy in Beirut. "France has always stood by the side of Lebanon in both the good and bad times, and we are aware of the current crisis, which is an economic, political and social one," the French envoy said. "The goal of visit us to hear and understand what the Lebanese want and not to impose solutions," he explained, adding that his mission "comes within the frame of the deep friendship between the two countries and the respect of Lebanon's sovereignty."

Upbeat Aoun says government might see light within days
NNA -Thu 14 Nov 2019
President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, on Thursday affirmed that contacts in a bid to form a new government "have come a long way", expressing hope that a new cabinet would see the light within the coming few days "now that designation and cabinet formation obstacles have been eliminated."The President's words came before a visiting delegation of economic bodies in Lebanon to whom he highlighted the importance of cooperation dealing with the repercussions that have ensued as a result of the current situation. "The security forces have begun to open roads, which facilitates movement among regions and reboots the economic wheel, even if gradually," Aoun said. In turn, the delegation of economic bodies, which included Caretaker Minister of Telecoms, Mohammad Choucair, Secretary General and head of Beirut Traders' Association, Nicolas Chammas, and President of the Lebanese Industrialists Association, Fadi Gemayel, briefed the President on the circumstances of the commercial, industrial, and contractors' establishments as a result of the recent developments and the damage caused by the ill-fated events, as well as the material losses suffered by workers in these sectors. On the diplomatic scene, President Aoun met with Canadian Ambassador, Emmanuelle Lamoureux, Norwegian Ambassador, Lenny Natasha Lindh, and Swiss Charge d'Affaires, Simon Aman, who conveyed their countries' concern vis-à-vis the political and security developments in Lebanon, as well as the popular protests and their resonance. President Aoun explained to the three diplomats what was happening within the political and security arenas, and the circumstances that have taken place in recent weeks. "Work is underway to address these events, especially with regard to the economic situation and the formation of a new government," Aoun said. He pointed out that the demands made by protesters were the subject of follow-up, and would top the agenda of the future government. The three diplomats expressed hope that "the coming days will witness more stability and security in Lebanon." On the other hand, President Aoun received Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon, Nazih al-Najari, who paid him a farewell visit marking the end of his diplomatic mission in Lebanon. The President hailed the efforts exerted by Ambassador Al-Najari to strengthen and develop Lebanese-Egyptian relations in all fields, wishing him success in his new responsibilities at the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.

Lebanon’s Aoun hopes a government is formed in the coming days
Reuters, Al Arabiya EnglishThursday, 14 November 2019
Lebanon’s President Michael Aoun on Thursday said on his official Twitter account that he has hope in the possibility of the formation of a new government in the coming days. The demands of the protesters will be among the first goals of the incoming government, Aoun said. “We’re following up on the demands of the protesters and it will be an integral goal of the government which we are working on forming soon,” the first of Aoun’s three tweets said.

Lebanon: Aoun’s Political ‘Confrontation’ with Protesters Takes Center Stage
Beirut - Mohamed Choucair/Asharq Al Awsat/November 14/2019
Lebanon ushered in a new political stage after recent statements made by President Michel Aoun in a televised interview, a senior government official said. The official, who was not identified, noted that the president has entered in a “political confrontation” with protesters, putting the government crisis in second place after it was the main concern of the Lebanese. The official told Asharq Al-Awsat that Aoun should not have placed himself at loggerheads with anti-government demonstrators, especially since journalists Sami Kulaib and Nicolas Nassif, who conducted the interview, tried to create the appropriate atmosphere for him to address protesters with flexibility. But, instead, the president’s remarks ignited further street protests and a rally near the Baabda presidential palace. The official also stressed that resolving the government crisis was no longer a priority at least in the coming hours, adding that contacts on the cabinet formation froze.He revealed that the president’s remarks did not serve efforts to boost binding consultations that Aoun has yet to call for following the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Oct 29. The official also emphasized that Aoun’s comments on Hariri did not encourage the caretaker PM to reconsider his decision on his appointment to form the new government. He noted that he was surprised by recent comments by the head of the FPM, caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, about “positive and encouraging atmospheres” regarding the consultations.
“Where this optimism derives from?” he asked. He said that Bassil, who is Aoun’s son-in-law, was seeking to send a message to the people that he was still a top decision maker, despite being heavily criticized by the anti-government protesters. The government official noted that the Shiite duo, formed by the Amal Movement and Hezbollah, was showing flexibility and openness with Hariri. He added that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri’s insistence on Hariri’s return to the premiership reflected his understanding with his Shiite ally about Hariri’s key role in dealing with the international community. The source stressed that Aoun was on an understanding with the Shiite duo that the distribution of ministers between technocrats and politicians must be fair. Despite his call in the interview for the formation of a cabinet made up of technocrats and politicians, the protesters have stuck to their demands for a government of experts.

Hariri Meets Aides of Nasrallah, Berri, Wants Consensus on 'Competent' PM Candidate
Naharnet/November 14/2019
Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri wants the new government to be led by a figure who can confront the economic challenges, a media report said. “Consultations over the alternative are ongoing and Hariri wants to be a partner in facilitating things through securing consensus on a competent figure who can confront the economic challenges,” MTV quoted Center House sources as saying on Thursday evening. “Reports that the camp concerned with the designation of a premier is awaiting answers about suggested candidates are baseless, because Hariri’s answers have been passed on to the presidency,” the sources added. OTV meanwhile identified three figures nominated for the premiership as Mohammed Safadi, Osama Mekdashi and Walid Alameddine. TV networks later reported that Hariri was meeting with Hizbullah secretary-general's aide Hussein al-Khalil and Speaker Nabih Berri's aide Ali Hassan Khalil. "The meeting tackled the governmental situation after Hariri's insistence on heading an exclusively technocrat government to address the social and economic crisis, amid calls for forming a political government containing some technocrats that largely resembles the current government," LBCI TV said.

Hariri receives Italian Defense Minister
NNA -Thu 14 Nov 2019
Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri received this evening at the Center House the Italian Minister of Defense Lorenzo Guerini and a high-level delegation from the ministry headed by the Italian Chief of Defense Staff General Enzo Vecciarelli, in the presence of the Italian Ambassador to Lebanon Massimo Marotti, former Minister Ghattas Khoury, and Hariri’s advisor for military affairs, Brigadier General Maroun Hitti. The meeting focused on the bilateral relations and the military cooperation programs between Lebanon and Italy.

Berri tackles current situation with Bou Saab, UN's Kubis
NNA -Thu 14 Nov 2019
House Speaker, Nabih Berri, on Thursday received at his Ain Tineh residence Caretaker National Defense Minister, Elias Bou Saab, with whom he discussed the current political and security situation in the country. On emerging, Minister Bou Saab said he discussed with Speaker Berri the security situation in the country since the eruption of the popular movement. Bou Saab also offered condolences on the martyrdom of Alaa Abou Fakher, calling on the concerned judiciary to hold swift and transaprent investigation into the painful incident. The Minister also indicated the recent attempt to build a wall in Nahr Kalb was very dangerous and an outright reminder of the civil war. "The Lebanese Army and security forces cannot be compassionate with anyone who tries to drag us back to this stage," he added. Later, Speaker Berri met with the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jan Kubis, with whom he discussed the general economic situation in the country and the issue of the government formation. On the other hand, Berri cabled his Tunisian counterpart, Rachid Ghannouchi, on the occasion of his election as the Speaker of the Tunisian Parliament.

Reports: Hariri Agrees with Hizbullah, FPM, AMAL on Naming Mohammed Safadi as PM
Naharnet/November 14/2019
Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri has agreed with Hizbullah, the AMAL Movement and the Free Patriotic Movement on nominating ex-finance minister and businessman Mohammed Safadi for the premiership, several Lebanese TV networks reported late on Thursday.
The reports emerged after a Center House meeting between Hariri and the political aides of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Speaker Nabih Berri. Center House sources meanwhile told the Hariri-affiliated Mustaqbal Web news portal that the discussions tackled consensus on Safadi's nomination but not the shape of the new government or al-Mustaqbal Movement's participation in it. Social media activists meanwhile erupted in anger over the news as a protest got underway outside Safadi's house in Tripoli.

Major roads reopened in Lebanon after 2-day closure
News Agencies/November 14/2019
BEIRUT: Lebanese troops reopened major roads around Lebanon Thursday after a two-day closure triggered by a TV interview with President Michel Aoun in which he called on protesters to go home. The roads linking Beirut with the country’s south and north were opened shortly before noon Thursday, as well as others around the country. Protesters have been holding demonstrations since Oct. 17 demanding an end to widespread corruption and mismanagement by the political class that has ruled the country for three decades.
Aoun said Thursday that the demands of protesters are being followed adding that “they will be among the top priorities of the government that we are working on forming in the near future.”Aoun expressed hopes in comments released by his office that a new Cabinet “will be formed in the coming days” after removing obstacles that have been delaying the formation. Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned his government on Oct. 29, meeting a key demand of the protesters. Since then there have been disagreements over the new Cabinet as Hariri insists it should be made up of technocrats who will concentrate on solving Lebanon’s worst economic and financial crisis in decades while other politicians, including Aoun, want it to be a mixture of technocrats and politicians. “Dealing with the developments should be based on national interests that need cooperation from all sides to achieve pursued goals,” Aoun said.
Caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil tweeted that the priority is to form a “salvation government” and prevent anyone from taking the country into a confrontation. Bassil is Aoun’s son-in-law and close aide. The opening of the roads came a day after protesters started building a wall inside a tunnel on the highway linking Beirut with north Lebanon leading to an outcry by the public who saw it as a reminder of the 1975-90 civil war. In the town of Jal Al-Dib, just north of Beirut, troops pushed away protesters from the highway and removed barriers that had been blocking the road since Tuesday night. In the town of Choueifat south of Beirut, thousands of people attended the funeral of a 38-year-old father who was shot dead by a soldier at a protest Tuesday night. Alaa Abou Fakher’s death marked the first such fatality since the economically driven demonstrations against the government engulfed the country last month.
That protest was ignited by comments made by Aoun in a televised interview, in which he said there could be further delays before a new government is formed. Abou Fakher’s coffin was carried through the streets of Choueifat as women dressed in black threw rice on it from balconies in a traditional Lebanese gesture. Bank employees announced they will continue with their strike on Friday for the fourth day amid concerns for their safety as some of them have been subjected to insults by bank clients who were not allowed to withdraw as much as they wanted from their accounts. The country’s lenders are imposing varying capital controls that differ from bank to bank, fueling the turmoil.

Bou Saab Says Firing on Protesters Prohibited, Slams 'Civil War' Scenes
Naharnet/November 14/2019
Caretaker Defense Minister Elias Bou Saab on Thursday said he has called on the judiciary to carry out “speedy and transparent investigations” into the incident that resulted in the death of the protester Alaa Abu Fakhr, urging a “comprehensive probe” not limited to the detained army intelligence agent who opened fire. “This is rejected and we can never accept gunfire against the protesters or any bloodshed,” Bou Saab said after talks with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh. “We also tackled the tensions that surged over the past two days, especially what happened in Jal el-Dib, the attempts to build walls in Nahr al-Kalb and on the road leading to the South, and the blocking of roads, which reminded us of civil war and of what happened in 1975,” the minister added. “This is dangerous and security agencies can no longer be lenient with any person who might think of going back to that period, which we do not want and which the Lebanese do not want to remember,” Bou Saab went on to say. Acknowledging that the protest movement’s demands are “rightful” and that protesters “have the right to demonstrate and express their opinion,” the minister noted that the protest movement is “not responsible for what happened.”“But what is not accepted is the attempt by some parties to exploit such circumstances to score points or take political positions in order to strengthen themselves in negotiations taking place somewhere else,” Bou Saab added.

Protesters Reopen Major Tunnel, other Roads after 2-Day Closure
Associated Press//Naharnet/November 14/2019
Major roads around Lebanon have been reopened after a two-day closure triggered by a TV interview with President Michel Aoun in which he called on protesters to go home. The roads linking Beirut with the country’s south and north were opened shortly before noon Thursday, as well as others around the country. The opening of the roads came a day after protesters started building a wall inside Nahr el-Kalb tunnel on the highway linking Beirut with north Lebanon leading to an outcry by the public who saw it as a reminder of the 1975-90 civil war. In Nahr el-Kalb, protesters embarked on a cleaning campaign scrubbing the tunnel's walls with soap and water as a good will gesture. They even decorated it with flowers. Protesters have been holding demonstrations since Oct. 17 demanding an end to widespread corruption and mismanagement by the political class that has ruled the country for three decades.

Loyalty to the Resistance: Meeting people's rights entails cooperation
NNA - Thu 14 Nov 2019
"Loyalty to the Resistance" parliamentary bloc on Thursday called on the Lebanese to beware the dangers of the current stage, "which requires adherence to the preservation of unity and civil peace, as well as solutions to the severe financial and economic crises.""Meeting the rightful demands of the honest Lebanese entails cooperation and convergence, not to mention keeping the doors open and dialogues in place," the parliamentary bloc said, stressing the need to save the national economy and protect internal stability. The Loyalty to the Resistance bloc also called on all blocs to contribute to the adoption of laws that help to fight corruption, calling on the judiciary to assume its responsibilities and to hold those corrupt accountable and recover looted funds. The bloc then rejected "US interference in Lebanon's internal affairs" and condemned "the statements of US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo."

Bassil Warns of ‘Separation Wall’
Naharnet/November 14/2019
Caretaker Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil on Thursday described a wall constructed and later removed by protesters under Jounieh’s Nahr el-Kalb bridge as “isolation wall.”“The priority today is to form a government of salvation and prevent destructive thought from taking the country into a clash. Beware of the walls of segregation that drag people into infighting,” said Bassil in a tweet. He added addressing his Free Patriotic Movement partisans: “You must not make any reaction because the conspiracy is starting to unfold and the good people among demonstrators and people at home will bring it down. ”On Wednesday, protesters inside Jounieh’s Nahr al-Kalb tunnel removed a cement wall they were constructing earlier.

Rahi Meets Bassil: To Form Govt. Trusted by People
Naharnet/November 14/2019
Maronite Patriarch Beshara el-Rahi emphasized during talks with caretaker Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil the “need to form a government that people trust,” the National News Agency reported on Thursday.
He said a “new government must be formed as soon as possible and it must be trusted by the people,” he told Bassil. NNA said discussions focused on the latest developments in Lebanon.Earlier, reports said that in the last few hours Rahi and Bassil held several contacts and the two agreed to meet.

Rouhani: Some Want to Alter Course of Protests in Lebanon and Iraq
Naharnet/November 14/2019
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accused the United States of fueling protests in Lebanon and Iraq, Iranian media said on Thursday. Rouhani was quoted as saying that “some plan to turn the demonstration in Lebanon into a civil war.” “Iraqi people took to the streets to defend their rights. Who deflected this popular movement? The same is true in Lebanon,” he said. Rouhani reportedly accused the United States of seeking to exploit the wave of demonstrations in Lebanon and turn it into an internal war. He said in a statement: "America is no longer an invincible power, its strength today is not greater than before.”

‘We won’t back down’: Anger mounts in Lebanon after protester shot dead and president tells anyone unhappy to leave country
Gemma Fox/Independent/November 14/2019
President told demonstrators that they should 'emigrate' as protest movement is threatening Lebanon's interests
Demonstrators burnt tyres and barricaded main roads across Lebanon on Wednesday, incensed by the news that a soldier had killed a protester in what is the first casualty of the weeks-long civil disobedience. Protesters were also marching on the presidential palace, outraged at President Michel Aoun's call for those taking part in the rallies to emigrate, else risk plunging the country into “catastrophe”.The country has been gripped by 28 days of protests with tens of thousands taking to the streets to voice their anger at perceived government corruption, inefficiency and the worst economic crisis since the 15-year civil war in 1990. Banks and schools remained closed for a second straight day. They have been shut for much of the four weeks since the start of the protests. Alaa Abou Fakher, a local official and supporter of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), was shot on Tuesday evening in Khalde, south of Beirut, when soldiers tried to disperse protesters blocking the road. The soldier has been arrested and the army said it was launching an investigation. PSP leader Walid Joumblatt, however, urged his supporters to remain calm as he visited the hospital where Abou Fakher had been taken.
Tributes have been pouring out on social media to the father of three, described as a “martyr of the revolution”. In Tripoli, which has been home to some of the largest rallies, a mural was painted in commemoration. “He is Lebanon’s martyr ... his blood is the responsibility of everyone occupying a post from the president on down,” one demonstrator in Khalde told Reuters news agency. “Today, here, it is civil disobedience.”

AMCD Calls on Trump to Press Erdogan on ISIS Murder of Priest in NE Syria
WASHINGTON, DC, USA, November 13, 2019 /EINPresswire.com/ -- On President Erdogan’s visit to the White House today, the American Mideast Coalition for Democracy (AMCD) is urging president Trump to forcefully bring up the murder of Armenian Catholic Father Hovsep Bedoyan and his father in Northeast Syria – the area from which US forces withdrew allowing Turkey to invade.
“President Erdogan assured the US that Turkey would prevent any ISIS resurgence in the area,” said AMCD co-chair Tom Harb. “So Turkey must be held ultimately responsible for this horrific murder for which ISIS has claimed responsibility.”
It has long been suspected that Turkey actually aided ISIS in Syria (both by allowing ISIS fighters transit over Turkish soil, and by indirectly supplying arms). Indeed the Muslim Brotherhood-allied militias operating under Turkish auspices differ little from ISIS in terms of ideology.
“President Trump must insist on the protection of minorities in what is now Turkish-controlled territory in Northeastern Syria,” stated AMCD co-chair, John Hajjar. “The murder of this innocent priest cannot be swept under the carpet of major power politics.”
Rebecca Bynum
The American Mideast Coalition for Democracy

Analysis/As Protests Refuse to Abate, Lebanon Is on the Verge of a Financial Abyss. Here's How It Got There
Zvi Bar'el/Haaretz/November 14/2019
Lebanon's central bank, once the symbol of stability, is beginning to look like the main reason for the economic failure Hariri is running away from
A few years ago, Banque du Liban, the Lebanese central bank, asked the publishing company of the As-Safir newspaper to write them a book called “50 Years: The Bank Responsible for the Stability of the Nation and the State.”
During the same period, the Lebanese national airline was showing an advertising video on its flights describing what Banque du Liban was doing for the public and the state. It wasn’t an optional film. Like the safety instructions that are screened, passengers couldn’t switch channels. They were a captive audience for the propaganda of the bank that for more than a quarter century has been headed by Riad Salameh.
Banque du Liban has historically been considered a stable and stabilizing influence on the Lebanese economy. Since its founding in 1964, it has been a symbol of orderly government that conveys financial capability, the reason Lebanon was known as the Switzerland of the Middle East in the financial sense of the term. But it seems as if Salameh is the only senior economist who understood that the Lebanese economy could not rely merely on a stable bank as a gatekeeper.
Economists are now trying to understand how and why Lebanon is on the verge of a financial abyss, with a national debt that’s 155 percent of the gross national product and stormy demonstrations that filled the streets and brought down the government. Both Salameh and the bank he heads are starting to look like the main reason for the economic failure. It’s true that seven years ago Salameh started to warn against the distorted situation in which the average household’s debt was 55 percent of its income. Most families had no choice but to take more and more loans to make ends meet, to buy cars or apartments, or to pay for their children’s schools.
Data quoted last week in the Al-Akhbar newspaper from central bank reports show that the public over the years has taken consumer loans totaling $21 billion. This does not include housing loans, which total $13 billion. The public is paying $1.5 billion in interest on this debt, a sum that comes at the expense of savings. It also reduces consumption and undermines growth.
Under other circumstances, these loans could have been a way to increase growth and strengthen at least the homebuilding industry as a springboard for development. The problem is that even with mortgages, Lebanese have a hard time buying an apartment or upgrading their housing situation because of prices that have skyrocketed as the bank heaped money on borrowers. Now many of the borrowers can’t pay back the loans, while others have spread out their payments.The economic burden on all households has increased because of the general rise in prices and the limited number of jobs, especially among the weaker populations that are being forced to compete with cheap Syrian labor.
The decrease in revenues as well as widespread tax evasion have caused state tax revenues to fall in 2015 from 75 percent of total revenues to a low of 50 percent, at least according to official data. As a result, the state is unable to pay its debts without dramatically increasing taxes, but doing so could lead to a civilian revolt.
Theoretically, Lebanon has a funding source available — the $11 billion in aid promised to it by donor countries. However, this aid comes with conditions that include political stability and deep economic reform. Political stability does not exactly describe the situation in Lebanon after Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri resigned, and it isn’t clear how and when a new government will emerge.
As for economic reforms, many were already proposed by Hariri on the eve of his resignation. Among the reforms he suggested was a deep cut in the salaries of senior officials like ministers and MPs, the allocation of $160 million to aid the needy, doubling the taxation on bank profits and most importantly – a demand from the central bank and banks to help fund the deep budget deficit.
According to the draft budget, no new taxes will be imposed on the public. Hariri’s government continues to manage the state as a transitional government and it could be that he might even agree to be reappointed prime minister. But it’s doubtful that he’ll be able to move his reforms forward. Lebanese banks are owned by veteran families that won’t allow the political elite who depend on them (and some of whom own banks or bank shares) to undermine their profitability.
It’s the banks which have traditionally helped Lebanese governments out of financial crises by giving them generous loans, for which they collected an inflated amount of interest that only deepened the governmental debt. These banks are working together with the central bank, but in fact, dictate fiscal policy to its governor.
Hariri is now aiming for the banks to bankroll a portion of the national debt’s interest this year. By doing so, he could present a budget with a low deficit and convince donor countries to open their wallets. As in the past, the banks may agree once again to pay for some of the government debt’s interest, but it will be interesting to see what payment they will demand down the line. Hariri seems to be hoping to show profits from offshore oil and gas drilling within a year. And yes, there are also protests which refuse to dissolve.

Lebanon uprising: the road to reform?
Christina Farhat/Annahar/November 14/2019
LIFE is a worldwide membership organization of Lebanese professionals based in the diaspora and was founded in 2009
BEIRUT: The Centre for Lebanese Studies and Life co-hosted a discussion titled Lebanon Uprising: the road to reform, delving into the small Mediterranean country's economic woes while offering solutions moving forward.
LIFE is a worldwide membership organization of Lebanese professionals based abroad and was founded in 2009 with the aim of providing a platform to channel the influence of Lebanese executives active in fields related to finance worldwide through its three pillars: CONNECT, NURTURE, PROMOTE.
Maha Shuayb, Director of the Center for Lebanese Studies, stressed that sectarianism alone can’t be blamed for the civil war, and the current state of Lebanon, citing inequality, at the education level, as playing a significant role.
“There was a misdiagnosis of the root cause of the civil war. It’s socioeconomic. The misdiagnosis that it was sectarian was cited as the common term: ‘it’s a deeply divided society.’ Is it because of sectarianism, or is there another reason? 26% of Lebanese attend public primary schools or state schools, many of them don't make it to university. 30% of the total student population is enrolled in public schools.” Shuayb said.
Jackson, Nicks enter hall with encouragement for women
Paul Raphael, Executive Vice-Chairman of UBS bank and founder of Life, compared the current economic situation of Lebanon to being akin to a family with “high credit card debt and high-interest rates.”
“If you liken Lebanon to a family that has racked up a lot of debt, what happens in these sorts of households is what needs to happen in Lebanon. There's no one solution, and there are no easy solutions.” Raphael said in the discussion.
Raphael stressed that adopting a sustainable fiscal consolidation plan is necessary for moving forward. “The first thing you do is stop spending. The state spends more than it receives…We feel strongly that whatever you do needs to be sustainable, a one-time tax isn't helpful. We need a fiscal consolidation plan that’s sustainable. In any way you look at it there will be a social cost; ideally, this would tax the public the least.” Raphael said in the discussion.
Life has also released an in-depth economic paper that includes a number of policies and suggestions aimed at stopping Lebanon from drifting towards an economic meltdown, which can be viewed here.

A Cacophonous Revolution: When pans and pots become the voice of the protests
Nessryn Khalaf/Annahar/November 14/2019
BEIRUT: Cookware cacophony has been the spotlight of the Lebanese protests during the past few days, as protesters resorted to banging their pots and pans to denounce the country’s endemic corruption and escalating crisis.
The phenomenon known as "cacerolazo," which originates from "cacerola" -the Spanish word for pan or cooking pot, is a rampant form of protest in Latin America that resurfaced outside the continent in the past few years and gained prominence around the world.
It was first reported as a form of manifestation in Chile in 1971 when people used their empty pots and pans to protest the country’s atrocious food shortages under President Salvador Allende’s government. The same empty pans whose grievous banging sounds filled the streets of Chile later became tumultuous revolutionary weapons in Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Syria, Turkey, and now Lebanon.
“While my pans may be empty because my family can barely afford to bring food home anymore, the unanimous sound of our unity and pleas is anything but void,” explained Zeina Hammoud, an elderly protester living in Zarif who bangs her pans every night when she hears her neighbors doing it.
She told Annahar that while her deteriorating health has prevented her from joining everyone else in the streets, banging her pans to protest has been her way of expressing her dissent and disapproval of the government’s performance.
“My kitchenware is the dearest to my heart, and now I can finally use my favorite utensils to make a political statement,” she added.
While many believe the phenomenon to be futile, Lebanese demonstrators have managed to unanimously incorporate it into their daily protests in an amusing and pacific way.
“If only a few people were doing it, then even I would have found it useless and irritating, but since thousands of us are banging our pans as a harmless form of protesting, then it’s only a matter of time before this is observed nationwide,” Sara Tawil, a university student protesting in Riad al-Solh, told Annahar.
The people’s desire to feel part of something much bigger than themselves is what drives them to find new means of protesting collectively, and the "cacerolazo" is their paragon of unity. Most citizens who could not previously leave their homes can now protest in their most personal spaces- their balconies and windows.“Having a newborn at home is the only reason why I haven’t demonstrated in the streets yet, but now my neighbors and I bang our pans every night in solidarity with the thousands whose cries are tantamount to our screaming pots and pans,” explained Lina Khatib, a Lebanese housewife from Ras El Nabeh. However, creating harmonious music out of the banging sounds has also been observed, as protesters in Tripoli’s al-Noor Square and Beirut’s Riad al-Solh were seen beating their kitchenware to produce popular Lebanese Dabke tunes and well-known melodies by Fairouz. After all, what is a Lebanese revolution without a touch of pop culture? Now people at home can also partake in the ardent protests and make them even more blaring with the noise of their banging pans. The people are no longer cooking just food with their pans, for now they also boil with the ardor and zeal of the burgeoning Lebanese revolution.

Suppression is Tehran’s Next Step in its new Colonies
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Awsat/November 14/2019
I am not sure how true or accurate was the report published by some Lebanese newspapers about a visit by the Syrian Defense Minister Fahd Jassem Al-Freij to Tehran, a few years ago.
In that visit the Iranian leadership allegedly told Al-Freij that Tehran had already invested more than 20 billion US Dollars and would want “collateral” for its human, political and military “sacrifices”: a vast swathe of land extending from northern to southern Syria.
According to that report, and upon the minister informing Bashar Assad of Tehran’s demands, Russia’s intervention began to take a more direct nature short of an open confrontation with Iran, its tactical ally.
Russia began massive deployment in northwest Syria including the Alawite Mountains and the Valley of the Christians (also known as Wadi Al-Nadhara). Later, the Russians extended their military presence southwards in the shape of the Fifth Brigade.
Russia’s intervention in the northeast was obliquely intended to protect the Alawite and Christian minorities none of which would entertain living under the influence of the “Vali e Faqih”. The Fifth Brigade also provided a third religious minority, the Druze, a tiny chance of protection against Iranian expansion led by the Hezbollah militia. Indeed, the latter now holds sway in the Hawran region (southern Syria), as it works on establishing the “Tehran – Beirut Corridor”.
The above is quite relevant given what is taking place in Iraq and Lebanon, and the impending de facto partition of Syria.
It seems obvious that the Iranian leadership - which is fully dependent on the might of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) inside Iran – would never relinquish the hegemony it has gained throughout the Arab world since 1979.
It is unimaginable that Tehran would forego the billions of dollars it has spent on expansions and on entrenching its occupation of Arab lands. It is also impossible Tehran that would let go of its current successful historical “revenge” which constitutes the ethos of the political and sectarian Iranian regime, even if the price was rivers of blood of Shiite Arabs, after mass displacement of Sunni Arabs, without sparing even Christian Arabs!
The challenge to Iranian hegemony in Iran, spreading from Karbala to Nasseriyyah, Al-Najaf, to Al-Amarah, and Al-Hillah to Basra; all of which in the Shiite heartland is no mean feat. This is something that neither the IRGC’s Qasem Soleimani nor his Iraqi henchmen could keep quiet about.
The scene is similar in southern and northeast Lebanon. The Shiite towns of Nabatiyeh, Tyre, Kfar Rumman and Baalbeck have joined the popular uprising, as the TV appearances and implicit threats of Hezbollah’s Secretary General have become as frequent as soap operas.
Back in Iraq, as its uprising gathers pace as does confronting it with bullets, security forces have escalated its measures by attempting to limit demonstrations in the capital Baghdad to the Tahrir Square in the Rasafa bank of River Tigris. Technically, this means stifling the uprising and turning it into a “folkloric scene” before the media, but politically, this attempt reflects the insistence of the Iraqi government and its pro-Iran security apparatus on separating the social and political demands. In this they want to claim that financial and political corruption have nothing to do with the state of hegemony that prevents accountability, and subsequently, punishment.
The same is also true in Lebanon. It is unthinkable that rampant corruption involving billions of dollars would exist in a normal and genuine state, run by proper governments, and held accountable by a representative parliament. However, this is exactly the case!
In both Iraq and Lebanon, Iran, through the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and Hezbollah, runs the political and security scene, and dominates the civil service and judiciary. Thus, no corruption exists away from this status quo, and those who benefit from, cooperate with and are protected by it!
So far, however, there are some differences between the Iraqi and the Lebanese cases, including:
1 - Suppression in Iraq has been bloody, unlike what has been seen so far in Lebanon where Hezbollah – the only armed militia in the country – has not started an “all-out war” on its opponents.
2 - The fast collapsing economic situation is keeping Lebanon’s protesters focused on social issues and corruption, rather than openly touching on Hezbollah’s de facto “occupation”. Although most wise Lebanese realize the direct link between the “occupation” and corruption. They would prefer, at this stage, to avoid provoking the excessive force of the pro-Iran militia, and pushing it to go for a damaging bloody suppression.
3 - While the governmental power in Iraq is openly and clearly in the hands of the Shiite political and pro-Iran militia leaderships, Lebanon’s constitution is pluralistic. Lebanon boasts an influential Christian president and a Sunni prime minister, whose sectarian status allowed him to resign in an indirect challenge to Iranian threats delivered by Hezbollah.
4 - Unlike Iraq, Lebanon borders Israel, which demands Iran’s special attention and calculations.
Still, Iran may eventually decide on opting for a military solution. It may think that the time is right as Syria advances towards realistic partition - albeit in a federal cloak – and as regional and global sectors of influence are being created on Syrian soil. Also in the background are Turkey’s miscalculations, Israel’s continued governmental crises fueled by the now familiar bickering and a foggy global scene made ever more dangerous by American chaos, Russian encroachment and European confusion.
According to Tehran’s calculations, the world community on whose divisions on the nuclear agreement it has gambled successfully would be unable to agree on a strategy to contain its onslaught against its opponents.
Despite this scenario, there is still room for optimism. The “Iranian plan”, which has demonized the Sunni Muslims through accusing them of being an incubator of ISIS and presenting Tehran as a “partner” in the “war on terrorism” (Sunni, of course) with external collusion, has been dealt a strong blow from within the Shiite heartlands.
It has been brought down by the Shiites before all others; indeed, from Karbala with all its sectarian symbolism!
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi may say whatever he wants, and theorize as he pleases, in defending an abnormal situation. Likewise, the Secretary General of Lebanon’s Hezbollah may continue to bet on imposing his will on the Lebanese people by threatening them with civil war and pushing his allied president to obstruct any political solution.
Both may do what they want, but there is no guarantee anymore that Iran would succeed in suppressing its new “colonies”!

The Lebanese revolution must abolish the kafala system
Joey Ayoub /Aljazeera/November 14/2019
Lebanese and foreign workers should be afforded a life of dignity in Lebanon.
On Tuesday, November 5, the 20th day of the ongoing uprising in Lebanon, an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Beirut arrived at Addis Ababa's Bole International Airport. Its cargo was seven dead bodies of Ethiopian domestic workers who had died in Lebanon. According to Ethiopian journalist Zecharia Zelalem, "100s of family members, some from as far as Wolaita were at the airport in what became a mass mourning procession."
Zelalem had previously published a long investigation into efforts by both the Lebanese and Ethiopian authorities to cover up Ethiopian deaths in Lebanon.
It is not known how these workers died as no investigation into the circumstances of their deaths was launched. The story garnered little attention in Lebanon.
Under the country's kafala (or sponsorship) system, the legal status of migrant domestic workers is in the hands of their employers. If the employer terminates their contract, the sponsorship gets automatically cancelled, turning these workers into illegal aliens and putting them at risk of arrest and/or deportation. In addition, although confiscating passports is forbidden by law, even Minister of Labour Camille Abousleiman admitted that it still happens.
In effect, this means that foreign workers, most of whom are women, have very little means to defend themselves should the employer abuse them in any way or refuse to pay their salary, let them call their family back home or allow them to take breaks on Sundays.
If out of desperation they flee, they automatically become undocumented migrants. On the streets of Lebanon, they can find themselves as vulnerable, if not more so, than they were in their abusive workplace. If caught, they could be thrown in prison. In some, but by no means rare, cases, they end up killing themselves or being killed.
Currently, there are approximately 250,000 foreign workers - some facing abuse - in a country of more than five million which finds itself at a unique moment in history.
Today the Lebanese people are rebelling against their own abusers, the warlord-oligarch class that have dominated Lebanese politics for three decades since the end of the country's civil war. Sectarianism, the system which pits the Lebanese against one another based on their religious denominations, is being actively challenged in the streets.
We are destroying sectarian barriers at an incredible speed. We are, quite literally, connecting north and south in a way that has left our parents' generation baffled. Whatever happens next, what has already been achieved in the past month will resonate for years to come, and shape a whole generation, Generation Z, in a way that has even taken many millennials by surprise.
We now chant "all of them means all of them" to demand the resignation of the entire sectarian political class and to demand dignified lives for ourselves in our own country, the respect of human and civil rights.
But if we are calling for our rights, we need to be extending our concerns to foreign workers as well. The same system that we are seeking to change is abusing hundreds of thousands of foreign workers. This is why the Lebanese revolution must also call for the abolition of the kafala system.
According to Lebanon's own intelligence agency, two foreign workers die on average every week. According to a 2008 Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, roughly half of reported deaths are "classified by embassies" as suicides. In 2008, the rate was more than one a week.
In addition, foreign female workers have been arrested and deported for the "crime" of giving birth in Lebanon. Since at least 2014, several NGOs have been raising the alarm over the Lebanese government's practices of deporting migrant workers and their children and sometimes their mothers. In many cases, these women were told that "they were not allowed to have children in Lebanon" and were given as little as 48 hours to leave the country.
And just last year, a Kenyan woman was deported after being brutally attacked with her friend by a mob in Beirut, leading many to highlight the dangers faced by men and women on the streets of Lebanon.
Currently, the government's official position on the kafala system is to keep it for as long as possible, regardless of the suffering caused. In practice, this means excluding migrant domestic workers from Lebanon's labour laws.
In 2019, Georges Ayda, general director of the Ministry of Labour, argued that the kafala system was needed because "you are putting a stranger within a family. When they work in houses there has to be somebody that is responsible for them." Although Abousleiman himself likened it to "modern slavery", it remains in place.
Comments like Ayda's are fairly common in Lebanon and have been used time and again to justify the quasi-slavery-like conditions that migrant domestic workers are forced to work in. The fact that migrant domestic workers are also at risk when living with strangers, is ignored.
Today, there is a severe shortage of empathy towards these working-class women of colour across the Lebanese population, among protesters and supporters of the government, due to decades of normalised violence facilitated by the kafala system.
This is despite the fact that workers' rights have been regularly brought up during the protests. Unlike previous large-scale protests, this protest wave has seen a very strong working-class presence throughout the country. It should thereby be relatively easy to include foreign domestic workers in our list of concerns.
There have already been efforts to address the issue. In 2014, the Domestic Workers' Union (DWU) was established by six Lebanese workers and included, from the start, at least 350 foreign domestic workers of various nationalities.
The DWU has received the support of more than 100 non-governmental organisations since 2015, in addition to the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Trade Union Federation (ITUC), and the Federation of Trade Unions of Workers and Employees (FENASOL) in Lebanon. But the labour ministry has denounced the DWU as illegal.
Over the past month, there have been efforts to bring up the issue of the kafala system during demonstrations. They have led chants against racism during some of the marches, seeking to draw attention to the plight of both African and Asian workers and refugee Syrian and Palestinian populations.
There have also been marches organised in response to the xenophobic narrative being promoted by segments of the Lebanese political class and their affiliated media stations. Feminists, both Lebanese and non-Lebanese, are currently leading efforts to bring up the issue of discrimination and the kafala system, which is no coincidence, given the ways patriarchy, racism and sectarianism intersect.
But much more serious action is needed. The Lebanese revolution should demand the abolition of the kafala system and the recognition of the DWU, which supports both Lebanese and migrant domestic workers, as a very first step.
The sectarian system being opposed on the streets of Lebanon is inherently tied to the same patriarchal structures that oppress Lebanese and non-Lebanese women and LGBTQ+ as well as to the same racist structures that oppress women of colour, most notably foreign domestic workers.
The sooner we make these links, the better equipped we will be at countering the counterrevolutionary forces that are already feeling threatened by the ongoing uprising. Only through an intersectional framework would we be able to resist attempts to throw vulnerable groups of people under the bus while the rest of us protest for our dignity.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 14-15/2019
Rouhani Warns of Turning Fight Against Corruption into Internal Disputes
London - Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 14 November, 2019
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned that the fight against corruption has been causing internal disagreements, but at the same time, went back on harsh criticism against the judiciary, implicitly attributing his recent positions to the upcoming parliamentary elections.
He also pointing out that his talk about the disappearance of two billion dollars “is not new.”During the weekly cabinet meeting at the government headquarters, Rouhani talked about the exchange of criticism between him and his opponents. He underlined the need to “maintain unity and calm in the country”, indirectly hinting at angry reactions by the judiciary and conservatives, whom he had accused of lack of transparency in dealing with corruption cases. The Iranian president also called for equality for all in the fight against corruption. “I wish we had seen all the parties, groups, ideas and anyone who committed corruption appearing in courts, but we saw some who get covered while others are being tried,” he noted. Despite Rouhani’s decision to soften his criticism, senior Iranian government officials on Wednesday insisted on attacking the judiciary in its dealing with corruption. “The fight against corruption must be transparent and reassuring, and must include everyone,” Iranian government spokesman Ali Rubaie told reporters on Wednesday. “Information about corruption cases that the president talked about was handed over to the judiciary,” state-run news agency ISNA quoted the Iranian president’s assistant for legal affairs, Laya Junaidi, as saying. “There has been no tangible progress in pursuing corruption,” she added.

Report: Iran Road Accident Kills 28 Afghans
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 14 November, 2019
A road accident in Iran’s southeast has killed 28 Afghan nationals, the semi-official ILNA news agency reported Thursday. The report said 21 people were also injured when two vans collided near the town of Khash in Sistan and Baluchistan province early on Thursday. That’s about 1,500 kilometers southeast of the capital, Tehran. The area is a frequent route used by traffickers to smuggle illegal Afghan migrants, usually in crammed vehicles in desperate conditions, The Associated Press reported. Iran has one of the world’s worst traffic safety records, which are blamed on disregard of traffic laws, unsafe vehicles and inadequate emergency services, it said. Every year some 17,000 people die in accidents in Iran. In July, 18 people were killed and 14 injured in two separate road accidents in central Iran, AP added.

Rouhani Warns of Turning Fight Against Corruption into Internal Disputes
London - Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 14 November, 2019
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned that the fight against corruption has been causing internal disagreements, but at the same time, went back on harsh criticism against the judiciary, implicitly attributing his recent positions to the upcoming parliamentary elections.
He also pointing out that his talk about the disappearance of two billion dollars “is not new.”During the weekly cabinet meeting at the government headquarters, Rouhani talked about the exchange of criticism between him and his opponents. He underlined the need to “maintain unity and calm in the country”, indirectly hinting at angry reactions by the judiciary and conservatives, whom he had accused of lack of transparency in dealing with corruption cases. The Iranian president also called for equality for all in the fight against corruption. “I wish we had seen all the parties, groups, ideas and anyone who committed corruption appearing in courts, but we saw some who get covered while others are being tried,” he noted. Despite Rouhani’s decision to soften his criticism, senior Iranian government officials on Wednesday insisted on attacking the judiciary in its dealing with corruption. “The fight against corruption must be transparent and reassuring, and must include everyone,” Iranian government spokesman Ali Rubaie told reporters on Wednesday. “Information about corruption cases that the president talked about was handed over to the judiciary,” state-run news agency ISNA quoted the Iranian president’s assistant for legal affairs, Laya Junaidi, as saying.“There has been no tangible progress in pursuing corruption,” she added.

IRGC commander: Iran will ‘never’ hold any talks over its missile program
By Staff writer, Al Arabiya EnglishThursday, 14 November 2019
Iran will “never” hold any talks over its missile program, said the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Hossein Salami on Thursday, adding that the country will “never” stop improving its defense capabilities, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
Asked about the likelihood of talks between world powers and Iran regarding Iran’s missile program in order to ease sanctions against the country, Salami said: “Such a thing will never happen. We will never stop or retreat when it comes to increasing our defense capabilities. This topic is one of our red lines.”
Iran’s defense capabilities “cannot be discussed, adjusted, stopped or controlled,” he added. “We are progressing uncontrollably,” Mehr quoted Salami as saying, without specifying what field or fields the progress is being made in. “We assure the Iranian nation that the country’s armed forces and the IRGC have the potential and the capacity to confront any enemy, no matter how great,” said Salami. “The [Iranian] nation should rest assured and live with peace of mind because we are capable of destroying any enemy,” he added. The US withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, arguing it was flawed to Iran’s advantage, and has since re-imposed sanctions against the country. Washington says it wants to negotiate a more sweeping deal aimed at further curbing Iran’s nuclear work, halting its ballistic missile program and limiting its meddling in the affairs of other countries in the Middle East.
Top Iranian officials and military commanders have on several occasions ruled out the possibility of any talks on the country’s missile program. The IRGC navy commander Alireza Tangsiri said in September that Iran’s missile program is developing daily and is a “red line” for negotiations.
In June, the country’s highest authority Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei stressed that Iran will not give up its missile program and insisted that “America will not be able to deprive Iran of its missile capabilities.”

Sweden Arrests Iranian Suspect in 1980s Mass Executions
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 14 November, 2019
An Iranian citizen has been jailed in Sweden on suspicion of carrying out crimes against humanity and murder in the late 1980s in Iran, a Swedish prosecutor said Wednesday, the same time period of mass executions by Tehran. The Associated Press quoted Prosecutor Karolina Wieslander as saying that the unidentified man is suspected of committing the crimes between July 28, 1988, and Aug. 31, 1988, in Tehran. His lawyer Lars Hultgren told the Swedish news agency TT that the man insists he is innocent, adding “they have taken the wrong guy.”TT said the 58-year-old man was arrested Saturday at Stockholm’s international airport. The news agency said authorities suspect the man worked in a prison where many prisoners were hanged. The man’s alleged crimes correspond with the end of Iran’s long war with Iraq. International rights groups estimate that as many as 5,000 people were executed, including members of the Iranian opposition group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq.

Iran Appoints New Ambassador to Russia
London, Tehran – Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 13 November, 2019
Former member of the Iranian Parliament Kazem Jalali has been appointed as Iran’s new ambassador to Russia, replacing Mehdi Sanaei. This comes amid growing concerns towards the future of the Iran nuclear deal. In an open session on Sunday, Iranian lawmakers accepted Jalali’s resignation with 146 yes votes and 58 no votes. Nine lawmakers also abstained from voting. The parliamentary vote came a week after extensive consultations held between Jalali and the Russian ambassador in Tehran Levan Dzhagaryan at the Iranian parliament. Before presenting his resignation, Jalali used to represent ultra-conservatives and was part of a bloc close to the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Jalali has served as a lawmaker for five four-year terms. He was the chair of the Iran-Russia parliamentary friendship group in the seventh Parliament and the head of Iran-EU parliamentary friendship group in the eighth, ninth, and tenth terms. He also served as the head of the Parliament Research Centre from 2012 to 2019. Former ambassador Sanaei had taken the post in 2013 at the beginning of President Hassan Rouhani’s first term in office. The appointment of a conservative deputy to the post of Iranian ambassador is important in Tehran and is considered a win-win for those seeking closer ties with Russia instead of rapprochement with European countries.

Uncertainty Surrounds Political Future of Iran Parliament Speaker
London - Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 13 November, 2019
Uncertainty has surrounded the political future of Iranian parliament Speaker Ali Larijani in wake of reports that he will not be taking part in upcoming general elections and instead opt to run for president in 2021.Tabnak news website, which is closely affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported lawmaker Mohsen Kouhkan as saying that Larijani has implicitly refused to answer to reports regarding his participation in upcoming parliamentary elections. Larijani has been speaker of parliament since June 2008 for three consecutive terms. The ILNA reformist agency quoted a “reliable source” last week as saying that Larijani told “Iranian politicians” in the city of Qom that he will not run for parliamentary elections scheduled for next February. “I did the best to serve the country,” the source quoted him as saying. On December 1, the Interior Ministry opened its doors to candidates to submit their nomination for parliamentary polls. Larijani faces criticism from conservatives over his support for the nuclear deal and the policies of President Hassan Rouhani. He often swings between conservatives and moderates because of his close ties to the president. Iranian sources noted that Larijani has intensified his visit to various Iranian provinces during the last six months, something which drove speculations about him entering the presidential race.

Iran Accuses Europeans of 'Hypocrisy' Over Nuclear Deal
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 12 November, 2019
Iran accused European nations of hypocrisy on Tuesday for criticizing its latest step back from a nuclear deal while failing to fulfil their commitments of relief from US sanctions. President Hassan Rouhani made no mention of a new report from the UN nuclear agency that reveals its inspectors detected uranium particles of man-made origin at an undeclared site in Iran. But Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna said the UN watchdog had been given access to the site "with the utmost cooperation and clarification," AFP reported. "Cooperation between Iran and the agency on this issue is still ongoing. Therefore, any attempt to prejudge and present immature assessment of the situation would be aimed at distorting the facts for political gains," Gharib Abadi said in a statement. A year after the US pullout from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran began reducing its commitments to the deal hoping to win concessions from those still party to the accord. Iran's latest measure came last week, when engineers began feeding uranium hexafluoride gas into mothballed enrichment centrifuges at the underground Fordow plant south of Tehran.On Monday Britain, France, Germany and the European Union said Iran's decision to restart activities at Fordow was "inconsistent" with a 2015 nuclear deal. "The E3/EU have fully upheld their JCPOA commitments, including sanctions-lifting as foreseen under the JCPOA," they said. "It is now critical that Iran upholds its JCPOA commitments and works with all JCPOA participants to de-escalate tensions."Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif hit back on Tuesday, "'Fully upheld commitments under JCPOA' YOU? Really?" he tweeted, according to AFP. Zarif said Iran had already "triggered and exhausted" a dispute resolution mechanism in the troubled accord. German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass had on Monday threatened the use of "all the mechanisms laid down in the agreement" to make Iran comply with its obligations under the JCPOA. On Tuesday, Rouhani said Iran only began scaling back its nuclear commitments a year after the US withdrawal to give the other parties time to make up for it. "We waited for a year," Rouhani told a televised news conference. "Nobody in the world can blame us by saying 'Why are you abandoning your commitments under the JCPOA today and why have you launched Fordow today?'" he said. "This is a problem that the enemy has created for us," he said. Iran's approach, he said, was to take "the path of resistance and perseverance" by reducing commitments under the JCPOA and engaging in negotiations. "We are negotiating with the world... they are giving us proposals, we're giving them proposals."Rouhani made no mention of the uranium particles the IAEA said its inspectors had detected at an undeclared site in Iran. In a report seen by AFP on Monday, the watchdog said its inspectors had "detected natural uranium particles of anthropogenic origin at a location in Iran not declared to the agency."The particles are understood to be the product of uranium which has been mined and undergone initial processing, but not enriched. Britain, France, Germany and the EU said that they were "extremely concerned".

Thousands Protest in Southwest Iran after Activist’s Death
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 12 November, 2019
Thousands of Ahvaz Arabs took to the streets of southwest Iran on Monday to protest the suspicious death of activist and poet Hassan Heydari. He reportedly died of a seizure. He had routinely been detained by security forces. He was detained in March as part of a campaign against Arab activists, who had formed volunteer teams to tackle widespread flooding that had struck their regions. Heydari was released a month after his arrest, but was summoned several times for questioning by intelligence. His relatives have questioned the cause of his death. He had been transferred to hospital after the deterioration of his health. Witnesses said the intelligence forces had forced the family to bury him on Monday morning hours before the news of his death broke out. Activists circulated on social media video of protests in the Kut Abdollah region southwest of Ahvaz city. Security forces have since blocked several roads in Ahvaz. Other videos showed them firing tear gas at the protesters. In other footage, youths are seen tearing Iranian flags. Reza Najafi, the head of security affairs at the Khuzestan governorate, said on November 11 that Heydari had died from a stroke or a heart attack and that the alleged protests were in fact memorial gatherings by his friends and supporters, reported the Fars news agency.

Russia Bolsters New Syria Base on Turkish Border
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 14/2019
Russia has begun moving helicopters and other equipment to a new Syrian base on the Turkish border, state TV reported on Thursday, weeks after US forces left the area. Two Mi-35 attack helicopters and a transport helicopter were moved from the Hmeimim base on the Mediterranean to Qamishli airport in northeastern Syria, reported Zvezda television, which is run by the defence ministry. Earlier reports suggested Russia had been negotiating a long-term lease of Qamishli airport, which is about 500 kilometres (310 miles) to the north-east of Hmeimim. The civilian airport outside Kurdish-controlled Qamishli has been under the control of Syrian regime throughout the conflict. Russia also sent on-ground support, fuel and a meteorological service to Qamishli and has 10 vehicles on the ground to "ensure continuous flights, safety of the helicopters and the defence of this territory", air force official Timur Khodzhayev told the channel. "The main goal is to ensure calm," he said. The new base is protected by Russia's Pantsir missile system and the landing area is encircled by military police, according to the channel. Russia's military is expanding into northeastern Syria following the withdrawal of US forces ordered by President Donald Trump last month, which triggered a Turkish invasion into the Kurdish-populated territory. The Turks and Russians have since agreed to launch joint patrols in the area to ensure Kurdish forces withdraw from the zone near the Turkish border, which includes Qamishli. The US previously backed the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in their fight against the Islamic State group. Earlier this month the US military met Kurdish officials outside Qamishli, and a source who took part in one of the meetings told AFP that US forces wanted to return to the area. AFP correspondents also saw a US convoy in a village east of Qamishli on Wednesday.Pro-Kremlin media has been reporting since late October -- with visible satisfaction -- that Russian forces are moving into areas where American flags once flew. "We should more actively occupy their bases so that they have nothing to come back to," tweeted defence correspondent Alexander Kots of Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid.

Pompeo urges coalition to take back ISIS detainees, boost funding
Reuters/Thursday, 14 November 2019
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday urged members of the coalition fighting against ISIS to take extremist detainees back to their countries and step up their funding to help restore infrastructure in Iraq and Syria, parts of which severely damaged by conflict. Speaking at the opening of a meeting of foreign ministers from the global coalition to defeat ISIS, Pompeo also cited growing concerns about the ISIS threat outside of Iraq and Syria, saying the coalition should focus on West Africa and Sahel.
Pompeo also vowed that the US will keep fighting ISIS, reassuring worried allies convened in Washington. “The United States will continue to lead the coalition and the world on this essential security effort,” Pompeo said as he opened a day of talks in Washington.

Four killed, scores wounded in Baghdad protests
Reuters/Thursday, 14 November 2019
At least four protesters were killed and more than 65 wounded on Thursday in clashes with Iraqi security forces who were trying to push them back to their main camp in central Baghdad, police and medical sources said. The protests erupted in early October over economic hardship and endemic graft. The government responded with some measures such as handouts for the poor but the protesters are now demanding an overhaul of the entire political system. After two days of relative calm, three protesters were killed early on Thursday after being struck in the head by tear gas canisters and a fourth person died in hospital from wounds from a stun bomb fired by security forces, the sources said. The total death toll from the protests now exceeds 300. An anti-government protester prepares to throw back a tear gas canister fired by police during clashes in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019. (AP)
Security forces used live rounds, rubber bullets and fired tear gas canisters to disperse hundreds of people near Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the protests, a Reuters cameraman said. At least half of the wounded protesters had sustained injuries from live ammunition, police and medical sources said. Others choked on tear gas or were struck by rubber bullets. Ambulances raced to evacuate those hurt or affected. Protesters used old cabinets, empty petrol drums, and steel sheeting to set up a barricade near Jumhuriya (Republic) Bridge. “We’re reinforcing in case the security forces make another push later,” said Abbas, a teenage protester who was helping to set up the makeshift barrier. Violence also flared anew in several locations in southern Iraq, where the protest campaign originally kicked off. Late on Wednesday, protesters set fire to local officials’ houses in the town of Gharraf, 25 km (15 miles) north of the southern city of Nassiriya, security sources said. Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi’s government has tried to quell the unrest with measures to help the poor and college graduates, but protesters are now demanding the departure of the entire ruling elite that took power after the US invasion and the toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Since putting down an insurgency by Islamic State in 2017, Iraq has enjoyed two years of comparative stability. But despite its oil wealth, many people live in poverty with limited access to clean water, electricity, healthcare or education.

Tear Gas Grenades Kill Iraq Protesters as Authorities Feel Heat
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 14/2019
Four protesters were killed by tear gas canisters in Baghdad on Thursday as security forces try to snuff out the largest grassroots movement to sweep Iraq in years. Iraq's political elite has come under renewed pressure in recent days from both the street and the international community to seriously address calls for sweeping reform. There has been mounting international criticism of the authorities' response to the protests, which have left more than 330 dead since October 1. Early Thursday, four protesters were killed by tear gas canisters near the main Baghdad protest camp in Tahrir (Liberation) Square, medical sources told AFP.
Skirmishes broke out between security forces and protesters, with clusters of young men wearing surgical masks and construction helmets tossing tear gas canisters back at riot police stationed behind concrete blast walls.  The protesters have occupied the square for three weeks, braving live rounds, stun grenades and even machine gun fire.  Security forces have relied heavily on tear gas to confine protesters to Tahrir, but human rights groups have accused them of improperly firing the canisters directly into crowds at point-blank range, piercing protesters' skulls and chests. "Didn't the marjaiyah (the Shiite religious leadership) say forces shouldn't use live fire? Doesn't this count as live fire?" one protester yelled angrily.  Just beside him, a demonstrator was carried away after collapsing on the ground overcome by the potent tear gas.
- Shutdown spreads -
Thursday's deaths marked a resurgence of bloodshed after a few days of relatively peaceful protests in the capital. The crowds in Tahrir have swelled with students and striking teachers in recent days. In the southern hotspots of Diwaniyah, Nasiriyah, Hilla and Kut, schools and most government offices were closed on Thursday. On Thursday, the Old City of Najaf -- one of Shiite Islam's holiest sites -- joined in with a general strike. "We're ready to take a loss for a day, or a month, or even 20 months. We've been losing for 16 years," said one merchant. He was referring to the time passed since a US-led invasion toppled longtime dictator Saddam Hussein ushering in a sectarian power-sharing system demonstrators says is corrupt and must be replaced. Iraq is OPEC's second-largest producer but still lacks public services like reliable mains electricity or drinking water. "We have one message: we don't want this government." said Ali, a demonstrator in Tahrir. To address protesters' demands, the United Nations mission in Iraq (UNAMI) has proposed a phased programme of reforms. It calls for an immediate end to violence, electoral reform and anti-corruption measures within two weeks and constitutional amendments and infrastructure laws within three months.
Medics 'fear for lives'
UNAMI chief Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert has secured the support of Shiite spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and discussed the reform roadmap with members of parliament on Wednesday. MPs have received a draft electoral reform bill but have yet to discuss it, and are planning to interrogate two ministers as part of a planned cabinet reshuffle. Authorities must "step up to the plate and make things happen," Hennis-Plasschaert told AFP in an exclusive interview on Wednesday. Piling on the pressure, the US this week "deplored the death toll" from protest-related violence and demanded authorities address demonstrators' "legitimate grievances". Human Rights Watch said it had documented security forces shooting at medics, field clinics and ambulances with tear gas and live rounds during rallies. "Medical workers should not have reason to fear for their lives as they engage in heroic work in already dangerous environments," regional director Sarah Leah Whitson said. Doctors and activists have described to AFP a campaign of kidnappings they say is aimed at scaring them into stopping their work.  Late Wednesday, activist and medic Saba Mahdawi returned home after being held by unknown assailants for nearly two weeks, her family said.

Egypt under Fire over 'Shrinking' Freedoms during U.N. Rights Review
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 14/2019
Egypt faced strong criticism at a U.N. review of its rights record Wednesday, with diplomats voicing alarm over detention conditions and shrinking freedoms in the country recently rocked by mass protests. Speaking before the United Nations in Geneva, Egyptian Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Omar Marwan insisted that Egypt was making great efforts to improve respect for human rights. But during the so-called Universal Periodic Review -- which all 193 UN countries must undergo approximately every four years -- representatives of a wide range of countries voiced concern over serious abuses.
Many voiced alarm at allegations of torture, extrajudicial killings, and enforced disappearances, as well as concerns over mass trials, dire conditions in detention, discrimination against women and use of the death penalty. But shrinking space for civil society in the country seemed to be a particular concern, after some 4,000 people, including lawyers, activists, professors and journalists, were detained in a wave of arrests following rare protests against Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in September. Sisi has faced international condemnation for a crackdown on civil society groups since he took power in 2014, a year after the military toppled Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. "We remain particularly concerned by restrictions on human rights defenders and political activists, including arrests, travel bans and asset freezes," British Ambassador Julien Braithwaite told the assembly.
'Brutal' conditions
Swedish Ambassador Veronika Bard agreed, urging Egypt to "stop unduly restricting space for civil society, including through asset freezes, travel bans, long periods of pre-trial detention and growing numbers of arrests." But Marwan flatly denied the country was restricting free speech and assembly.
In interview with AFP after the review, he maintained that "there is a right to demonstrate... (and) everyone has the right to express their opinions." "But they are not allowed to vandalize or commit violence or incite to hatred," he said, speaking through a translator. A number of diplomats also voiced concern Wednesday over conditions in detention in Egypt, amid accusations by rights groups of torture, overcrowding and medical negligence in jails. Egypt on Monday opened up Tora prison in Cairo for a media tour following a U.N. report on the "brutal" conditions in which Morsi was held in prison before his death. A group of independent rights experts said the death of the ousted Islamist president, who was held in Tora for five years, could amount to a "state-sanctioned arbitrary killing". Morsi's fate was also raised by several countries, with the Turkish representative urging Egypt to "ensure that a prompt, impartial, thorough and transparent investigation is carried out by an independent body to clarify the cause of death."
- Duty to speak up -
Marwan meanwhile complained to AFP that the U.N. experts had not waited for "correct information" from Egyptian authorities before publishing their statement, and stressed that Morsi's death was under investigation. U.N. Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Agnes Callamard however told AFP she had closely followed procedures, and that it was her duty to speak up since other prisoners risked succumbing to the dire prison conditions. Italian Ambassador Gian Lorenzo Cornado meanwhile raised the case of Giulio Regeni, a 28-year-old Italian doctoral researcher at Britain's Cambridge University, who disappeared in Cairo in January 2016. His body was later found bearing extensive marks of torture. Egypt has always denied suggestions that its security services were involved in the death of Regeni, who was researching trade unions, a sensitive subject in Egypt.
Cornado urged Egypt to "strengthen efforts to prevent and combat all forms of torture and ill-treatment, ensuring that those responsible are held to account, including the perpetrators of the brutal killing of Giulio Regeni."

Kuwait Cabinet Quits after Disputes in Parliament
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 14/2019
Kuwait's prime minister submitted his resignation Thursday along with his cabinet, officials said, amid infighting between ministers and criticism of their performance. Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Sabah "submitted the resignation of the cabinet to the emir... in order to allow for a cabinet reshuffle," government spokesman Tareq al-Mazrem said in a statement. Minister of Finance Nayef al-Hajraf and Minister of Public Works Jenan Bushehri resigned this month, with both under fire for alleged mismanagement of their portfolios and poor use of public funds.
On Tuesday, parliament also grilled Interior Minister Sheikh Khaled al-Jarrah Al-Sabah, a member of the ruling family, over similar accusations. Independent MP Saleh Ashour told AFP that as well as those criticisms, disputes between ministers over the current composition of the cabinet had also triggered the resignation. Parliament speaker Marzouk al-Ghanem told reporters Thursday that "a large group of MPs believe that the problem lies in the government team because it is not homogenous". Kuwait is the only Gulf state with a fully elected parliament and the government is controlled by the ruling family. The oil-rich country has been shaken by political disputes between lawmakers and the government for over a decade, with parliament and cabinets dissolved several times. A demonstration held outside the Kuwaiti parliament over alleged rampant corruption was reminiscent of past crises that have marred political life in the country.

U.N. Experts Say Qatar Over-Using Jails for Non-Violent Crimes
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 14/2019
Qatar is over-using detention to punish those accused of non-violent crimes like adultery, defaulting on debt, falling pregnant out of wedlock and even sorcery, independent U.N. experts said on Thursday. The mission visited 12 sites over 10 days, including police stations, juvenile holding, the central prison, a psychiatric hospital, and immigration detention. "The working group was seriously concerned over the range of non-violent acts that are criminalized," said group member Elina Steinerte, a Latvian human rights expert. Such offences include absconding from an employer, disobeying parents, alcohol consumption, substance abuse, sorcery, and sex outside of marriage, the group said. They found several cases of individuals detained for same-sex relations and of women who became pregnant out of wedlock -- both crimes under Qatar's Islamic legal system. "Detention should be an exceptional measure," Steinerte said at a briefing in Doha. Although the working group was barred from visiting a state security detention site and unable to speak to several absent or unavailable officials, it praised Qatar for allowing it some access. "For 20 years we've been knocking on the doors of Qatar's neighbors.... we knocked once and the door was flung open -- we don't always get such access in Europe," she said. The mission, however, was unable to determine the exact size of Qatar's detainee population because of conflicting data. "There is an urgent need for a paradigm shift in Qatar to guarantee the right of every individual to personal liberty," the group said in a statement. U.N. experts are independent and do not speak for the world body, but their findings can be used to inform the work of U.N. organizations, including the rights council. The working group, made up of Leigh Toomey and Roland Adjovi, along with Steinerte, will present its final report on the visit to the U.N. Human Rights Council in September 2020. The Gulf country has previously faced criticism for inadequate legal protections afforded to hundreds of thousands of citizens from developing countries working on projects ahead of the 2022 World Cup.
The experts said they received "credible reports" of employers confiscating migrant laborers' passports or falsely alleging workers had absconded, after which they would automatically be detained for the duration of the investigation. Detention for adultery, which disproportionately affects women, and same-sex relations, amounted to arbitrary detention, the experts said. They also said that detaining individuals with bad debts, such as bounced checks, was arbitrary detention and called for the law to be revised.

Gaza ceasefire faces real test on Friday at weekly Palestinian border disturbance
DebkaFile/November 14/2019
UN Middle East peace envoy Nickolay Mladenov knew from bitter experience what he was talking about when he said on Thursday, Nov. 14 that the UN and Egypt had “worked hard to prevent the most dangerous escalation in and around Gaza from leading to war” and “the coming hours and days were critical.”According to established Gaza routine, the Palestinian side habitually declares a ceasefire has been agreed, and then violates it, while Israel officials hold silent. This time, the only sign that Israel went along with the truce negotiated by the UN and Egypt, was the IDF’s approval to reopen schools and restore normal life across most of Israel, with the exception of the most heavily battered communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip, West Lachish and Hof Ashkelon. Rocket sirens were heard there early Thursday 90 hours after the truce was said by Islamic Jihad and Egyptian officials to have gone into effect at 5.30 a.m. It came at the end of 48 hours of massive Jihad rocket fire and systematic Israeli air strikes to destroy its infrastructure, following the killing of the Islamic Jihad’s northern Gaza commander Baha Abu Al-Atta.
The ceasefire, which was quickly proven fragile in its first hours, faces its first real test on Friday, Nov. 15, when the Gaza-Israeli border has for the past eighteen months erupted into weekly clashes between Palestinian rioters hurling explosives and grenades pressing against the border and their targets, armed Israeli soldiers, pushing them back, using live ammunition when tear gas fails.The Islamic Jihad is expected to exploit the next Friday disturbance as cover for lethal attacks on Israeli troops or a civilian target, after 430 rockets fired in a 48-hour blitz failed to cause a single Israeli death. The group is also capable of claiming that Israel had violated the truce terms at the event as a pretext for resuming its rocket attacks. This pessimistic forecast rests on past experience of Gaza ceasefires. Islamic Jihad is wont to stage violent finales in order to claim it had the last word (or shot) in a conflict with Israel. Therefore, if the truce holds up until Friday afternoon, its fate will be determined then. IDF concentrations therefore remain massed on the Gaza border along with heavy military hardware.

Pompeo meets with Saudi Arabia’s FM Prince Faisal bin Farhan
Ismaeel Naar, Al Arabiya English/Thursday, 14 November 2019
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan has met with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington on Thursday where they discussed the partnership in the fight against ISIS. “During the meeting, they discussed the Saudi-US long-established strategic partnership, especially the partnership in the fight against Daesh,” the Saudi Arabian Foreign Ministry tweeted on Thursday. The meeting was also attended by Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the United States Princess Reema bint Bandar. “Delighted to meet Secretary Pompeo today in Washington, DC. Saudi-US have a long-standing strategic partnership. We affirmed the strong ties between our countries and the joint efforts in confronting terrorism in the region and the world,” the foreign minister said in a tweet Prince Faisal bin Farhan was in Washington to take part in the meeting of foreign ministers from the global coalition to defeat ISIS.
Saudi Arabia’s delegation also included Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the United States Princess Reema bin Bandar and Minister of State for Arab Gulf Affairs Thamer al-Sabhan.

Turkey’s Erdogan says US proposal to drop Russian defenses not right: Report
Reuters, Istanbul/Thursday, 14 November 2019
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that a US proposal for Ankara to get rid of the Russian S-400 missile defenses it purchased is not right and an infringement of sovereign rights, according to broadcaster NTV. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged Erdogan to walk away from the purchase of the S-400 systems, the parts of which began arriving in Turkey in July. Turkey has so far avoided US sanctions stemming from the purchase. But the US has banned sales of F-35 fighter jets to Ankara and removed it from a multinational program to produce the warplane. Erdogan told reporters after his meeting with Trump that he saw a much more positive approach to the F-35 issue from Trump.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 14-15/2019
Muslim Brotherhood Subversion vs. Jihadist Rage
Raymond Ibrahim/FrontPage Magazine/November 14/2019
What do Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri—that is, the late leader of ISIS, and the late and current leaders of al-Qaeda—have in common? That they’re among the world’s most notorious Islamic terrorists? Yes, but there’s something else, something more subtle, that binds them: they all began their careers as members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the oldest and most widespread political Islamic organization in the world.
In a 2014 video interview, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi—a spiritual leader of the Brotherhood whose Al Jazeera program on shari‘a is watched by tens of millions of Muslims—asserted that “this youth [al-Baghdadi] was from the start among the top ranks of the Brotherhood, but he was inclined to [positions of] leadership and so forth… Then, after he spent years in prison [for Brotherhood activities] he came out and joined with them [the nascent Islamic State],” eventually becoming first “caliph.” (I first discussed this Qaradawi video soon after it appeared in 2014; predictably, YouTube has since taken it down, though Arabic websites still have it.)
In response, Egyptian Minister of Religious Endowments (awqaf), Dr. Muhammad Mukhtar Gom‘a had said that “Qaradawi’s confession [concerning al-Baghdadi] confirms that the Brotherhood is the spiritual father to every extremist group.”
So it would seem: In a 2012 video, Ayman al-Zawahiri, current leader of al-Qaeda, said of his friend and predecessor that “Sheikh Osama bin Laden was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Arabian Peninsula,” during his youth and in the 1980s.
As for al-Zawahiri himself, his involvement with the Brotherhood in Egypt, where it was founded in 1928, is especially well known. Indeed, he wrote an entire book about it, The Bitter Harvest: The [Muslim] Brotherhood in Sixty Years (which first surfaced around 1991; translated portions appear in The Al Qaeda Reader). The book is dedicated to demonstrating how and why the Brotherhood had lost its way by choosing to participate in elections instead of waging jihad against the “apostate” government of Egypt.
What’s noteworthy here is that al-Baghdadi, bin Laden, and al-Zawahiri all agreed with the overall vision of the Muslim Brotherhood—unsurprisingly so, considering the latter’s motto is “Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Koran is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.”
What the three jihadist leaders had grown frustrated with is the Brotherhood’s patient and nonviolent approach—its willingness to compromise Islam (including jihad) in order to “play the game,” as it were. Consider what al-Zawahiri, who had joined the Brotherhood when only fourteen years old, before abandoning it for more militant groups, wrote in Bitter Harvest:
[N]ot only have the Brothers been idle from fulfilling their duty of [waging] jihad, but they have gone as far as to describe the infidel governments as legitimate, and have joined ranks with them in the jahiliyya [infidel-style of] governing, that is, democracies, elections, and parliaments. Moreover, they take advantage of the Muslim youths’ fervor by bringing them into their fold only to store them in a refrigerator. Then, they steer their onetime passionate Islamic zeal for jihad against tyranny toward conferences and elections.
Interestingly, when all is said and done, the Brotherhood’s patient and incremental methodology has proven far more effective than the outright jihad of its terroristic offshoots. Despite Zawahiri’s grumblings from the early 1990s, and after decades of grassroots efforts, the previously banned Brotherhood won Egypt’s 2012 elections, with one of its members, the late Muhammad Morsi, becoming the nation’s first democratically elected president.
Of course, a year later Egypt revolted against the Brotherhood, which found itself again labeled a terrorist organization. Even so, the Brotherhood remains alive and well, particularly in the United States of America. According to a 1991 Muslim Brotherhood document written in Arabic and presented as evidence in the 2008 Holy Land Terror Funding Trial, the Brotherhood’s purpose in America is to wage a soft and subversive jihad of attrition; in the Brotherhood’s own words:
The process of settlement is a “Civilization-Jihadist Process” with all the word means. The Ikhwan [members of the Muslim Brotherhood] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and “sabotaging” its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers.
Towards the end of the document, “A list of our organizations and the organizations of our friends” appears and includes the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA).
All of these Brotherhood front groups remain alive, well, and highly influential in America—and therefore pose a greater long term and subversive threat for the security of the United States than ISIS, al-Qaeda, or any other jihadi organization.

Europe: The New Political Weapon of 'Islamophobia'
Alain Destexhe/Gatestone Institute/November 14/2019
The objective of using the word "Islamophobia" appears to have been to make Islam untouchable by placing any criticism of it as equivalent to racism or anti-Semitism.
The word "Islamophobia" deliberately intends to transform the critique of a religion -- a fundamental right in Western societies -- into a crime.
"The term 'Islamophobia' serves several functions....Above all, however, the term is intended to silence Muslims who question the Koran, who demand equality of the sexes, who claim the right to renounce their religion, and who want to practice their faith freely and without submitting to the dictates of the bearded and dogmatic." – Pascal Bruckner, in his book, Un racisme ordinaire : Islamophobie et culpabilité, Grasset, 2017 [English version: An Imaginary Racism: Islamophbia and Guilt, Polity 2018]
It is not Muslims people "hate," any more than they hate Hindus or Buddhists or Shintos. It is the violence and coercion that some adopt -- what is known as jihad or holy war -- that people reject.
In the attacks at the Bataclan Theater and other sites in 2015, terrorists murdered 131 persons and wounded 413. Is it irrational to remember who was calling those shots?
As noted by the journalist Stéphane Charbonnier, murdered in the Charlie Hebdo attack in 2015, Islamophobia "is not only a poorly chosen word but also a dangerous one." (Image source: Arzu Çakır/VOA/Wikimedia Commons)
France is once again profoundly divided over Islam. Last Sunday, November 10, a "March against Islamophobia" was held in Paris in response to an appeal from 50 public figures. In an op-ed in the leftist newspaper Libération, the demonstrators pleaded to "stop Islamophobia and stop the growing stigmatization of Muslims, victims of discrimination and aggression".
Two recent incidents ignited the public debate and served as a pretext for the march. On October 26, an 84-year-old man shot and injured two men while trying to set fire to the mosque of Bayonne. Earlier in October, in the Regional Assembly of Burgundy, a member of the National Rally party (RN) complained about the presence in the gallery of a woman wearing an Islamic headscarf. The French political class and media condemned both incidents almost unanimously.
Among the signatories of the op-ed are Jean-Luc Mélenchon, president of La France Insoumise ("Unsubmissive France"), the most prominent leftist political party in the French National Assembly; Benoît Hamon, the Socialist Party candidate in the last presidential election; Philippe Martinez, leader of the Communist trade-union General Confederation of Labor (CGT); Yannick Jadot, a prominent Member of European Parliament from the Green party and Edwy Plenel, editor of Mediapart, a successful online media news platform and former editor of the newspaper Le Monde.
The op-ed sparked a national debate. How could these established public figures sign a text alongside known Islamist sympathizers, such as Nader Abou Anas, an imam who believes that "women can only go out with the permission of their husband", or Marwan Muhammad, the former CEO of the Collective against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) -- an organization suspected of links with the Muslim Brotherhood -- who compared the situation of Muslims in France today with those of the Jews in Germany in the 1930s, going so far as to add that "in France, mosques are machine-gunned" ("mitraillé")?
The debate was particularly tense within the Left. Historically, the Left in France was always a powerful advocate of secularism ("laïcité" in French; a strong separation between church and state). However, a portion of the Left now chooses to support multiculturalism and so-called "identity politics" and to ally itself with Islamists whose agenda opposes having a secular state. The alliance between the traditional Left and Islamists is often described as "Islamo-gauchisme" ("Islamo-leftism"). The controversy became so great that some of the signatories even decided to abstain from participating in the demonstration.
The choice of the word "Islamophobia" as the central rallying call was, of course, not neutral. As noted by the journalist Stéphane Charbonnier, murdered in the Charlie Hebdo attack in 2015, in his posthumous book[1], Islamophobia "is not only a poorly chosen word but also a dangerous one."
Historically, the word Islamophobia -- coined in the 1910s by a French colonial administrator[2] -- was rarely used until the 1990s. After Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, particularly after Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa against Salman Rushdie following the publication of The Satanic Verses, the term became used as a political weapon.[3] The objective appears to have been to make Islam untouchable by placing any criticism of it as equivalent to racism or anti-Semitism.
The word "Islamophobia" deliberately intends to transform the critique of a religion -- a fundamental right in Western societies -- into a crime.
Pascal Bruckner, a French philosopher, suggested the role played by the concept. According to him:
"The term 'Islamophobia' serves several functions. It denies the reality of an Islamic offensive in Europe all the better to justify it. It attacks secularism by equating it with fundamentalism. Above all, however, the term is intended to silence Muslims who question the Koran, who demand equality of the sexes, who claim the right to renounce their religion, and who want to practice their faith freely and without submitting to the dictates of the bearded and dogmatic."[4]
Unfortunately, many media outlets and human rights groups fell directly into the trap and often use the word "Islamophobia" despite its lack of any legal basis or precise definition. Every time the word is used, it is a small victory for the Islamists.
A phobia is an extreme irrational fear or an aversion to something. Why, however, is it irrational to be afraid of Islam when terrorists murder, and call for murder, in the name of their God? -- even if the perpetrators are but a small minority among Muslims. Forty years ago, who could have imagined that terrorist attacks could be perpetrated in the United States or Europe in the name of a religion? In this context, being "Islamophobic" (being afraid of a religion) is not a crime. And it is light years' different from "hating" Muslims "for being Muslims". It is not Muslims people "hate," any more than they hate Hindus or Buddhists or Shintos. It is the violence and coercion that some adopt -- what is known as jihad or holy war -- that people reject.
The signatories were also severely criticized for their bias regarding the facts. Muslims are not targeted in France. According to the official records of the French government, last year, with 100 incidents, anti-Muslim acts were actually at their lowest level since 2010.
By comparison, after two years of decline, the number of anti-Semitic incidents in 2018 rose sharply: 541 compared to 311 in 2017 -- an increase of 74%. Eighty-one of the incidents included violence, attempted homicide, or homicide. The number of recorded anti-Christian incidents reached 1063, ten times more than anti-Muslim ones.
The demonstration "against Islamophobia," which drew 13,500 persons, took place on November 10, three days before the commemoration of the massive jihadi attacks in Paris in 2015 at the Bataclan Theater and other sites, in which terrorists murdered 131 persons and wounded 413. Is it irrational to remember who was calling those shots?
*Alain Destexhe, honorary Senator (Belgium) and former President of the International Crisis Group.
[1] Lettre aux escrocs de l'islamophobie qui font le jeux des racistes.
[2] Un racisme ordinaire : Islamophobie et culpabilité, Grasset, 2017. [English version: An Imaginary Racism: Islamophobia and Guilt, Polity 2018].
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
© 2019 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Europe Backs Iranian Nuclear Breakout
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/November 14/2019
Tehran shelters members of the terrorist group Al Qaeda, and it is reportedly continuing to facilitate the group's operations.
Now imagine if this rogue state obtains nuclear weapons, what kind of destruction could it inflict on the world?
The international community, particularly European nations, must take urgent steps to counter Iran-backed international terrorism and prevent it from becoming a nuclear state.
Iran continues to smuggle weapons and provide military, financial, intelligence and advisory assistance to proxies throughout the Middle East, such as the Houthis, Hezbollah, Iraqi Shiite militias, Kata'ib Hizballah, and Hamas. Pictured: Lebanese Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah visits Iran's "Supreme Leader" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (Image source: khamenei.ir)
When the US State Department released its annual Country Reports on Terrorism on November 1, 2019, four countries -- North Korea, Sudan, Iran, and Tehran's staunch ally, Syria -- were listed as state sponsors of terrorism. The annual report describes the theocratic establishment of Iran as "the world's worst state sponsor of terrorism" in 2018.
How, in 2018, did the Iranian government receive the title "the world's worst state sponsor of terrorism"? The criteria by which it is determined if a country should be listed as a state sponsor of terrorism are based on whether that state has constantly provided support for acts of terrorism.
In the region, Iran has continued to smuggle weapons and provide military, financial, intelligence and advisory assistance to proxies such as the Houthis, Hezbollah, Iraqi Shiite militias, Kata'ib Hizballah, Hamas and other designated Palestinian terrorist groups, such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC).
Tehran has spent roughly one billion dollars per year to arm and train these militant groups, which serve Iran's interests. This sum has contributed to a greater capability for Houthi rocket launches at civilian targets in Saudi Arabia, the deployment of thousands of Hezbollah foot-soldiers in Syria, and the regular bombardment of southern Israel with Hamas rockets bankrolled by Iran.
The report indicates that in 2018:
"These Palestinian terrorist groups [Palestinian Islamic Jihad and PFLP-GC] were behind numerous deadly attacks originating in Gaza and the West Bank, including attacks against Israeli civilians in the Sinai Peninsula."
While Iranian leaders often attempt to deny any involvement in arming or training militia groups, the leader of one of these terror groups, Hassan Nasrallah openly admitted in 2016:
"We are open about the fact that Hezbollah's budget, its income, its expenses, everything it eats and drinks, its weapons and rockets, are from the Islamic Republic of Iran... As long as Iran has money, we have money... Just as we receive the rockets that we use to threaten Israel, we are receiving our money. No law will prevent us from receiving it."
Iran also went a step further in 2018 by providing technology to its proxies in order to enable them manufacture advanced weapons and missiles at home. The State Department report states:
"Israeli security officials and politicians expressed concerns that Iran was supplying Hizballah with advanced weapons systems and technologies, as well as assisting the group in creating infrastructure that would permit it to indigenously produce rockets and missiles to threaten Israel from Lebanon and Syria."
The Iranian government has, in addition, sponsored Shiite militant groups in Bahrain. The State Department blacklisted the Bahraini Shiite militant group, Al-Ashtar Brigades, because of its ties to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). In Iraq, Iran's Shiite militia groups have also committed unspeakable crimes against humanity.
Iran's terrorist plotting has been seen beyond the Middle East, particularly in Europe. In January 2018, German authorities discovered 10 individuals linked to the IRGC who were alleged to have been spying on Israeli citizens.
European officials also foiled a terrorist attack that in June 2018 targeted a large "Free Iran" convention in Paris, attended by many high-level speakers such as former US House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, and former Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird. An Iranian diplomat and several other individuals of Iranian origin were arrested in France, Belgium and Germany. After a thorough investigation, French officials concluded that the Iranian regime had been behind the bomb plot.
Iran's attacks were also evident in 2018 in Denmark, where officials accused Tehran of attempting to assassinate one of its citizens. Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen emphasized the seriousness of the plot:
"An Iranian intelligence agency has planned an assassination on Danish soil. This is completely unacceptable. In fact, the gravity of the matter is difficult to describe. That has been made crystal clear to the Iranian ambassador in Copenhagen today."
In Albania, two Iranian authorities were expelled from the country for plotting terrorist attacks in 2018.
The Iranian government was also behind major cyber attacks against foreign governments and private companies.
Finally, Tehran shelters members of the terrorist group Al Qaeda, and it is reportedly continuing to facilitate the group's operations.
Iran is indeed the world's worst state sponsor of terrorism, due to the government-backed terrorism in the region and beyond. Now imagine if this rogue state obtains nuclear weapons, what kind of destruction could it inflict on the world? The international community, particularly European nations, must take tangible steps to counter Iran-backed international terrorism and prevent it from becoming a nuclear state.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US Foreign Policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
© 2019 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute

Deportation of Shakir is a Win for Democracy
Matthew Mainen/JNS/November 13/ 2019
On Monday, the European Union called on Israel to "reverse its decision" to deport Omar Shakir, Human Rights Watch's director for Israel and the disputed territories. This request comes in the wake of a finding last week by Israel's High Court that Shakir breached a 2017 law prohibiting entry and residency to foreigners who publicly support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Though applauded in pro-Israel circles, the deportation has been met with a bevy of criticism for allegedly violating democratic norms.
In fact, Shakir's removal and the broader circumstances exemplify the robustness of Israel's democratic process, something that should not be undermined by the European Union or any other external actor.
Shakir's removal exemplifies the robustness of Israel's democratic process.
The Knesset passed "Amendment No. 28 to the Entry Into Israel Law" after Israelis elected three successive right-wing governments vowing to aggressively combat BDS. By continuously backing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies, the Israeli people affirmed this platform. Their decision should be respected.
The same goes for that of the Israeli judiciary, which ruled against Shakir at every merits stage of the process. By any theory of statutory interpretation, Shakir unambiguously broke the law with routine calls on companies to cease business in Israeli-controlled parts of the disputed territories, and that was a drop in the bucket compared to his larger BDS activism.
The Israeli judiciary ruled against Shakir at every merits stage of the process.
Ironically, those suggesting that Israel has acted undemocratically, like activist Harry Reis of the E.U.-financed New Israel Fund, expose their own undemocratic tendencies when seemingly implying the High Court should have simply disregarded the law and ruled in favor of Shakir.
In a democracy, disfavored laws consistent with a country's overall legal framework are annulled through the legislative process or at the ballot box, not judicial fiat. As noted by B'Tselem director Hagai El-Ad, "there's nothing in the ruling which isn't in line with earlier rulings." Here, democracy prevailed.
The natural rebuttal to this is that there is more to liberal democracy than the judiciary rubber-stamping majority rule. That may be true, but the assertion that Amendment No. 28 somehow violates democratic norms is false.
When countries like the United Kingdom, Germany and Sweden face BDS campaigns but nonetheless open their borders to such proponents, perhaps then it would be appropriate to accuse Israel of acting contrary to democratic norms. As Israel is the only democratic society that faces a significant BDS campaign, there simply are not any directly applicable norms by which to measure Israel's response.
With that said, there are plenty of indirectly related practices in the democratic world, and these overwhelmingly support Israel's position. The United Kingdom, for example, maintains an infamous ban list to protect the country from the allegedly disastrous consequences of "hate speech." Such laws restricting free speech are common in the European Union.
BDS can easily be seen as a type of hate speech associated with no shortage of violent and otherwise illegal acts.
Viewing BDS in this light is perhaps best understood in the context of Natan Sharansky's "Three-D Test" for identifying anti-Semitism. This criteria, which has been utilized by the State Department, holds as anti-Semitic acts that delegitimize, demonize, or apply double standards against Israel. Sharansky himself has gone on record that BDS fails this test.
Shakir's pending deportation can also be interpreted through trends in contemporary leftist thought. In recent years, and especially in the same virtue-signaling, "woke" circles that routinely target Israel, it has been all the rage to call for various restrictions on speech deemed offensive to certain communities.
Whether through attempts to ban mainstream commentators like Ben Shapiro from college campuses or outright suggestions that those saying abhorrent things should be prosecuted, there are foundations in progressive thought for Israel to take aggressive action against those engaged in "verbal violence."
What constitutes verbal violence against Israelis should be determined by Israelis.
What constitutes verbal violence against Israelis should, of course, be determined by Israelis and not the European Union and other outsiders. In the same way one might be accused of "whitesplaining" for attempting to delineate what people of color can consider racist, Israeli Jews, like other historically marginalized communities, should be afforded the same courtesy in determining for themselves which speech constitutes an attack on their personhood. BDS fits the bill.
From the perspective of mainstream democratic theory to contemporary leftism activism, Israel's decision to deport Omar Shakir is well within its rights. Like all democracies, Israel has room for improvement. Providing a staging ground for Shakir's hate speech is not one of them.
*Matthew Mainen is a Washington-resident fellow at the Middle East Forum and graduate of Stanford Law School. Follow him on Twitter.

The Real Reason Behind America’s Control of Syrian Oil
Robert Ford/Asharq Al Awsat/November 14/2019
I spent five years in Iraq during the American war there. Many leftist analysts believe the Americans destroyed Saddam Hussein’s regime because of oil. I know from my direct experience that oil was not the reason. However, in 2019 oil is the reason the Americans are staying in Syria. The American decision is strange because the oilfields in eastern Syria are relatively small and the oil’s high sulfur earns only a low international price. The American justification is that they want to protect the oilfields from ISIS.
However, there are armored units in the American forces that we never saw in Syria before. There are also artillery units. Normally, armored units and artillery are not the best weapons to use against guerrilla fighters like ISIS. Instead, armored units and artillery are used against another army. And, in fact, American Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on October 28 that the American mission is not only to protect the oilfields from ISIS but also to protect them from the Syrian army and its Russian allies.
This is not completely new. In February 2018 the American air force destroyed a Syrian government convoy with Syrian soldiers and Russian mercenaries that tried to take the Conoco gas factory near Deir Ezzor. It is worth mentioning that Russian company Wagner, whose owner is an ally of the Kremlin, has a contract with the Syrian government for the reconstruction of oilfields. Wagner is supposed to receive a 25 percent share of the production.
The Americans are determined to win political concessions from the Syrian government by blocking Syrian government control of the oil revenues. American officials and many experts think that this pressure will compel Assad to make big political concessions either in the negotiations under the UN about the Syrian Constitution or concessions to the Syrian Kurds about an autonomous zone.
At the same time, American control of the oilfields also will give the Syrian Democratic Forces monies to pay its soldiers and to pay for the detention centers where thousands of ISIS prisoners and their families are being held. Trump doesn’t want to pay the costs of the war in eastern Syria, and the American military and diplomats don’t want to leave Syria. Their compromise in Washington was to keep the oilfields so that Washington doesn’t have to finance the SDF. The oil revenues are not for Washington. They are for Mazloum Abdi and his SDF fighters led by the Syrian Kurdish YPG.
Who gave the Americans the right to make this decision about Syrian oil? According to international law, the Syrian state’s sovereignty extends over the country’s natural resources. Damascus, not Washington, is the legal authority. At the same time, the Trump administration’s legal justification under American law is also debatable. American forces entered Syria under a Congressional decision after the 9/11 attacks that permits military action against al-Qaeda, and Obama said that al-Qaeda gave birth to ISIS. It will be difficult for the Trump administration to use a Congressional decision about al-Qaeda to justify protecting oilfields from Syrian and Russian forces. If the legal justification is debatable, the politics are more clear. The SDF and the Syrian Kurds have strong support in both the Democratic and Republican parties. Only a few members of Congress will complain about the Trump administration controlling oilfields for the Kurds and the SDF. This Congressional support for the new American policy in eastern Syria will only change if there will be an important number of American casualties in the new military operation. From 2014 until now only eight American soldiers and employees have died in eastern Syria, and therefore the American people don’t pay attention to the war and the American military role can continue.
This American plan depends on the Syrian government, and its Russian and Iranian allies, not killing many Americans. Of course, these enemies of America will try and they won’t use normal military attacks. Instead, they will use unconventional tactics like drone attacks, car bombs and roadside bombs against American convoys. In the past, we have seen protests by Arab villages in Deir Ezzor against the SDF smuggling of oil. ISIS will also benefit from this tension and the image of America exploiting Arab oil. We can expect in the weeks and months ahead that the Syrian intelligence will try to exploit tensions between the SDF and its Kurdish leadership and Arab towns. It is even possible that Syrian intelligence will again encourage extremists like ISIS to attack American forces as it did with al-Qaeda in Iraq 2004-2010.
In the end, the American occupation of the oilfields may help ISIS without winning political concessions from Assad who is patient and can wait for the Americans sooner or later to leave Syria. Washington is moving from one failed policy in Syria to another.

The 2020 Economy Should Feel a Lot Better
Conor Sen/Bloomberg/November 14/2019
The economy has battled a lot of headwinds during the past year. Trade wars. The lagging impact of the Federal Reserve's interest-rate hikes. A government shutdown. The good news is that with those hiccups mostly out of the way, the economy may be poised for better performance in 2020.
The easiest way to show this might be the example of the government shutdown. It feels like ages ago, but the federal government was closed for 35 days in December and January. The direct costs of that were estimated to be 0.1% of gross domestic product in the fourth quarter of 2018 and 0.2% in the first quarter of 2019. Indirect costs may have been higher, particularly given the fact that the shutdown began when the stock market was already swooning and dragging down consumer and business confidence. Although we can't rule out another shutdown, avoiding one would mean an environment without that lost output. The impact of the Fed's monetary policy will be another way in which 2020 should be better than 2019. This time a year ago the housing market was slumping after 2.25 percentage points of interest-rate increases. Residential fixed investment was a 0.2% drag on GDP in the fourth quarter of 2018 and a slight headwind to growth in both the first and second quarters of 2019. But heading into 2020, the housing market will be digesting three interest-rate cuts. Shares of homebuilding companies have rallied in anticipation of rising housing sales and construction, and the third-quarter GDP report showed that residential fixed investment gave a boost to growth for the first time since the fourth quarter of 2017. We should expect that to continue for at least a couple of quarters in 2020 as the housing market rebounds.
With the trade war, it's hard to come up with an exact price tag. But it surely delivered a hit to business confidence, and the tariffs hurt agriculture, manufacturing, technology and consumer goods. What seems probable at this point is that trade tensions won't be as harmful to growth in 2020 as they were in 2019. During the past year or so, the economy had to absorb the costs of the tariffs while business investment declined amid rising uncertainty. Yet the absence of any change would, by way of comparison, be beneficial. And there's at least a chance that some tariffs could be unwound, which would be a plus for 2020.
A couple of other catalysts in a back-to-normal environment would make 2020 look brighter than this year. Flooding in the Midwest during planting season dealt an additional blow to a region and industry that was already reeling from the trade wars. More typical weather in the Midwest next spring should make it a better year for farmers than they had this year.
And Boeing Co. could provide an additional boost to manufacturing if it resumes sales of 737 Max aircraft next year. Even if it doesn't, the Max won't be a drag on industrial production and factory orders again; the damage from grounding the plane has already been felt, so that shock is out of the way.
Put it all together and you have a compelling list of potential positives for growth by merely not having or reversing some of the negative events of the past year. This news should be particularly welcome for the Midwest and the agriculture and manufacturing industries, not to mention President Donald Trump.
This doesn't necessarily mean it will be a roaring year for financial markets; arguably, much of the gains of this year have come from the shift in the Fed's posture from hawkish to dovish, and this already is reflected in prices of stocks and bonds. It's even possible that faster growth next year could make overheating and inflation the Fed's primary concern, which could lead to rate increases that put a damper on markets. Next year's presidential election also could become a source of concern for investors, much as it was in 2016.
That said, the circumstances that created headwinds during the past year should dissipate, making 2020 feel a lot better than 2019.

America may no longer rely on Middle Eastern oil, but it still needs stable markets
Cyril Widdershoven/Al Arabiya/November 14/ 2019
Washington’s goal of achieving energy independence seems to be in reach. After decades of declining oil and gas production since the end of the Second World War, America’s shale revolution has triggered explosive growth, with latest figures indicating that production levels finally surpassed demand in the fourth quarter of this year.
Washington has duly taken credit for this astonishing development, and President Donald Trump in particular has argued that this newfound autonomy underpins a strategic withdrawal from the Middle East, as witnessed in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.
However, the drone attacks against Saudi Aramco’s oil facilities in September were a reminder that the United States and in fact the global economy are not immune to risks affecting oil supplies.
Global volatility is still ruling the market, influencing not only oil and gas prices, but also the energy trade flows around the world. For decades US presidents including Barack Obama and now Trump have targeted the holy grail of energy independence. But the jury is still out on the strategic impact of the development.
Washington’s underlying rationale for seeking energy independence would be to reduce US dependency on the supply of such an essential feedstock as oil. Increased local production, supported mainly by shale oil and gas, has lowered US import needs while net exports are reality.
At present, US shale and conventional production have increased dramatically, putting pressure on global oil markets and OPEC, and removing some of the country’s oil and gas imports. As reported by the US Energy Information Agency (EIA), the United States produced in 2018 around 17.7 million barrels per day of crude oil, while domestic consumption hit 20.5 million. This equilibrium could however be short-lived.
The effects of global oil and gas investments, OPEC production agreements, US sanctions on Iran, and local economic factors, could all change the balance again dramatically. Overall net exports figures are hiding the fact that the real driver behind the net exporter position is that the US produces too much light shale oil for local consumption. Import of other qualities or products are still needed. US producers around the Gulf of Mexico and in southern states see it is more commercially attractive to export their own petroleum than to transport it to other markets in the US.
The US shale sector is capital intensive and suffers from heavy decline rates and the sector is heavily indebted. At the same time, US companies continue to buy high volumes of oil from Canada or the Middle East to cover specific demands. So American consumers will always be linked to global markets. Moreover, energy independence is not achieved simply by increasing domestic production: conservationists might argue that it would be better achieved by a drop in demand for oil.
Some observers have argued that Washington is now able to get out of the Middle East, as it doesn’t need its oil and gas. As a global power, the US is still highly dependent on the global energy supply system. Even if US oil and gas production continues to rise, it needs to keep an eye on OPEC’s production and price levels. Low oil prices are a threat to US shale, while shortages in the market cannot always be replaced by American crude due to quality differences. The United States may be the world’s largest oil producer, but Saudi Arabia continues to hold the cards when it comes to setting oil prices, thanks to its role as swing producer – with two million barrels a day of spare oil production capacity.
Instability and conflicts, threatening to disturb or even block global energy flows, in and around the Arabian Gulf will affect American strategic interests. Without OPEC producers such as Saudi Arabia, global oil markets are susceptible to risks. Removing the link between Washington and OPEC’s oil will not break their shared interests in global economic stability.
Rising US production has also not brought down OPEC, but resulted in “OPEC Plus”, whereby OPEC co-opted oil producers outside the organization to coordinate global supply limits. Total independence in a global market, especially oil and gas, is not a goal to be focused on. Washington’s main goal should become to be less prone to shocks, while keeping markets stable through strong international diplomatic, commercial and military alliances. The call for independence only serves to isolate Washington, while causing increased instability and threats globally.
*Cyril Widdershoven is Director at Verocy B.V., a consultancy based in the Netherlands.
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UN must respond to Iran’s breaches of nuclear deal
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/November 14, 2019
Donald Trump reinstates the full panoply of sanctions against Iran that were waived under the JCPOA nuclear agreement. (Reuters)
The clock is ticking as the Iranian regime defiantly begins spinning more centrifuges, enriching uranium to a higher level, and pursuing its nuclear ambitions at a faster pace.
One of the most powerful tools the international community possesses as it aims to halt Iran’s nuclear activities is to immediately start the process of restoring UN sanctions against Tehran. When the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), aka the Iran nuclear deal, was struck in 2015, the signatories agreed to lift the UN sanctions against Tehran as a reward for the ruling clerics’ promise to restrict their nuclear activities and comply with the terms of the deal.
The sanctions were significant, as they threatened the hold on power of the ruling clergy and ultimately brought the Iranian leaders to the negotiating table between 2013 and 2015.
There were four rounds of sanctions. The first, which included UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions 1696 and 1737, imposed in 2006, called on Iran to “suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development” and called on the International Atomic Energy Agency to provide a report regarding Iran’s compliance with the terms of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The five permanent members of the UNSC also unanimously called on all countries to freeze the financial assets of Iranian entities linked to the nuclear program, to ban Iran’s import and export of “sensitive nuclear material and equipment,” and to sanction the supply or sale of nuclear-related equipment and technology.
The second round of sanctions was adopted by the UNSC through resolution 1747, which imposed an arms embargo on Iran, banning all of Tehran’s arms exports and placing travel restrictions on individuals linked to the nuclear program. The third round, resolution 1803, imposed restrictions on Iranian bank transactions and called on countries to inspect Iranian ships and cargo planes where there were reasonable grounds to believe that the regime was smuggling prohibited products. Finally, the fourth round of sanctions came through resolution 1929, which banned Iran from buying heavy weapons and further tightened the grip on Iran’s financial dealings.
Reinstating these sanctions would undoubtedly put significant pressure on the Iranian leaders. There is a provision within UNSC resolution 2231, which ratified the JCPOA, that would allow such a course of action. In order to invoke this provision, “a JCPOA participant state” can notify the UNSC that there has been a “significant non-performance of commitments under the JCPOA.”
Several European politicians have already begun changing their soft stance toward Iran.
The challenge here is that the US is no longer considered a JCPOA participant state. If the Trump administration had not withdrawn from the nuclear deal, it could have sent Iran’s nuclear file to the UNSC, detailing its violations of the JCPOA, including enriching uranium at a higher level and spinning more centrifuges than permitted.
Russia and China are not willing to take a stand against Iran’s nuclear defiance. As a result, to address this shortcoming the US must persuade one of its European allies that is still a party to the JCPOA — France, Germany or the UK — to report Iran’s non-compliance to the UNSC.
The UK would seem to be the most likely candidate to perform such a task, as France and Germany appear to be on the left of the political spectrum and are still advocating for having a cordial relationship with Iran and salvaging the nuclear deal.
Through its diplomatic initiatives, global economic leverage and the old transatlantic partnership, the US can persuade its European allies to halt Iran’s march toward becoming a nuclear state. Several European politicians have already begun changing their soft stance toward Iran. For example, one senior European diplomat anonymously told Reuters: “The more Iranians do things that potentially violate the accord, the less inclined we are to make efforts to help them.” The diplomat added: “It’s a vicious circle. If they go in this direction, they will be all alone, face snapback and be ostracized by everyone.”
If Iran’s breaches are reported to the UNSC, the members will have 30 days to resolve the issue. If all five permanent members do not agree on a subsequent resolution to maintain the lifting of the sanctions, then all four rounds will be automatically reimposed.
Before it is too late and before Iran becomes a nuclear state, it is time for the UN to bring back its sanctions against the theocratic establishment.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist. He is a leading expert on Iran and US foreign policy, a businessman and president of the International American Council. Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh
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