English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For February 25/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today

Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God
Letter to the Philippians 04/04-10: “”Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you. I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned for me, but had no opportunity to show it.”
 

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 24- 25/2021

Elias Bejjani/Visit My LCCC Web site/All That you need to know on Lebanese unfolding news and events in Arabic and English/http://eliasbejjaninews.com/

MoPH: 3513 new cases, 62 deaths
Lebanese fume as MPs’ behaviour puts vaccine funding at risk
Biden to hold phone call with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman soon: White House
Lebanon Says Allowed 20 Firms to Import Vaccine but Manufacturers Reluctant
Hassan Says He Took 'Sovereign Decision' to Vaccinate MPs
After Uproar, President’s Health Adviser Says Aoun Had to Get Vaccinated
Report: Aoun ‘Wisely’ Examining Rahi’s Call to 'Internationalize' Lebanon File
Aoun Asks Wehbe to Follow Up with U.N. on Oil Spill from Israel
Top US general Expresses His Country's On Going Support For Lebanon
Lebanese Forces Supports Rahi’s Calls during Visit to Bkirki
In Bankrupt Lebanon, Thieves Go for Manhole Covers
Ferzli Says MPs Vaccination 'Not a Crime', Slams World Bank Official
Israeli Gunfire in Outskirts of Blida
Report: Bukhari, Shea Discuss Lebanon File
Nissan ex-CEO Tells Japanese Court Ghosn's Pay Was Too Low
Turkey Sentences Three to Jail over Ghosn Escape to Lebanon
Lebanon’s diversity and freedom of speech is withering away/Rami Rayess/Al Arabiya/February 24/2021
Former Lebanese Minister Of Communications Boutrus Harb: Hizbullah Has No Reason To Exist As An Armed Force After 2000 Israeli Withdrawal From Lebanon/MEMRI/February 24/2021
Sec.-Gen. Of The Lebanese Future Movement Ahmad El Hariri: Lebanon Is Under The Occupation Of The Free Patriotic Movement; Hizbullah Considers Lebanon A Card Up Iran's Sleeve/MEMRI/February 24/2021
 

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 24- 25/2021

One-Shot J&J Vaccine 'Highly Effective' against New Covid Variants
Top US general warns Iran, says Taliban not breaking with al-Qaeda
Congressional Oversight and Biden Administration Foreign Policy
Germany Convicts Syrian in Landmark Torture Trial
U.S. Says Report on Khashoggi's Murder Expected 'Soon'
Biden, al-Kadhemi Discuss Embassy Rocket Strikes
South Korea, Iran agree on proposal to unlock billions of dollars of frozen oil money
 

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 24- 25/2021

11 Iranians Captured at US-Mexico Border/Todd Bensman/Townhall/February 15, 2021
Germany: Covid-19 Triggers New Wave of Anti-Semitism/Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/February 24/ 2021
Erdoğan's War Against Freedom on Campus/Burak Bekdil/The Gatestone Institute/February 24/2021
Islam Requires Migrants to Hate Their Western Benefactors/Raymond Ibrahim/February 24/2021
Oberlin ‘professor of peace’ called for destruction of Israel in 1989 speech/Benjamin Weinthal/Fox News/February 24/2021
Iranian regime shoots fuel traders causing revolt in Saravan/Benjamin Weinthal/Jerusalem Post/February 24/2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 24- 25/2021

Elias Bejjani/Visit My LCCC Web site/All That you need to know on Lebanese unfolding news and events in Arabic and English/http://eliasbejjaninews.com/

MoPH: 3513 new cases, 62 deaths
NNA/February 24/2021
3513 new coronavirus cases and 62 deaths have been recorded in Lebanon during the past 24 hours, as announced by the Ministry of Public Health on Wednesday.

Lebanese fume as MPs’ behaviour puts vaccine funding at risk
The Arab Weekly/February 24/2021
“What happened today is a violation we can’t stay silent about,” Abdul Rahman al-Bizri, the head of Lebanon’s vaccine committee, told reporters.

BEIRUT--Lebanon was criticised Tuesday after 16 members of parliament jumped the queue for coronavirus jabs, putting World Bank vaccination funding in jeopardy by breaking rules for a fair rollout. “What happened today is a violation we can’t stay silent about,” Abdul Rahman al-Bizri, the head of Lebanon’s vaccine committee, told reporters. Parliament’s secretary-general Adnan Daher said that 16 deputies as well as four parliamentary staff, all aged over 75, had received a COVID-19 jab inside parliament. He insisted they were all registered for the vaccine with the health ministry, and had not broken any rules. But the World Bank, which is helping fund the vaccine rollout, said it broke the terms of the agreement with the government. “We would record it (as a) breach of terms and conditions agreed with us for fair and equitable vaccination,” World Bank regional director Saroj Kumar Jha said on Twitter. “Everyone has to register and wait for their turn,” he added in his tweet, addressing Health Minister Hamad Hassan and Bizri. He added the hashtag “#NoWasta” in his tweet, using a Lebanese term meaning there should be no favourtism. The World Bank has allocated $34 million to inoculate an initial two million of Lebanon’s six million inhabitants. “Upon confirmation of (a) violation, (the) World Bank may suspend financing for vaccines and support for Covid-19 response across Lebanon,” Jha added on Twitter. “We welcome investigation by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health into the incident and taking measures so that such incidents don’t happen again. Let us ensure fair and equitable access to vaccination in Lebanon #NoWasta, “ he said in another tweet. “Rest assured all World Bank programmes are subject to intensive monitoring including by third party independent agencies,” Jha stressed on Wednesday.
News that MPs had received their injections sparked anger on social media in a country with a long reputation of government corruption. “My mom is 84 she is registered and didn’t (have) her turn yet, while all the politicians, (their) families and friends will be vaccinated before her,” said one Twitter user. Lebanese decried that “the absence of the rule of law, and even premeditated and deliberate abuse of it,” with some Twitter users launching a campaign to “search for the truth.”Some users shared tweets in French and English with the hashtag #NoWasta, shedding light on how rules for a fair rollout had been broken, attracting media attention around the world. Lebanon began a mass vaccination campaign on February 14 amid soaring virus cases that threatened the country’s already-fragile health sector. The country has recorded over 359,000 coronavirus cases, including 4,446 deaths since the pandemic began. Some 17,000 people have had their first injection of the vaccine, according to health officials, a pace some criticise as too slow.

Biden to hold phone call with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman soon: White House
Joseph Haboush, Al Arabiya English/24 February/2021
US President Joe Biden will have a phone call with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz “soon,” a White House official said Wednesday.“We expect that to happen soon. We’re still in the process of scheduling when that will happen,” Jen Psaki told reporters during the daily White House briefing. Asked about what was expected to be discussed, Psaki refused to preview. “They’ll cover a range of topics,” she said. Despite the Biden administration taking a less amicable approach toward Riyadh than previous US administrations, Psaki cited Washington’s “long relationship” with Saudi Arabia.“There are areas we will work with the Kingdom Saudi Arabia on, including ensuring that they have the protections they need to face the threats facing them,” she added.

Lebanon Says Allowed 20 Firms to Import Vaccine but Manufacturers Reluctant
Naharnet/February 24/2021
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Wednesday that it has authorized 20 private companies to import Covid-19 vaccines into the country. In a phone call with LBCI TV, a Ministry official said the local companies “have so far faced rejection from the companies that manufacture the vaccines.”Arab Tawhid Party leader Wiam Wahhab had earlier tweeted that caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan has told him in a phone call that he had granted several permissions to private companies to import the vaccine. “But the companies have been unable to import it due to the rejection of the manufacturing companies,” Wahhab quoted Hassan as saying. “He assured that the quantity of vaccines (shipped to Lebanon) will increase within days, and I suggested the presence of two vaccines: one free of charge and the second would be for a fee,” Wahhab added. The news comes a day after the World Bank threatened to suspend financing for coronavirus vaccines in Lebanon as it investigated suspected favoritism amid accusations that lawmakers were inoculated in parliament without prior approval. The vaccination campaign began Feb. 14 and Lebanon has so far received nearly 60,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Some 17,000 people have so far had their first injection, according to health officials, a rate some criticize as being too slow. Lebanese had been expecting the vaccine rollout to be riddled with corruption and violations, but news of the vaccination of lawmakers as a political group at a building used by the legislature provoked fresh outrage among the country's population on Tuesday. Lebanon has ordered around six million vaccine doses in total, including two million from Pfizer/BioNTech and another 2.7 million via the international Covax distribution program.

Hassan Says He Took 'Sovereign Decision' to Vaccinate MPs
Naharnet/February 24/2021
Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan broke his silence Wednesday evening over the controversy sparked by the vaccination of around two dozen MPs and parliament employees in apparent disregard for the national queue and the country’s electronic registration platform. Speaking in an interview with state-run Tele Liban, Hassan said he took a “sovereign decision” by asking medical teams to head to parliament to vaccinate the lawmakers “in appreciation of their efforts, after parliament convened for seven consecutive days to approve the vaccine’s emergency use law.”“There is a mobile clinic at the Health Ministry which will move between state institutions… and I will also visit the religious authorities to give them the vaccine the same as I gave it to MPs,” the minister added. Noting that the age range of the MPs who received the vaccine was “not against logic,” Hassan described the uproar over the issue as “exaggerated” and “out of proportion.” He added: “The ministerial (anti-Covid) committee has jurisdiction and the head of the vaccine national committee Abdul Rahman al-Bizri is part of a consultative committee but the ministerial committee is the one that takes decisions.”As for the vaccines received by President Michel Aoun, First Lady Nadia Aoun and at least 10 of the president’s aides, Hassan said: “The vaccine received by President Michel Aoun is the same vaccine received by citizens in the Bekaa, Akkar, Beirut, the South and all Lebanese regions. This is justice.”
The World Bank had threatened Tuesday to suspend financing for coronavirus vaccines in Lebanon over what it said were suspected violations by lawmakers who were inoculated in parliament.
Such a move by the World Bank would have grave consequences as Lebanon struggles through severe financial and economic crises and is in desperate need of aid. The World Bank said last month it approved $34 million to help pay for vaccines for Lebanon that will inoculate over 2 million people. "Everyone has to register and wait for their turn! #nowasta," the World Bank's regional director Saroj Kumar Jha tweeted, using a Lebanese term meaning that there should not be nepotism. The World Bank "may suspend financing for vaccines and support for COVID19 response across Lebanon!!" he warned. "I appeal to all, I mean all, regardless of your position, to please register and wait for your turn."He added that the vaccination "is not in line with the national plan agreed with @WorldBank and we would record it (as a) breach of terms and conditions agreed with us for fair and equitable vaccination."
Lebanon is notorious for corruption and nepotism, which has brought the Mediterranean nation to bankruptcy.
Abdul Rahman Bizri, who heads the committee supervising the vaccination campaign, held a news conference later Tuesday in which he announced that he backed down from a decision to submit his resignation and that he had called the committee's members for a meeting to "discuss the reasons and justifications" for the controversial vaccination of the 16 MPs. "What happened today was a breach of the vaccination process over which we cannot remain silent," he added. "What happened today is outrageous and should not be repeated," Bizri said. "There is no political priority," he stressed.
In January, Lebanon's government launched a digital coronavirus vaccination registration platform for residents of the nation. Lebanese had been expecting the vaccine rollout to be riddled with corruption and violations but news that MPs had received their injections sparked anger on social media, in a country with a long reputation for government corruption. "My mom is 84 she is registered and didn't (have) her turn yet, while all the politicians, (their) families and friends will be vaccinated before her," said one Twitter user. Lebanon’s national plan prioritizes medical workers and residents over 75 years old in its current first phase. Some of the legislators inoculated Tuesday were younger than 75.

After Uproar, President’s Health Adviser Says Aoun Had to Get Vaccinated
Naharnet/February 24/2021
Adviser to the President for Health Affairs Walid Khoury stated on Wednesday that due to the President’s “exposure to a large number of people,” that makes it necessary for him to get the Covid-19 vaccine. Khoury’s remarks came after an uproar over favoritism that the President and other MPs were inoculated without prior approval. Khoury said: “From a medical point of view, President Aoun is vulnerable because he meets many people every day and for this reason it was necessary for him to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.” The Presidency on Tuesday confirmed that Aoun, First Lady Nadia Aoun and ten of the president’s close associates have been vaccinated against Covid-19. Sixteen other MPs were accused of bypassing the country’s official inoculation platform that is aimed at ensuring a fair rollout of the vaccine. The World Bank threatened Tuesday to suspend financing for coronavirus vaccines in Lebanon as it investigated suspected favoritism.The World Bank is a major financier of Lebanon’s coronavirus campaign and has approved $34 million to pay for vaccines for 2 million people. Suspending its assistance would have grave implications for the cash-strapped government, which is going through an unprecedented financial and economic crisis and reliant on foreign assistance.

Report: Aoun ‘Wisely’ Examining Rahi’s Call to 'Internationalize' Lebanon File
Naharnet/February 24/2021
Baabda Palace circles reportedly preferred not to make any reaction after the controversial calls of Maronite Patriarch Beshara el-Rahi for an international conference on the Lebanese file, al-Joumhouria daily reported Wednesday. The daily said that Baabda maintains silence on this because it “does not want to make things worse or open the door for a flurry of reactions.” “The Patriarch has his own personal opinion, but there are other points of view and opinions in the country,” well-informed sources told the daily in what seems a rejection of Rahi’s request. The President does not want to rush into conclusions or hasty positions, “he is weighing the matter away from the media spotlight and with his usual wisdom,” they said. MP Ali Khreis of Speaker Nabih Berri’s Amal Movement, said Rahi’s call “requires deep discussion before any position is taken,” adding “but from this moment we express rejection if the aim was to change the Taef Accord and Lebanon’s composition.”On the other hand, media official at the Maronite Patriarchate, Walid Ghayad, refused in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper to place the current debate in the category of sectarian division. He stressed that “Bkirki does not have hidden projects and only proposes solutions without intimidation. Bkirki’s doors are always open for dialogue,” he said.

Aoun Asks Wehbe to Follow Up with U.N. on Oil Spill from Israel
Naharnet/February 24/2021
President Michel Aoun has been following up on the reports about the oil spill that has affected Israel’s entire coastline before reaching Lebanon’s shores, the National News Agency said. The agency added that Aoun has asked caretaker Foreign Minister Charbel Wehbe to follow up on the issue with the U.N. and the international organizations, especially that Lebanon is “still suffering from the effects of the environmental disaster caused by the Israeli bombing of the Jiye depots during the 2006 aggression.” The president also held phone talks with caretaker Public Works and Transport Minister Michel Najjar, who informed him that he has asked the director of land and maritime transportation at the ministry to “follow up on the issue to take the necessary measures when necessary.” The disastrous oil spill has blackened most of Israel's shoreline and deposits of tar have started washing up in the Lebanese south.
The management of the city of Tyre's coastal nature reserve, one of Lebanon's last remaining sandy beaches and an important nesting site for endangered Loggerhead and Green sea turtles, said the spill could endanger marine life and biodiversity in the area. The reserve is one of two marine protected areas in Lebanon and contains a wide diversity of ecosystems and is located on a major bird migration route. Hassan Hamza, engineer at the Tyre reserve, said teams were evaluating how much tar washed up to organize quick clean ups. He said it appeared that "most Lebanese beaches have been affected by this pollution." Israel's Environmental Protection Ministry has said it is investigating the cause of the oil spill. The incident is believed to have taken place in early February, and Israel said it received no prior warning before an estimated 1,000 tons of tar started washing up on shore. On Monday, an Israeli court barred publication of all details of the investigation, including the name of the suspected ship believed to have spilled the oil, its route and ports of call. An Israeli journalists' association petitioned the court on Tuesday to have the order lifted.

Top US general Expresses His Country's On Going Support For Lebanon
Joseph Haboush, Al Arabiya English/24 February/2021
In Lebanon, McKenzie said the US would continue its support for the Lebanese Army. But he would not elaborate or answer if the weapons and type of military aid would be upgraded. “Lebanon’s in the queue with everyone else,” he said, referring to the Biden administration’s current process of reviewing aid to foreign countries. The country, which is experiencing one of its worst economic, financial and social crises in recent history, continues to move forward without a fully functioning government. A massive explosion ripped through Lebanon's capital last August, and the coronavirus pandemic has further deteriorated the situation. But the Beirut blast gives Lebanon an opportunity to move forward, according to McKenzie. “I’ve been to Lebanon once, and it is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.”The US general revealed that he was planning to visit Beirut in the spring, without elaborating on specific dates.

Lebanese Forces Supports Rahi’s Calls during Visit to Bkirki
Naharnet/February 24/2021
A delegation of the Lebanese Forces, Strong Republic parliamentary bloc met with Maronite Patriarch Beshara el-Rahi in Bkirki on Wednesday in a stand of solidarity with his calls to “internationalize” the problematic Lebanese file. “The ruling authority in Lebanon has turned into a murder machine and has relinquished its duty to protect its people after the Beirut port blast,” said the LF statement recited by its MP Antoine Habshi. “The Lebanese people’s will must be respected through a generation of a new ruling authority and early parliamentary elections,” added the statement. The LF stressed the need to support and “keep pace with the Patriarch’s proposal to resolve the conflict between right and wrong,” adding that the people’s choice is clear when they have to choose between the “culture of death and the culture of life.”“We are living in “hell” because Lebanon has been thrown in the furnace of the Iranian-American conflict which necessitates the need to resort to the international community to demand his right to live because Lebanon is being used as a tool and hostage.”

In Bankrupt Lebanon, Thieves Go for Manhole Covers
Agence France Presse/February 24/2021
Lebanon's economic meltdown is not just leaving gaping holes in state coffers, with thieves now plucking Beirut's manhole covers for scrap. Governor Marwan Abboud told AFP Wednesday that soaring poverty had led to a spike in the theft of manhole covers, because "they are made out of cast iron which has become much more expensive." Lebanon is in the grips of its worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war, and Abboud said the thefts started rising after the devastating August 4 port explosion sowed more misery. The Lebanese pound has lost more than 80 percent of its value against the dollar on the black market, and a growing number of people in the once relatively prosperous nation are relying on food handouts and sinking into poverty. The fast disappearing manhole covers, which the authorities say they cannot afford to replace, are making the streets increasingly perilous for vehicles and pedestrians, especially at night. "We are deploying people to look for the thieves day and night," said one municipality official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Al-Akhbar newspaper said Wednesday that a cover weighing upwards of 70 kilograms (154 pounds) could fetch $100 for scrap, income that is attracting increasingly organized and professional gangs.

Ferzli Says MPs Vaccination 'Not a Crime', Slams World Bank Official
Naharnet/February 24/2021
Deputy Speaker Elie Ferzli stressed Wednesday that the controversial vaccination on Tuesday of a number of MPs and parliament officials was “not a crime,” as he launched a vehement attack on World Bank regional director Saroj Kumar Jha. “What was the mistake committed by the lawmakers who underwent the vaccination process?” Ferzli asked reporters at a press conference, noting that 25 MPs and 25 parliament employees have so far contracted coronavirus. “Where is the crime if the Health Ministry, under the stipulated conditions, made the move of inoculating 11 MPs who are over 70 years old and most of whom are above 75?” Ferzli added. Noting that “the observatory of the American University (of Beirut) has admitted that more than 50% of people who received the vaccine did not have their names registered on the (national) platform,” the Deputy Speaker criticized the World Bank’s regional director for allegedly failing to condemn the reported violations. “Why didn’t we hear your voice and threats over this? You are playing a political role in this regard,” Ferzli added, addressing Saroj Kumar Jha and poking fun at his name, twice. Giving his account of events, the Deputy Speaker said Parliament Secretary General Adnan Daher had communicated with the the Health Ministry to inquire about the mechanism and conditions for the vaccination of incumbent and former MPs and parliament’s civilian and military employees.
“On February 8, 2021, the Health Minister requested that lists of the names of the MPs and employees be sent via email and he also asked that they fill in the forms used by the Health Ministry for registration on the platform,” Ferzli explained. “These preparations were coordinated between parliament’s secretary general and the adviser at the Health Ministry, Dr. Mahmoud Zalzali, who was tasked by the minister to carry out this coordination,” Ferzli added. He also revealed that Zalzali informed Secretary General Daher at 8:30 pm Monday that those whose names were listed and were at least 70 years of age would be vaccinated on Tuesday, February 23.
“Parliament’s administration immediately informed the 26 MPs so that they receive the vaccine,” Ferzli added. He also noted that the vaccination process took place in the presence of representatives of the Health Ministry, the Lebanese Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. He added that the IFRC team is “tasked by the World Bank” to monitor the vaccination campaign in Lebanon. “11 MPs and 11 employees were vaccinated under the supervision of all the members of the visiting health and medical team,” Ferzli said, noting that three remaining vaccines were “given to Red Cross members who needed this inoculation” in order not to make a violation by vaccinating any MP or employee who is below 70 years of age. The World Bank had threatened Tuesday to suspend financing for coronavirus vaccines in Lebanon as it investigated accusations that lawmakers were inoculated in parliament without prior approval. "Everyone has to register and wait for their turn! #nowasta," the World Bank's regional director, Saroj Kumar Jha, tweeted. He used a Lebanese term meaning there should not be nepotism. The World Bank "may suspend financing for vaccines and support for COVID19 response across Lebanon!!" Jha said. "I appeal to all, I mean all, regardless of your position, to please register and wait for your turn." Jha added that the vaccination plan "is not in line with the national plan" agreed with the World Bank and "we would record it (as a) breach of terms and conditions agreed with us for fair and equitable vaccination."
The World Bank is a major financier of Lebanon's coronavirus campaign and has approved $34 million to pay for vaccines for 2 million people. Suspending its assistance would have grave implications for the cash-strapped government, which is going through an unprecedented financial and economic crisis and reliant on foreign assistance. The World Bank and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have signed an agreement for independent monitoring of the coronavirus vaccination campaign in Lebanon. Decades of corruption and mismanagement have brought the country to the brink of bankruptcy and collapse. Lebanese had been expecting the vaccine rollout to be riddled with corruption and violations, but news of the vaccination of lawmakers as a political group at a building used by the legislature provoked fresh outrage among the country's population on Tuesday.
Lebanon’s national plan prioritizes medical workers and residents over 75 years old in its current first phase. Some of the legislators inoculated Tuesday were younger than 75, including Ferzli himself, who is 71. In January, Lebanon's government had launched a digital coronavirus vaccination registration platform for residents of the nation.

Israeli Gunfire in Outskirts of Blida
Naharnet/February 24/2021
Israeli troops opened gunfire in the outskirts of the southern town of Blida in Marjayoun, firing close above the head of a farmer who happened to be in the area, the National News Agency said on Wednesday. NNA said no casualties were reported. The incident was immediately inspected by troops of the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL peacekeeping forces working in South Lebanon, added the Agency. Later in the day, NNA said that Israeli warplanes breached Lebanon's airspace flying over Nabatieh, Iqlim el-Tuffah, Jezzine and Sidon.

Report: Bukhari, Shea Discuss Lebanon File
Naharnet/February 24/2021
Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari and the US Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea reportedly discussed the Lebanese file during a meeting at the Saudi Ambassador’s residence in Yarze, media reports said Wednesday. Diplomatic and political sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper the meeting gains significance, “it is an exceptional meeting in timing and content,” they said on condition of anonymity. Although their discussion came within the framework of Bukhari’s meetings with Arab and Western diplomats that focused on the situation on the Lebanese arena, Bukhari’s meeting with Shea reportedly has special significance mainly that it “dwelled into the details of the government crisis in Lebanon,” according to the sources. The two ambassadors have reportedly agreed to continue their consultations on the Lebanese file in the next stage. Lebanese leaders have been unable to form a much-needed government to pull Lebanon out of multiple crises gripping the country, including an unprecedented economic crisis and the impact of one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions that devastated its port’ capital. The crisis has pulled international, western and Arab calls urging leaders in Lebanon to act on their commitment and speed the formation, also urging rapid results on the inquiry into the causes of the explosion.

Nissan ex-CEO Tells Japanese Court Ghosn's Pay Was Too Low
Associated Press/February 24/2021
Former Nissan Chief Executive Hiroto Saikawa told a Japanese court Wednesday he believed the compensation for his predecessor Carlos Ghosn was too low "by international standards," and so he supported Ghosn's retirement packages to prevent him from leaving. "Mr. Ghosn had outstanding abilities and achievements," Saikawa said, testifying in Tokyo District Court in the criminal trial of Greg Kelly, a former senior executive at Nissan Motor Co. "We needed to prepare for Mr. Ghosn's eventual retirement to keep him motivated and to have him continue to work for Nissan," he said in answer to a prosecutor's questioning. Saikawa worked closely with Ghosn and succeeded Ghosn as CEO in 2017. After Ghosn was arrested in November 2018, he denounced Ghosn. Saikawa resigned in September 2019 after questions over his own compensation surfaced. He denied wrongdoing and was not charged. He struck a sympathetic tone Tuesday, telling the court he signed several draft documents on remuneration packages for Ghosn, including retirement pay, consultant fees and a non-compete agreement to prevent him from moving to a competitor. Saikawa said he signed the first such document in front of Ghosn, and others with Kelly, who was overseeing the compensation efforts. Kelly is asserting his innocence in the trial that began last year. Kelly, an American, has been charged with financial misconduct in failing to fully disclose Ghosn's future compensation. Besides Ghosn and Kelly, no one else at Nissan has been charged. Ghosn led Nissan for two decades, salvaging the Japanese automaker from the brink of collapse. He is accused of under-reporting his income by about 1 billion yen ($10 million) a year over several years and of breach of trust. When asked why he signed the documents, Saikawa said he trusted Kelly. "He is an expert and a professional, and he was coming up with the proposals with an understanding of the overall process. If he was saying it, there could be no mistake," Saikawa told the court. Witnesses and prosecutors have said Ghosn took a pay cut to about half of what he'd been getting after the law started requiring such disclosures to securities authorities in 2010. Ghosn also says he is innocent. He fled while out on bail in late 2019, and is now in Lebanon, which has no extradition treaty with Japan. Separately, Japan is seeking the extradition of Michael Taylor and his son Peter Taylor, accused of smuggling Ghosn out of Japan. They are now being held in a suburban Boston jail. Earlier this month, a U.S. judge cleared the way for the two to be handed over to Japan. Kelly's trial, before a panel of three judges, is expected to last for several more months. More than 99% of Japanese criminal trials result in convictions. Nissan, who has been charged as company, has acknowledged guilt. But it also is still standing trial, as is standard in Japan.

Turkey Sentences Three to Jail over Ghosn Escape to Lebanon
Agence France Presse/Associated Press/February 24/2021
An Istanbul court on Wednesday sentenced three Turks to four years and two months in prison for helping smuggle former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn in a musical instrument case to Lebanon from Japan. The court convicted two pilots and an employee of a small private airline, who moved the tycoon while he was out on bail facing financial misconduct charges in December 2019. The sentence was lighter than the maximum 12 years the pilots -- Noyan Pasin and Bahri Kutlu Somek -- and MNG Jet's Okan Kosemen faced after being charged last month with involvement in a conspiracy to smuggle a migrant. The presiding judge convicted them of "illegally smuggling foreign national Carlos Ghosn... by using a cargo plane." The court also ordered the three to each pay a 31,240 lira ($4,330, 3,570-euro) fine. The pilots told the court on Wednesday that they were innocent because they never suspected the high-profile Japanese carmaker's boss was on board their plane. "They ask us to fly the plane and that is what we do," Pasin said. The three will stay out of prison pending an appeal. The court also acquitted two other pilots and two flight attendants standing trial in the Turkish case.
'Large instrument case'
Interpol issued a notice last year seeking Ghosn's extradition from Lebanon to Japan. The two countries have no extradition agreement and Lebanon has failed to comply. Ghosn, who denies any wrongdoing, has remained effectively trapped in Lebanon due to the Interpol arrest warrant. The Turkish trial tried to piece together how Ghosn -- a French-Lebanese-Brazilian national who was a global business superstar when his career came crashing to an end -- managed to find his way from Japan to Lebanon via Istanbul.
The 66-year-old was arrested in November 2018 and spent 130 days in prison before completing a cinematic escape act that humiliated Japanese justice officials and raised questions about who was involved.
The indictment said the plot involved a stopover in Istanbul instead of a direct flight "so as not to arouse suspicions." Michael Taylor, a former member of the U.S. Special Forces, and his son Peter are accused together with Lebanese national George-Antoine Zayek of recruiting MNG Jet and overseeing the secret operation. The two Americans lost their appeal to get their extradition to Japan blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month. The indictment said Taylor and Zayek put Ghosn "in a large musical instrument case" and then took him through security at Japan's Osaka airport.
The plane landed at Istanbul's old Ataturk airport and parked near another plane bound for Beirut. The court found that MNG Jet's Kosemen then jumped off the Osaka plane and boarded the one destined for Beirut together with Ghosn.
'Unfortunate'
The two pilots who were acquitted completed the Turkey to Lebanon leg of the journey. MNG Jet's Kosemen denied knowing that he was helping Ghosn flee prosecution in Japan. "It's unfortunate I was involved in this affair. This is not something I did deliberately," Kosemen said. Kosemen admitted helping smuggle Ghosn onto the second, Lebanon-bound plane, but claimed he was threatened and feared for his family's safety, according to testimony reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency. Turkish airline company MNG Jet has admitted that two of its planes were used illegally in Ghosn's escape, flying him to Istanbul, and then to Beirut. The company said its employee falsified flight records so Ghosn's name didn't appear. Pasin told AFP that he was surprised by the sentence because he felt that he was simply doing his job. "I wasn't expecting this verdict," the pilot said. "There is no concrete evidence that what I did constitutes a crime." The Turkish trial was running in parallel with a handful of hearings in Japan and the Taylors' case in the United States. Nissan and its former bosses are accused in Tokyo of illegally concealing payments of 9.2 billion yen ($87 million at today's rates) promised to Ghosn on retirement. Ghosn's former aide Greg Kelly faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted over the alleged payments. Lawyer Erem Yucel said the two pilots who took Ghosn from Istanbul to Beirut were acquitted on a technicality, because the former Nissan chief's Lebanese nationality meant that he could not be considered a "migrant" being smuggled to Lebanon. "Those who took him from Istanbul to Beirut were acquitted. We don't think this verdict is right. We will appeal and exercise our legal rights," Yucel, who represented Pasin, told reporters.
Pasin said: "We're being accused of piloting the plane... We didn't plan the flight. It was our company which planned and arranged everything and assigned us to this flight." Ghosn, who has French, Lebanese and Brazilian citizenship, led Japanese automaker Nissan for two decades. The 66-year-old is wanted on charges of breach of trust in misusing company assets for personal gain, and violating securities laws in not fully disclosing his compensation. He has said he fled because he could not expect a fair trial in Japan. In addition to his trial in Japan, the businessman faces legal challenges in France from his time at the helm of the Renault-Nissan alliance, including allegations of tax evasion, money laundering, fraud and misuse of company assets. According to media reports, Zayek, the Lebanese man who helped Ghosn escape along with the Taylors, was also present in the jet which made the trip between Japan and Turkey. Zayek presents himself on the AngelList and Bayt websites as a “security manager” who has worked in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Egypt and Nigeria. In the section where he describes his skills, one reads "war, weapons, hostile lands." Zayek is the youngest brother of Elias Zayek, a slain member of the Lebanese Forces. Elias was the commander of the LF militia’s infantry during the civil war. He was assassinated on January 19, 1990. LF leader Samir Geagea was later convicted of ordering his murder. George meanwhile was an LF fighter during the war. He made several stays in hospital, wounded several times, notably in the eye and in the leg. Always discreet, George worked a lot in Iraq, notably for the American forces during the war of 2003. He also was involved in missions on behalf of private companies, organizing the protection of sensitive industrial sites in Iraq and other countries of the Middle East. French weekly Le Point has said that he is described as “a brave man who likes to live dangerously.”
 

Lebanon’s diversity and freedom of speech is withering away
Rami Rayess/Al Arabiya/February 24/2021
Lebanon’s freedom of speech is threatened. What the country has been traditionally famous for is at stake, in contrast to other surrounding dictatorships that confiscated the liberties of their peoples.
Journalists and political and social media activists are summoned to police stations to assist with investigations. A tweet consisting of a couple of statements against the President of the Republic General Michel Aoun can get you arrested and imprisoned.
Famous TV anchors and prominent columnists are subject to law suits, simply for airing political viewpoints that are the antithesis of those held by the President or members of his party, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM).
Gebran Bassil, Lebanon’s former Foreign, Energy and Telecommunications Minister, inherited the Presidency of the Movement from his father-in-law, the incumbent President.
Considered one of the most hated politicians from the popular protests that broke out in October 17, 2019, Bassil has raised more legal cases against media figures, and activists than any other politician in the country.
Dima Sadek, a prominent Lebanese TV anchor who presents a weekly show in which she offers political analysis of the country’s developments has come under attack on social media from supporters of both FPM and Hezbollah. Each have different reasons.
An episode broadcast live on the week when political activist Lokman Slim was assassinated, saw Sadek openly accuse Hezbollah of the killing. In the following episode, she clarified that it was her own analysis of Slim’s murder, and not one adopted by MTV, the station in which she works.
With the growing role of social media in public affairs and political propaganda, parties organize hundreds of their members and supporters to launch hash tags that can trend within minutes.
The hash tag will include a verbal assault on the targeted person, with tweets and posts following consisting of content filled with intimidation, aggressiveness and humiliation.
Rarely do social media battles remain in the hypothetical world. After all, Lebanon is a small country with a small community that is deeply divided along sectarian lines. Soon enough, social media platforms aggravate the growing tension on all scales.
Usually, politicians intervene later on to calm down their supporters and call them to cease all negative statements. This is Lebanese politics played on the edge. Hezbollah and FPM feed on a culture of treason allowing it to flourish through the nation’s political discourse. Anyone expressing a point of view contradicting the path they choose is set as a spy for foreign embassies, and suppressed: Lebanon’s freedom of speech is witnessing tighter margins.
Lokman Slim was accused of treason. With relationships built with international embassies, including the US he became a traitor and a spy in the eyes of Hezbollah. His independent viewpoint contradicting that of the party, is shared by many.
His photo, along with several other prominent journalists and activists has been widely spread in the media, and labeled as traitors.
In a similar attitude, one of the prominent activists in the so called axis of resistance, Hussein Mortada, has published a list of 47 politicians and activists, with 30 Lebanese, whom he said have called for increasing sanctions on the Syrian regime.
He asked: “What do you have to do with Syria?” Of course, he disregarded the fact that the Syrian regime has been accused of assassinating several prominent Lebanese figures in the last few decades.
The publishing of such a list is regarded by many as a tacit intimidation for the persons involved. They are all aware of how this axis has dealt with his opponents in the past, with political assassination being one of the tactics employed to eliminate contending voices. In all cases, freedom of speech in Lebanon is getting tighter.
On another front, the Parliamentary committee for media, headed by Hezbollah MP Hussein Hajj Hasan, has proposed a draft law to organize media websites. Launching a website, under the proposed law, would require the prior approval from the National Media Council.
Both the Minister of Information Manal Abdul Samad, and the current order of journalists have expressed skepticism about the proposed draft law. The order preferred that this law would be part and parcel of the new media law that was prepared by the Ministry of Information and the concerned media agencies. A separate syndicate for the workers in electronic media and websites, independent from the currently active order of journalists, has been also established.
Multiple syndicates and organizations do not mean wider margins of freedom. Politicized institutions could be more harmful to the cause of liberty and freedom of the press, because they might assume the role of covering up the authority’s misdemeanors being hidden or planned.
Killing free thinkers, summoning activists for investigation, accusing independent people of treason and forming parallel media institutions are alarming indicators that moves are afoot to block and harry freedom of speech at every opportunity.
Lebanon has witnessed many ups and downs for decades, in what is today a divided society, but never has its people ever relinquished their liberty and freedom of speech.
 

Former Lebanese Minister Of Communications Boutrus Harb: Hizbullah Has No Reason To Exist As An Armed Force After 2000 Israeli Withdrawal From Lebanon
MEMRI/February 24/2021
Source: Asharq TV (Saudi Arabia)
Former Lebanese Minister of Communications Boutrus Harb said that after the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, Hizbullah has no reason to exist other than to impose its opinions, to control political decision-making, and to paralyze politics. Harb made his remarks during an interview with Asharq TV (Saudi Arabia) that aired on February 14, 2021. He said that all groups must abide by the Taif Agreement and lay down their arms, including Hizbullah, or else Lebanon would be rife with many armed groups and militias fighting each other and destroying the country. Harb continued to say that Syria pushed for Hizbullah to be exempt from laying down its weapons in accordance with the Taif Agreement, so it would continue to operate on behalf of the Syrian-Iranian axis. He added that before the Syrians left Lebanon, they made sure that the Shebaa Farms would be included in the maps of Lebanon’s territory so Hizbullah would have a pretext to continue to carry arms.
Boutrus Harb: "All that talk about having to take every possible measure to liberate Southern [Lebanon] – who said that it is Hizbullah that has to take these measures? We are a part of a Lebanese state. We are all rebuilding the Lebanese state, after it had been destroyed. It is the duty of the Lebanese state to protect its sovereignty. Otherwise, should everyone just set up shop on their own? Should everyone form a militia of their own? Everybody says that their goal is to liberate Lebanese land, either from Israeli occupation or Syrian or Iranian presence, or whatever. The country has turned into a bunch of gangs or armed militias that fight one another and destroy the country once again. Therefore, any exemption [from disarming all militias], is wrong."
Interviewer: "Who pushed for the exemption of Hizbullah?"
Harb: "Syria and its allies, because it is in their interest. Let me remind you of a historic event. After Prime Minister Rafic Hariri was assassinated, and the Syrians were forced to withdraw from Lebanon, just before they left Lebanon, they figured out that there is someone to take their place that belongs to the Iranian-Syrian 'resistance axis,' and that was Hizbullah. [The Syrians] thought that Hizbullah could fill their role, and indeed they did. At the time, there were official maps of Lebanon in which the Shebaa Farms were not included [in Lebanon]. Before [the Syrians] left [Lebanon] they altered the maps, and added the Shebaa Farms to Lebanon, so Hizbullah would be able to say: 'There are Lebanese lands that still have not been liberated, and so we must keep our weapons.' Using this pretext, Hizbullah kept their weapons, contrary to the Taif Agreement, and contrary to what the Lebanese agreed upon amongst themselves – putting an end to the presence of illegal arms in Lebanon.
"You [i.e. Hizbullah] are welcome as a political party. We cherish the martyrs that died until Israel withdrew [from Lebanon] in 2000, but after 2000, why do you exist, other than to impose your decisions, control Lebanese political decision-making, impose the president, prime minister, and ministers you want, and paralyze politics?"

Sec.-Gen. Of The Lebanese Future Movement Ahmad El Hariri: Lebanon Is Under The Occupation Of The Free Patriotic Movement; Hizbullah Considers Lebanon A Card Up Iran's Sleeve
MEMRI/February 24/2021
Source: Al-Hurra TV (The U.S.)
Lebanese politician Ahmad El Hariri, Sec.-Gen. of the Future Movement said that the Baabda Presidential Palace was hijacked by Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement, which also occupies Lebanon. He made these remarks in an interview with Al-Hurra TV (U.S.) that aired on February 15, 2021. El Hariri said that Aoun is acting like the president of the Free Patriotic Movement, not the President of Lebanon. He said that Hizbullah considers Lebanon to be a card up Iran’s sleeve, however, Hizbullah can choose to save Lebanon by forming a government and preserving the hope of keeping the card of Lebanon for the Iranians. He added that the unrest in Tripoli was designed to distract public opinion from the Beirut port bombing being caused by ammonium nitrate that Hizbullah had stored there on behalf of the Syrian regime, so it can use it to bomb its people.
Ahmad El Hariri: "The way Hizbullah views Lebanon is different from the way the Future Movement sees it."
Interviewer: "Does [Hizbullah] pin its hopes on the regional negotiations?"
El Hariri: "No. For Hizbullah, Lebanon is a card up Iran's sleeve. For us in the Future Movement, Lebanon belongs to the Lebanese.
"Hizbullah is facing two options. Either lose the country by letting it collapse completely, thus losing the Iranians their card, or it can save Lebanon in the last minute, and establish a government that would preserve the hope of keeping this card for the Iranians.
"[The Presidential] Palace in Baabda has been hijacked."
Interviewer: "Hijacked by whom?"
El Hariri: "The Free Patriotic Movement. President Aoun does not exist."
Interviewer: "What do you mean?"
El Hariri: "He does not exist. He does not behave like the president of a country. You can call him the president of the Free Patriotic Movement. He took over Gebran Bassil's place again."
Interviewer: "Who is the main obstacle for the establishment of a government?"
El Hariri: "President Michel Aoun. I am calling for the liberation of the Baabda Palace."
Interviewer: "Liberation from whom?"
El Hariri: "From the Free Patriotic Movement."
Interviewer: "They are occupying it?"
El Hariri: "Yes, it's an occupation."
Interviewer: "Do you support the [George] Haswani theory that the ammonium nitrate [that exploded in the Beirut port] was being used by the Syrian regime for its bombardments in Syria, and that Hizbullah was storing it for the Syrian regime there?"
El Hariri: "How come this Tripoli unrest started immediately after this report was aired? It started the following day."
Interviewer: "Was this Tripoli [unrest] set into motion because of that report?"
El Hariri: "Yes, so that we would forget that report. That's what some people say."
Interviewer: "These are dangerous [accusations]."
El Hariri: "Of course."
Interviewer: " Someone wants to silence this?"
El Hariri: "They want to silence and erase this. They want to make it go away."
 

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 24- 25/2021

One-Shot J&J Vaccine 'Highly Effective' against New Covid Variants
Agence France Presse/February 24/2021 |
The single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine is highly effective in preventing severe Covid-19, including newer variants, according to documents released by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday. The news came as the regulator was set to convene an independent panel Friday that will likely vote to authorize the vaccine, making it the third available in the country hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic. In large clinical trials, the J&J vaccine's efficacy against severe disease was 85.9 percent in the United States, 81.7 percent in South Africa, and 87.6 percent in Brazil. Overall, among 39,321 participants across all regions, the efficacy against severe Covid-19 was 85.4 percent, but it fell to 66.1 percent when including moderate forms of the disease. Crucially, analyses of different demographic groups revealed no marked differences across age, race, or people with underlying conditions. The vaccine was generally well-tolerated, with no reports of severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis), which have been seen in rare cases for the Pfizer and Moderna shots. Mild to moderate reactions, like injection-site pain, headache, fatigue and muscle pains were more likely to occur in younger participants than older. There were no reported deaths in the vaccine group, but five in the placebo group. "The analysis supported a favorable safety profile with no specific safety concerns identified that would preclude issuance of an EUA (emergency use authorization)," the FDA wrote.
- One dose, fridge storage -
A third vaccine is seen as a vital means to ramp up the immunization rate in the United States, where more than 500,000 people have lost their lives to the coronavirus. Some 65 million people in America have so far received at least one shot of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines -- but unlike those, the J&J vaccine requires just one dose, and is stored at fridge temperatures. The trade-off is slightly less protection against mild or moderate forms of Covid-19. "The vaccine was effective in preventing COVID-19 using a less restrictive definition of the disease and for more severe disease, including COVID-19 requiring medical intervention, considering all cases starting 14 days after vaccination," the FDA wrote in its briefing document. "Although a lower efficacy overall was observed in South Africa, where there was a predominance of B.1.3.5 lineage during the time period of this study, vaccine efficacy against severe/critical COVID-19 was similarly high across the United States, South Africa, and Brazil," it added. There was a hint, based on preliminary data, that the vaccine might be effective against asymptomatic infection. But "this finding needs to be further investigated with additional data," wrote the company in a separate document made available by the FDA. The J&J vaccine uses a common-cold causing adenovirus, which has been modified so that it can't replicate, to carry the DNA for a key protein of the coronavirus into human cells. This makes those cells produce that protein, which in turn trains the human immune system should it encounter the real virus. Other adenovirus vector vaccines against Covid-19 include those made by AstraZeneca-Oxford and Russia's Sputnik V.

Top US general warns Iran, says Taliban not breaking with al-Qaeda
Joseph Haboush, Al Arabiya English/24 February/2021
The United States always reserves the right to respond to attacks “at a time and place of our choosing,” a senior US general said Wednesday, adding that “the memory and reach of the US are very long.”The head of US Central Command (CENTCOM) Gen. Kenneth McKenzie said this was shown in 2020 when a US drone strike killed both the head of Iran’s Quds Force and the deputy leader of an Iran-backed Iraqi militia. Speaking to the Beirut Institute during a webinar, McKenzie also touched on other areas in the Middle East where US troops are present.
Afghanistan
There are “legitimate doubts” about whether the Taliban is following through on its commitments made during last year’s peace talks with the United States, McKenzie said that the Taliban had refrained from attacking US-Coalition troops, but there were still worrying signs. “Right now, as we speak today, there are some legitimate doubts about the Taliban’s commitments,” he told the Beirut Institute during a webinar. These include no signs of the Taliban breaking with al-Qaeda. “The violence, while too high on both sides, in my judgment, rests on the Taliban,” McKenzie said. Asked about US troops in Afghanistan, he said there were 2,500 remaining. But there are close to 5,000 NATO forces as well, according to the US general.
Iraq
The US has achieved state-on-state deterrence with Iran, but it continues to have a level of “contested deterrence,” McKenzie said. “We still see Iranian proxies seek to attack our allies and partners in Iraq … and Saudi Arabia is under constant attack. What Iran believes is that these can be non-attributed to Iran,” he said. But the Iraqi government wants the US to remain in the country and this is frustrating Iran, according to McKenzie. “Iraq faces significant economic and other problems; they want an international presence to remain. That has very much frustrated Iran.”
Syria
Inside Syria, there is a US presence of around 900 troops. “We are there to work with the [Syrian Democratic Forces] to finish ISIS off, up and down the Euphrates River valley,” McKenzie said. As for Russia’s presence inside Syria, McKenzie said it was looking for inroads in the region. “They’ll use that to sell military equipment to whoever will buy it. They’re actively looking to undermine US interests in the region,” he said. “Our posture is clear about why we’re there, to fight ISIS. I’m not sure how they see their long-term goals.”
Lebanon
In Lebanon, McKenzie said the US would continue its support for the Lebanese Army. But he would not elaborate or answer if the weapons and type of military aid would be upgraded. “Lebanon’s in the queue with everyone else,” he said, referring to the Biden administration’s current process of reviewing aid to foreign countries. The country, which is experiencing one of its worst economic, financial and social crises in recent history, continues to move forward without a fully functioning government. A massive explosion ripped through Lebanon's capital last August, and the coronavirus pandemic has further deteriorated the situation. But the Beirut blast gives Lebanon an opportunity to move forward, according to McKenzie. “I’ve been to Lebanon once, and it is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.”The US general revealed that he was planning to visit Beirut in the spring, without elaborating on specific dates.
 

Congressional Oversight and Biden Administration Foreign Policy
Backgrounder/February 24/2021 |
Nomination hearings for executive branch officials are an essential tool for Congress to utilize in conducting effective oversight of foreign policy. These hearings allow members of Congress to study an administration’s approach to issues, secure policy commitments based on their own assessments and views, and identify lines of inquiry driven by national security concerns.
Congress has thus far developed an important foundation on U.S. policy toward China, Iran, and Russia through hearings for key Biden administration officials. This foundation will require sustained attention in the months ahead as Congress continues to engage with the Biden administration. The following are summaries of key statements by Cabinet-level officials and the questions that Congress should ask in future hearings for sub-Cabinet nominees and in broader oversight efforts. We periodically make these questions available on a range of national security issues.
CHINA
Background: Members of Congress from both parties have expressed concerns regarding the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) “Military-Civil Fusion” (MCF) strategy and how it contributes to China’s efforts to develop the most technologically advanced military in the world. A congressional oversight focus since 2019 has been the identification of Chinese military companies operating inside the United States and the development of policies to mitigate exposure risks, including in capital markets. Administration Views: During her confirmation hearing, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen acknowledged concerns regarding China’s forced technology-transfer practices and intellectual property theft as issues that the United States must confront. In responses to Questions for the Record, Secretary Yellen committed to closely reviewing Treasury’s response to China’s MCF, but did not explicitly support continuing the policy of prohibiting U.S. persons from investing in Chinese military companies.
Follow-Up Questions:
Does the Biden administration believe that Chinese military companies and their subsidiaries and joint venture partners should be allowed to raise capital from U.S. investors to fund their operations?
Should these entities be allowed to invest directly or indirectly in U.S.-based assets that constitute critical technology, infrastructure, or data? Will the Treasury Department continue implementing Executive Order 13959 (as amended), which prohibits U.S. persons from transacting in any publicly traded securities of certain Chinese military companies, as one tool to help mitigate the threat that the CCP poses to U.S. national security? Does the Biden administration view the International Emergency Economic Powers Act as a relevant authority for taking action to protect U.S. national security interests from Chinese strategic subversion and malign influence?
IRAN
Background: Republicans and Democrats in Congress have maintained a broad consensus that recognizes the threat posed by Iran’s terrorist activities and that supports strengthening sanctions against Iran’s sponsorship of terror. As one example, the Senate voted 98-2 to require the imposition of sanctions against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a Foreign Terrorist Organization, as part of a broader sanctions bill (the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act). Administration Views: Secretary Antony Blinken said during his confirmation hearing that he did not think it was in America’s national security interest to lift sanctions imposed on Iran for its terrorist activities.
Follow-Up Question:
The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has long been the key entity through which the Iranian government funds terrorist organizations. In September 2019, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated the CBI as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) under Executive Order 13224. The Treasury Department noted then that since at least 2016, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force has received the “vast majority of its foreign currency” from the CBI. Does the Biden administration commit not to lift, waive, or otherwise mitigate the effects of CBI’s designation as a SDGT so long as it is financing or facilitating terrorism?
RUSSIA
Background: Congressional opposition to Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline has been longstanding, bipartisan, and bicameral. Members have signaled clear intent and established requirements in law that leave no room for ambiguity: Nord Stream 2 is a geopolitical weapon aimed at U.S. national security interests, including the well-being of our allies in Europe, and U.S. policy must seek to prevent its completion.
Administration Views: Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during his nomination hearing that he is “determined to do whatever we can to prevent” completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, adding that President Biden strongly agrees with Congress that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is “a bad idea.”
Follow-Up Questions:
What actions is the Biden administration taking to prevent companies – European and non-European – from supporting the construction or commission of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline?
Will the Biden administration identify and sanction all entities engaging in sanctionable activity related to Nord Stream 2, as required by law? How does the Nord Stream 2 pipeline fit into the Biden administration’s plans to reinvigorate the NATO alliance and help secure our European allies and partners from malign Russian influence and coercion?

Germany Convicts Syrian in Landmark Torture Trial
Agence France Presse/February 24/2021 |
A German court on Wednesday convicted a former Syrian intelligence service agent for complicity in crimes against humanity, in the first court case worldwide over state-sponsored torture by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government.
Eyad al-Gharib, 44, was found guilty over his role in helping to arrest at least 30 protesters and deliver them to the Al-Khatib detention center in Damascus after a rally in Duma in autumn 2011. Almost 10 years since the Arab Spring reached Syria on March 15, 2011, the judgement is the first in the world related to what judge Anne Kerber called "widespread and systematic repression" of protesters by the regime in Damascus. The conviction was hailed as a "ray of hope" by Syrian Wassim Mukdad, a plaintiff who suffered torture in the Al-Khatib center, also named "Branch 251". "This is just the beginning and the day will come when Bashar al-Assad and his cronies, the army and intelligence generals are put on trial," said Mukdad, who testified at the trial.
Universal jurisdiction
Gharib, a former low-ranking member of the intelligence service, hid his face from the cameras with a folder as the verdict was read out, arms folded and wearing a medical mask. He is the first of two defendants on trial since April 23 to be convicted by the court in Koblenz, after judges decided to split the proceedings in two. The second defendant, Anwar Raslan, 58, is accused directly of crimes against humanity, including overseeing the murder of 58 people and the torture of 4,000 others. Raslan's trial is expected to last until at least the end of October. The two men are being tried on the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows a foreign country to prosecute crimes against humanity, including war crimes and genocide, regardless of where they were committed.
'Sleep better tonight'
Patrick Kroker, a lawyer representing the joint plaintiffs, said Assad's name was read out "at least five times during the verdict", while prosecutor Jasper Klinge saw the proceedings as "a signal to the perpetrators" of mass crimes in Syria.Documentary director Firas Fayyad ("Last Men in Aleppo" and "The Cave"), who was raped in the Al-Khatib center, also welcomed the verdict. "I hope the victims will be able to sleep better tonight. I hope I will be able to sleep," he said. Other such cases have also sprung up in Germany, France and Sweden, as Syrians who have sought refuge in Europe turn to the only legal means currently available to them due to a lack of action from the international justice system. Prosecutors in Koblenz had been seeking five and a half years for Gharib, who defected in 2012 before finally fleeing Syria in February 2013. After spending time in Turkey and then Greece, Gharib arrived in Germany on April 25, 2018.
Spying on sermons
During the trial, Gharib wrote a letter expressing sorrow for the victims. He also wept as his lawyers called for his acquittal, arguing that he and his family could have been killed if he had not carried out the orders of the regime. But the court argued that he "knew that torture was being practiced" in the detention center, even if he himself had not beaten protesters.  A physical education instructor in the intelligence services for ten years, Gharib was assigned to spy on Friday sermons in Damascus mosques before joining in July 2011 a unit led by a cousin of Bashar al-Assad who was notorious for his brutality. The trial marked the first time that photos from the so-called Caesar files were presented in a court of law. The 50,000 images taken by Syrian military police defector "Caesar" show the corpses of 6,786 Syrians who had been starved or tortured to death inside the Assad regime's detention centers.

U.S. Says Report on Khashoggi's Murder Expected 'Soon'
Agence France Presse/February 24/2021 |
A U.S. intelligence report on the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul will be out "soon," the White House said Wednesday. Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that President Joe Biden was also "soon" due to speak with Saudi Arabia's King Salman.
Psaki would not confirm a report in Axios that the Biden call with Salman would take place Wednesday and that the unclassified intelligence report would be published Thursday. Khashoggi, a Saudi who wrote for The Washington Post and was a US resident, was killed and dismembered in 2018 inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The CIA has directly linked Saudi Arabia's de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the murder. He has accepted overall responsibility, as his country's leader, but denies a personal link. Since taking over the presidency in January Biden has stressed he will "recalibrate" the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia. This will mean steering away from former president Donald Trump's reliance on Prince Mohammed and dealing directly with the king, the White House says.

Biden, al-Kadhemi Discuss Embassy Rocket Strikes
Agence France Presse/February 24/2021 |
US President Joe Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi spoke about this week's rocket strikes on the US embassy in Baghdad, the White House said Tuesday, with both leaders saying those responsible should be "held fully to account."The conversation came just days after Biden marked one month in office. "The President affirmed US support for Iraq’s sovereignty and independence and commended the Prime Minister’s leadership," the White House statement said.
On Monday, at least three rockets targeted the US embassy in the high-security Green Zone of Iraq's capital Baghdad, in an attack the United States blames on Iran. "(Biden and al-Kadhemi) discussed the recent rocket attacks against Iraqi and Coalition personnel and agreed that those responsible for such attacks must be held fully to account," the White House said of the two leaders' call. "Together, they discussed the importance of advancing the Strategic Dialogue between our countries and expanding bilateral cooperation on other key issues."US State Department spokesman Ned Price had said on Monday that the United States holds Iran responsible for the strikes. "What we will not do is lash out and risk an escalation that plays into the hands of Iran and contributes to their attempts to further destabilize Iraq," Price told reporters. The attack was the third in a week to target Western diplomatic, military or commercial installations in Iraq after months of relative calm. The attacks are usually claimed by shadowy groups that both Iraqi and US officials say are "smokescreens" for hardline pro-Iran factions inside Iraq.  Iraq's al-Kadhemi has pledged to put a halt to rocket attacks but struggled to hold the groups to account, infuriating the US. In October, the US threatened to close its embassy in Baghdad if the attacks did not stop, so hardline groups agreed to an indefinite truce.

South Korea, Iran agree on proposal to unlock billions of dollars of frozen oil money
AFP/February 24/2021
South Korea and Iran have agreed a way forward that could see billions of dollars of frozen oil money unblocked, Seoul said Tuesday, but signalled that the agreement was effectively subject to US approval. Tehran last month seized a South Korean-flagged tanker in sensitive Gulf waters, citing the ship's "repeated infringement of maritime environmental laws". The seizure of the tanker came after Tehran had urged Seoul to release billions of dollars of Iranian assets frozen in South Korea under US sanctions over its nuclear programme. The South's foreign ministry said Iran's central bank governor and Seoul's ambassador had reached an agreement in Tehran. "Iran has agreed to our proposals to use the fund," the ministry said in a statement, without giving details. There have been suggestions the money could be used to buy coronavirus vaccines, or to pay Iran's debts at the UN. But the South Korean ministry added: "Actual lifting of the fund freeze will have to go through consultations with related actors including the US." The comment suggests Washington -- which is insisting Iran move first in the nuclear stand-off -- will have a de facto veto on any transfers. The Iranian government released a separate statement on the deal, quoting Central Bank of Iran governor Abdolnasser Hemmati saying it would continue to demand compensation from South Korean banks. "The South Korean side needs to make a lot of efforts to erase this negative record," he added. Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei said Tuesday that "we will receive around $1 billion of our funds" frozen in South Korea initially, citing Hemmati. According to Rabiei, Tehran has a total of $7 billion of funds blocked in Seoul. Iran was a key oil supplier to resource-poor South Korea until Washington's rules blocked the purchases.The then US president Donald Trump in 2018 withdrew Washington from a landmark nuclear agreement with world powers and then reimposed and reinforced crippling sanctions on Iran. Tehran has repeatedly denied any link between the ship's seizure and the recovery of the funds, and earlier this month said it had agreed to allow the crew members to leave in a "humanitarian move".

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 24- 25/2021

11 Iranians Captured at US-Mexico Border
Todd Bensman/Townhall/February 15, 2021
Originally published under the title "About Those 11 Iranian Migrants Captured at Mexico-Arizona Frontier...What Homeland Security Does."
The Yuma Border Sector on the US-Mexico border in San Luis, Arizona, where 11 Iranians were apprehended on February 1.
Many Americans might have felt surprised by recent news that U.S. Border Patrol in Arizona caught 11 Iranian migrants who crossed the southern border from Mexico.
But this crossing is not surprising in one insular quarter: an international cadre of intelligence and law enforcement officers who work on this chronically misunderstood threat problem for the American homeland security establishment. For them, southern border crossings by Iranians, as well as by migrant travelers from other countries of terrorism concern, like Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, trigger an almost routine response the public never sees.
My new book, America's Covert Border War, The Untold Story of the Nation's Battle to Prevent Jihadist Infiltration, reveals these responses as part of a hidden American counterterror effort that has long regarded this human traffic as a distinct national security border threat and which has worked to neutralize individuals who might show up to the border seeking to eventually attack. The book also shows Americans step-by-step how thousands of Iranians and travelers from all of the world's many other countries of terrorism concern reach the southern border every year and what the United States is doing throughout the Americas to stop it.
The mission was always and still is to stop border crossings of travelers from countries of terrorism concern like Iran or to at least make sure arrivals are not malevolent spies or terrorists.
What is happening with the Iranians
Take the Iranian travelers just caught in Arizona. One main prong of America's covert border war flags border-crossing migrants from Iran for intense examination. Once the arrival flag goes up, federal officers interrogate the migrants in person for true hearts, minds and intent while collecting intelligence necessary to hunt down their smugglers in Latin America. It's an imperfect system when it comes to trained or good liars but, as the book shows, has caught jihadist travelers.
Border-crossing migrants from Iran are flagged for intense examination.
Almost certainly, American officers are working over each and every one of the Iranians who just got caught, especially amid recent Iranian vows to retaliate for the January 2020 U.S. drone-strike assassination of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force General Qasem Soleimani.
No public information points to border infiltration as a means for Iran to exact its revenge. But no matter; investigative efforts targeting the 11 Iranians are designed to reduce risk and uncertainty about them. Long before the Soleimani retaliation threat, American officers always interviewed every Iranian who crossed the southern land border for other reasons.
The concern is less that Iranian terrorists will blow up something than that they will spy.
The latent national security issue was not so much that Iranian terrorists would blow up something so much as that they would spy. Conversely, Iranians might be genuine government abdicators willing to provide valuable intelligence about the Revolutionary Guard and Al Quds forces, which are U.S.-declared foreign terrorist organizations.
For some time in the foreseeable future, U.S. homeland security will have no choice but to consider the migrants in light of both espionage and Iran's promises of retaliation.
How Iranians Get to the Southern Border
During reporting in Central America for my book, I once met and interviewed four Iranian migrants who had gotten as far as Costa Rica.
Intercontinental smuggling organizations, highly specialized in their complex tradecraft, transport Iranians to South America and guide them through to Mexico. In a Costa Rica migrant rest camp in December 2018, U.S.-bound Iranian citizen Sina Zandi Chareh Bayan explained that he and his three Iranian traveling companions flew to Ecuador, which required no visas at the time, then used smugglers to make their way through Colombia and Panama.
I asked Bayan if he thought the Americans would worry about his unexpected arrival, given the tormented relations between the U.S. and Iran.
"Actually, there's nothing about us to be worried and to hide," he said. "We will tell the truth. If they accept, good. And if they don't accept, I don't know what, and I don't care. As President Trump says many times, the problem is between governments, not people."
Still, homeland security feels duty-bound to determine that the 11 Iranians actually do have nothing to hide.
Smuggling organizations in Latin America bridge the gap between Iran and the U.S. southern border.
The other thrust of America's covert border war involves breaking up smuggling organizations in Latin America that bridge the gap between Iran and the southern border.
Just in September, ICE-Homeland Security Investigations helped Brazilian investigators break up a major Iran-to-southern-border smuggling ring. The target was Reza Sahami, a dual citizen of Canada and Iran who was caught guiding a group of seven Iranian nationals in the city of Assis Brasil on the border of Peru. All seven carried altered passports from Israel, Denmark, and Canada.
Brazil is prosecuting but HSI, which works in foreign posts throughout the Americas hunting these smugglers, played enough of a significant role to issue its own press announcement, which was largely ignored despite the heightened Iranian threat.
"Sahami has been smuggling criminals across international borders for over ten years," said ICE Attache for Brazil and Bolivia Robert Fuentes in the ICE press statement.
But the smugglers clearly are tenacious. The Arizona captures demonstrate that the American effort is imperfect and is still needed, especially at a time when the nation seems poised to undergo a dramatic surge in illegal immigration at the southern border.
What Will Happen Next
Probably the Iranians caught in Arizona claimed asylum as soon as they met Border Patrol agents. This means that, for now, they cannot be returned to Iran based on their probable claims that the regime would persecute them.
If U.S. interrogators find nothing untoward about the 11 Iranian border-jumpers, they will eventually bond out of detention, get work permits, settle inside the country as their cases slowly work through the asylum process.
Iran generally does not cooperate with U.S. deportations.
A variety of other outcomes await if it turns out some or all are spies or terrorists, to include prosecution for immigration fraud or other crimes. It also could happen that the United States would be stuck with any Iranian found to harbor nefarious missions and intentions because Iran does not generally accept its expelled citizens. Iran is on the list of so-called "recalcitrant" nations that do not cooperate with U.S. deportations, so if these turn out to be bad ones, they could be free to live and walk amongst us anyway.
*Todd Bensman is a fellow at the Middle East Forum and a senior national security fellow for the Center for Immigration Studies. He previously led counterterrorism-related intelligence efforts for the Texas Intelligence and Counterterrorism Division.

Germany: Covid-19 Triggers New Wave of Anti-Semitism
Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/February 24/ 2021
German police reported a total of 2,275 anti-Semitic hate crimes — an average of six per day — in 2020, according to preliminary data provided by the federal government. The tally represents a more than 10% increase over the number of anti-Semitic crimes reported in 2019... Police were able to identify 1,367 suspects — but only five individuals were ultimately arrested.
It remains unclear why so few perpetrators have faced legal consequences for their crimes, especially when government officials repeatedly claim that fighting anti-Semitism is a top priority. A reason may be that it is politically incorrect to identify the true suspects.
German police, possibly under orders from political authorities, systematically assign unsolved anti-Semitic hate crimes to the far right.
"Why are the majority of anti-Semitic acts attributed to 'right-wing' German perpetrators? One can see a political motive behind this — growing anti-Semitism can be used politically as a weapon 'against the right.'" — Tichys Einblick.
"There has been criticism from experts for a long time that the allocation of the vast majority of anti-Semitism cases to right-wing extremist perpetrators is incorrect and that other groups of perpetrators, for example from Islamist and other Muslim circles, are given too little attention." — Die Welt.
"Even today, anti-Semitism is not just a phenomenon of the right-wing extremist fringes. It reaches into the middle of our society." — German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass.
Some German anti-lockdown protesters have trivialized the Holocaust by putting themselves on the same level as the Jews persecuted by the Nazi regime and by referring to themselves as resistance fighters opposing an allegedly undemocratic government. Some protesters have claimed that the government-imposed quarantines are equivalent to Nazi-era prison camps. Pictured: A demonstrator holds a poster comparing the Citizen Protection Law of Chancellor Angela Merkel's government with Adolf Hitler's 1933 Decree for the Protection of People and State, as police disperse a protest against government measures to limit the spread of coronavirus, on November 18, 2020 in Berlin.
The number of anti-Semitic hate crimes in Germany surged to a two-decade high in 2020, according to new statistics released by the German government. Anti-Semitism in Germany has been steadily growing in recent years, fueled in part by far-left anti-Israel activists and by mass migration from the Muslim world. The problem is now being exacerbated by the Coronavirus pandemic, which far-right conspiracy theorists are blaming on both Jews and Israel.
German police reported a total of 2,275 anti-Semitic hate crimes — an average of six per day — in 2020, according to preliminary data provided by the federal government. The tally represents a more than 10% increase over the number of anti-Semitic crimes reported in 2019, itself a record-breaking year for such offenses. The official numbers represent only the crimes reported to the police; the actual number of incidents is presumably much bigger.
The new data, published on February 11 by the newspaper Tagesspiegel, shows that police were able to identify 1,367 suspects — but that only five individuals were ultimately arrested. The statistics also show that 55 (roughly 2.5%) of the crimes involved violence. This implies that most of the other incidents appear to involve anti-Semitic hate speech on the internet, property damage or propaganda crimes such as anti-Jewish graffiti.
The number of anti-Semitic crimes registered in 2020 was the highest since the Federal Criminal Police (Bundeskriminalamt, BKA) introduced the so-called Politically Motivated Crime (Politisch motivierte Kriminalität, PMK) recording system in 2001.
Identifying the Perpetrators
It remains unclear why so few perpetrators have faced legal consequences for their crimes, especially when government officials repeatedly claim that fighting anti-Semitism is a top priority. A reason may be that it is politically incorrect to identify the true suspects.
The anti-Semitism statistics for 2020 do not include information about the backgrounds of the perpetrators. Tagesspiegel, as is common with German media outlets, automatically blamed the far-right:
"From the point of view of the police, most anti-Semitic crimes can be attributed to right-wing perpetrators. Islamist, left-wing and other Jew haters are only a small minority in the statistics."
Independent studies, however, have found that right-wing extremists have been responsible for only a fraction of anti-Semitic attacks in Germany in recent years. The Berlin-based Research and Information Center on Antisemitism (Recherche- und Informationsstelle Antisemitismus, RIAS), for instance, reported that that the far-right was responsible for less than 20% of anti-Semitic hate crimes in Berlin in 2018.
A 2017 survey of German Jews by the University of Bielefeld found that 60% of anti-Semitic attacks were said to have been carried out by Muslims, compared to 19% by far-left extremists and 19% by far-right perpetrators. Muslims were also said to be responsible for 81% of anti-Semitic attacks involving physical violence. The survey found that 70% of German Jews believe that mass migration from the Muslim world has fueled anti-Semitism in Germany.
Nevertheless, German police, possibly under orders from political authorities, systematically assign unsolved anti-Semitic hate crimes to the far right. In one well-known case, police blamed far-right extremists for chanting the Nazi slogan "Sieg Heil" at an Islamist al-Quds rally in Berlin.
The director of RIAS, Benjamin Steinitz, said that slogans like "Sieg Heil" or "Jews out," which are automatically attributed to right-wing extremists, are also popular in Islamist circles. He added that most anti-Semitic incidents are attributed to German citizens, but the statistics do not reveal whether they are Muslim immigrants who have obtained German citizenship.
An April 2017 report by the Independent Expert Group on Anti-Semitism (Unabhängigen Expertenkreises Antisemitismus), which advises the German government, found:
"Xenophobic and anti-Semitic crimes are always assigned to the far right if no further specifics can be identified and for which no suspects have been identified. This may result in a distorted picture of the motivation for the crime and its perpetrators."
In May 2019, after the German Interior Ministry blamed 90% of the anti-Semitic attacks in Germany on "right-wing" perpetrators, the influential German blog Tichys Einblick wrote:
"The number of anti-Semitic acts in Germany has increased to a worrying degree.... This includes anti-Semitic graffiti or damage, threats against Jews or physical, violent assaults. Anti-Semitism is shameful for the whole country. In the statistics, 90% of the crimes are right-wing extremist perpetrators. But... most of the perpetrators are anonymous and are never caught. How do you know whether a swastika graffiti or an insult against Jews comes from right-wing German perpetrators? The police simply 'suspect' this.
"Only recently, a parliamentary inquiry revealed that a large part of the anti-Semitic crimes there — 120 of 253 cases — were assigned to the 'right' in the statistics, although the perpetrators' motives were unknown....
"The well-known historian and anti-Semitism expert Michael Wolfssohn described Muslim anti-Semitism as the most dangerous threat to Jews in Germany and Europe.
"Why are the majority of anti-Semitic acts attributed to 'right-wing' German perpetrators? One can see a political motive behind this — growing anti-Semitism can be used politically as a weapon 'against the right.'"
In July 2019, after police provided the German Senate with inaccurate statistics on the perpetrators of anti-Semitic hate crimes, the newspaper Die Welt wrote:
"There has been criticism from experts for a long time that the allocation of the vast majority of anti-Semitism cases to right-wing extremist perpetrators is incorrect and that other groups of perpetrators, for example from Islamist and other Muslim circles, are given too little attention."
In January 2021, Israel's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs wrote about anti-Semitism in Germany:
"Police sometimes don't even interfere in antisemitic incidents and instead stand nearby watching. In most cases, they don't react because they don't recognize an antisemitic incident or don't understand that expressing antisemitic statements is a problem, and thus don't see any reason to interfere. This lack of awareness also leads to the fact that most complaints by victims of antisemitic crimes are not being processed by the police.
"In addition to this, the police continue to assign antisemitic incidents to the 'Right' when no further specifications are identifiable, and the suspects are unknown. The Bundestag [Parliamentary] reports, which are based on the data reported by the police, attribute the overwhelming majority (94%) of incidents to rightwing motives. As in previous years, this number is being contested by organizations monitoring antisemitism, politicians, Jewish leaders and experts, as well as the Federal Commissioner for Antisemitism, who argue that the police's system of categorizing incidents leads to a distorted picture concerning the motive and the perpetrators' circle, and thus hampers effective policy making."
In 2020, the highest-profile anti-Semitic incident in Germany involved the Chief Rabbi of Munich, Shmuel Aharon Brodman. On July 9, while exiting a tram, he was verbally assaulted by four men who insulted him and made disparaging comments about the State of Israel. According to Brodman, the men spoke both English and Arabic. Police later said that the alleged suspects were between 20 and 30 years of age and of Arab descent.
To be sure, the far-right also bears responsibility for anti-Semitism in Germany — just not all of it, as is often claimed. One of Germany's leading anti-Semitism scholars, Monica Schwarz-Friesel, has noted that what makes the far right particularly frightening — and therefore more newsworthy — is that they are completely open about their hatred of Jews and Israel. By contrast, she said, Jew haters on the far left tend to shroud their anti-Semitism behind the guise of anti-Zionism and Palestinian activism.
Coronavirus-Related Anti-Semitism
The surge in anti-Semitism in Germany in 2020 is also related to the Coronavirus pandemic, which fringe groups are using as a pretext to spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Some of the conspiracy theories consist of medieval anti-Jewish scapegoating repackaged for a modern pandemic. A common claim is that Jews manufactured the Coronavirus to advance their supposed global control.
Most Coronavirus-related anti-Semitism is spread on the internet. A comprehensive assessment of Coronavirus-related anti-Semitism in Germany can be found in the 2020 Annual Report on Anti-Semitism published by Israel's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs on January 27, 2021:
"In 2020, a total of 42.3K German posts, written by 11.24K users, were categorized as antisemitic by the ACMS [Anti-Semitism Cyber Monitoring System]. New Antisemitism [manifested as opposition to Zionism and criticism of the Israeli government] (39.1%) and Classic Antisemitism [manifested as demonization of Jews, Jewish conspiracy theories and call for explicit violence against Jews] (40.5%) accounted for almost the same share of antisemitic discourse, and Holocaust Denial and Distortion accounted for 20.4%....
"The number of posts featuring Holocaust trivialization and antisemitic conspiracy theories referencing Covid-19 have been on the rise since March. The most common types of antisemitic posts relate to different forms of conspiracy theories and among them 53.4% contained Classic Antisemitism....
"Other altered antisemitic codes include theories surrounding 'Jewish influence,' and claims the pandemic serves the Jews to amass enormous profits from the vaccines, and thus take over the world's economy, and ultimately, world domination....
"Well-known Jewish personalities such as members of the Rothschild family or George Soros are referred to as backers, masterminds, or profiteers of the pandemic because of their alleged influence on the pharmaceutical industry.
"Anti-vaxxers also compare alleged 'vaccination stations' to Auschwitz, and claim that the police are developing a dictatorship which will persecute those who refuse the vaccine by sending them to concentration camps...."
Coronavirus Protests
As in other European countries, central and local governments in Germany have tried to contain the pandemic with lockdowns and other severe restrictions on personal movement. The extended social distancing measures, which have caused widespread economic and financial distress, have sparked anti-government protests.
Germans opposed to government lockdowns hail from across the political spectrum: this is not a strictly left or right issue, but one of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly to protest against what many perceive to be a massive government assault on civil liberties.
Some of the protests are being organized by a small but growing grassroots movement called Querdenker ("Unconventional Thinkers" or "Out-of-the-Box Thinkers") that opposes German Chancellor Angela Merkel's "Merkill Corona dictatorship."
The Querdenker movement was founded by Michael Ballweg, a Stuttgart-based software entrepreneur, to pressure the Merkel government to lift the Coronavirus-related restrictions on basic constitutional rights. It's manifesto states:
"We insist on the first 20 articles of our constitution: human rights; personal rights; freedom of belief and conscience; freedom of opinion; freedom of assembly; freedom of movement. We are non-partisan and do not exclude any opinion."
The movement, which now has 70 branches across Germany, has organized more than 100 Coronavirus protests, which, according to the group, have been attended by at least 100,000 people.
One of the largest Querdenker demonstrations to date took place in Berlin on August 29, 2020. An estimated 40,000 people — libertarians, constitutionalists, Greens, esoterics, naturopaths, LGBT activists, pandemic deniers, anti-vaccine and anti-mask activists and families with children — gathered to protest the government's Coronavirus policies. The protests turned violent after being infiltrated by several hundred far-right agitators waving Nazi-era flags.
Since then, dozens of anti-Semitic incidents have been reported at such rallies. Some protesters have been seen wearing t-shirts with Nazi-era yellow stars in which the word "Jew" was replaced with "unvaccinated." Others have carried posters with the inscription, "Vaccination makes you free," a reference to the "Work makes you free" slogan placed at the entrance to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Some have referred to the "final solution of the Corona question" as well as of "vaccination in Dachau."
Other protesters have trivialized the Holocaust by putting themselves on the same level as the Jews persecuted by the Nazi regime and by referring to themselves as resistance fighters opposing an allegedly undemocratic government. Some protesters have claimed that the government-imposed quarantines are equivalent to Nazi-era prison camps. Others have said that after being in quarantine, they now know how Anne Frank felt.
"By comparing the measures taken to contain the pandemic to the Holocaust, the Shoah is being trivialized," said Alexander Rasumny of RIAS. "Something like that is hurtful for all people who have a personal point of reference to the Shoah, actually for all Jewish people."
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas recently warned that many of the conspiracy theories about the Coronavirus pandemic had made it clear: "Even today, anti-Semitism is not just a phenomenon of the right-wing extremist fringes. It reaches into the middle of our society."
The German government's anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein, warned that the Coronavirus pandemic is becoming a breeding ground for anti-Jewish agitation:
"Unfortunately, it is not surprising that Jews and Israel are primary targets. Anti-Semitic hate speech spreads quickly on the internet and in particular on the common social media platforms.
"We are talking about a Jewish takeover of the world economy, Jewish profits from a possible vaccine, biological weapons developed by Israel, or a Jewish attempt to reduce the world population. The crudest forms of anti-Semitism are breaking out.
"The past has tragically shown that words can become deeds. Each and every individual is challenged here by intervening and reporting anti-Semitic defamations to the platform operators."
Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht announced more intensive action against anti-Jewish statements on the internet. "We will require more accountability from online platforms. They must not to allow themselves to be misused to agitate and hurl conspiracy theories."
Meanwhile, German analyst Stefan Frank has detailed how left-leaning media in Germany and elsewhere are also responsible for pushing anti-Israel and anti-Zionist memes related to the pandemic:
"Anti-Israel activists in the media are currently running a downright fake news campaign aimed at giving the public the false news that the Palestinians are not getting vaccines and that Israel is to blame. Not only AP and ZDF, but also a number of others are involved....
"Behind this is not just a general aversion to Israel, but the conscious strategy of never reporting anything positive about Israel. If the vaccinations have started in Israel, readers might get the idea that this is a good thing. That is why the message has to be turned into its opposite by omitting relevant information, distorting it and outright lies."
Select Commentary
The 2020 Annual Report on Anti-Semitism published by Israel's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs on January 27, 2021 noted:
"In 2021, Germany will be celebrating 1,700 years of Jewish life in its territory [the first documentary evidence of settlement of Jewish communities north of the Alps comes from the year 321. In an edict, Emperor Constantine allowed the magistrate of Cologne to accept Jewish members] but is still struggling with antisemitism....
"We identified a massive increase in consumption of conspiracy theories claiming that Jews sought to profit from the Coronavirus from the pharmaceutical industry, that Jews were disproportionately responsible for spreading the virus, or that Jews are using the virus to create a New World Order that will tighten their grasp over world economies. Anti-vaxxers wore yellow stars in demonstrations and posted them to their social media profiles; comparing coronavirus restrictions to the Nazi restrictions placed against Jews during the Holocaust while claiming they were being led to the vaccine 'like sheep to the slaughter.'
The head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, said:
"In view of the numerous anti-Semitic incidents at the Corona-denial demonstrations last year and the conspiracy myths on the internet, it was unfortunately to be expected that the number of anti-Semitic crimes would rise again. Now it is a sad certainty. The preliminary statistics show that the radicalization of society is advancing and respect for minorities is falling."
The German government's anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein, added:
"The rise in anti-Semitism must be a warning to us. In the course of the so-called Corona protests, the limits of what can be said were shifted, the Shoah was relativized, and well-known anti-Semitic hate images renewed.
"The increase in criminal offenses is a clear sign that democracy must show itself to be defensive, especially in crises such as the ongoing pandemic. Social cohesion is measured especially here in Germany by how firmly we stand together against hatred of Jews."
In a Die Welt essay — "More Than Two Thousand Crimes but Only Five Arrests?" — columnist Henryk Broder concluded:
"With the exception of Bremen and Hamburg, every federal state has an 'anti-Semitism officer,' and in Berlin there are even four. They all agree: 'There is no place for anti-Semitism in Germany.' Negative consequences of the Enlightenment? People who cling to conspiracy theories might be tempted to believe in a correlation, possibly even a causality: the more anti-Semitism is fought, the more it spreads. Awareness campaigns can also have negative consequences. People do exactly what they are warned not to do. Smoking, drinking, having unprotected sex, eating an unhealthy diet, driving a car faster than allowed. That is why, for example, suicides are reported very cautiously, and nobody should be encouraged to imitate them.
"If this were also the case with anti-Semitism, the concept of anti-Semitism would have to be rethought. The traditional recipes have proven to be of little help: reading the diaries of Anne Frank, Elie Wiesel and Imre Kertész, visits to concentration camps, conversations with contemporary witnesses. The movie 'Schindler's List' arrived at German cinemas in 1994 and had more than six million (!) viewers. The film 'changed the image of the Nazi dictatorship and the historical awareness of the murder of European Jews' (Deutschlandfunk Kultur). Viewed in this way, Germany should have long been an anti-Semitism free zone, a role model for the whole world, with a foreign minister who 'went into politics because of Auschwitz.' It's really bad that you cannot force reality to behave as theory would like it to."
*Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute.
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Erdoğan's War Against Freedom on Campus
Burak Bekdil/The Gatestone Institute/February 24/2021
Bosporus University (Boğaziçi Üniversitesi in Turkish, or BOUN in its acronym) is one of Turkey's top three "Ivy League" higher education institutions. Established as Robert College in 1863, BOUN was the first American university founded outside the US. Its founders were wealthy philanthropist Christopher Robert and missionary Cyrus Hamlin. Robert College was handed over to the Turkish government in 1971 and reflagged itself as BOUN.
BOUN's notable graduates include former prime ministers Tansu Çiller and Ahmet Davutoğlu. Times Higher Education put BOUN in 601-800 in its 2021 world university ranking. Every year about 2.5 million Turkish pupils take a national examination to enter a university. In last year's examination 708 of the top 1,000 in 2.5 million contenders enrolled at BOUN. In other words, 70% of Turkey's best students prefer this university.
Turkish Islamists have always been at odds with the liberal, pro-Western traditions of BOUN. In an interview, Binali Yıldırım, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's choice for prime minister in 2016, commented that he did not attend BOUN in his youth because he "saw boys and girls sitting and talking together in the university's yard" and found the genders intermixing unacceptable. It was precisely this ideological incompatibility that opened a new front in the battle between tyrannical Islamism and an elite university.
Melih Bulu is the first non-BOUN graduate to serve as rector of the university since 1971.
On February 2, Turkish police detained more than 150 people peacefully protesting Erdoğan's appointment of a party loyalist as BOUN's new rector. It was the first time a non-BOUN graduate was appointed as head of the university since 1971. Students, professors and alumni have been protesting the appointment of rector Melih Bulu, a former member of Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party, since early January. Police even raided some of the demonstrators' homes and barricaded the BOUN campus.
In non-violent demonstrations, protesters called for Bulu to resign as the university's rector and for the university to be allowed to elect its own president, saying the appointment was an affront to academic liberties. On February 3, Erdoğan denounced student protesters as "terrorists" and vowed to crackdown on demonstrations. By then the police had detained more than 250 students. Erdoğan admitted he feared the BOUN protests could grow into anti-government protests and said he would not let them swell.
Erdoğan singled out LGBTQ students as instigators of unrest and deviants from Turkish values.
In addition to branding demonstrators as terrorists, Erdoğan and government officials stoked a polarizing and poisonous tradition battle, by singling out the university's LGBTQ college students as instigators of unrest and portraying them as deviant from Turkish values. "There is no such thing as LGBT. This country is national, spiritual, and marching toward the future with these values," said Erdoğan. Tweets posted by Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu denigrating the LGBTQ college students by calling them perverts were found by Twitter to have violated its guidelines about "hateful conduct," marked with a warning label and partially hidden from public view.
After a barrage of criticism came from the United States and Europe, Erdoğan accused the U.S. and European nations of double standards, for "crushing" protests in their countries but portraying as "innocent those who terrorize the streets" in Turkey. "We will not show mercy toward those who have become the toy of organizations involved in terror and who regard the use of violence as a means of seeking justice," he said. "We will grab hold of their collars and bring them to justice."
In a speech to the Turkish youths, Erdoğan said in May 2015: "Never bow before men of power, not even before a president, a prime minister, the rich and wealthy. Remember, sycophancy never befits the dignity of this nation's youth." Two years later, in 2017, Erdoğan again said: "We do not need a youth that unquestioningly obeys. We need a youth that knows what [ideas] it defends and why."
For Erdoğan, youth dissent is good only if it protests ideas Islamism opposes.
BOUN protesters are precisely the kind of youth Erdoğan prescribed in 2015 and 2017. All the same, instead of praise, Erdoğan wants to punish them as "terrorists."
Has Erdoğan changed since 2015? He has not. But then he still had hopes of raising a "pious generation" of youth. No longer. In his Islamist worldview, youth dissent is good only if it protests ideas Islamism opposes, not if it protests Islamists.
*Burak Bekdil is an Ankara-based political analyst and a fellow at the Middle East Forum.
 

Islam Requires Migrants to Hate Their Western Benefactors
Raymond Ibrahim/February 24/2021
Imagine if a U.S. governmental agency told all Americans who live abroad that they are obligated to hate the nations that are hosting them.
That’s precisely what the Muslim nation of Qatar (a “U.S. friend and ally”) is doing. According to the world famous website, Islamweb.net—which is directed and financed by the state of Qatar—any Muslim who lives in a non-Muslim nation is obligated to hate his adopted nation and its “infidel” citizens (even while receiving benefits from them). This comes in the form of a fatwa (an Islamic sanctioned decree) titled “Conditions that Legitimize Residing in Infidel Nations” (all translations in this article my own). Along with “preserving and upholding his Islam,” the “first condition” for any Muslim who lives among non-Muslims is that he/she has “enmity and hatred for the infidels.”This, incidentally, applies to those millions of Muslim migrants voluntarily immigrating into and flooding Western Europe. If they take their Islam seriously, they are duty bound to hate and be disloyal to those nations welcoming them in and providing them with free food, shelter, and healthcare.
After stating that Muslims who emigrate to the West must have “enmity and hatred for the infidels, staying far from their loyalty and love—for loyalty and love for them contradicts the faith,” the fatwa proceeds to give its evidence, that is, it goes on to quote several supporting verses from the Koran, including:
You will never find a people that truly believes in Allah and the Last Day loyal to those who defy Allah and His Messenger—even if they be their parents, children, siblings, or extended family [Koran 58:22]….
Oh you who believe! Do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends and allies, for they are friends and allies of each other; and whoever among you befriends them is from among them. Allah does not guide the unjust people [Koran 5:51].
After quoting Muhammad in a sahih (authentic) hadith, saying, “Whoever loves a people is from among them,” the fatwa concludes by saying “loving the enemies of Allah is among the greatest dangers for a Muslim, for loving them necessitates cooperating with and following them, or at least not rejecting them—hence why the prophet said, ‘Whoever loves a people is from among them.’”
(Here it should be noted that just merely being a non-Muslim makes one an enemy of Allah; no action is required.)
This teaching by Qatar’s Islamweb.net is not out of the mainstream. For example, on the equally popular Islam Q&A, the same question is answered with the same exact answer: Any Muslim who lives among non-Muslims must have “enmity and hatred for the infidels, staying far from their loyalty and love—for loyalty and love for them contradicts the faith.”
Remember all this the next time you hear that “xenophobia” is responsible for Muslim failure to assimilate into the West. This may be true, though not because Western people “fear the stranger”—as commonly supposed—but rather because Muslim migrants hate the infidel.
 

Oberlin ‘professor of peace’ called for destruction of Israel in 1989 speech
Benjamin Weinthal/Fox News/February 24/2021
Former Iranian ambassador-turned-academic defended violent Palestinian intifada in 1989
Oberlin College is facing fresh criticism for continuing to give a platform to a so-called “professor of peace,” Mohammad Jafar Mahallati, who as Iranian ambassador to the United Nations urged the elimination of the Jewish state.
A Fox News Digital investigation can reveal for the first time that Mahallati, a professor of Islamic Studies at the liberal arts college in Ohio, declared to the U.N. in 1988: “The adoption, by the General Assembly in 1947, of resolution 181 (II) on the partition of the land of Palestine and the establishment of the Zionist entity was itself in violation of provisions of the United Nations Charter, as well as of the rules of international law.”
Mahallati’s letters and speeches, reviewed by Fox News, covered the 1980s, particularly while he served as the Islamic Republic’s envoy to the United Nations from 1987 to 1989. Mahallati denied the right of Israel to exist as a state, according to human rights and anti-Semitism experts.
At the U.N. in 1989, Mahallati defended the first Palestinian intifada — a series of violent protests and riots against the Jewish state — as “the heroic uprising of Palestinians.”
Palestinians are setting an example for Arabs and Muslims across the world with respect to the “holy struggle against oppression and Zionism,” Mahallati said at the U.N., also in 1989.
In his speeches, the academic appears to reference the entirety of Israel as Palestinian territory.
“Palestine is an Islamic territory, an Islamic heritage, and it remains an Islamic point of identity. The land of Palestine is the platform of the ascension of the Prophet Mohammad; its significance is that it contains the first kiblah direction−towards which Muslims prayed. Its occupation by Zionist usurpers is a transgression against all Muslims of the world and its liberation is therefore a great religious obligation and commitment,” Mahallati said at the U.N. that same year.
While Mahallati would later claim, in an October 2020 letter obtained by Fox News, “[I] dedicated my life to research, teaching and writing about peace and friendship,” the U.N. document trail shows an ambassador who criticized opponents of the Islamic Republic and the Jewish state, and defended his country’s treatment of the peaceful Baha’i community amid accusations that the group was being persecuted.
Iran’s regime has executed members of the Baha’i community for merely practicing their faith, and the U.S. and U.N. have both documented severe persecution of the Baha’i by the clerical regime in Tehran.
Mahallati said in 1983, according to the U.N.: “The problem was not religious but political; the Baha’i community conducted immoral activities under the cover of religion.”
“The Iranian regime engages in what I call an ‘obsessive anti-Semitism,’ and Iran’s former ambassador to the UN is no exception,” Ellie Cohanim, the U.S. State Department’s former deputy special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism, told Fox News. “The fact that Oberlin College would hire such a person, never mind give him tenure, is a stain on an institution that is meant to educate young Americans.”
Cohanim, who fled the Islamic Republic as a young child due to widespread regime-sponsored anti-Semitism, added that Mahallati’s “1989 statements at the UN glorify terrorism and what he calls ‘martyrdom,’ he denies the Jewish people the right to live in any part of their ancient homeland, and he attempts to revise history by calling Israel an “Islamic land,” knowing very well that Judaism predated the rise of Islam by thousands of years and that Israel is the birthplace of the Jews.
“This man is no ‘Professor of Peace.’ He is in fact a professor of propaganda and Oberlin College holds a responsibility to fully investigate Mahallati’s anti-Semitic statements and his knowledge of the 1988 Massacre in Iran,” Cohanim said.
Mahallati has also faced questions from critics about what he knew about the 1988 executions of political prisoners. He has denied knowledge of or responsibility for the killings.
“Mahallati has not yet accounted for his role in the cover-up of the 1988 mass extrajudicial killings of political prisoners in Iran, with estimates of 5,000-10,000 Iranians murdered by the regime,” Cohanim said.
Mariam Memarsadeghi, a leading proponent of a democratic Iran and co-founder of Tavaana: E-Learning Institute for Iranian Civil Society, told Fox News: “Oberlin College is reputed to be an elite American institution of progressive learning. But what is progressive about having on staff a tenured professor − of ‘peace’ no less − who calls Israelis ‘savages’ and justifies the terrorist acts of Palestinian armed groups?”
She added that “Mahallati did this when he represented the Islamic Republic at the UN in the 1980s, when the regime funded Palestinians as proxy forces against the State of Israel and massacred thousands of political prisoners at home. The people of Iran risk their lives to protest against the Islamic Republic’s sponsorship of terror groups in the Middle East. But Mr. Mahallati is on the record defending this evil. Why is he legitimized with an academic post in the US?”
When asked about the criticism of his statements, Mahallati wrote back: “Greetings! I am on sabbatical leave for the spring of 2021. I will respond back whenever I can.”
Mahallati wrote in the October letter, a copy of which was obtained by Fox News: “I categorically deny any knowledge and therefore responsibility regarding mass executions in Iran when I was serving at the United Nations. I was in New York the entire summer of 1988, focusing on peacemaking between Iran and Iraq, and did not receive any briefing regarding executions. There was not a single communication from Tehran to Iran’s UN embassy informing Iranian diplomats of those incidents.”
Oberlin College spokesman Scott Wargo told Fox News that “Professor Mahallati is a tenured professor and has been a teacher at Oberlin since 2007. We received the letter today expressing concerns about his statements during a meeting with United Nations representatives more than 30 years ago. We are in touch with Professor Mahallati to gather additional information.”
The letter refers to an October public missive from Iranians, many of whom had family members murdered in the brutal prisons of the Islamic Republic, urging Oberlin to open an inquiry into Mahallati’s role in defending the rulers of Iran’s theocratic state.
When asked whether Oberlin College had indeed gathered information from Mahallati, Wargo said, “The college doesn’t have anything to add to its previous statement.”
Corey Barnes, who graduated from Oberlin College in 1998 and is the chairman of its Religion Department, told Fox News: “Thank you for the email. I would direct you to Professor Mahallati’s two responses to the allegations and have nothing to add.”
Fox News also sent press queries to the Oberlin Alumni Association.
Lawdan Bazargan, an Iranian-American whose then 29-year-old brother Bijan Bazargan was murdered by the regime in the 1988 massacre for refusing to answer questions about his beliefs on Islam and politics, told Fox News: “Mahallati used his time as the ambassador of the United Nations to lie, distort the truth, and deny the Islamic Republic of Iran’s atrocities.”
She added that “What makes the families of the victims the most upset is that he is teaching in higher education, pretending to be a peace scholar. A man who was working for a brutal Islamic regime, helping them conceal crimes and lying to the world as a diplomat, now teaches ethics and morality. This hypocrisy is too much to bear and is frankly, unacceptable.”
Lawdan Bazargan urged Mahallati to “face us, the families of the victims” and engage “in a dialogue where we can question him about his involvement.
“If he doesn’t have anything to hide, why doesn’t he agree to participate in such a discourse?” she asked.
Marjan Keypour Greenblatt, an Iranian in exile in the U.S. who is the founder and director of the Alliance for Rights of All Minorities, told Fox News: “Mahallati has not only been allegedly involved in a cover-up of a bloody massacre, but he has evidently failed to persistently and unconditionally condemn human rights violations in Iran. The refusal to condemn cruelty to other human beings is a disqualifier for any academic role, particularly a professor of ethics and religion.”
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, a human rights group that monitors Jew hatred, told Fox News: “Mahallati recalls the days of the Soviet Union, where concepts were weaponized to serve the regime’s goals. Selecting a man who defended the murder of Iranian citizens and support for the ‘liberation of Palestine’ from the ‘Zionist regime’ to be the college’s Professor of ‘Peace’ is a perversion of basic academic responsibilities. Students are ‘learning’ from a man who publicly covered his regime’s horrific human rights abuses and promoted the movement that sought to destroy the Jewish state.
“Students should sue the college to get their tuition back. And there is one other question. How is this man allowed to stay in the US?” Cooper asked.
*Benjamin Weinthal reports on human rights in the Middle East and is a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Follow him on Twitter @BenWeinthal. FDD is a nonpartisan think tank focused on foreign policy and national security issues.

Iranian regime shoots fuel traders causing revolt in Saravan
Benjamin Weinthal/Jerusalem Post/February 24/2021
The 'Post' can also reveal a tweet that shows footage of the IRGC shooting at protesters.
Protesters occupied government offices on Tuesday in the Iranian city of Saravan – the capital of Saravan County in the Sistan and Baluchestan province – over the killing of fuel traders on the border of Pakistan and the Islamic Republic.
The shooting at the Pakistan-Iran border resulted in at least ten dead and six injured.
The Jerusalem Post verified video footage on Twitter that shows Iranians in Saravan protesting against the regime. The Islamic republic shut down the Internet in the region due to the revolt. According to US government news outlet Radio Farda, “Citizens and security forces have clashed in Iran's southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan Province, a day after the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) opened fire on fuel smugglers, killing as many as 10 of them.” The US government classifies the IRGC as a terrorist organization.
The Post can also reveal a tweet that shows footage of the IRGC shooting at protesters.
Sheina Vojoudi, an Iranian dissident who fled the Islamic Republic of Iran due to repression, told the Post that “today, the people of Saravan continued their protest against the Islamic Republic's massacre and cruelty, and the whole province joined them by blocking the main roads. "Iranians inside Iran and all around the world are trying to be their voice after the regime cut off the internet in Saravan," she said. "As a result of today's regime cruelty, Iranians are calling for a nationwide uprising which has been expected to happen since November 2019.”
Nationwide protests erupted in Iran over rising fuel prices in 2019. According to a Reuters article, Iran’s regime murdered at least 1,500 people for their peaceful protest at the time.
Vojoudi added that “The people of Iran are fire under ash and the regime knows it perfectly. Baluchi activists called for a strike in the whole province. Hopefully, we [will] see another Iran protest and more support from the international communities. Once again, IRGC opened fire on unarmed civilians. I'm waiting for the international reaction, especially now that they're trying to save the JCPOA."
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, known as the Iran deal, is supposed to curb Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
Radio Farda reported that five people were injured on February 23 during the violence. The IRGC used live fire on protesters, causing the deaths and wounded. Iranian border guards opened fire on protesters at a police station in Taftan in southwestern Baluchistan, which resulted in the death of one protester and several injured. Mohammad Hadi Marashi, deputy governor of the Sistan and Baluchestan Province, told Iranian state TV about the clash at the police station.
The IRGC has sought over the years to stop fuel smuggling in the impoverished desert province by “digging holes” along the border, Radio Farda reported, adding that fuel traders have resisted because of the need to earn a living. According to the radio station, The European-based Campaign of Baluch Activists said several demonstrators had been injured and that police used tear gas to disperse them.
SEPARATELY, Iran’s regime seized lands owned by members of the persecuted Baha’i religious minority community.
Former Canadian ministers of justice and former Canadian judges, among other from the country’s legal profession, published a public letter in February to the Iranian regime’s Chief Justice Ebrahim Raisi, stating: “The year 2020 brought an alarming new chapter in this saga, when two Iranian courts issued judgments that declared ownership of lands by 27 Bahá'ís in the village to be illegitimate on the basis of their religious belief.”
The authors noted that “under the current Iranian government, Bahá'ís have experienced home raids, attacks on properties, confiscation of possessions, dismissals from employment, denial of access to higher education, imprisonment and execution. Bahá'ís have sought legal remedies, but to little avail. Recently, one of the oldest Bahá'í communities in Iran has come under intense attack.”
The signatories wrote that “we, too, stand with the Bahá'ís of Iran and call upon you, as the head of the Iranian judiciary, to address this new abuse inflicted upon the Bahá'ís of Ivel.”
Iran’s regime faced severe criticism for publicly hanging a woman three days ago after she suffered a heart attack.
The Islamic Republic’s opaque judicial system convicted Zahra Ismaili for the murder of her husband Alireza Zamani, sentenced to be hanged at Rajai Shahr Prison – roughly 20 miles outside of Tehran.
According to a report in the British daily The Sun, her lawyer Omid Moradi said “they hanged her lifeless body.” The lawyer said they did it so that “her husband’s mother could exercise her right to kick away the chair from under her.”Zahra Ismaili's death certificate noted "cardiac arrest" as the cause of her death. “He said her husband was an official of the Iranian intelligence ministry and that he was abusive to his family, so she acted to defend herself and her daughter,” according to The Sun.