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

#elias_bejjani_news
 

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Bible Quotations For today

Do all things without murmuring and arguing, so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish
Letter to the Philippians 02/12-18/:”Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without murmuring and arguing, so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world. It is by your holding fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labour in vain. But even if I am being poured out as a libation over the sacrifice and the offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you and in the same way you also must be glad and rejoice with me.”

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

Health Ministry: 3,010 new Corona cases, 50 deaths
Lebanon’s top Christian cleric lashes out at ‘stubborn and destructive’ officials
Major Surprise Expected in Port Blast Investigations
Israeli Warplanes Overfly Most Lebanese Regions
Israeli Troops Nab 7 Cows from Lebanon’s al-Wazzani
Al-Rahi to Politicians: Don't You Fear God?
Report: Hariri's Stance on New Government Unchanged
Lebanon’s PSP, FPM Dig up War Past in Heated Dispute
Frankly Speaking/Text-Video Interview With Bahaa Hariri/January 24/2021/Arab News Web Site

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

Biden will work with Israel to build on regional normalization deals, says Sullivan
More than 20 injured by blast in Gaza home
Indonesia Says it Has Seized Iranian Tanker
UAE cabinet approves opening embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel opens embassy in Abu Dhabi
Morocco PM Rejects ‘Betrayal’ Accusations after Signing Normalization Deal with Israel
Germany to Use Corona Meds that Helped Trump
US condemns air attack on Riyadh, vows to protect stability of Kingdom
Kremlin Says U.S. Interfering in Russian 'Domestic Affairs'
Kremlin Says Putin Ready for Dialogue if US Willing
Over half of Syria’s children deprived of education, says UNICEF
Palestinians ask European Union to send observers to monitor long-awaited elections
11 fighters from Iraq’s PMU militias killed in ISIS attack: Security sources
Kuwait emir reappoints prime minister to form new cabinet, KUNA reports
 

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

Turkey: Elderly Christian Man Still Missing Year Later/Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute/January 24/2021
“This Is a Warning to Christians in All Parts of the World”: The Persecution of Christians, December 2020/Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/January 24/2021
Biden will not wait for Israel to make moves on Iran/Alex Fishman|/Ynetnews/January 24/202
EU rewarding Iranian aggression by seeking return to nuclear deal/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/January 24/2021
Iran must prove it is serious before Gulf talks can begin/Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami/Arab News/January 24/2021
'Je ne regrette rien' won't do, M. Macron/Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib/Arab News/January 24/2021

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

Health Ministry: 3,010 new Corona cases, 50 deaths
NNA/January 24/2021
The Ministry of Public Health announced, Sunday, the registration of 3,010 new Coronavirus cases, thus raising the cumulative number of confirmed cases to-date to 279,579.
It added that 50 deaths were also reported within the past 24 hours.

Lebanon’s top Christian cleric lashes out at ‘stubborn and destructive’ officials
Najia Houssari/Arab News/January 24/2021
President and prime-minister designate at loggerheads
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s top Christian cleric lashed out at “stubborn and destructive” officials on Sunday for blocking the formation of a new government.
Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai used his sermon to denounce those who were blocking the process, painting a grim picture of how Lebanon was struggling during the pandemic and a financial crisis. Politicians have failed to agree on a new administration since the last one resigned after the devastating Aug. 4 explosion in Beirut. There has also been a sharp increase in tension between President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri. Al-Rai led mediation efforts to resolve the deadlock and complications, but failed in his endeavors. The patriarch fumed at “the obduracy of the officials in Lebanon in their stubborn and destructive stances for the state as an entity and institutions.”“With what conscience, what justification, what kind of authority and right, and by whose mandate do you not form a government?” he demanded to know. “Why do you not form a government when the people are crying out from pain, starving from poverty and dying from disease?”Hospitals were full of patients, he continued. Clinics and pharmacies lacked medicines, stores lacked food, and the monetary and economic crises had reached their climax. “The economy is fading away, agricultural production is destroyed, people are standing at the doors of banks hopelessly begging for their money, the major military, financial and judicial state institutions are hit in their prestige, morale and officials due to programmed campaigns and malicious rumors.”Borders had no control, there was smuggling at the country’s expense, sovereignty was incomplete, independence was suspended, corruption was rampant, and unemployment and poverty affected more than half of the population, he added. “The capital is afflicted, the port is destroyed, the wealth of oil and gas is seized and the country (has) entered the orbit of final collapse.”
His anger followed an intense period of bickering between the country’s political factions about why a government was not being formed.
Aoun said the president had a constitutional right to approve the entire Cabinet formation before signing it off, while Hariri said the problem did not lie with him but “rather with the president who objects and says that he does not approve this or that name, but does not give an explanation for his objection.”
A statement on Saturday night from the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), led by Aoun’s son-in-law MP Gebran Bassil, attacked Hariri. “The time of foreign tutelage has ended and it is an illusion that some are trying to replace it with internal hegemony,” it said. “This means giving up attempts to seize the political rights of any Lebanese component.”
FPM MP Cesar Abi Khalil said that Aoun would not resign and that the FPM lawmakers had not named Hariri to head the government because they did not trust him with the task required at this stage.Insults lit up social media, with lurid comments such as “Senile Aoun” and “Berri for theft and corruption,” a reference to Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Former minister Nazem El-Khoury said that the patriarch had expressed the pain of all Lebanese people in his sermon. He addressed the FPM, saying: “For those who claim to defend the rights of Christians, please do not be more Christian than the patriarch of the Maronites and the whole of Lebanon.” The Lebanese daily Ad-Diyar reported on Sunday that a political and parliamentary official was concerned about “attempts to disrupt solutions in Lebanon as if there was a plot to bring down Lebanon.”The official expressed fears that what was required was the “survival of the caretaker government headed by Hassan Diab until the end of the term.”Diab formed his government last January to tackle the country’s worst economic crisis in decades. His administration came to office after his predecessor, Hariri, resigned in the face of mass protests.

Major Surprise Expected in Port Blast Investigations
Naharnet/Sunday, 24 January, 2021
The “coming days will carry a bombshell surprise” regarding the catastrophic August 4 explosion at the port of Beirut, legal sources said. “This file will not be closed and the investigation will not stop, no matter how much they try to besiege the judiciary,” the sources told the al-Anbaa newspaper of the Progressive Socialist Party. “Heavyweight figures shall be targeted,” the sources added. Recent media reports have linked the ammonium nitrate shipment that exploded at the port to pro-regime Syrian businessmen.

Israeli Warplanes Overfly Most Lebanese Regions
Naharnet/Sunday, 24 January, 2021
Israeli warplanes on Sunday violated Lebanon's airspace over Beirut and several regions. Over the capital, two fighter jets were heard and seen flying at medium and high altitudes. The National News Agency meanwhile reported that Israeli warplanes overflew the southern regions of Hasbaya, al-Orqoub, Sidon and Jezzine at low altitude. The jets also overflew the heights of Mount Hermon and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. TV networks also reported that the warplanes overflew Lebanon’s eastern and western mountain ranges at medium altitude.
An intensification of Israeli overflights in Lebanon’s airspace usually precedes Israeli airstrikes on neighboring Syria. Israel has recently intensified low-altitude warplane missions in Lebanese skies, causing jitters among residents and prompting Lebanon to file an urgent complaint to the U.N.

Israeli Troops Nab 7 Cows from Lebanon’s al-Wazzani
Naharnet/Sunday, 24 January, 2021
Fifteen Israeli soldiers on Sunday opened the border gate at al-Wazzani and scoured the area facing the parks, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported. “Before their withdrawal, they seized seven cows,” the agency added.
Israeli forces had recently abducted a Lebanese shepherd from the Kfarshouba area and accused him of being a Hizbullah spy. He was released several days later. Another abduction attempt was also recorded in recent days.

Al-Rahi to Politicians: Don't You Fear God?
Naharnet/Sunday, 24 January, 2021
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday lashed out at Lebanon’s politicians over their protracted failure to form a new government. “Why don’t you form a government while the people are screaming from pain, starving from poverty and dying from disease?” al-Rahi asked in his Sunday Mass sermon. “Don’t you fear God, the people and the court of conscience and history? Would a reasonable person believe that the dispute is over the interpretation of a constitutional article that is clear as the sun?” the patriarch added. “The constitution was devised for implementation, not debate, and let it be a source of agreement not contention,” he urged, addressing officials. He noted that in the face of the “fateful challenges” that Lebanon is facing, “formal sacrifices become of little value and it is enough for intentions to be good.”“Anyhow, making an initiative in this direction would gain the respect of the people and the public and would reflect a sense of responsibility,” al-Rahi added. He also pointed out that “had there been neutrality in Lebanon, we would not have witnessed any constitutional crisis, including the current crisis of government formation.” “In addition to partisan interests that produce crises and wars in Lebanon, the main reason remains partiality and the multiple allegiances,” al-Rahi said.

Report: Hariri's Stance on New Government Unchanged
Naharnet/Sunday, 24 January, 2021
Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri has informed the club of ex-PMs that he will maintain his stance regarding the formation of the new government, a source close to the club said. Hariri told the former premiers that he “will not back down from his vision for the formation of the government in harmony with the initiative launched by French President Emmanuel Macron to rescue Lebanon,” the source told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published Sunday. “There is no alternative” to the French initiative, the source quoted Hariri as saying.
The source also revealed that that the ex-PMs agreed in a meeting a few days ago to “intensify the pressures towards President Michel Aoun so that he removes the obstacles he is still putting in the way.”
 

Lebanon’s PSP, FPM Dig up War Past in Heated Dispute
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 24 January, 2021
A dispute resurged between Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) and the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), over recent statements by former MP and PSP leader Walid Jumblatt, in which he lashed out at President Michel Aoun, saying that his son-in-law, former minister Gebran Bassil was seeking to control the government. Jumblatt said Bassil wanted to have the “vetoing third” in the new government, to be able to tighten his grip on power. He also spoke of “military black rooms that control the judiciary and attack the army commander.”Bassil’s FPM slammed “the low level of political rhetoric among some of those with dark intentions and malevolent actions, by repeatedly talking about the age of the president of the republic, in contradiction to moral values, or by trying to drive a wedge between the FPM and the Lebanese army.” Recalling the 1975-90 civil war, the FPM said in a statement: “It is political profanity when we are given lessons in patriotism by those who have killed, kidnapped, attacked the army and seized its equipment and barracks, and established their own sanctuary, rejecting state security.” The statement added: “The system that struck the legitimacy, seized the country’s resources, and established for 15 years a corrupt rule that led to the collapse of the state, is rejecting the values that President Aoun represents, the state’s legitimacy he embodies and the auditing and accountability he insists on implementing.” In response, PSP MP Bilal Abdallah criticized those he called “the horns of decadent replies,” writing on Twitter: “An owl, no matter how loud its voice, will not become an eagle, and a cat, no matter how sharp its claws, will not become a tiger…”PSP Secretary Zafer Nasser, attacked those who “falsified history and caused calamities, woe and oppression… while trying to prove their loyalty to the decision-maker in (the FPM), and almost suffocated with their anger, falling victim to their own evil...”

فيديو ونص مقابلة باللغة الإنكليزية من موقع أرب نيوز مع بهاء الحريري
Frankly Speaking/Text-Video Interview With Bahaa Hariri
January 24/2021/Arab News Web Site
Hezbollah should have no role in Lebanon’s future, says Bahaa Hariri, son of Rafik Hariri.Bahaa Hariri appearing on the latests episode of Frankly Speaking, with Frank Kane.
FRANK KANE/January 24, 2021
Broad alliance needed to implement unfinished business of 1989 Taif Agreement, Bahaa Hariri tells Frankly Speaking.He contrasts contribution of “true friend” Saudi Arabia with part played by Iran, which has never “given us a penny”
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/95258/%d9%81%d9%8a%d8%af%d9%8a%d9%88-%d9%88%d9%86%d8%b5-%d9%85%d9%82%d8%a7%d8%a8%d9%84%d8%a9-%d8%a8%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%84%d8%ba%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a5%d9%86%d9%83%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%b2%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d9%85%d9%86/
DUBAI: Bahaa Hariri, the eldest son of slain Lebanese statesman Rafik Hariri, is calling for a broad alliance — a “supermajority” — to coalesce around a plan to agree on the way forward for Lebanon as it faces multiple crises.
Such an alliance is needed to implement the unfinished business of the Taif Agreement, the peace deal brokered by Saudi Arabia 30 years ago, Bahaa said as he gave a candid assessment of Lebanon’s situation on Frankly Speaking, the televised interview in which senior Middle East policymakers are questioned on their views about the most important issues of the day.
“We have to make sure that across the sectarian divide, the forces of moderation go hand in hand to put (together) a complete comprehensive plan — whether it’s an economic plan, a COVID-19 plan, a constitutional plan, a judiciary plan, or a security plan,” he said, noting that Lebanese was “at the precipice.”
Bahaa, a billionaire Lebanese businessman, added: “We seek the full support of Saudi Arabia to make sure of the full implementation of the Taif Accord. It is key for us that Saudi Arabia helps us out and supports us in this. That's the key.”
The Taif Agreement, signed in 1989 under Saudi auspices at the end of the bitter civil war, had never been fully implemented, Bahaa said, but remained as a blueprint for achieving progress in the country. “If we are going to come to the Arab world and the international community, they’ll tell us you have an accord, but three-quarters of it hasn’t been executed,” he said.
“If we want a new accord, it may take us another 10 years and maybe half a million dead.”
Referring to the Taif Agreement, Bahaa said: “We need to make sure that this accord is executed to the letter: The separation of religion from the executive and the legislative branches; the establishment of a senate that protects minorities; the establishment of an independent judiciary; and an electoral law that meets the aspirations of all Lebanese. And that we have a new election.”
Having said that, Bahaa made it clear he had no plans to put himself forward as a possible leader of Lebanon as it continues months-long attempts to form a new administration. "I don't have all the answers to many questions and I don't want to be the leader,” he said.
“Today, we don't have a civil war - we have complete mismanagement of a configuration that is in complete divorce. That configuration, of course, is Hezbollah, and the warlords and whoever supported them.
“The situation is only getting worse and that's why we believe that the economic plan and the entire plan that we're putting together has to be around a non-sectarian government, a technocratic government that takes the agenda moving forward.”By the same token, Bahaa said there should be no role for Iran-backed Hezbollah in the new agenda, and castigated Iran for its destructive interference in Lebanon’s affairs.
“Iran has never given us a penny. It has always supported a terrorist organization called Hezbollah, which is not the Lebanese people but only a sect within the Lebanese people. It has killed people and has tried to destroy everything we're trying, as good Lebanese, to move forward,” he said angrily.
Bahaa contrasted the part Iran has played with the role played by Saudi Arabia, which he said had been a “true friend” of Lebanon. “Saudi Arabia has done a lot for Lebanon. It has helped us with the Taif Accord, and on political stability. It has helped us in putting billions of dollar deposits after Taif to stabilize the currency,” he said.
“It was always in the lead in encouraging other GCC nations in pouring foreign direct investment in the Central Bank to stabilize Lebanon, and encourage foreign direct investments from the Arab world to invest in Lebanon.”
Bahaa would welcome constructive involvement from the international community to help solve Lebanon’s ongoing crisis, but is wary of further involvement by Emmanuel Macron after the French leader called for the involvement of Hezbollah in the reform process.
“We welcomed (France’s) help, and we welcome any initiative, but as we have said, it has to fall in line with the aspirations of the revolution,” Bahaa said, referring to the protest movement that appeared in Lebanon in October 2019 and intensified after the horrific explosion at Beirut port last summer.
“We welcome all efforts from the international community, but the most important thing is that it has to meet the aspirations of the Lebanese. The Lebanese want total divorce of Hezbollah and the warlords. I don't think Lebanon can afford any more patch-up solutions.”
Bahaa is also hopeful that the new Biden administration in the US, as well as British and European governments, can be persuaded to get involved in the Lebanese reform process. Equally, he is optimistic that the new opportunities presented by the Abraham Accords, as well as the reopening of trade and economic relations between Saudi Arabia and Qatar, can defuse tensions in the Middle East and Lebanon.
Hezbollah is suing Hariri in the Lebanese judicial system after he blamed the Iran-backed group for the explosion, but he is determined to defend the case strenuously. “The alleged offense is that we have tarnished the reputation of a branded global terrorist organization,” Bahaa said. “We believe that — based on the most reputable investigative reporters of the world — that they control the port. Fine, if that's the case. We have the best lawyers who will defend our case.”
The Aug. 19, 2020, verdict of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which investigated the 2005 assassination of his father, represented “closure” in the case, but added that there remained substantial evidence of the responsibility of Hezbollah’s senior leadership.“These courts are not after a party; they are after individuals. The courts were very clear in saying that they had evidence, but not enough evidence to indict the others,” Bahaa said.
As for his father’s legacy, Bahaa said it has been squandered in the sense that the opportunities presented by the Taif Agreement have been wasted by successive Lebanese politicians who are responsible for the current dire condition of the country. “We were almost there, and (the current political leaders) have to bear the full brunt and the responsibility of what happened,” he said.
Speaking about his younger brother, Saad Hariri, who was prime minister of Lebanon for six of the last 11 years, Bahaa said his fraternal affection remains, but that political differences were insurmountable, especially relating to Hezbollah and the influence of Lebanese “warlords” over the political process.
Bahaa Hariri said the forces of moderation in Lebanon need to work together across the sectarian divide to tackle the countries crises.
“He is my little brother and I love him very much. This will never change — not today, not tomorrow, not till the end of my days,” Bahaa said. “But you cannot solve the problems when these cronies are the problem, okay. This hasn't happened just for a year or two; we've been on it for almost 16 years now.”
Thus, he rules out supporting Saad in his efforts to form a new government if he includes terrorist-designated Hezbollah in the administration. “I have stark differences politically with him,” Bahaa said. Asked if he would support Saad in a Hezbollah-influenced government, his reply was: “Absolutely not.”
Bahaa judged that the current Lebanese president, Michel Aoun, was under also the influence of “warlords,” and that international sanctions should be extended to other members of the political establishment, in addition to Aoun’s son-in-law Gebran Bassil, who was placed under US sanctions on corruption charges last year.
“It’s not enough. I think others have to be sanctioned,” Bahaa said. “It is the same for all the warlords, not only one. We cannot take one and isolate the others.” However, he declined to identify further potential targets for sanctions “because in the justice system you are innocent until proven guilty.”
Having been involved in business in Saudi Arabia, Bahaa believes the latest peace breakthroughs in the Middle East can lead to a revival of economic activity and an influx of foreign investment, despite the damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The biggest venture of his new business enterprise - the $500 million Al-Abdali development in Amman, Jordan - had been only marginally affected by the economic slowdown, he said.
Watch full episode, Click on the link below below:
https://youtu.be/593KdjV2qQ0

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=593KdjV2qQ0&feature=emb_title

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

Biden will work with Israel to build on regional normalization deals, says Sullivan
Reuters/Sunday 24 January 202
The Biden administration will work closely with Israel on regional security issues and to build on the country’s regional normalization agreements, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told his Israeli counterpart, according to a statement on Sunday. “They discussed opportunities to enhance the partnership over the coming months, including by building on the success of Israel’s normalization arrangements with UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco,” according to a statement on Sullivan’s call on Saturday with Israel’s Meir Ben Shabbat. Sullivan also extended an invitation to begin a strategic dialogue in the near term, the statement said.
 

More than 20 injured by blast in Gaza home
AFP/January 24, 2021
GAZA CITY: More than 20 people were injured and several homes destroyed by a large explosion Saturday in a residential area of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said. The source of the accidental explosion was apparently the home of a member of one of Gaza’s armed groups. “An explosion occurred in a house in Beit Hanoun this morning, resulting in a number of injuries,” the interior ministry said, adding that an investigation had been launched into the cause of the blast. Medical sources said more than 20 people were injured, two of them seriously. Witnesses said several homes were damaged as a result of the explosion in the home of an “activist.” Police cordoned off the area. There was no immediate official explanation of the explosion, but the Israeli military said it was the result of militants “storing weapons in residential homes.” Houses “have been turned into warehouses for weapons... and missiles for terrorist organizations, and those who pay the price in the end are innocent civilians,” the military’s Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, said on Twitter. Hamas seized control of Gaza from rival Palestinian movement Fatah in a near civil war in 2007. Since then, Hamas has fought three devastating wars with Israel, which has maintained a crippling blockade on the territory of some two million people.

Indonesia Says it Has Seized Iranian Tanker
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 24 January, 2021
Indonesian authorities said that they seized an Iranian tanker and Panamanian tanker suspected of carrying out the illegal transfer of oil in their country's waters Sunday. The tankers — the Iranian-flagged MT Horse and the Panamanian-flagged MT Frea — were seized in waters off Indonesia's West Kalimantan province, said Wisnu Pramadita, a spokesman for the Indonesian Maritime Security Agency. He said the tankers are suspected of a variety of violations, including not displaying national flags, shutting off their identification systems, anchoring illegally as well as the illegal transfer fuel between ships and spilling oil.
Authorities were escorting the two tankers to Batam island in Riau Islands province for further investigation, AP quoted him as saying. Iranian state television acknowledged the tanker’s seizure, citing Indonesian authorities. The report did not elaborate. Iran has seen its sales abroad deeply impacted by US sanctions after former President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018. That cut a crucial source of government revenue in Iran’s long-anemic economy. In the time since, Iran has relied on black-market sales and deals with Venezuela to keep its sales going. Iran’s state-owned fleet of oil tankers routinely travel turn off their Automatic Identification System trackers to try and mask where they deliver their cargo. Those AIS beacons, a safety measure so other ships know what’s around them, can be tracked. Analysts say those ships often transfer their oil to other ships, that then sell the crude under false pretenses.

UAE cabinet approves opening embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel opens embassy in Abu Dhabi
Arab News/January 24/2021
DUBAI: Israel opened an embassy in Abu Dhabi on Sunday after the UAE said it would do the same in Tel Aviv. The UAE and Israel signed a US-brokered peace agreement on Sept. 15 to fully establish diplomatic ties and normalize relations. Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco also signed similar agreements and all four countries have began direct flights to and from Israel. Israel’s government regards Jerusalem as its capital, although that is not recognized by most of the international community. Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state and most countries have their embassies in Tel Aviv. The UAE approved the embassy during a cabinet meeting chaired by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, vice president, prime minister and Ruler of Dubai. Shortly after, Israel announced it had opened its embassy in the Emirati capital, Abu Dhabi, as an additional step in implementing the peace agreement. The mission will be headed by Eitan Naeh. “The Israeli embassy in the United Arab Emirates will promote the full range of relations between the two countries in all areas, and expand ties with the Emirati government, economic bodies and the private sector, academic institutions, the media, and more,” Israel's foreign ministry said. The temporary embassy will work to advance Israel’s interests and to serve its citizens, the ministry said. Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said: “The opening of the mission will enable the expansion of bilateral ties between Israel and the UAE, and the full and quick implementation of the potential inherent in our relations.”The ministry statement also said that an Israeli Liaison Office in Rabat and Consulate General of Israel in Dubai are expected to open in the coming days, as well as Israeli embassies in the Bahraini capital Manama, “which has already been active for several weeks.”(With Reuters)

Morocco PM Rejects ‘Betrayal’ Accusations after Signing Normalization Deal with Israel
Rabat - Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 24 January, 2021
Morocco’s Prime Minister Saad Eddine El Othmani has denounced statements accusing him of “betraying” the Palestinian cause, after he signed a normalization deal with Israel on Dec. 22. He justified this step by affirming that his Justice and Development Party (PJD) cannot contradict with the state’s choices and the King’s directives. In a speech before a PJD National Council meeting, the PM said his party acted in support of King Mohammed VI’s national effort “to defend the sovereignty of the homeland and consecrate the Moroccan Sahara.”Bolstering Morocco’s sovereignty and enhancing its national unity are among the party’s program and targets, he noted. Othmani said that he accepts the criticism, however, he rejects any questioning of the party’s position and that of Morocco, regarding the Palestinian cause. He asserted that there are no compromises when it comes to the Palestinian cause, as well as the Sahara issue, stressing that he still rejects the violations committed by Israel against Palestinians and its settlements activities. The PM renewed support to the Palestinians’ right to return to their country and establish a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. He cited a royal statement on Dec. 10, which stressed that recent “measures do not in any manner affect Morocco’s ongoing and sustained commitment to the just Palestinian cause.”Othmani expressed surprise by those who attacked his party and accused it of changing its position. “We reject the attacks and any questioning of the party’s position and Morocco’s position regarding the struggle of the Palestinian people,” he stressed, in reference to remarks by the Palestinian Hamas movement. “What is required is clarity and steadfastness in the positions, as well as strength to act on their basis,” he said, calling on everyone to be “just, objective and humble.” According to Othmani, the PJD’s strategy is based on being loyal to the king, fulfilling the unified national principles, contributing to political and social reform and maintaining its political and organizational unity.

Germany to Use Corona Meds that Helped Trump
Agence France Presse/January 24/2021
Germany will become the first European Union country to start using the same experimental antibodies treatment credited with helping Donald Trump recover from Covid-19, health minister Jens Spahn said Sunday. "The government has bought 200,000 doses for 400 million euros ($486 million)," Spahn told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, working out at 2,000 euros per dose. The so-called monoclonal antibody cocktails will be deployed to university hospitals in the coming week, he said, adding that Germany was "the first country in the EU" to use them in the fight against the pandemic. Spahn did not name the manufacturer that will be supplying the drugs but confirmed it was the same medicine given to then-US president Trump when he fell ill with Covid last October. "They work like a passive vaccination. Administering these antibodies in the early stages can help high-risk patients avoid a more serious progression," Spahn said. Trump, who was briefly hospitalized with the coronavirus, was given the antibody therapy developed by U.S. firm Regeneron, known as REGN-COV2, even before the treatment had won regulatory approval. He later said the medicine did "a fantastic job."US company Eli Lilly has developed a similar therapy. The novel treatment is a combination or "cocktail" of two lab-made antibodies: infection-fighting proteins that were developed to bind to the part of the new coronavirus that it uses to invade human cells. The antibodies attach themselves to different parts of the virus's spike protein, distorting its structure -- similar in a way to knocking a key out of shape so it no longer fits its lock. Germany's order comes at a time of growing frustration in the EU over a slower-than-expected rollout of vaccines. Vaccine makers Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca have both said they would be delivering fewer doses to Europe than anticipated in the short term because of production problems. The German government has said it nonetheless expects to be able to offer all Germans a jab by the end of August.

US condemns air attack on Riyadh, vows to protect stability of Kingdom
Arab News/January 24/2021
CHICAGO: The US on Sunday condemned an attempted air attack on Riyadh at the weekend and said anyone who tried to undermine the Kingdom’s stability would be held to account. The strike on the Saudi capital on Saturday, which was thwarted by air defenses, “appears to have been an attempt to target civilians,” the State Department said. “Such attacks contravene international law and undermine all efforts to promote peace and stability,” it said. “As we work to de-escalate tensions in the region through principled diplomacy, including by bringing an end to the war in Yemen, we will also help our partner Saudi Arabia defend against attacks on its territory and hold those who attempt to undermine stability to account.” Britain also condemned the attack, which "undermined regional peace." "We strongly condemn these attacks, and we stand by our Saudi partners," Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said. The attack came days after the US designated Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen as a foreign terrorist organization. Yemenis on Sunday launched a social media campaign to highlight Houthi crimes and to convince other countries to follow the US.
The organizers said they wanted to “inform the world about the terrorism acts by the Houthi militia against Yemenis and to call all free countries to designate them as a terrorist organization.” Dozens of Yemeni journalists, human right activists, intellectuals and officials have condemned the group’s human right abuses, using the hashtag #HouthiTerrorismInYemen, and shared images and videos that show Houthis blowing up the houses of their opponents. “The Houthis waged numerous wars against civilians,” activist Mohammed Abdullah Qassem said. “Even now, they are still attacking Taiz, Mareb, Al-Bayda, etc. They insist on ruling Yemenis by force, based on the theory of the divine right to rule, the ideology that the West overthrew centuries ago.” Meanwhile, Yemen government officials and the Houthis militias began talks on Sunday to secure a second historic agreement on an exchange of prisoners. The meeting in Amman, Jordan, aims to free about 300 detainees, including high-ranking officials such as former Defense Minister Mahmoud Al-Subaihi and the Yemen president’s brother Nasser Mansour Hadi.
Previous talks led to the release of 1,065 inmates in October and rekindled hopes of striking a deal to end the war.
*Saeed Al-Batati reported from Al-Mukalla

Kremlin Says U.S. Interfering in Russian 'Domestic Affairs'
Agence France Presse/January 24/2021
The Kremlin on Sunday accused the U.S. embassy of interfering in Russia's domestic affairs after the mission distributed a "demonstration alert" to U.S. citizens in Russia recommending they avoid protests. Nearly 3,500 protesters were arrested at demonstrations in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on Saturday, a monitor reported, as Russian authorities probed violence on the part of both protesters and police. Police clashed with demonstrators in Moscow as tens of thousands took to the streets across the country on Saturday following Navalny's call to demonstrate against President Vladimir Putin's 20-year rule. Ahead of the demonstrations, the U.S. embassy issued a safety warning to Americans based in Russia. "Of course, these publications are inappropriate," President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a state TV channel. "And of course indirectly, they are absolutely an interference in our domestic affairs," he added. He accused the U.S. embassy of "indirectly" supporting the violation of Russian legislation and backing "unauthorized protests." He said that if the Russian embassy in the United Sates issued similar information "this would cause a certain feeling of discomfort in Washington." The Russian foreign ministry on Saturday said the representatives of the U.S. embassy would be summoned and would have to "explain themselves." A U.S. mission spokeswoman earlier Sunday said U.S. embassies and consulates around the world routinely issue safety messages to U.S. citizens. "This is a common, routine practice of many countries' diplomatic missions," she told AFP. On Saturday, the U.S. embassy in Moscow also said it was following the rallies, adding that Washington supported "the right of all people to peaceful protest, freedom of expression." "Steps being taken by Russian authorities are suppressing those rights," embassy spokeswoman Rebecca Ross said on Twitter.

Kremlin Says Putin Ready for Dialogue if US Willing
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 24 January, 2021
Russia is ready to set up a dialogue with the new US Biden administration in which differences are expected to be aired, a Kremlin spokesman said on Sunday, adding that President Vladimir Putin would respond in kind to US willingness to talk. Relations between Moscow and Washington have been at their lowest since the end of the Cold War, with the two sides at odds over Russia's role in Ukraine and allegations of its meddling in US elections, which it denies, among other issues. The United States on Saturday also called on Russian authorities to release protesters and journalists detained at demonstrations supporting detained Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, and condemned what it called "harsh tactics" used against them. "Of course, we count on success in setting up a dialogue," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying on TV by Interfax news agency. "This will be the dialogue where, of course, differences will have to be stated to a greater extent, points of differences. But at the same time, a dialogue is a possibility to find some rational kernels, the little parts where our relations are getting closer," he said. "And if the current US administration i

Over half of Syria’s children deprived of education, says UNICEF
AFP/Monday 25 January 2021
More than half of children in war-torn Syria are missing out on education, the UN children’s agency UNICEF said Sunday, with a third of schools in ruins or commandeered by fighters.
The figures are a sharp rise from previous estimates when UNICEF said a third of Syrian children were out of school.
“After almost ten years of war in Syria, more than half of children continue to be deprived of education,” UNICEF said in a statement, estimating there are over 2.4 million children out of school inside the country. “This number has likely increased in 2020 due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which exacerbated the disruption to education in Syria,” said Ted Chaiban, UNICEF’s chief for the Middle East and North Africa, alongside Syria crisis boss Muhannad Hadi, in a joint statement. “The education system in Syria is overstretched, underfunded, fragmented and unable to provide safe, equitable and sustained services to millions of children,” they added. Syria’s civil war erupted in 2011 after the violent repression of protests, quickly spiraling into a complex conflict that pulled in numerous actors, including jihadist groups and foreign powers. Over 387,000 people have been killed, and more than half of Syria’s pre-war population of 20 million have been forced to flee their homes. “One in three schools inside Syria can no longer be used because they were destroyed, damaged or are being used for military purposes,” the statement added. The schools that remain operative, UNICEF said, are often overcrowded and located in “buildings with insufficient water and sanitation facilities, electricity, heating or ventilation.”UNICEF said it confirmed 52 attacks against education facilities last year, bringing to nearly 700 the number of UN-confirmed violations against schools and teaching staff.
 

Palestinians ask European Union to send observers to monitor long-awaited elections
The Associated Press/Sunday 24 January 2021
Palestinian election officials on Sunday invited the European Union to send observers to monitor upcoming elections planned for the Palestinian legislature and presidency. The elections are seen as an important step toward ending a rift that has left the Palestinians divided between rival governments since the Islamic militant group Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority in 2007. The PA has governed only autonomous areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank since then. Past attempts at reconciliation have repeatedly failed. But Sunday’s invitation to the European Union was a sign that the Palestinians are serious about holding what will be their first elections in 15 years. The Central Elections Commission said its chairman, Hanna Nasir, extended the invitation for both the European Union and the European Parliament to send monitors. It said the invitation was given to the local EU representative, Sven Kuhn von Burgsdorf, and Nasir “stressed the importance of international observation to the electoral process, particularly by the EU.”The Palestinians are looking to the EU to ensure that the vote is transparent, and also in hopes of rallying pressure on Israel to allow Palestinians in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem to vote. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967, as the capital of a future state. Israel considers all of Jerusalem to be its capital. It has not said whether it will allow Palestinian residents in east Jerusalem, home to the city’s major religious sites, to vote in Palestinian elections. The EU supports the establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, with a capital in east Jerusalem. The EU did not officially respond to the monitoring request. But Shadi Othman, spokesman for the EU office to the Palestinians, confirmed the EU’s “readiness to provide everything possible for the success of the electoral process.” “The goal during the coming period is to make all efforts to reach free and fair elections that produce elected representatives from the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip,” he said. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued his decree on Jan. 15, scheduling parliamentary elections for May 22 and presidential elections on July 31. Uncertainty about voting in east Jerusalem is one of several potential obstacles that could derail the planned election. Representatives from Abbas’ Fatah party and Hamas are expected to meet in Egypt next month in hopes of working out logistics.
 

11 fighters from Iraq’s PMU militias killed in ISIS attack: Security sources
AFP/Sunday 24 January 2021
At least 11 fighters from the Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) militias, known as Hashd al-Shaabi, were killed in an ambush by ISIS terrorist group north of the Iraqi capital on Saturday, security sources said. The extremists used light weapons and the cover of darkness to target the PMU militias east of Tikrit, the capital of Iraq’s Salahaddin province, two days after a twin suicide attack claimed by the group killed 32 people in Baghdad. “ISIS launched an attack on the Hashed’s Brigade 22,” said one of the unit’s officers Abu Ali al-Maliki. Al-Maliki told AFP the brigade commander was among those killed before reinforcements from the federal police came to the unit’s aid. PMU security sources said the total toll was 11 dead and 10 wounded. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but security sources interviewed by AFP blamed ISIS. Local and Western sources have expressed concern over the readiness of Iraq’s security forces, who have been worn down by the spread of COVID-19, political infighting and corruption. This week’s attacks may be more illustrative of those accumulated shortfalls than any significant ISIS comeback. Iraq declared the group territorially defeated in late 2017, but has continued to battle extremist sleeper cells, mostly in the country’s mountainous or desert areas.
 

Kuwait emir reappoints prime minister to form new cabinet, KUNA reports
NNA/Reuters: Sunday 24 January 2021
Kuwait's emir has reappointed Sheikh Sabah al-Khalid al-Sabah as prime minister, after the cabinet resigned last week in a standoff with parliament over its vote to question the premier, the state news agency KUNA reported on Sunday.
The prime minister and the cabinet had been acting in a caretaker role since the resignation. The emir tasked the prime minister with nominating a new cabinet. --- Reuters

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

Turkey: Elderly Christian Man Still Missing Year Later
Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute/January 24/2021
"About 20 people who knew us wanted to help us with the searches, but the gendarmerie prevented them from coming.... and civilians were not allowed to help. If the permission required had been given, we would have found my mother right away...." — Father Remzi Diril, a priest of the Istanbul Chaldean Church and one of the couple's sons, after his mother's body was found bullet wounds in the head and back; interview with Milliyet, January 11, 2021. During the 1980s and 1990s, Assyrians in southeast Turkey "suffered forced evictions, mass displacement and the burning down of their homes and villages." They were exposed to severe persecution "including abductions (including of priests), forced conversions to Islam through rape and forced marriage, and murders. These pressures, and other more insidious forms of discrimination, have decimated the community." — Minority Rights Group International, World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, Assyrians, updated June 2018. Today, EU candidate and NATO member Turkey is still not willing or able to provide security and basic human rights for this persecuted minority.
One year after the abduction and disappearance of an elderly Christian couple in southeast Turkey, their children are still asking the Turkish authorities for help in locating their missing father and holding the perpetrators accountable. Pictured: The village of Mehr/Kovankaya in Şırnak Province, where Hurmuz and Şimuni Diril lived before their abduction and disappearance. One year after the abduction and disappearance of an elderly Christian couple in southeast Turkey, their children are still asking the Turkish authorities for help in locating their missing father and holding the perpetrators accountable.
Hurmuz Diril (72) and Şimuni Diril (65) are Assyrian Christians who lived in the village of Mehr/Kovankaya in Şırnak Province before their disappearance on January 11, 2020. Two months later, on March 20, Şimuni Diril was found dead by her children in a nearby river. There has since been no news concerning the whereabouts of Hurmuz Diril. Father Remzi Diril, a priest of the Istanbul Chaldean Church and one of the couple's sons, said in an interview with the Turkish newspaper Milliyet that his mother's body had bullet wounds in the head and back, and that his father was probably killed. He added that the search for his parents by authorities has been insufficient:
"About 20 people who knew us wanted to help us with the searches, but the gendarmerie prevented them from coming. Neither AFAD [Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency] helped us, and civilians were not allowed to help. If the permission required had been given, we would have found my mother right away at that time, and we would have found some traces of my father. We do not know what happened to my father in the past year. We think that those who killed my mother and threw her body into the water also killed my father. We have been trying for a year to find out what happened to my father and we will not stop looking for him."
The Iraqi Christian Relief Council (ICRC) is leading the efforts to bring the diaspora Assyrian organizations and international human rights organizations to a united front to demand justice for the Diril family. The ICRC sent an open letter to Turkish Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gül and Turkish Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu. The letter urges the Ministry of Justice to: "mobilize prosecutors to respect the right to life of the victims and honor the procedural requirements stemming from Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights and bring perpetrators of these malicious actions before the judicial system.
"The Ministry of Justice to launch an investigation into the procedural failures involving Şimuni Diril's autopsy report performed by Istanbul Forensic Medicine Institute. We also request a full disclosure of the autopsy report to her children and their attorneys.
"The Ministry of Interior to launch a serious investigation about Mr. Diril's fate; to establish whether he is still alive or dead; to establish whether he is a victim of abduction or murder."
An investigation was opened by prosecutors upon the disappearance of the couple, but there is still a confidentiality status listed on the case file. Gulcan Diril Uzumcu, the daughter of the kidnapped couple, said:
"The investigation remains ongoing. But the investigation file is conducted confidentially, so we can only access a limited amount of information. Authorities generally state that they will not allow the situation to remain 'a murder by unknown assailants' and that they are hopeful about finding our father.
"The government should fulfill its responsibilities for its citizens," Diril added.
"From now on, we demand that our government speed up its steps and bring clarity to the fate of our parents. We also ask international organizations to be vigilant and observant about the rights violations we may experience."
Assyrians -- an ancient people indigenous to Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran -- for centuries were builders of great Mesopotamian civilizations. Most Assyrians are Christian and still speak Assyrian (also known as Syriac, Aramaic or Neo-Aramaic), one of the oldest languages. Ancient Assyrians ruled the Assyrian Empire, one of the world's earliest great empires, from 900 B.C.E. to 600 B.C.E. Since the Islamic conquests of the Middle East beginning in the 7th Century C.E., however, Assyrians have been stateless and exposed to massacres and persecutions within the Muslim-dominated Middle East.
The Diril family is one of the few Assyrian Christian families remaining in southeast Turkey, where Assyrians have lived for millennia. The 1914-24 Assyrian genocide largely exterminated the indigenous Assyrians in Turkey. Systematic oppression and lack of official recognition of the community by Turkey, as well as violent conflicts between the Kurdish PKK and the Turkish military near the end of the last century also accelerated the Assyrian exodus from Turkey and the collapse of their population.
The Diril couple are not the first Assyrians kidnapped in Turkey since the genocide. Minority Rights Group International reports that during the 1980s and 1990s, Assyrians in southeast Turkey "suffered forced evictions, mass displacement and the burning down of their homes and villages." They were exposed to severe persecution "including abductions (including of priests), forced conversions to Islam through rape and forced marriage, and murders. These pressures, and other more insidious forms of discrimination, have decimated the community."
Today, EU candidate and NATO member Turkey is still not willing or able to provide security and basic human rights for this persecuted minority.
According to Juliana Taimoorazy, the founding president of the Iraqi Christian Relief Council:
"The past year has been the most horrific year for the Diril family. The suffering they have endured and how they have been kept in the dark regarding the heinous crimes committed against their parents is truly abominable.
"Why the Turkish government has not taken this case more seriously is lost upon me. This is an absolute human rights violation. And we are asking the authorities to continue the investigation in a more effective and swift way and shed light on this despicable crime.
"Our global Assyrian nation has been patiently waiting for answers from the Turkish government. It is our solemn hope that Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other officials will help this grieving family have closure by bringing perpetrators to justice."
*Uzay Bulut, a Turkish journalist, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute.
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“This Is a Warning to Christians in All Parts of the World”: The Persecution of Christians, December 2020
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/January 24/2021
ريموند إبراهيم/معهد جيتستون: هذا تحذير للمسيحيين في جميع أنحاء العالم: اضطهاد المسيحيين خلال شهر كانون الأول/2020

http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/95243/raymond-ibrahim-gatestone-this-is-a-warning-to-christians-in-all-parts-of-the-world-the-persecution-of-christians%d8%b1%d9%8a%d9%85%d9%88%d9%86%d8%af-%d8%a5%d8%a8%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%87%d9%8a%d9%85/
Muslim fighters tortured a 58-year-old Christian woman of Armenian descent by hacking off her ears, hands, and feet before finally executing her. — Medium.com, January 14, 2021, Artsakh.
As to why she was mutilated before being killed, jihadis often cite the Koran’s calls to cut off the hands, feet, and throats of infidels (e.g., Koran 5:33, 47:4). — Artsakh.
One of the survivors… managed to escape his home in time and hide in the outside bathroom: “through the ventilator of the latrine he saw the rebels killing 4 members of his family including his wife and 3 children.” — Virtueonline.org, December 3, 2020, Democratic Republic of Congo.
“My husband began reading verses in the Koran that allowed men to beat their wives if they disobey them, and after that he started beating me….” — Morning Star News, December 17, 2020, Uganda.
In January, Muslim fighters tortured a 58-year-old Christian woman of Armenian descent by hacking off her ears, hands and feet, before finally executing her. The attack took place in the village of in Karintak, Artsakh (pictured). (Image source: Adam Jones/Flickr via Wikimedia Commons)
The following are among the abuses inflicted on Christians by Muslims throughout the month of December, 2020:
The Slaughter of Christians
Nigeria: In a video that appeared on Dec. 29, Islamic terrorists executed five Christians. The footage shows five armed members of the Islamic State (West African province) standing behind five men dressed in orange suits, and on their knees with their arms tied behind their backs. The terrorists order each of the men to say their names and the hostages oblige, each adding, “I am a Christian.” One of the terrorists then says “This is a warning to Christians in all parts of the world and those in Nigeria…. Use the heads of these five of your brethren to continue with your ungodly celebrations,” a reference to Christmas. The five Muslims then open fire into the back of the Christians’ heads and kill them.
A few days earlier, on Christmas Eve, and into the early morning of Christmas Day, Muslim raiders terrorized a Christian village, where they slaughtered between seven and 11 people, including a 5-year-old, and kidnapped 11 more (it is believed that the five Christians who were executed on video were from among these 11). Riding on trucks and motorcycles, the jihadis opened fire indiscriminately, torched 10 homes and one church, and plundered the food supplies meant to be distributed on Christmas Day. Although traumatized, some Christians remained defiant. A text by Markus Bulus, a local, on Christmas Day states:
“Whatever Boko Haram planned against us has failed. Whatever it is, we shall still celebrate Christmas. Jesus, we’re so grateful this day even with the bad experience we had last night. We have nothing to offer as our thanksgiving, but we offer our hearts in deep supplication to your majesty on this Christmas Day.”
Elsewhere throughout month of December, Muslim Fulani herdsmen “killed 33 Christians, destroyed 18 homes and displaced more than 2,500 people.” Moreover, according to a report released by the International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (“INTERSOCIETY”), between Jan. 2020 and Dec. 13, 2020, Muslims massacred at least 2,200 Nigerian Christians. Of this figure, “Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen,” it said, were responsible for about “1,300 Christian deaths, followed by Boko Haram and its splinter groups (ISWAP and Ansaru) with 500 Christian deaths…. Nigeria in 2020 has lost an average of six Christians per day and 180 per month.”
Uganda: A Muslim mob attacked and killed a man “a few days after he renounced Islam to follow Christ.” On Nov. 30, Yusuf Kintu, 41, then an imam at a mosque, converted to Christianity. Pastor Andrew Nyanma said:
“We had been talking on several occasions, but he was so argumentative when we touched on matters related to faith. He was a brilliant Muslim Imam but also respected other people’s faith. On this day [of his conversion], he was calm and receptive.”
Three days later, his wife divorced him and left the house with his two youngest children. On Dec. 6, one week after his conversion—or, in Muslim eyes, apostasy—an angry Muslim mob rose up against him. According to one source, “the local Muslim community was upset in [sic] Yusuf for leaving Islam and becoming a Christian. Yusuf was seriously beaten and left unconscious.” Pastor Andrew found him in the morning and took him to a hospital, where, on Dec, 7, Yusuf succumbed to his injuries.
Egypt: On Dec. 10, two Muslim brothers went on a stabbing spree targeting Christians in Alexandria. One man was killed and two others, severely injured, were hospitalized. According to authorities, the brothers went on their murderous rampage because they were “upset” that earlier that day, their mother had died.
“The matter began with insults and curses to the shopkeepers for being Christians,” said Fr. Michael Gamil, whose nearby church was also targeted. “The Copts present responded with patience. Then, when one of them, Ramses, quietly went to close and lock [sic] his shop door, they lunged at and stabbed him with knives.” Ramses’ brother, who ran a grocery store nearby, saw what was happening, rushed to his brother’s aid, and was also stabbed. The brothers then barged into the clothing shop of another Christian man and stabbed him near his heart. All three men were hospitalized with serious injuries in intensive care; Ramses died of his wounds. The rampaging brothers then entered Fr. Michael’s church and cursed at a partially blind priest. Discussing the alleged motive, Fr. Michael said:
“They [Egyptian authorities] say they started cursing the Copts because their mother died; and two years earlier, they cursed the Copts because their brother died: what does [sic] [a familial] death and the Copts have to do with each other?”
He emphasized that the two brothers had been in the habit of verbally harassing and insulting Christians for years—although on that day, they clearly took their hatred to another level.
Artsakh: Muslim fighters tortured a 58-year-old Christian woman of Armenian descent by hacking off her ears, hands, and feet before finally executing her. According to the Jan. 14 report:
“On the same day of talks between Erdogan and Putin, when Turkey’s leader said he would like to create conditions of ‘coexistence’ between Armenians and Azeris, officials located the body of an Armenian woman today who had been reported missing.
“The woman has been identified as 58-year-old Alvard Tovmasyan who was a resident of Karin Tak village, near the Shushi region of Artsakh currently occupied by Azerbaijani forces.
“Tovmasyan was a second degree intellectually disabled person killed and ‘tortured beyond recognition’ outside of her home with her hands, ears, and feet cut off, according to her brother Samvel Tovmasyan who confirmed her identity by recognizing the clothes she was wearing.”
As to why she was mutilated before being killed, jihadis often cite the Koran’s calls to cut off the hands, feet, and throats of infidels (e.g., Koran 5:33, 47:4).
According to a separate Dec. 15 news report, “Armenians are being brutalized” and have “lost territory to their jihadist neighbors before agreeing to a cease-fire enforced by Russia…. Prior to violating the so-called peace agreement, the Turkish Muslims of Azerbaijan did as Muhammad commanded in beheading Christians.” The report linked to a video of camouflaged soldiers overpowering and forcing down a struggling, elderly Armenian man, and then casually carving at his throat with a knife: “Azerbaijan has accused Armenia of violating the peace deal first,” the report continues, “but observers note the only provocation Muslims need to attack Armenians is their continued existence.”
Democratic Republic of Congo: Members of the Allied Democratic Forces, widely acknowledged as “an insurgent jihadist group,” slaughtered at least 30 Christians and raped ten women and girls in five villages between Nov. 20 and Dec. 3. One of the survivors, Tony Longi, managed to escape his home in time and hide in the outside bathroom: “through the ventilator of the latrine he saw the rebels killing 4 members of his family including his wife and 3 children.” According to one local official, “We got information that as they killed the Christians the[y] were saying that they were killing them because they refused to convert to Islam.” Another report describing these raids said there were “scenes of terrified Christians flooding into the streets as the jihadists surrounded churches in each of the five villages armed with guns, machetes, clubs, swords and axes.”
Attacks on Muslim Converts and Christian Preachers
Uganda: A Muslim man beat and forced his wife to drink pesticide on learning that she had become Christian. Three months after Zubeda Nabirye, a 38-year-old mother of three, had secretly converted, her husband discovered Bibles in her possession and demanded if she had apostatized. She told him that “a friend had given me the Bibles, and I was using it to compare it with what is written in the Koran, and after all religion is a matter of personal choice… My husband began reading verses in the Koran that allowed men to beat their wives if they disobey them, and after that he started beating me with slaps and sticks. As if this was not enough, he forced me to take Dithane M-45,” a toxic pesticide. He forced the poison into his wife’s mouth; though she managed not to swallow most of it, she “ingested some while he was trying to strangle her and hitting her leg with sticks… He also injured her chest, neck and thigh.” It was late in the night when “I regained consciousness and found myself surrounded by neighbors.”
One of them later explained that “we heard groaning from a nearby banana plant, and there we found Zubeda Nabirye, who had just regained her consciousness but with vomit and blood all over her body.” They took her to a nearby hospital. According to the Dec. 17 report, “she suspects her husband took her to the banana plants expecting she would die there.” Even so, she did “not file charges with police over the assault as it could provoke further violence. She still looks very weak and asks about the wellbeing of her three children,” who at the time were staying with her husband’s mother due to COVID-19 travel restrictions: “I am worried about my children [aged 9, 13, and 16], who are under the care of my mother-in-law,” Zubeda said. “I know it will be very difficult for me to see them and reunite with them.”
In a separate incident in Uganda, on Dec. 21, Muslims gang-raped a female church pastor. The widowed mother of five was walking home from Christmas preparations at her church when she heard someone crying for help in the dark. “When I stopped,” explained the 50-year-old whose name is withheld for security reasons, “I was surprised to see people coming from the bush, and one of them shouted in the Arabic language, ‘Allah is greater—we have warned you several times to stop converting Muslims to Christianity. Today we shall teach you a lesson that you will not forget.'” One of the men covered her mouth with a chemical-doused handkerchief that caused her to lose consciousness. She awoke three hours later and was found by her nephew. “He saw blood on my torn skirt. He could not stop tears rolling from his cheeks, crying and shouting for help, and he took me to a nearby clinic for medical treatment.”
Two months earlier, a Muslim neighbor had complained to her: “I am warning you not to come to our home. My children are now singing some Christian songs. I know soon they will come to your church. We as Muslims have no relations with infidels.” A church member said that the rape victim remains traumatized: “Sometimes she is quiet for about one hour; … she is having severe headache[s], swelling at her neck and severe pain in her private parts.” “I am hurt,” confirmed the visibly emotional and tearful pastor from her hospital bed during an interview on Christmas Eve. “I will miss Christmas celebration with my church members…. I hope these Muslim rapists have not infected me with deadly diseases. I forgive them,” added the mother of five who was widowed five years earlier.
Attacks on Churches
Pakistan: On Christmas day, a mob consisting of as many as 60 Muslim men attacked a church during Christmas service. According to the Dec. 30 report, “They aimed to kidnap and assault the women in attendance.” However, the church’s security guards and male congregants “fought back with bare hands against the staff-wielding intruders, giving the women time to escape. Many Christian men suffered blunt trauma injuries and fractures in the fight.” Before things got violent, the Muslim invaders had made derogatory comments about the Christian women, adding that they were “looking dashing today. Let us have all of them in our beds.” When one of the Christian defenders angrily rose up, “The Muslims,” he said, “warned me never to stop them from doing whatever they wanted to do with Christian girls.” The authorities, on arriving, “helped the defeated Muslims escape, and blamed Christians for fighting back.” According to a spokesman for the Christians:
“They scolded and threatened the Christian community, the Christian church, saying it’s illegal to have their own security. Which is truly an unjustified and illegal action by the police, because it was announced by the government of Pakistan two years ago, that every church must have its own security. They must have their own CCTV cameras, barbed wires, and medical equipment.”
Sudan: A temporary church structure of the Sudanese Church of Christ has been burned down five times by what one pastor described as “radical Muslims.” They also threatened to butcher the Christians if they dared erect another tent again. According to the Dec. 22 report:
“Saying they didn’t want a Christian presence in the area, the extremists have burned down the structures on Jan. 19, 2019, and this year on Jan. 4, Jan. 19, Jan. 28, and Aug. 7…. The church decided to report the attacks to police after the Aug. 7 arson in spite of the threats.”
The original church building, which had been in operation since 1993, was first torched in 2019; since then, the 150-member congregation have been worshipping inside tents, though all five have been “reduced to ashes along with Bibles and prayer books.” Church members identified several of the assailants. Police initially refused to file a case until an attorney got involved. Five of nine suspects involved have been arrested.
Discrimination, Misogyny, and Violence against Christians
Egypt: In what human rights activists described as an “egregious miscarriage of justice,” a court acquitted three Muslim men charged with assaulting a Christian grandmother, including by spitting on and beating her, stripping her naked and parading her in the streets of their village, on the accusation that her son was romantically involved with a Muslim woman. Although this attack took place in 2016, and although video evidence and witnesses have identified the three Muslim men, the Egyptian courts refused to render a decision. As a Dec. 21 press release from Coptic Solidarity explains:
“After multiple delay tactics, including judges ‘recusing’ themselves and retrials by different court circuits, the case reached this sad conclusion. The Egyptian judiciary has revealed their true face of Islamist fanaticism and blatant bias against Coptic victims. This is indeed shameful for a country that has employed some form of a ‘modern’ justice system for 150 years.
“Upon hearing news of the court ruling, Mrs. Thabet [the victim], burst into tears, simply saying ‘What shall I do after being so humiliated! My right is in the hands of my Lord who shall render me His justice.'”
Pakistan/China: Christian and Hindu women in Pakistan are being marketed to China as concubines and forced brides, a Dec. 9 report revealed. Due to China’s longstanding one-child only policy and cultural preference to give birth to boys, the nation suffers from an acute shortage of females, causing Chinese men to import women from abroad. Speaking on Dec. 8, the top U.S. diplomat for religious freedom, Samuel Brownback, said that “religious minorities, Christian and Hindu women” from Pakistan are “being marketed as concubines and as forced as brides [sic] into China.” This, he added., is because “there’s discrimination against religious minorities that make [sic] them more vulnerable” in Muslim Pakistan.
France: “Handwritten letters were mailed to seven black African priests with their names and the address of the rectory where they live,” reported the Vicar General of the Diocese of Avignon Pascal Molemb Emock: “The mail only says ‘Allah Akbar’ in French and in Arabic.” Because violent Islamic attacks on clergymen and Christians in general have been escalating in France—five weeks earlier a Muslim man crying “Allahu Akbar” entered a church in Nice and slaughtered three Christians—an investigation was quickly opened. As a police source explained on Dec. 9, “These are not direct death threats, but in the context of a terrorist threat, this matter is taken very seriously.” “I am not afraid for myself,” said one of the priests. “I will continue to live alone in my rectory. But I am responsible for a community, I must be careful for the parishioners.”
Iraq: Throughout November and December, at least 14 shops that sell alcohol in Baghdad—most of which are owned by Christians—were firebombed. According to a Dec. 16 report, these escalating attacks have “terrified shop-owners who fear hardline Islamists are flexing their muscle against alcohol consumption.” Discussing the situation, Andre, an Iraqi Christian, reported that the recent bombing of his shop had cost him thousands of dollars in repairs. “These groups want the last of the Christians to leave the country,” he said of the attackers: “They’re targeting us.” He also blamed security forces for leaving their post for hours, thereby providing the attackers with “time to place the explosives, take pictures before and after and publish them on Facebook.” “Why doesn’t the government arrest them?” he added, pointing out that he had even provided authorities with the license plate number of the attacking vehicle as captured by the store’s surveillance camera.
Christmastime Terror
Spain: On Christmas day, a Muslim of Moroccan background, known only as Muhammad Q., stalked through a Christmas street celebration while brandishing a machete and crying out, “Allahu akbar, I’m going to kill you,” at random passersby. He lunged at police when they arrived and slightly injured them, though they managed to subdue and arrest him. Subsequent investigations revealed that the 45-year-old had a criminal record relating to the sexual abuse of a minor and ties to the Islamic State.
France: A group of Muslims thrashed another Muslim for participating in a Christmas Day dinner. After Nabil, 20, published pictures of the dinner online, a schoolmate expressed his “shock” via text that a fellow Muslim would celebrate Christmas, at one point texting, “I’ll show you what a real Arab is.” Nabil and his scandalized Muslim schoolmate then agreed to meet and discuss the matter; but when Nabil arrived, the schoolmate and four other men ambushed and beat him, leaving him with a bloodied and bruised face and a warning not to report the incident to police, or else. Undeterred, he contacted local authorities who subsequently arrested the schoolmate. During his trial, he continued to assert his “shock” that Nabil had posted such pictures, adding “It is not Muslim to celebrate Christmas.”
Western Europe: Some Christians in a few nations celebrated Christmas under threat. According to a Dec. 3 report, British intelligence, relying on a former al-Qaeda bomb-maker, warned that “a senior Isis commander is plotting a Christmas terror campaign in European countries, including Britain.” The Muslim terrorists had allegedly “decided to try and use the lifting of lockdown restrictions during the Christmas period to launch attacks in Europe, in particular against the UK, France and Germany.”
Germany: In a video that appears embedded in a Dec. 19 article, a Muslim cleric living in Braunschweig declared that “Christmas is an insult to Allah”
*Raymond Ibrahim, author of Crucified Again and Sword and Scimitar, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
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Biden will not wait for Israel to make moves on Iran
Alex Fishman|/Ynetnews/January 24/202
Analysis: The new U.S. administration is nothing like its predecessor and Netanyahu's insistence on sidelining the defense establishment could leave Jerusalem with little to no say in the upcoming nuclear negotiations with the Islamic The new White House is eyeing Mideast expert and conflict resolution specialist Robert Malley to head the talks on the U.S. return to the nuclear agreement with Iran. Malley, who has a Jewish American mother and a Jewish Egyptian father, was part of former president Bill Clinton’s team at the July 2000 Camp David summit and a senior official in Barack Obama’s administration.
By looking at the group’s previous studies on the Iranian nuclear agreement, one can easily extrapolate the course of action the Biden administration will take on the issue.
Firstly, there will be a freeze until after Iran holds its presidential elections in June of this year.
After that, the U.S. will launch two separate negotiating tracks with Iran: one on the nuclear program and another on the development of ballistic missiles and Iranian interference in the Middle East. Washington's pledge to consult with its regional allies before the start of these negotiations raises the question of exactly who in Israel the U.S. will be talking to.  It is currently unclear who dictates Israel’s policy when it comes to the Iranian threat.
In December, National Security Advisor Meir Ben-Shabbat wrote to Defense Minister Benny Gantz that Israel's position on Iran would be determined by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who would be basing his strategy on the work of the National Security Council.
Gantz hit back at Beb-Shabbat, saying that the Iranian issue was not anyone's private business, and that the defense establishment would take an active role in the decision-making process along with the security cabinet. Since then, there has been no further communication on the issue between the branches of Israel's defense establishment and everyone is busy producing their own working papers.  The prime minister does not see the need to include the IDF Strategic Division from any decision-making processes regarding Iran, despite the military having the most information about what is actually happening in the Islamic republic and how to combat it. The Prime Minister’s Office, meanwhile, has decided to sideline the Defense Ministry, despite it being in regular contact with the U.S. administration on strategic issues. Netanyahu has decided to tackle the Iranian issue the same way he decided to tackle the coronavirus crisis - with him at the helm supported by the National Security Council alone.  The problem is that the U.S. will not wait for Israel to work through its political divisions and will move ahead with new Iran talks - with or without us.

Turkey fears the worst as Biden team takes charge
Yasar Yakis/Arab News/January 24/2021
The first signs of a gloomy picture between Turkey and the US came from a key person in the new Biden administration last week. Secretary of State nominee Antony Blinken on Tuesday said of Turkey: “The idea that a strategic — so-called strategic — partner of ours would actually be in line with one of our biggest strategic competitors in Russia is not acceptable.” He did not stop there. During his Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing, he said that, after assessing the impact of the existing sanctions on Turkey, Washington has to determine whether more pressure is needed.
Blinken is known for his criticisms of Turkey, but his reference to a NATO ally as a “so-called strategic partner” before he has even assumed office suggests that Ankara faces an uphill task with this administration. He probably does not want to admit that Turkey has the right to maintain good relations with both the US and Russia.
Another key figure in the new Biden team is retired army general Lloyd Austin, who is now secretary of defense. In 2013, he was appointed commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), which was responsible for the defense of US interests in the Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia. He cooperated with Turkey within the framework of the US train-and-equip program, as part of the fight against Daesh in Syria, but this program later turned into a failure. The fighters of the Syrian armed opposition were trained in Turkey and sent to Syria in 12 vehicles equipped with machine guns but, as soon as they crossed the border, several fighters handed over their trucks, weapons and ammunition to the Al-Nusra Front. After this drawback, Austin turned to the Kurdish fighters because — despite Turkey’s strong opposition — the US found them more reliable and better fighters. Austin was the first American military official to admit, in a Senate hearing in September 2015, that the US was engaged with the Kurdish fighters of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and that they were providing consultancy services and assistance to the Kurds.
Austin retired in 2016 but, while commanding CENTCOM, he played a crucial role in arming Kurdish fighters. Now that he has become a top official responsible for the implementation of US military plans not only in the Middle East but all over the world, Turkey has reason to be worried.
The third senior official whose appointment did not cause Turkey to rejoice is Brett McGurk, the White House’s special representative for the Middle East and North Africa. He is considered the architect of US policy on the Syrian Kurds. The Turkish media has published critical remarks about his relations with the leadership of the Syrian Kurds.
Now that Austin has become a top official responsible for the implementation of the US’ military plans, Ankara has reason to be worried. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan is another name that Turkey has had some misgivings over in the past. In an article he wrote in 2017, he likened Turkey’s arrest of some members of the US Embassy staff in Turkey to “hostage taking” and harshly criticized Ankara’s military operations against the Kurds in Iraq. He also criticized former US President Donald Trump for not being tough enough on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the ruling Justice and Development Party. He suggested imposing sanctions on the Turkish officials involved in corruption and on defense industry officials.
Last but not the least is President Joe Biden himself. He has been critical of Turkey on many occasions. As a senator, he either sponsored or supported many resolutions against Turkey’s interests.
An important factor in the future of Turkey-US relations will be the details of Biden’s Iran policy. Ankara may not like being used as a pawn in Washington’s Iran policy, but it may not oppose trilateral cooperation with the US and Iraq. Turkey needs Iraq’s cooperation to maintain pressure on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is designated as a terrorist organization in the US. So Washington may cooperate with Turkey in Iraq to put more pressure on Iran. Such cooperation would not mean that the US would give up its cooperation with the Syrian Kurds. Furthermore, because of his long public service, Biden is aware of Turkey’s importance to the Euro-Atlantic community. Therefore, he will be able to weigh up the pluses and minuses of any step that might antagonize Turkey.
There are other names too, but the ones mentioned above are expected to take executive decisions that will affect Turkey in one way or another. November’s US presidential election was closely monitored in Turkey and the Turkish bureaucracy must have prepared for several scenarios in future negotiations. Irrespective of the negative attitude Biden’s appointees may have had in the past, one advantage is that most of them know Turkey fairly well. They will probably try to keep Ankara under control without risking losing it as an ally.
A storm may be approaching, but the damage it will cause is still difficult to forecast.
• Yasar Yakis is a former foreign minister of Turkey and founding member of the ruling AK Party. Twitter: @yakis_yasar
 

EU rewarding Iranian aggression by seeking return to nuclear deal
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/January 24/2021

د. مجيد رافيزادا: الإتحاد الأوروبي يكافئ إيران على عدوانيتها بسعيها للعودة إلى الإتفاق النووي
The EU is redoubling its efforts and spending significant political capital to push new US President Joe Biden into immediately returning America to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal with Iran.
The bloc this month reiterated its “strong commitment” to the nuclear deal and urged the US to swiftly rejoin it. It declared in a statement: “The EU reiterates its strong commitment to and continued support for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The JCPOA is a key element of the global nuclear non-proliferation architecture and an achievement of multilateral diplomacy, endorsed unanimously by the UN Security Council through resolution 2231.” It added: “We welcome… Biden’s positive statements on the JCPOA, and look forward to working with the incoming US administration.”
The EU appears more determined than ever to revive the nuclear deal in spite of the fact that French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian last week acknowledged that Tehran is violating the deal and rapidly acquiring nuclear weapons capacity. “This has to stop because Iran and — I say this clearly — is in the process of acquiring nuclear (weapons) capacity,” he was quoted as saying.
At an underground facility, Iran’s theocratic establishment is enriching uranium to 20 percent purity, which is only a relatively short technical step away from weapons-grade level.
Unfortunately, the European leaders are sending the wrong message to Iran: That the regime’s violations and threats are paying off. The Iranian leaders have ratcheted up their threats in recent months in order to get the JCPOA’s EU3 (Germany, the UK and France) and the US back to the nuclear deal as soon as possible. Tehran has threatened that, if US sanctions are not lifted by Feb. 21, it will expel International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors.
The Iranian regime has learned that, the more it threatens to instigate instability and insecurity in the Middle East, the more the EU will double down on its efforts to save the nuclear deal.
The European leaders are sending the wrong message to Iran: That the regime’s violations and threats are paying off.
More fundamentally, the EU wants to see the sanctions on Iran quickly lifted once the Iranian leaders rejoin the nuclear deal. But does the EU not remember how the regime spent its influx of money as a result of the nuclear deal? The billions of dollars of increased revenues were not spent on helping the Iranian people, improving their living standards or promoting peace in the region, even though it was outlined in the nuclear deal’s preamble that all signatories “anticipate that full implementation of this JCPOA will positively contribute to regional and international peace and security.” When the deal was finalized, former US President Barack Obama famously said he was “confident” that it would “meet the national security needs of the United States and our allies.” However, this was not the case. The international community witnessed a greater propensity for Houthi rocket launches at civilian targets in Saudi Arabia, the deployment of Hezbollah foot soldiers in Syria, and constant violence by Iranian-funded militias.
The EU also wants to return to the same nuclear deal that was drafted in 2015. Does the EU not remember the negative consequences of that agreement? One of the consequences was a worsening of relations with Europe’s traditional allies. The Gulf states and Israel were excluded from the negotiations with Iran and this resulted in a flawed deal that failed to recognize their rightful concerns about missile proliferation and the funding of violent proxies within and next door to their territories.
Furthermore, the deal was heavily tilted in favor of the Islamic Republic, as unprecedented concessions were granted to the Iranian regime. For example, the deal paved the way for Iran to legally enrich uranium and spin centrifuges at any level it desires after the expiration of the JCPOA. The sunset clauses, which enshrined that commitment, set a firm expiration date for the restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program. The deal’s signatories also helped swiftly lift all four rounds of UN sanctions against Iran — sanctions that had taken decades to put in place. Furthermore, Iran’s military sites were exempt from inspection by the IAEA. And the West helped the Iranian regime rejoin the global financial system with full legitimacy, allowing billions of dollars to flow into the treasury of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its expanding militias across the Middle East.
By these measures alone, the EU must have realized by now that the nuclear deal with Iran, which the bloc is strongly rooting for once again, has demonstrably failed.
Finally, doesn’t the EU recall the crimes that the regime committed on its soil after the nuclear deal and before Trump pulled the US out of the JCPOA? The regime assassinated dissidents on European soil, including Ahmad Mola Nissi — a Dutch citizen of Iranian descent and a critic of the Tehran regime who was gunned down at his front door in November 2017. The Dutch security service publicly acknowledged that it had “strong indications” the Iranian government had commissioned the murder.
In a nutshell, the EU is rewarding Iran for its heightened aggression. The more the regime escalates its threats, the more the EU is increasing its efforts to revive the nuclear deal and lift sanctions.
*-Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist. Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh

Iran must prove it is serious before Gulf talks can begin
Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami/Arab News/January 24/2021

د. محمد السلامي: على إيران أن تثبت جديته قبل أن بدأ أية محادثات مع دول الخليج العربي
Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani last week urged the Gulf states to hold talks with Iran. The senior Qatari official expressed hope that this dialogue would take place, adding in an interview with Bloomberg TV: “We still believe this should happen.”
On Twitter, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif responded to the Qatari official’s proposal, saying: “Iran welcomes my brother (Al-Thani’s) call for inclusive dialogue in our region. As we have consistently emphasized, the solution to our challenges lies in collaboration to jointly form a ‘strong region.’”
Speaking about the same issue on Friday, Zarif told the Iranian state Mehr News Agency: “Our hands have always been extended to the Gulf states.” He added provocatively: “The region now is ours, and its security is in favor of all of us.”
In the same interview, Zarif even claimed that Iran’s regime had presented its own proposal prior to those of other regional states, saying: “Before all these proposals, we have introduced a proposal. The president of the republic last year proposed a ‘Hormuz Peace Endeavor (HOPE).’” He added: “Our readiness for negotiations, therefore, is nothing new. And as I mentioned in my response to the Qatari foreign minister, this issue is a declaration of Iran’s long-term policy.”
Zarif also said, gloatingly, that it should be made clear to some Arabian Gulf states that they have wasted four years because of former US President Donald Trump. He recalled that, when the late emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah floated a proposal for negotiations between the Gulf states and Iran, which was accepted by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the Gulf states allegedly responded by saying: “We should be patient as Trump has just taken over the US administration.” Zarif said: “These countries have wasted four years… Trump has gone, and we and they are the ones who remain.”
It should be noted here that none of the Gulf states officially responded to the remarks by Zarif. However, given the timing of his statements, two key questions arise: Is Iran serious about interacting, on a strategic rather than a tactical basis, with any genuine proposal to de-escalate the current regional situation? And can Iran reverse its current behavior in the region?
From the onset of the revolutionary regime, it has used brutal military force, as seen in the eight-year Iraq-Iran War (1980-1988). Iran emerged from this war devastated economically, politically and militarily, and in need of time to recoup its strength and overcome the crises it was going through. Hence, the regime opted for a soft approach, using diplomacy and cultural outreach, as well as emphasizing civilizational commonalities during the second term of late President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (1993-1997) and particularly during the tenure of Mohammed Khatami (1997-2005).
This ostensibly peaceful period witnessed one of the most dangerous phases of the Iranian regime’s penetration into the Arab world. Iran took advantage of this period of systematic openness in the region to embed its cells and entrench its presence. It was able to conceal its hostile agenda through promoting civilizational dialogue and staging exhibitions in several Arab and Gulf capitals.
During this phase, Iran also focused on establishing so-called cultural centers in Arab states and launching its operations through them. These centers were directly linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the office of the Supreme Leader. One would have expected them to have been linked to the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or even to Iran’s diplomatic consulates, but they were all bypassed, indicating Iran’s nefarious objectives behind establishing them.
All parties are fed up with Tehran’s PR campaigns, soft power rhetoric, empty diplomacy, and promises.
These centers intensified the regime’s activities regionally and globally, providing handy diplomatic cover for its recruitment, propaganda and indoctrination. This phase also saw Iran cooperating with the US and some Western countries in the invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003. Mohammed Ali Abtahi, Iran’s vice president under Khatami, said clearly: “If it weren’t for Iran, Kabul and Baghdad wouldn’t have been toppled.”
Later in this phase, the Arab street, longing for triumphs, cheered Hezbollah’s so-called victory in the 2006 Lebanese War, which exhausted and destroyed the country. However, Iran, cheered on by some Arabs before its regional role was exposed with the onset of the so-called Arab Spring in 2011, made no real gains through the Lebanese War.
As a result, following the phase of political upheaval in the Arab region, Iran left its soft power approach and returned to its original hard power approach. This involved proxy wars, a dependence on armed Shiite militias in the Arab region, sectarian rhetoric, and playing the Shiite victimhood card. The Iranian regime also activated some of its long-dormant sleeper cells and launched major intelligence activities in the region, especially in the Arabian Gulf.
The past few years have witnessed the dismantling of several Iranian espionage cells in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Yemen, not to mention Iranian support for the Houthi movement in Yemen through the supply of weapons, money and fighters. Also during this phase, Iran intensified its activities in Bahrain and Kuwait.
Despite Iran’s interference, the Gulf states have not adopted a comprehensive negative outlook toward Tehran. This is because they want to establish positive fraternal relations between the two banks of the Arabian Gulf and to ensure peaceful coexistence between Iran and themselves.
While the Arab region’s countries, particularly the Gulf states, do not oppose dialogue with Iran, there is, sadly, distrust between Iran and most of the Gulf states. To build confidence and reach a phase of serious dialogue — rather than a dialogue for its own sake — the Iranian side must take steps on the ground to prove its seriousness with regard to resolving the crises in its geographic neighborhood. Naturally, the Gulf states are cautious, with the phrase “once bitten, twice shy” quite apt for describing their cautiousness at this time.
All parties are fed up with Tehran’s PR campaigns, soft power rhetoric, empty diplomacy, and promises. Instead, neighboring countries want Iran to undertake genuine steps to prove its sincerity in seeking to become a normal state that wants to improve its relations with the region and the world, and in being prepared to abandon its expansionist projects, which have provoked regional sectarian conflicts and terrorism.
Ayatollah Khomeini considered Saudi Arabia to be Iran’s No. 1 enemy, saying: “Even if we abandon Al-Quds, settle differences with the US and reach reconciliation with Saddam Hussein, we will never do this with Saudi Arabia.” Has Iran really abandoned this position? Will Iran dissolve all its militias across the region, from Lebanon in the north to Yemen in the south? Will it pledge not to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries? Will it stop its sectarian mobilization campaigns? What will it do about the attacks on the Saudi diplomatic missions in Tehran and Mashhad? The answer to these questions will indicate Tehran’s seriousness in reaching a settlement with the Arabian Gulf states.
The benefits of reaching an understanding between the Gulf states and Iran are so many that they require a separate article to be detailed.
*Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami is head of the International Institute for Iranian Studies (Rasanah). Twitter: @mohalsulami

'Je ne regrette rien' won't do, M. Macron
Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib/Arab News/January 24/2021
With the brutal words “no repentance nor apologies,” Emmanuel Macron stated his position on the Algerian War and the abuses that came with colonization. Instead, the French president would take part in “symbolic acts” aimed at promoting reconciliation, his office declared.
The eight-year war of independence, in which an estimated 1 million Algerians gave their lives in order to kick out a loathsome occupation that lasted 132 years, is still a thorn in the relations between the two countries, as well as in the ties between France and its citizens of Algerian origin. Macron is already facing a problem with the Muslim/Arab community in France, many of whom are of Algerian descent. Question marks remain about how he is planning to reconcile with the 5.7 million Muslims in France, who make up more than 8 percent of the population.
When he ran for president, Macron promoted himself as a centrist candidate, offering a good compromise between the extreme right represented by Marine Le Pen and the extreme left represented by Jean-Luc Melenchon, especially after Francois Fillon, the former prime minister and candidate of the center-right, exited the scene over corruption charges. Macron was a breath of fresh air for French citizens of Maghrebin origin. As a presidential candidate in 2017, he even described French colonization as a “crime against humanity” when he was interviewed by an Algerian TV channel. However, as time passed, Macron realized that, in a polarized society, a centrist risks losing support at both ends of the political spectrum. He drifted to the right as public opinion radicalized against Islam after a series of terrorist attacks.
Following the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty in Paris last October, Macron made a speech in which he said Islam was a religion in crisis all over the world and accused French Muslims of separatism. His speech, which took on an ideological dimension, was highly offensive to Muslims and contributed to their feelings of estrangement from the French republic. A state that considers them to be separatists if they want to have any connection with their past and a government that wants to dissolve them into an alien, secular Western culture is not really a state or a government that represents them. A study by YouGov and Arab News published in November, which surveyed 958 participants from all over France, revealed that, even when they are well adapted to the country’s way of life, French citizens of Arab origin feel excluded and stigmatized.
Even when they are well adapted to the country’s way of life, French citizens of Arab origin feel excluded and stigmatized.
However, Macron’s method of integrating them by force and by adopting a condescending attitude has the opposite effect. The president should ask himself what his endgame is. Is it to entice French Muslims to adhere to the French system or to please the extreme right? Is it to integrate French Muslims into society or to isolate them in suburban ghettos? Denying their heritage will not make them more French. Denying the crimes that were committed against their ancestors by flat-out rejecting France’s responsibility for the atrocities of the Algerian war of independence will not make them grateful toward the French republic. If Macron’s objective is to reconcile with French Muslims, then recognition should come first. Reconciliation cannot be conducted under pressure. Acknowledging past mistakes and having the ability to accept the “other,” with their own characteristics, are the first steps toward finding common ground for a better future.
Again this question comes up: Why do French Muslims identify with their country of origin more than they identify with France? It is because the French system is not flexible enough to accept people who have a different creed, different habits and different appearances. Recognition of their past and their grievances is part of integrating them. The arrogant attitude that seeks to erase their past and reject their grievances will only intensify their feelings of estrangement. Of course, as French citizens, they should feel French first and foremost. However, they only will have this sense of belonging when the French system accepts them as a complete cultural experience and recognizes cultural diversity within French society.
Macron’s insistence on “no repentance” not only affects French Muslims, but also the overall sanity of French society. This attitude will normalize chauvinism and eclipse the human rights that the republic claims to advocate by stirring feelings of nationalist supremacy. What lesson will that teach the French youth? Will it teach them about human rights? On the contrary, it will teach them blind pride or, more likely, arrogance. It will teach them that, whatever they do to other nations, it will be acceptable and that they have the right to infringe on other nations’ rights. It offers a very bad lesson in civic education.
Recognition does not bring with it guilt. Rather, it will relieve the French collective consciousness of its guilt. It is an expression of courage and strength to face one’s past, with all its flaws, to embrace it and learn from it. Denying the crimes that were committed against the Algerians will not make France a better country, nor will it make history erase this episode. Grievances and bitterness should be overcome; however, a frank discussion is needed to achieve that. Denial will not improve the relations between French Algerians and France. Macron should realize that “symbolic acts” will not do the job — recognition is needed to achieve reconciliation.
*Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib is a specialist in US-Arab relations with a focus on lobbying. She is co-founder of the Research Center for Cooperation and Peace Building, a Lebanese NGO focused on Track II. She is also an affiliate scholar with the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut.