LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS
BULLETIN
August 04/17
Compiled &
Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
The
Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
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Bible Quotations For Today
Woe to you lawyers! For
you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you
hindered those who were entering
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 11/52-54/:"Woe to you
lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter
yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.’ When he went outside, the
scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile towards him and to
cross-examine him about many things, lying in wait for him, to catch him in
something he might say."
For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend
time in Asia; he was eager to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of
Pentecost
Acts of the Apostles 20/06-16/:"But we sailed from Philippi after the days of
Unleavened Bread, and in five days we joined them in Troas, where we stayed for
seven days. On the first day of the week, when we met to break bread, Paul was
holding a discussion with them; since he intended to leave the next day, he
continued speaking until midnight. There were many lamps in the room upstairs
where we were meeting. A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in the
window, began to sink off into a deep sleep while Paul talked still longer.
Overcome by sleep, he fell to the ground three floors below and was picked up
dead. But Paul went down, and bending over him took him in his arms, and said,
‘Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.’Then Paul went upstairs, and after
he had broken bread and eaten, he continued to converse with them until dawn;
then he left. Meanwhile they had taken the boy away alive and were not a little
comforted. We went ahead to the ship and set sail for Assos, intending to take
Paul on board there; for he had made this arrangement, intending to go by land
himself. When he met us in Assos, we took him on board and went to Mitylene. We
sailed from there, and on the following day we arrived opposite Chios. The next
day we touched at Samos, and the day after that we came to Miletus. For Paul had
decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia;
he was eager to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.'
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis &
editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 03-04/17
Lebanese problem: Dominance of one state
over the other/Ghassan Imam/Al Arabiya/August 03/17
Britain: A Summer of Anti-Semitism/Ruthie Blum/Gatestone Institute/August 03/17
Finding Jihad in Jail/Benjamin Welton/Gatestone Institute/August 03/17
The Military Options for North Korea/John R. Bolton/Gatestone Institute/August
03/17
UK: 23,000 Terrorists and Counting/Denis MacEoin/Gatestone Institute/August
03/17
People in Qatar should derive lessons from Bahrain/Sawsan Al Shaer/Al Arabiya/August
03/17
Titles For Latest
Lebanese Related News published on
August 03-04/17
Lebanese Politicians, MP, Sami Gemayel, Strongly
Criticize ‘Hezbollah,’ Nusra Swap Deal
Number of appointments made in Cabinet session
Govt. Says Keen on Kuwait Ties amid Objections over Shura Council Head Sacking
Fneish Says Kuwaiti Accusations against Hizbullah Baseless
5 Hizbullah Captives Return Home as Refugees, Nusra Militants Reach Central
Syria
Mashnouq Warns of 'Int'l Isolation', Urges Integrating Hizbullah Arms into State
Army Destroys IS Posts in Ras Baalbek, al-Qaa, Deploys in Arsal Outskirts
Palestinian Held over Ties to Dahiyeh Bombings Cell
Riachi Launches Campaign to Mitigate Tension over Refugees in Lebanon
Explosion at Zouk Power Plant Kills Worker
Report: Eyes Turn to Army Battle against IS after Evacuation of Nusra Ends
Hariri Says Hizbullah 'Achieved Something' in Arsal, Army to Deal with IS
Loyalty to Resistance bloc: Army people resistance trinity making victories
Berri, interlocutors tackle current situation
Lebanese problem: Dominance of one state over the other
The Solution to Lebanese Crisis Is the Pressure of the International Community
on the Iran Regime
Titles For Latest
LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on
August 03-04/17
A policeman and a civilian
were killed and three people wounded in Esna, south of Luxor
Fire breaks out at Dubai Torch tower again
Saudi Arabia denies Iranian claims regarding storming its embassy in Tehran
Brazil President Survives Congressional Vote over Corruption Charges
Several Scenarios for Safe Transition of Palestinian Presidency after Abbas
Netanyahu’s Wife Interrogated over Abuse of Public Funds
The Guardian: ‘UN Pays Tens of Millions to Assad Regime under Syria Aid Program’
Iran Says US Breaching Nuclear Deal as Rouhani Starts New Term
Qatar Creates New Residency Status for Foreigners
Latest Lebanese
Related News published on
August 03-04/17
Lebanese Politicians, MP, Sami Gemayel, Strongly Criticize ‘Hezbollah,’ Nusra Swap Deal
Asharq Al-Awsat English/August
03/17/Beirut – The prisoner exchange deal between Lebanon’s “Hezbollah” and al-Nusra
Front extremists was met with wide condemnation among Lebanese politicians, who
said that the deal “undermined the sovereignty of the state. The deal saw
terrorist fugitives wanted by the Lebanese judiciary exchanged for the release
of “Hezbollah” members that were detained by the militant Nusra group in Syria.
Head of the Kataeb Party MP Sami Gemayel asked: “Who took the decision and
allowed murderous criminals to leave the outskirts of Arsal and facilitated
their return to their country without trial and punishment?” Directing his
questions to the parliament speaker, prime minister and ministers of interior,
justice and defense, he asked: “Who took the decision to jump above the Lebanese
judiciary and release criminals accused of terrorism and belonging to a
terrorist group to be released from Lebanese jails?” “Who took the decision to
allow political and security authorities to intervene in the judiciary and
prevent the trial of the terrorists and detainees and thereby achieve justice?
What is the justice minister’s stance from all this? Is this a strategy that the
government will adopt in dealing with all terrorists who violate Lebanon’s
security? How will the Lebanese government deter other terrorist and criminal
groups and whoever deigns to violate Lebanese sovereignty?” he wondered.
Gemayel demanded that the prime minister and ministers of interior, justice and
defense submit a written response to his inquiries, “otherwise my questions will
be turned into an interrogation.” A judicial source told Asharq Al-Awsat that
the decision to release a few al-Nusra Front detainees was “faultless” and based
on trial norms.In addition, he explained that the time the detainees already
spent in jail is equal to the time that they would have been sentenced to once
put on trial. The Military Tribunal will go ahead in trying those who have been
released. If they do not respond to the court summons, they will be tried in
absentia and as fugitives. The trials are set to begin soon, he added. Sentences
against them will be issued in absentia and harsher punishments will be laid
down against them, elaborated the source. Mustaqbal Movement MP Amin Wehbeh
meanwhile voiced his support for Gemayel’s stance, telling Asharq Al-Awsat that
the “Hezbollah” and Nusra deal “undermined” the sovereignty of the Lebanese
state.“The decisions of war and peace are in the hands of the party, not the
state, seeing as it is waging its battles in Syria, Iraq and Yemen and has
terrorist cells in Kuwait and the Arab Gulf that are carrying out Iran’s
policies,” he added. “Hezbollah” had in the past and on several occasions
criticized the 2016 swap deal that was struck between the Lebanese state and
Nusra Front that saw the release of the Lebanese soldiers by the extremist
group. “Hezbollah” had rejected that a number of Nusra detainees be released
“because they were being held on terrorist charges.” In wake of the Arsal
clashes in July, the party adopted a different stance and insisted on “speeding
up the deal with al-Nusra in order to free its fighters” from its clutches.
Kataeb MP Fadi al-Haber said that recent prisoner exchange “proves that the
political decision-making power in Lebanon lies in the hands of ‘Hezbollah’.”He
told Asharq Al-Awsat that the equation of the army-people-resistance, which the
party “is imposing on ministerial statements, is being invested on the borders,
whether in declaring war with Israel or armed groups or in waging wars abroad.”
Number of appointments made in
Cabinet session
The Daily Star/ August 03/17 /BEIRUT: A Cabinet session headed by President Michel Aoun was held Thursday,
with a number of administrative appointments made after Prime Minister Saad
Hariri voiced the positive outcome of his trip to Washington last week. The
president stressed the importance of adopting an economic plan and more
importantly, implementing the plan at the beginning of the session. Aoun also
gave ministers a report of the economic and financial situation of the country.
The session at Baabda Palace was set to discuss the salary scale and tax hikes.
Aoun was reportedly displeased that Parliament had endorsed the salary scale
bill before a state budget for 2017 had been agreed on. But a number of
administrative appointments were expected to be made by Cabinet and they were.
Judge Henry Khoury was appointed as the president of the Shura Council replacing
Judge Wael Khaddaje who was appointed General Financial Inspector. Another
widely disputed topic which was expected to raise tempers inside Cabinet was the
recent offensive conducted by Hezbollah in the outskirts of Arsal, which
resulted in the expulsion of thousands of militants and their families to Syria.
Speaking to reporters after the session, Information Minister Melhem Riachi
said: "After the expulsion of terrorists from Arsal, the Cabinet allocated a
large financial sum to be used to protect the town and its resident."Aoun and
Prime Minister Saad Hariri held a routine closed-door meeting prior to
Thursday's session. As for by parliamentary elections which are required under
the constitution to be held to fill three vacant MP seats, Riachi said that a
committee was formed to discuss the elections.
Govt. Says Keen on Kuwait Ties
amid Objections over Shura Council Head Sacking
Naharnet/August/03/17/The Cabinet on
Thursday stressed its keenness on Lebanon's ties with Kuwait in connection with
a Kuwaiti letter of protest over alleged Hizbullah involvement in a terror cell
in the Gulf emirate, as some ministers objected against a decision to replace
the head of the State Shura Council, Judge Shukri Sader. “President Michel Aoun
gave a briefing about the economic and financial situations based on information
and reports from specialized financial institutions, noting that it is necessary
to approve an economic plan and begin implementing it as soon as possible,”
Information Minister Melhem Riachi told reporters after the session. The
president “also addressed the Kuwaiti memo, as the Cabinet emphasized the
firmness of the relation with the State of Kuwait, stressing that it will follow
up on the memo out of keenness on the strength of the relation between the two
peoples.”
Separately, the Cabinet appointed Judge Henri Khoury as head of the State Shura
Council, replacing Judge Shukri Sader, a move that was met with reservations
from the ministers of the Marada Movement and the Progressive Socialist Party.
“Mustafa Bairam has been appointed as inspector general, Wael Khaddaj as
financial inspector general and Hadi Abu Farhat as member of the OGERO
Committee, while the membership of Ghassan Daher on the OGERO Committee was
renewed,” Riachi added, noting that the Council of Ministers did not tackle
Hizbullah's military operation Arsal's outskirts. “Will they fire anyone who
does not endorse the policies of the new presidential term?” Fenianos wondered
regarding the decision to sack Sader. Hamadeh for his part voiced surprise that
Sader's replacement also has one year left to serve before retirement, while
noting that he had also voiced objections against the OGERO appointments
together with Deputy Prime Minister Ghassan Hasbani. Justice Minister Salim
Jreissati, who is close to Aoun and the Free Patriotic Movement, meanwhile noted
that Sader was appointed as the head of a chamber in the Court of Cassation,
“which is equivalent to his previous post” as head of the State Shura Council.
Fneish Says Kuwaiti Accusations against Hizbullah Baseless
Naharnet/August/03/17/Youth and Sport Minister Mohammed Fneish of Hizbullah told
the Lebanese cabinet on Thursday that Kuwait's accusations against Hizbullah in
the case of the so-called al-Abdali terrorist cell are “baseless.”“The Kuwaiti
memo is based on wrong data and Hizbullah values the relations with Kuwait and
is keen on the best ties with it,” Fneish added. “Kuwait has played a major role
in the Lebanese political life and offered aid to the Lebanese people,” the
minister acknowledged. Kuwaiti Ambassador to Lebanon Abdul-Al al-Qinai has
handed a letter of protest over Hizbullah's alleged involvement in the cell to
Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil and has held talks with Prime Minister Saad
Hariri and Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq over the issue. Mashnouq
expressed “his readiness and the readiness of the Lebanese security agencies to
cooperate with the Kuwaiti interior ministry and to offer any help possible in
this case or any other issues.”The supreme court in Sunni-ruled Kuwait, which
has a sizable Shiite minority, last month convicted 21 Shiites of forming a
"terrorist cell" with ties to Iran and Hizbullah and plotting attacks in the
Gulf state. Kuwait has protested to Lebanon over the alleged training of the
cell members by Hizbullah, which has ministers in the Lebanese government.
Earlier this month, Kuwaiti authorities expelled 15 Iranian diplomats and shut
down the military, cultural and trade missions of the Iranian embassy in Kuwait
over Tehran's backing of the "terrorist cell."Iran said the allegation is
baseless . Fourteen of the 21 convicted members are on the run. Local media said
they fled to Iran by sea. Around a third of Kuwait's native population of 1.35
million are Shiites.
5 Hizbullah Captives Return Home as Refugees, Nusra
Militants Reach Central Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August/03/17/Al-Qaida's former Syria affiliate al-Nusra
Front on Thursday handed over five Hizbullah captives to the Lebanese party as
part of a ceasefire agreement that also involved the evacuation of thousands of
militants and refugees from northeast Lebanon to Syria. The five captives –
Ahmed Mezher, Moussa Kourani, Hassan Taha, Mohammed Mahdi Shoaib and Mohammed
Jawad Yassine – were handed over at the al-Saan crossing in Syria's central Hama
province.A Hizbullah convoy then carried the five fighters to Lebanon via the
Joussiyeh border crossing. A celebration was to be held later in their honor in
the Lebanese border town of al-Qaa. Thousands of Syrian refugees and militants
evacuated from the outskirts of the northeastern Lebanese border town of Arsal
meanwhile arrived in central Syria in territory held by rebel and jihadist
fighters. They were bussed out of the restive border area between Lebanon and
Syria as part the ceasefire deal with Hizbullah. An AFP correspondent said the
freed Hizbullah fighters arrived in Syrian Red Crescent vehicles in Hama's al-Saan
area. A total of 7,777 people -- a vast majority of them civilians but also
including militants -- were transported back into Syria from Lebanon's Arsal
region on Wednesday in line with the ceasefire. The agreement ended six days of
fighting in the border area between Hizbullah and al-Qaida's former Syrian
affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front, previously known as the al-Nusra Front. On
Thursday, buses carrying three groups of Syrian jihadists and refugees arrived
in an area of Hama under the control of rebels and jihadists, the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights said. Two more groups arrived later in the day. The
five Hizbullah fighters were captured in central and northern Syria in 2015 and
2016. Another three Hizbullah fighters were released as part of the deal late on
Tuesday. They had been captured during the latest Arsal offensive after losing
their way in a mountainous region.Arsal's outskirts had been used for years as a
hideout by Syrian militants, but was also home to an unknown number of refugees
seeking shelter from Syria's six-year war. Al-Nusra Front was al-Qaida's
affiliate in Syria until mid-2016 when it broke off ties, before going on to
found a new jihadist-led alliance called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which now
controls large swathes of Syria's northwestern Idlib province. Hizbullah
launched the offensive on the Syrian militants on July 21 and had cornered rival
fighters in a small pocket of territory when it announced the truce.The deal
also saw the release of three detainees held in Lebanon's Roumieh prison. The
first phase of the deal took place on Monday, when Hizbullah and HTS exchanged
the bodies of nine Syrian fighters for the remains of five Hizbullah fighters.
Tens of thousands of Syrian refugees live in the town of Arsal, adjacent to the
border region, and an unknown number are also thought to have taken shelter in
the surrounding mountains. More than one million Syrians are registered with the
United Nations as refugees in Lebanon, a country of just four million people.
Mashnouq Warns of 'Int'l Isolation', Urges Integrating
Hizbullah Arms into State
Naharnet/August/03/17/Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq warned Thursday that
Lebanon could soon face an international isolation in connection with
Hizbullah's presence as a paramilitary force that has regional roles, calling
for integrating the Iran-backed group's weapons into the Lebanese state.
“Hizbullah's arms cannot have Lebanese legitimacy without a national strategy
that would integrate these weapons into the state,” said Mashnouq in an
interview on LBCI television. “We are not Vietnam to speak of an
army-people-resistance equation. I'm not saying that we are Hong Kong but let's
have something in the middle between Vietnam and Hong Kong,” the minister added.
He also warned that Lebanon might face “a major Arab and Western political and
economic siege in the upcoming period,” stressing that the country should have a
“united domestic front” in order to deal with such a possibility.
Turning to Hizbullah's military operation in the outskirts of the border town of
Arsal in which it managed to oust al-Nusra Front militants from the area,
Mashnouq said he cannot congratulate Hizbullah over a victory in Arsal's
outskirts as he congratulated the families of five freed Hizbullah captives on
“their safe return.”“The army chief told some politicians that the army had the
ability to liberate Arsal's outskirts although for a high casualty toll... The
political forces did not give a greenlight to the army,” the minister explained.
Army Destroys IS Posts in Ras Baalbek, al-Qaa, Deploys in
Arsal Outskirts
Naharnet/August/03/17/The army on Thursday fired artillery rounds at Islamic
State group posts in the outskirts of the eastern border towns of al-Qaa and Ras
Baalbek, inflicting casualties and destroying a number of sites, state-run
National News Agency reported. The shelling continued for several hours
throughout Thursday. Army units meanwhile continued their deployment in the
outskirts of the nearby border town of Arsal, seizing control of posts abandoned
by the jihadist al-Nusra Front group. Al-Nusra was ousted from the region in a
Hizbullah offensive that ended with an evacuation deal. The army is reportedly
preparing an operation aimed at eradicating IS militants from the outskirts of
al-Qaa and Ras Baalbek.
Palestinian Held over Ties to Dahiyeh Bombings Cell
Naharnet/August/03/17/Palestinian man has been arrested on charges of
communicating with terrorist groups, state-run National News Agency reported on
Thursday. “State Security agents arrested the Palestinian H.A. after a
monitoring of his telecom data,” NNA said. “He confessed to having ties and
cellphone communication with the members of a Palestinian cell that was busted
earlier and to others who were involved in bombings that targeted Beirut's
southern suburbs,” the agency added.
Riachi Launches Campaign to Mitigate Tension over Refugees
in Lebanon
Naharnet/August/03/17/Minister of Information Melhem Riachi launched on Thursday
a media campaign devised to mitigate the growing tension in the Lebanese
community as the result of hosting scores of Syrian refugees. "There is a
problem which we need to resolve. We need to prevent tension between the
Lebanese people and the Syrian refugees,” said Riachi in a press conference he
held in the presence of UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag. "There
is a pressing need of an overarching media campaign to raise awareness over the
relation between the hosts and the guests," he added, pointing out that the
United Nations announced its support for the campaign. For her part, Kaag,
hailed Riachi's efforts as "a positive message that construes Lebanon's capacity
and resilience.”She stressed: “The international community must hear the
suffering of Lebanon which is hosting the displaced with an open heart,
generosity and hospitality. "There is tension between the Lebanese and Syrian
refugees; this rivalry is manifest at the job market," said Kaag. "We want to
treat the refugees in a proper way and we want for them to return to their
country," she added. "Dialogue must be promoted and launched; and media means
have a very important role in that regard," she continued. "We want to
collaborate with the civil society. The goal is Lebanon's prosperity and the
integrity of its territories," she concluded. More than one million Syrians are
registered with the United Nations as refugees in Lebanon, a country of just
four million people.
Explosion at Zouk Power Plant Kills Worker
Naharnet/August/03/17/A steam turbine at the Zouk Thermal Power Plant north east
of Beirut exploded on Thursday killing one of the plant's engineers, the
National News Agency reported. “The explosion had seriously injured an engineer
who was identified as Toni Jarjoura,” it added. Jarjoura, a Syrian national, was
carrying out maintenance work for a steam turbine with a number of other
workers, which led to the explosion of the turbine and serious injury, reports
said. Civil Defense Rescue Team transported the man to a nearby hospital but he
died shortly after. The power plant is the largest in Lebanon, constituted
mostly of gas turbines.
Report: Eyes Turn to Army Battle against IS after
Evacuation of Nusra Ends
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August/03/17/All eyes turn to the army's expected
battle to eliminate the Islamic State group militants from the border towns of
al-Qaa and Ras Baablek, after the evacuation of Arsal's outskirts from militants
of al-Nusra, media reports said. A senior military source told al-Joumhouria
daily on Thursday that “the Ninth Brigade of the Lebanese army expanded its
deployment in the direction of Wadi Hmayyed area and the amusement park,” but
added that “the wide deployment in the outskirts and the border between Arsal
and Syria does not mean that the mission has begun. It needs some more time.”
However the source stressed that army is “ready for all the tasks entrusted to
it.”A security source told the daily that the “countdown has begun for zero hour
which has been decided definitively,” and assured that the army “enjoys a full
political cover” in its fight against the IS in al-Qaa and Baalbek. Extensive
consultations between “official Lebanese and non-official security bodies” are
underway in preparation for the battle. The “military plan has been set. It is
on the verge of implementation,” according to the daily.
An unnamed source following up closely on the negotiations said the battle has
two goals one of which is to “clear the region from terrorists, and to uncover
the fate of Lebanese servicemen who were abducted by the IS” during the Arsal
battle in 2014.
The army has been pounding positions of the jihadist IS group entrenched in the
outskirts of the border town of al-Qaa and Ras Baalbek. The expected
confrontation comes after a Hizbullah operation managed on Wednesday to expel
militants from al-Nusra Front group from the outskirts of Arsal. Hizbullah's
battle ended with the evacuation of around 7,000 people including Syrian
militants and refugees who quit the restive border area between Lebanon and
Syria on Wednesday under a ceasefire deal. The deal, announced last week, ended
six days of fighting in the mountainous region of Arsal outskirts between the
Hizbullah and fighters from al-Qaida's former Syrian branch. Arsal's outskirts
had been used for years as a hideout by Syrian militants but was also home to an
unknown number of refugees seeking shelter from Syria's six-year war. Al-Nusra
Front is the name of the Syrian faction that was previously an al-Qaida
affiliate. Lebanese television stations showed footage from the desolate border
area of buses winding their way along dirt roads, waved along by Hizbullah
fighters. The buses headed to the Syrian town of Flita, and then on to the
northern province of Aleppo before heading to the opposition-held province of
Idlib in the northwest of the country. A total of 7,777 people including armed
men and civilians left under the agreement.
Hariri Says Hizbullah 'Achieved Something' in Arsal, Army
to Deal with IS
Naharnet/August/03/17/Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced Wednesday that
Hizbullah has “achieved something” in its win over al-Nusra Front in Arsal's
outskirts, shortly after buses carrying militants, their families and other
refugees began evacuating the area as part of a ceasefire and prisoner exchange
agreement with Hizbullah.“What we care for is a return to normal life in Arsal
and the state has performed its duties,” said Hariri after Grand Serail talks
with General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, who played a key role in
the negotiations.
“Hizbullah carried out the operation and it achieved something and what's
important is the result,” Hariri added. Turning to the presence of the jihadist
Islamic State group in the border region, Hariri noted that the Lebanese army
“will deal with this situation in the appropriate manner.” The premier also
revealed that a plan has been devised to offer social aid to Arsal's residents
and that it would be discussed in Thursday's cabinet session. Asked about the
inmates who were released from Lebanese prisons at Nusra's request, Hariri
stressed that they were non-convicts. The Hizbullah-Nusra agreement had first
started with the exchange of bodies of slain fighters between the two groups.
Prisoners were exchanged between the two sides overnight and five more Hizbullah
captives are supposed to be freed when the buses of the evacuees reach their
destinations in Syria. The deal followed a military offensive by Hizbullah
fighters and Syrian troops during which they captured border areas between the
two countries and left hundreds of Nusra fighters besieged in a small rugged
mountainous area. The fighting ended with a ceasefire on Thursday.
Loyalty to Resistance bloc: Army people resistance trinity making victories
Thu 03 Aug 2017/NNA - The Loyalty to
the Resistance parliamentary bloc on Thursday maintained that Hezbollah had
proven the utter importance of the army-people-Resistance equation in scoring
victories. "Lebanon made a quality victory over terrorism, when the Islamic
Resistance expelled al-Nusra Front terrorists from Arsal outskirts, the bloc
said in a statement issued following their weekly meeting. The bloc also hailed
the performance of the Lebanese military in fighting terrorism, as well as the
mediation efforts of General Security Chief, General Abbas Ibrahim. Moreover,
the bloc renewed calls upon the Lebanese government to communicate with the
Syrian state to speed up the return of the Syrian refugees to their motherland.
Berri, interlocutors tackle current situation
Thu 03 Aug 2017/NNA - House Speaker
Nabih Berri on Friday met at his Ain Tineh residence with MPs Ghazi Aridi and
WaeL Abu Faour, with talks reportedly touching on the current situation and a
range of proposed matters. On emerging, MP Aridi said that the meeting comes as
part of "the permanent deliberations and coordination between Democratic
Gathering head MP Walid Jumblatt and Speaker Berri." Later, Berri met with head
of the Popular Bloc, Miriam Skaff. A number of relevant dossiers also featured
high on talks between Berri and Labor Minister Mohammed Kabbara. Berri also met
respectively with the renowned Diva Majida Roumi, and General Prosecutor
Magistrate Samir Hammoud.
Lebanese problem: Dominance of one state over the other
Ghassan Imam/Al Arabiya/August 03/17
Hezbollah failed to resolve its battle with the remnants of the Nusra Front in
Arsal. The state intervened to save Hezbollah. General Abbas Ibrahim, the
director of the official “public security “ apparatus, managed to enter into a
fragile deal with the “Fatah al-Sham Front “, one of the armed factions of al-Nusra,
to stop the fighting. Thanks to the state, the credibility of Major General
Abbas is stronger than the credibility of Hezbollah. He must now complete the
deal by persuading the Nusra factions to emigrate to Idlib in northwestern
Syria, which has become a haven for both extremist and moderate religious
factions.
But Hezbollah must first drink from the cup of defeat until the end. They must
plead Bashar to allow the remnants of the Nusra front to travel to Idlib. They
then have to allow the Lebanese army to liquidate the border enclave occupied by
ISIS in Ras Baalbek.
Can the army fight till the end against ISIS? Or should Major General Abbas
mediate to stop the battles and negotiate with the ISIS elements to leave. But
to where? There is no longer any land for the Islamic state. ISIS must accept
two bitter options: to surrender, or to fight to death.
Why is the war waged by Hezbollah and the army so difficult to resolve? The
reason is that the Lebanese / Syrian border is not clearly drawn. There are
those who say that Arsal and Baalbek are Syrian territory. The other reason is
the lack of support of the Muslim / Christian public for the Hezbollah wars.
What benefit does Lebanon gain from replacing the Iranian mercenaries with the
remnants of the ISIS and al-Qaeda on the Syrian / Lebanese borders?
The third reason is that the Lebanese army is in line with Hezbollah. The
military turned a blind eye to Iran’s involvement in the Syrian war and its
arming of Hezbollah with missiles and heavy weapons, so that it became better
equipped than the “homeland army”. And then there is the question of the
dominance of the Hezbollah state over the institutions of the “legitimate state.
“ This domination reached Sidon and West Beirut (a Sunni area), which was
invaded by Hezbollah nine years ago.
It is no longer a secret that today there are Lebanese Sunni leaders who are
impatient and waiting for their time as prime minister
Heinous domination
There is more than one proof to this heinous domination. The Hezbollah war was
accompanied by a racist campaign against the Syrian refugees. Indeed, Hezbollah
invaded their camps near Arsal. Four to ten of those arrested were tortured and
died.
General Abbas pleaded for the release of the prisoners of Hezbollah who were
captured by the Nusra Front while the fate of the soldiers of the Lebanese army
remains unknown: Were they killed or wounded by Hezbollah’s friendly fire? Did
Nusra execute them in retaliation against Hezbollah? Or did they escape and
returned to their families secretly?
The political and popular resentment against Hezbollah does not mean that the
Lebanese are biased or sympathetic to the intransigent organizations
infiltrating Lebanese territory. These organizations have lost the pretexts of
their existence since the time they brutally treated Arab civilians in Syria and
Iraq. Its narrow interpretation of religion and its strict application of the
provisions of the Sharia were unacceptable to other Islamic sects and doctrines.
‘Legitimate institutions’
Perhaps it would have been better to postpone the visit of Prime Minister Saad
Hariri to Washington. He said he was going to defend the “legitimate
institutions” of the Lebanese state, including the military. However, his visit
coincided with Hezbollah’s new war inside Lebanon. The visit was then
interpreted by DC chambers as defending Hezbollah and its dominance over the
Lebanese state.
President Donald Trump postponed meeting Hariri until the fifth day of his
visit. Then, and during the joint press conference, Trump launched a massive
hostile campaign against Iran and Hezbollah, describing the latter as a threat
to the stability and security in the region.
Lebanese diplomacy had to prepare for Hariri’s visit to Washington and the bumps
he might face in there. The Trump administration and the Congressional
committees of US military reduced its support to the Lebanese army at a rate of
82 percent and accused inner parties of leaking US weapons to Hezbollah.
Hezbollah strengthened its dominance over Lebanon and its war with Bashar
against Syrian civilians.
The Lebanese army strongly denies these accusations. Despite its growing
security credibility among the Lebanese in general, it cannot deny protecting
the Hezbollah hordes and securing its access to the Syrian border. While a Sunni
gunman with a canister or a pistol is being arrested, the army cannot confiscate
55,000 missiles that Iran has stacked into the folds of Hezbollah and the
dangerous ammunition depots in densely populated Shi’ite areas.
The circumstances of the Lebanese visit to the US capital were immediately
reflected on the tense political and popular situation in Lebanon. Hezbollah was
surprised by Hariri’s campaign against them, as they are his partners in the
government he heads.
Concessions to Hezbollah
While other currents in the Islamic and Christian public considered that Hariri
made concessions to Hezbollah and its allies represented by the Free Patriotic
Movement led by President Michel Aoun and run by his son-in-law, the Foreign
Minister and the talented Nabih Berri, the chronic president of the House of
Representatives, and the first ally of Bashar’s regime in Lebanon.
Nevertheless, the stance of Sunni politicians was clearer and stronger than the
position of the public view. Successive generations of Sunni leaders have always
been waiting for any moment of weakness and confusion displayed by their
colleague, the prime minister, to move against him in the hope of replacing him.
Therefore, the Saudi government’s wise position in supporting the prime minister
was to strengthen the executive powers and responsibilities of the Lebanese
Council of Ministers, in order to preserve the balance between the three main
sects (the Maronites, Sunnis and Shiites), and to secure the stability of the
“legitimate state “ in the face of the riots of the “smaller ones”.
It is no longer a secret that today there are Lebanese Sunni leaders who are
impatient and waiting for their time as prime minister. Nevertheless, they do
not directly oppose Saad Hariri. These leaders are eager to prove their worth
and their efficiency in governance in order to maintain the stability of
Lebanon.
I can now name the most recurrent potential candidates for the post of prime
minister: Retired Major General Ashraf Rifi, former director of the Internal
Security Forces, whose operations department exposed several “conspiracies”
against Lebanon’s security.
He fought Israeli espionage rings and alerted the Syrian forces and Hezbollah to
Israeli infiltrations. There is also Abdul Rahim Murad and of course I cannot
neglect to mention the billionaire Najib Miqati, who knows better than Hariri
how the winds of change are coming, those coming from the Gulf or across the
border with Al Assad’s Syria.
The Solution to Lebanese Crisis Is the Pressure of the International Community
on the Iran Regime
People's Mojahedin Organization of
Iran
https://www.mojahedin.org/newsen/57178?c=twitter
IRAN, 02 August 2017--The United States must confront the interference of the
Iranian regime and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Hezbollah is a branch of the Revolutionary Guards that is committing crimes in
Syria and other countries.
Arabic SkyNews in a report on July 30, 2017 said: “In facing the Iranian
regime’s threats in the Middle East and especially in Lebanon, where the regime
uses Hezbollah militias to advance its goals, US President Donald Trump says
that these militias are a threat to the Middle East. This regime has also caused
human suffering in Syria. He emphasized that he stands against these militias.
At the same time, Washington plans to apply more sanctions against this party as
a terrorist group. The Lebanese government is afraid of the consequences of
these sanctions on the Lebanese economy.”Hezbollah militias fight in Syria and go to other places like Yemen and other
countries at the request of the Iranian regime.
Hezbollah militias fight in Syria and go to other places like Yemen and other
countries at the request of the Iranian regime.
Hossein Haqqani, former ambassador Os Pakistan to the United States, in response
to the questions of where Hezbollah's control can be initiated, is America's
role against the Iranian regime stronger than regional plans, and how can these
actions be started, told SkyNews: “First we must understand that Hezbollah does
not yield much power; rather its power is from sources that it has, and income
and property that it has obtained through illegal and illegitimate activities,
and from assistance it gets from #Iran.”Haqqani added: “We should also understand that the group is currently a regional
interventionist, it is not just a Lebanese force. They fight in Syria and go to
other places like Yemen and other countries at the request of the Iranian
regime. As I said in the past, this group is a branch of the Revolutionary
Guards. I think that if it is a global pressure, it should be on the regime of
Iran, rather than on Hezbollah.”The former Pakistani ambassador emphasized: “Hezbollah is affiliated with the
Iranian regime. In order to confront the malicious interference of this force,
the presence of American forces in the region is required. The solution is the
creation of an inclusive Lebanese government.”
Latest LCCC Bulletin For
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on
August 03-04/17
A policeman
and a civilian were killed and three people wounded in Esna, south of Luxor
Reuters, Esna, Egypt Friday, 4
August 2017/A policeman and a civilian were killed and three people wounded in
an attack late on Thursday on a patrol in Esna, south of Luxor, the Interior
Ministry said. The police patrol had stopped a vehicle and when stopped, two
gunmen fired on the patrol, the ministry said in a statement. One of the
perpetrators were arrested while the other fled, the ministry said, adding that
the wounded have been transferred to hospital. Related: Saudi renews support to
Egypt’s fight against terrorism after deadly attack Attacks on security forces
have been common in Egypt since the army, led by general-turned-President Abdel
Fattah al-Sisi, ousted Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Mursi in 2013
following mass protests against his rule. Related: Egypt arrests 13 terrorist
suspects 'preparing attacks' In recent months, attacks have expanded to target
Egypt’s Coptic Christians, the country’s largest minority.
Fire breaks out at Dubai Torch tower again
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Thursday, 3 August 2017/A fire has ripped
through a skyscraper in Dubai on Thursday, Dubai Media Ofice reported.
Firefighting squads were deployed to The Torch tower, one of the world’s tallest
residential buildings, to bring the fire under control. Videos being circulated
online show the fire rapidly spreading upwards as burning debris falls onto the
streets below. Related: Blaze rips through 60-storey Dubai construction site
near Burj Khalifa. The Dubai Police Commander in Chief & Dubai Civil Defence
Director General were on site and no injuries have been reported so far.This is
not the first fire to hit the tower. In 2015, hundreds of people were evacuated
from the a 79-story skyscraper when a fire broke out.
Saudi Arabia denies Iranian claims regarding storming its
embassy in Tehran
SPA, Riyadh Thursday, 3 August 2017/An official source in the Saudi Ministry of
Foreign Affairs denied claims made by the official spokesman of the Iranian
Foreign Ministry concerning completing investigations about the storming of the
Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate general in Mashhad. The source
explained that the Iranian authorities stalled since communications were made to
send a Saudi team to the Iranian territory from 25 to 29 December 2016 to review
the results of the investigations, reported the Saudi Press Agency. According to
the source, four months later, the Iranian side requested a new date for the
visit of the Saudi team and it was reset for July 3rd, 2017.The Iranian side
confirmed the date but didn’t issue approval to land the Saudi aircraft till
August 1st, 2017 in an official memo, following the issuance of a statement by
the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Brazil President Survives
Congressional Vote over Corruption Charges
Asharq Al-Awsat English/August
03/17/Brazilian President Michel Temer survived on Wednesday a vote at Congress
over corruption charges that had dominated his presidency and threatened to
impeach him. Members of Congress’ lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, voted
263-227 Wednesday night against suspending the president and sending him for
trial before Brazil’s highest court. The result effectively suspended the
bribery charge, which was filed by Attorney General Ricardo Janot in June. Now
Temer says he has new wind in his sails. “We are pulling Brazil out of its worst
economic crisis in our history,” Temer said after the vote. “I want to complete
the biggest transformation ever done in our country.” “The markets will be
happy,” said Gesner Oliveira, at the Go Associados consultancy. “It suggests
that continuing the reform agenda is possible.” But there are more legal woes
ahead and clear chinks in his governing coalition, so Temer will have little
time to celebrate. Janot is expected to charge the president with obstruction of
justice by the end of this month, which would prompt another vote that even
Temer’s most stalwart supporters would rather not have to go through as
elections loom next year.
Furthermore, in a troubling sign for Temer, the 263 votes cast in support of him
fell far short of the crucial 342, or two-thirds of the 513-member body, that he
needs to pass an overhaul of the pension system. It is an unpopular proposal
supported by the business class, which has helped keep an otherwise deeply
unpopular leader in power. “This is far from over,” said Rafael Salies, a risk
consultant with the Rio de Janeiro-based Southern Pulse. “August may still have
many surprises in store for him.” A year ago, Temer, then vice president, took
office after Dilma Rousseff was impeached and removed as president for
improperly handling government finances. Since becoming president, his
administration has been rocked by repeated scandals while still managing to move
unpopular legislation forward, such as a loosening of labor rules and the
proposals to trim pension benefits. All the while, his popularity has plunged.
The latest national poll said just 5 percent of Brazilians approve of Temer
while the vast majority said he should be tried for the bribery allegation. The
bribery allegation stunned even Brazilians inured to graft cases, and
represented the latest in a bevy of scandals flowing out of a mammoth
investigation into kickbacks that has led to the jailing of many of the
country’s elite the last three years. A recording purportedly made in March
emerged in which Temer apparently supported the continued payment of hush money
to Eduardo Cunha, the powerful former speaker believed to have dirt on many
politicians. Cunha is serving a 15-year sentence for corruption. As part of the
probe, it came to light that Temer allegedly orchestrated a scheme in which he
would get payouts totaling millions of dollars for helping resolve a business
issue for JBS, a giant meat-packing company. A former aide was arrested while
carrying a suitcase with $150,000, much of which was allegedly destined for
Temer. Temer denies the allegations and says there is no proof he received any
money. Early in Wednesday’s proceedings, Temer’s lawyer, Antonio Claudio Mariz
de Oliveira, tore into the charge against the president. He said the recording
was illegally made and the suitcase of money was a red herring. “The suitcase of
money was returned” by the police to the Temer aide, the attorney said. “Why was
it returned? Because the president is a good man, an innocent man.” Few deputies
spoke in Temer’s favor, but those who did praised Temer’s stewardship of Latin
America’s biggest economy, which is struggling to emerge from its worst
recession in decades. “Brazil is improving,” said Mauro Pereira, a member of
Temer’s party. “Inflation is going down, our national reserves are going up. We
now have international credibility.” Many economists, however, note that while
inflation has slowed, unemployment has sky-rocketed and several states and
municipalities are broke and unable to pay public workers. “To be a great nation
Brazil needs a president that is honest, Christian and patriotic,” said Jair
Bolsonaro, a presidential hopeful.
Several Scenarios for Safe Transition of Palestinian
Presidency after Abbas
Asharq Al-Awsat English/August 03/17/Ramallah- Hamas movement has ignited the
battle over the early succession of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas by
announcing that the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council would assume
his position if Abbas could not carry out his duties. “The Palestinian basic law
stipulates that if the president’s health deteriorates, if he dies or can not
carry out his job, then the president of the Legislative Council (parliament)
should assume his position for 60 days in preparation for holding elections,”
said Ahmad Bahar, a leader in the Islamic Movement that governs Gaza Strip.
Bahar recalled a similar incident in 2004, when former President Yasser Arafat
passed away and was replaced by Speaker of the Parliament – back then Rouhi
Fattouh. He stressed that the National Council has nothing to do with this
matter. Bahar’s statements came amid rising fears of a vacuum in the Palestinian
political system after Abbas, especially following a slight setback in his
health that demanded him to do some medical tests in Ramallah. While Hamas says
that Speaker of the Legislative Council Aziz Duwaik, pro-Hamas, will succeed
Abbas, Fatah is preparing for a totally different plan and is discussing
different scenarios, but it will first elect a new executive committee for the
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The National Council will convene a
meeting at any time before the end of the year to elect a new Executive
Committee for the PLO. Fatah officials say the election of a new committee comes
within the framework of renewing Palestinian legitimacy. Yet, observers say that
it also paves the way for a safe and smooth transition of power. They are not
only Palestinian concerns but also Arab as well as Israeli. The Israeli security
services have put forward several post-Abbas scenarios.
It is believed that Fatah movement will elect one of its members in the Central
Committee for membership of the Executive Committee of the PLO, and this will
be, according to the Fathawi Khales’s concept, the closest person nominated to
succeed Abbas. Notably, there is still no vice president for Abbas since the
basic constitution of the Palestinian Authority (PA) does not include the
position of vice president, but there is a deputy to the president of Fatah
movement, who is Mahmoud al-Aloul, the former governor of Nablus. The other
scenario might lead to reconciliation with Hamas and carrying out new public
elections. With this legal dispute and with the absence of a vice president,
fears of a vacuum in the Palestinian political system are growing. These
concerns are not only limited to Palestinians but also to Arabs and Israelis as
the Israeli security services put several scenarios for the post-Abbas era.
Netanyahu’s Wife Interrogated over Abuse of Public Funds
Asharq Al-Awsat English/August 03/17/The wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu was interrogated on Wednesday on suspicion that she used public money
for personal uses, local media said. Sara Netanyahu was questioned by the police
for two hours over whether she diverted the public funds towards housekeeping
expenses at official and private residences, reported Israeli public radio. The
interrogation came as a new threat loomed over the premier in his own
long-running battle with corruption suspicions, as his former chief of staff
reportedly considered an offer to turn state’s evidence.
The interrogation was held at the National Fraud Squad headquarters near Tel
Aviv. As during previous rounds of questioning of both the premier and his wife,
police issued no statement on Sara Netanyahu’s questioning. But it was her
husband’s tribulations that grabbed the front pages of all of Israel’s major
dailies — including the pro-Netanyahu freesheet Israel Hayom on Wednesday. They
reported that justice officials were nearing a deal with his former chief of
staff, Ari Harow, in which he would give evidence against his former boss in
exchange for immunity from prosecution for his own acts.
Harow has been under investigation for more than two years on suspicion of
bribery, breach of trust, conflict of interest and fraud, Israel’s top-selling
newspaper Yediot Aharonot reported. Left-leaning daily Haaretz said Harow has
been giving investigators information on two of the ongoing investigations into
Netanyahu. One is based on suspicions that the premier unlawfully received gifts
from wealthy supporters, including Australian billionaire James Packer and
Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan. Also being probed is a suspicion that
Netanyahu sought a secret deal with the publisher of Yediot Aharonot.
The proposed deal, which is not believed to have been finalized, would have seen
Netanyahu receive positive coverage in return for him helping scale down the
operations of Israel Hayom, Yediot’s main competitor. The investigations have
stirred Israeli politics and led to speculation over whether Netanyahu will
eventually be forced to step down. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked told news site
Ynet on Wednesday that Netanyahu is not legally obliged to quit if indicted. “At
the moment there is no charge against him and there is no recommendation to
charge him,” she said. “The ones to take that decision are the attorney general
and the state prosecutor,” she added. “For now, let the prime minister get on
with his job.”
The Guardian: ‘UN Pays Tens of Millions to Assad Regime
under Syria Aid Program’
Asharq Al-Awsat English/August 03/17/London- The British Guardian has revealed
series of contracts awarded to Syrian government and charities linked to Head of
Syrian regime Bashar al-Assad’s family. “The UN has awarded contracts worth tens
of millions of dollars to people closely associated with Assad, as part of an
aid program that critics fear is increasingly at the whim of the government in
Damascus,” a Guardian investigation has found. Businessmen whose companies are
under US and EU sanctions have been paid substantial sums by the UN mission, as
have government departments and charities – including one set up by Assad’s wife
Asma al-Assad and another by his closest associate Rami Makhlouf. The UN said it
can only work with a small number of partners approved by Assad and that it does
all it can to ensure the money is spent properly, according to the Guardian. The
UN has paid more than $13 million to the Syrian government to boost farming and
agriculture, yet the EU has banned trade with the departments in question for
fear of how the money will be used, the British newspaper was informed. The UN
also paid at least four million dollars to the state-owned fuel supplier, which
is also on the EU sanctions list.
The report further added that two UN agencies have partnered with the Syria
Trust charity, an organization started and chaired by Assad’s wife, Asma, who is
under both US and EU sanctions, spending a total of $8.5 million. On the other
hand, UNICEF has paid $267,933 to the Bustan Association, owned and run by Rami
Makhlouf, Syria’s wealthiest man. He is a friend and cousin of Assad, and his
charity has been linked to several pro-regime militia groups. Makhlouf runs the
mobile phone network Syriatel, which the UN has also paid at least $700,000 in
recent years. He is on the EU sanctions list and was described in US diplomatic
cables as the country’s “poster boy for corruption”. The Guardian stressed that
analysis of the United Nations own procurement documents show its agencies have
done business with at least another 258 Syrian companies, paying sums as high as
$54 million and £36 million, down to $30,000.
Moreover, the report said that UN highlights the money it has spent putting up
staff at the Four Seasons hotel in Damascus as a case in point. UN agencies paid
around nine million dollars to the hotel between 2014 and 2015 – which is
understood to still be one-third owned by Syria’s ministry of tourism, a
department outlawed under EU sanctions.
Iran Says US Breaching Nuclear
Deal as Rouhani Starts New Term
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August/03/17/Iran
said Thursday that new US sanctions were a violation of its nuclear deal with
world powers, piling pressure on President Hassan Rouhani as he started his
second term. Rouhani vowed to continue his efforts to end the country's
isolation as he was sworn in by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei following
his re-election in May. But the ceremony came less than 24 hours after US
President Donald Trump confirmed fresh sanctions against Iran. Tehran says the
new measures violate its 2015 deal with world powers that eased sanctions in
exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme, an agreement which Trump has
repeatedly threatened to tear up. "We believe that the nuclear deal has been
violated and we will react appropriately," deputy foreign minister Abbas
Araghchi said on state television."We will certainly not fall into the trap of
US policy and Trump, and our reaction will be very carefully considered." The
mounting crisis creates a difficult position for Rouhani, a 68-year-old moderate
who won re-election largely thanks to his efforts at repairing relations with
the West. "We will never accept isolation," Rouhani said as he was sworn in in
front of top political and military officials. "The nuclear deal is a sign of
Iran's goodwill on the international stage," he added. Khamenei took a tougher
line, saying Iran must not fall for Washington's "tricks". "The enemy's
hostility has made us more resistant," he said. New US sanctions have emboldened
Rouhani's hardline opponents, who say he should never have trusted the United
States. "It's unfortunate timing," said Ellie Geranmayeh, an Iran analyst with
the European Council on Foreign Relations. "What will be absolutely critical is
how the Europeans position themselves," she said, pointing to the burgeoning
trade ties with Europe and their continued backing of the nuclear deal. - Europe
as safeguard -Britain, France and Germany -- who signed the deal along with
Russia, China and the United States -- remain firm backers of the agreement and
have criticised the Trump administration for threatening to scrap it. French
energy giant Total defied US pressure in July by signing a multi-billion-dollar
gas deal with Iran. "What Iranians are banking on at the moment, maybe
overestimating, is that Europe will safeguard and build on the deal, and make it
too politically costly for Trump to tear it up, or at least show Washington that
if it walks away, it will be doing so alone," said Geranmayeh.The International
Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly certified that Iran is sticking by its
commitments under the agreement -- a position that has been reluctantly accepted
by the Trump White House. But with Iran gaining the upper hand across the Middle
East, through its support for proxies in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, US lawmakers
appear determined to ratchet up tensions. Meanwhile, Rouhani also faces
challenges as he tries to impose civilian control over the economy. Since the
election, he has engaged in a war of words with the Revolutionary Guards over
their outsized role in the economy -- although they have since sought to bury
the hatchet with a public show of unity. Rouhani has also faced criticism from
his reformist allies, who are angry over news that he will unveil another
all-male cabinet. Much of Rouhani's popularity has been built on his promise of
greater civil liberties, including more rights for women, but Iran has still had
only one female cabinet member since the 1979 revolution -- ironically under
hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The government line-up is due to be officially
unveiled on Saturday at a high-profile inauguration ceremony in parliament in
the presence of foreign guests, including EU foreign policy chief Federica
Mogherini.
Qatar Creates New Residency Status for Foreigners
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August/03/17/Qatar, currently boycotted by four
Arab states, on Wednesday created a new permanent residents status for certain
groups of foreigners, including those who have worked for the benefit of the
emirate. In a first for the Gulf, Qatar's cabinet ministers approved the
measures, the official QNA press agency reported, in a move that will likely
affect tens of thousands of resident foreigners. Under the new rules, children
with a Qatari mother and a foreign father can benefit from the new status along
with foreign residents who have "given service to Qatar" or have "skills that
can benefit the country," the agency said. A specially created interior ministry
commission will decide individual cases, according to the Qatar News Agency.
Those deemed eligible for the new status will be afforded the same access as
Qataris to free public services, such as health and education. They will also
receive preferable treatment for jobs in the administration and armed services
as well as being able to own their own properties and exercise some commercial
activities without the need for a Qatari partner. While stopping short of
offering Qatari nationality the new measures constitute a first for the Gulf.
Naturalisation is extremely rare in the region and the status of the millions of
foreigners working in the Gulf are strictly limited. Oil-rich Qatar has a
population of 2.4 million people, 90 percent of whom are foreigners, including
many from Southeast Asia working in construction.
The move comes as Qatar languishes under a boycott imposed by regional kingpin
Saudi Arabia as well as Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. The four
Arab states broke ties with Qatar on June 5, accusing the emirate of fostering
Islamist extremist groups and of ties to Saudi arch-rival Iran. Qatar has denied
the allegations.The four Gulf nations have closed their land and sea borders to
Qatar and imposed economic and air traffic restrictions. Kuwait is leading
mediation efforts in the crisis, the worst to grip the region since the 1981
creation of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Saudi
Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Qatar. The two other GCC members, Kuwait and Oman, have
not joined the Qatar boycott.
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources
published on
August 03-04/17
Britain: A Summer of Anti-Semitism
Ruthie Blum/Gatestone
Institute/August 03/17
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10721/britain-antisemitism
"2016 was the worst year on record for antisemitic
crime [in Britain]," — National Antisemitic Crime Audit, published on July 17,
2017.
"Britain has the political will to fight antisemitism and strong laws with which
to do it, but those responsible for tackling the rapidly growing racist
targeting of British Jews are failing to enforce the law." — Gideon Falter,
Chairman of the Campaign Against Antisemitism.
The first "Palestine Expo" -- a two-day festival in London, self-described as
the "biggest social, cultural and entertainment event on Palestine to ever take
place in Europe" -- was held over the weekend of July 8, 2017 at the Queen
Elizabeth II Centre in Westminster. The gathering, attended by an estimated
15,000 people, included political panels, workshops and food courts --
ostensibly to highlight and honor "Palestine history and heritage."
Given the identity of its organizers, however, its true impetus -- to demonize
the Jewish state -- was clear from the outset. Sponsored by the Leicester-based
Friends of Al-Aqsa (FOA), a group that openly supports the Islamist terrorist
organizations Hamas and Hezbollah, the event aroused the anger of pro-Israel
activists and the British government alike.
About a month before the Expo was scheduled to take place, Communities and Local
Government Secretary Sajid Javid sent a letter to the FOA -- which promotes the
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, and figures
such as Holocaust denier Paul Eisen -- expressing his concerns and threatening
to call off the event.
FOA founder Ismail Patel replied that Javid had "failed to provide any
satisfactory reason as to why they have chosen to cancel an event which seeks to
celebrate Palestinian culture and heritage." He also resorted to a classic
anti-Semitic trope, accusing the government of being influenced by the Jewish
lobby.
As Javid set the date of June 23 for his final decision on whether the Expo
would be canceled, Patel began a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for legal
representation to challenge the government in the event of a cancellation.
Neither materialized, however, when the controversy was upstaged by the deadly
Grenfell Tower fire, which erupted on June 14, the day of the exchange of
letters between Javid and Patel.
A week later, Javid gave the green light for the event.
Among the speakers at the Expo was South African Islamic scholar Sheikh Ebrahim
Bham, know for having quoted Hitler's propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels
comparing Jews to fleas. Patel defended his decision to host Bham at the event
by saying: "Shaykh Bham clearly uses it to demonstrate how terrible the
treatment of the Jews under Nazi persecution was. "He then goes on to state that
similar treatment is now being experienced by Palestinians under Israeli
occupation – that of being sub-human." Other speakers included openly
anti-Israel academics, some Jewish, all with a history of anti-Semitic writings,
remarks and social media postings, as well as the highly controversial former UK
National Union of Students president Malia Bouattia.
Malia Bouattia, former president of the UK National Union of Students, refers to
acts of terrorism against Israelis as "resistance". (Image source: NUS press
office)
Jason Silver, a Jewish resident of London who attended the event "to record what
I knew would be a hate fest of antisemitism and more blood libels and incitement
to hatred," sent a letter to the Daily Mail detailing his experience. He also
posted the letter on Facebook, along with video footage he recorded during the
three hours he was there, before being forced by organizers to leave.
Silver wrote that talks by "key speakers were truly vile, both to Jews and
against the UK for the Balfour Declaration," a reference to the 100-year-old
document supporting a Jewish homeland in Palestine -- for which the Palestinian
Authority has threatened to sue Britain.
Silver said that he encountered no problems with participants -- most of whom
were wearing Muslim garb -- until he donned his Jewish skull cap. Within 10
minutes, he wrote, he was told he was not welcome, and must exit the premises.
When he asked why he was being ordered to leave -- after having been there for a
full three hours with no mishap -- he was not given a reason.
Nor did the security guards to whom he complained about being discriminated
against by virtue of his religion come to his aid. On the contrary, Silver said,
they not only refused to listen to his claim that a "crime of racial/religious
hatred" was taking place, but assisted organizers in ousting him, on the grounds
that they had the right to decide whom to reject.
Since the incident, Silver has contacted members of the British government --
including Javid -- as well as the police and the organization Jewish Human
Rights Watch. Most have responded that they will be investigating his complaint.
His story is not an isolated incident, however, as is indicated by the latest
National Antisemitic Crime Audit, published on July 17, 2017 by the Campaign
Against Antisemitism (CAA). The report is summarized as follows: "2016 was the
worst year on record for antisemitic crime [in Britain]; a consistently elevated
level of antisemitic crime has become the new normality for British Jews;
violent antisemitic crime continued to disproportionately affect smaller Jewish
communities in 2016; our simple recommendations from last year are repeated this
year because, despite many promises, they have not been implemented by law
enforcement bodies; and antisemitic crime appears to be worsening in the initial
months of 2017, with incidents including the firebombing of kosher restaurants
in Manchester, a man stopped by police in London after brandishing a meat
cleaver and machete whilst chasing after Jews, and police closing down London's
iconic shopping streets to make way for a major pro-Hizballah march."CAA
Chairman Gideon Falter bemoaned the findings, saying:
"Britain has the political will to fight antisemitism and strong laws with which
to do it, but those responsible for tackling the rapidly growing racist
targeting of British Jews are failing to enforce the law."
Thus, he warned, "There is a very real danger of Jewish citizens emigrating, as
has happened elsewhere in Europe, unless there is radical change."
*Ruthie Blum is the author of "To Hell in a Handbasket: Carter, Obama, and the
'Arab Spring.'"
© 2017 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
Finding Jihad in Jail
The Growing Number of Radicals
Recruited in Western Prisons
Benjamin Welton/Gatestone Institute/August 03/17
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10761/islamists-prisons
The irony is that the more the West
pledges to combat global terrorism and keep it contained militarily or through
criminal justice systems, the more jihadists manage to spread their message far
and wide -- on social media, in mosques and in prisons -- by infiltrating the
hearts and minds of individuals and groups hungry for and susceptible to it. On
June 3, 2017, a man boarding a bus in a suburb of Baltimore, Maryland was
recognized by one of the passengers as the perpetrator of an armed robbery that
had taken place earlier in the day. The passenger immediately called the police,
and officers intercepted the bus at a subsequent stop, blocking one of its
doors, to prevent the suspect -- 35-year-old Blaine Robert Erb -- from fleeing.
Erb responded by drawing two semi-automatic pistols from his backpack and firing
both in all directions. He was killed during the shootout, which was captured on
surveillance cameras.
What was not covered by the press about the incident -- reported as yet another
example of the wanton violence that has come to characterize Baltimore – was a
description of Erb's attire and other aspects of his appearance. This is a
significant "oversight": what the video footage reveals is that Erb was wearing
a Muslim thobe and large skull cap, and that he sported a long, bushy red beard.
This could indicate that he is among those coined by certain experts in the U.K.
as "ginger jihadis" to denote "redheaded men and women ... replacing the ritual
bullying of the playground with the ritual strictures of radical Islam,
perhaps... as a result of the bullying and persecution they endure early in
life."
Although it is not clear whether Erb was bullied as a child or ever converted to
Islam, his extensive rap sheet is on record. Wanted for failing to appear in
court on multiple DUI charges, Erb served jail sentences for various crimes,
including assault, theft, robbery and possession of illegal weapons. According
to a 2014 report in the Daily Caller, in 2006, then-FBI Director Robert Mueller
told a Senate committee that prisons were becoming a "fertile ground" for
jihadis, who were indoctrinating and recruiting fellow inmates in the ideology
of radical Islam. Erb could easily have been recruited behind bars. In April
2016, the New York Times reported that the number of convicted terrorists
currently housed in American prisons is 443 -- a number that dwarfs the number
of inmates at Guantanamo Bay.
This prison practice, in high gear across the West, sparked Britain to create
three special "jihadi jails-within-jails," to keep the most dangerous extremists
from having contact with, and then influencing, the general criminal population.
A recent report in the U.K.'s Metro states that Michael Adebolajo -- one of the
men who murdered British Army soldier Lee Rigby -- and the extremist Muslim
preacher Anjem Choudary are thought to be among the prisoners transferred to a
separate facility.
The American twist to Erb's story is its connection to another domestic
terrorism problem plaguing the U.S. -- the growing number of jihadis targeting
police officers. The case of ISIS supporter Edward Archer -- who confessed to
gunning down a Philadelphia police officer "in the name of Islam" -- is but one
example. In Queens, New York, 32-year-old Zale Thompson attacked New York City
police officers with a hatchet. Thompson, who friends claimed also espoused
"black power" politics, had viewed a total of 277 websites promoting jihad,
Al-Qaeda, ISIS, and beheadings prior to launching his attack. He also had
previously been arrested several times in California and charged with domestic
violence.
Also in New York, Ismaayil Brinsley posted extremely pro-jihad Koran quotes and
other such material on his Facebook and Twitter accounts before murdering two
NYPD officers in December 2014. Brinsley, like Thompson, had connections to
black supremacist organizations, including the Black Guerrilla Family. Brinsley
most probably had made such connections while serving time in Georgia and Ohio
prisons. Brinsley had already been arrested 19 times.
The Chechen Tsarnaev brothers set off bombs at the Boston Marathon, and then
murdered MIT police officer Sean Collier during their attempted escape. The
elder brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, began his criminal career as a low-level drug
dealer who played a role in a triple-murder in Waltham in 2011.
In France, police have also been the victims of jihadi shootings and car bombs.
Last April, a gunman with known ties to jihadi networks killed a police officer
on the Champs Elysées. "Karim C" had an extensive history of moving in and out
of jail.
According to Aaron Klein, author of Schmoozing With Terrorists, ISIS began to
take advantage of racial tensions in America in 2015 by attempting to recruit
disgruntled black Muslims in Ferguson and Baltimore. This was months after the
Daily Mail reported that ISIS supporters vowed on Twitter to send militants to
fight police in Ferguson if protesters committed to Islam. The irony is that the
more the West pledges to combat global terrorism and keep it contained
militarily or through criminal justice systems, the more jihadists manage to
spread their message -- on social media, in mosques and in prisons -- by
infiltrating the hearts and minds of individuals and groups susceptible to it.
Erb appears to have been such a person. His story should be highlighted, not
buried.
© 2017 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
The Military Options for North Korea
John R. Bolton/Gatestone Institute/August 03/17
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/?p=57602
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10767/north-korea-military-options
North Korea test-launched on Friday its first ballistic missile potentially
capable of hitting America's East Coast. It thereby proved the failure of 25
years of U.S. nonproliferation policy. A single-minded rogue state can pocket
diplomatic concessions and withstand sustained economic sanctions to build
deliverable nuclear weapons. It is past time for Washington to bury this
ineffective "carrots and sticks" approach.
America's policy makers, especially those who still support the 2015 Iran
nuclear deal, should take careful note. If Tehran's long collusion with
Pyongyang on ballistic missiles is even partly mirrored in the nuclear field,
the Iranian threat is nearly as imminent as North Korea's. Whatever the extent
of their collaboration thus far, Iran could undoubtedly use its now-unfrozen
assets and cash from oil-investment deals to buy nuclear hardware from North
Korea, one of the world's poorest nations.
One lesson from Pyongyang's steady nuclear ascent is to avoid making the same
mistake with other proliferators, who are carefully studying its successes.
Statecraft should mean grasping the implications of incipient threats and
resolving them before they become manifest. With North Korea and Iran, the U.S.
has effectively done the opposite. Proliferators happily exploit America's
weakness and its short attention span. They exploit negotiations to gain the
most precious asset: time to resolve the complex scientific and technological
hurdles to making deliverable nuclear weapons.
Now that North Korea possesses them, the U.S. has few realistic options. More
talks and sanctions will fail as they have for 25 years. I have argued
previously that the only durable diplomatic solution is to persuade China that
reunifying the two Koreas is in its national interest as well as America's, thus
ending the nuclear threat by ending the bizarre North Korean regime. Although
the negotiations would be arduous and should have commenced years ago, American
determination could still yield results.
Absent a successful diplomatic play, what's left is unpalatable military
options. But many say, even while admitting America's vulnerability to North
Korean missiles, that using force to neutralize the threat would be too
dangerous. The only option, this argument goes, is to accept a nuclear North
Korea and attempt to contain and deter it.
The people saying this are largely the same ones who argued that "carrots and
sticks" would prevent Pyongyang from getting nuclear weapons. They are prepared
to leave Americans as nuclear hostages of the Kim family dictatorship. This is
unacceptable. Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
has it right. "What's unimaginable to me," he said last month at the Aspen
Security Forum, "is allowing a capability that would allow a nuclear weapon to
land in Denver." So what are the military options, knowing that the U.S. must
plan for the worst?
First, Washington could pre-emptively strike at Pyongyang's known nuclear
facilities, ballistic-missile factories and launch sites, and submarine bases.
There are innumerable variations, starting at the low end with sabotage,
cyberattacks and general disruption. The high end could involve using air- and
sea-based power to eliminate the entire program as American analysts understand
it.
Second, the U.S. could wait until a missile is poised for launch toward America,
and then destroy it. This would provide more time but at the cost of increased
risk. Intelligence is never perfect. A North Korean missile could be in flight
to a city near you before the military can respond.
Third, the U.S. could use airstrikes or special forces to decapitate North
Korea's national command authority, sowing chaos, and then sweep in on the
ground from South Korea to seize Pyongyang, nuclear assets, key military sites
and other territory.
All these scenarios pose dangers for South Korea, especially civilians in Seoul,
which is within the range of North Korean artillery near the Demilitarized Zone.
Any military attack must therefore neutralize as much of the North's retaliatory
capability as possible together with the larger strike. The U.S. should
obviously seek South Korea's agreement (and Japan's) before using force, but no
foreign government, even a close ally, can veto an action to protect Americans
from Kim Jong Un's nuclear weapons.
The U.S. and South Korean militaries fire missiles into the East Sea during a
South Korea-U.S. joint missile drill aimed to counter North Korea's ICBM test on
July 29, 2017. (Photo by South Korean Defense Ministry)
China clearly has enormous interests at stake, not least its fear that masses of
North Korean refugees will flow across the Yalu and Tumen rivers into its
territory. Neither the U.S. nor China wants conflict between their respective
forces, so immediate consultations with Beijing would be imperative once
military action began. Both considerations underline why urgent diplomacy with
China now to press the benefits of peaceful reunification is vital.
The Pentagon's military planners already should be poring through the
operational aspects of a potential military strike. But politicians and policy
makers also ought to begin debating the military options—for North Korea and
beyond, since similar issues will arise regarding Iran and other nuclear
proliferators.
For decades the U.S. has opposed attempts by any state without nuclear weapons
to develop them. Washington has consistently failed to achieve that objective,
and the world has become increasingly nuclearized. Stopping North Korea and Iran
may be the last chance to act before nuclear weapons become a global
commonplace.
John R. Bolton, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, is Chairman of
Gatestone Institute, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and
author of "Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations
and Abroad".
This article first appeared in The Wall Street Journal and is reprinted here
with the kind permission of the author.
© 2017 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
UK: 23,000 Terrorists and Counting
Denis MacEoin/Gatestone Institute/August 03/17
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10723/uk-terrorists
Theresa May herself is also not entirely to be trusted in this area. Despite her
calls for no tolerance for extremism, she has recently been widely criticized
for blocking publication of a major report into foreign funding of extremist
Muslim groups.
For years now, radical preachers, terrorist recruiters, and fundamentalists who
openly hate this country, its democratic values, and its tolerance for all
faiths, have walked British streets, campaigned on university campuses, and
converted and radicalised young men and women.
What seems not to be understood about "the religion of peace" is that "peace"
comes only after the entire world has been converted to Islam so that a "Dar al-Harb",
the "Abode of War," will no longer even exist.
Since the beginning of March, 17,393 people have been listed as terror suspects.
— French Senate report: "Prevention of Radicalism and Regional Authorities",
April 2017.
On May 26, four days after the major terrorist attack on an Ariana Grande
concert in Manchester, British intelligence officials stated that they had
identified 23,000 jihadist extremists living in the UK, all of them considered
potential terrorist attackers. According to The Times,
About 3,000 people from the total group are judged to pose a threat and are
under investigation or active monitoring in 500 operations being run by police
and intelligence services. The 20,000 others have featured in previous inquiries
and are categorised as posing a "residual risk".
The two terrorists who have struck in Britain this year — Salman Abedi, the
Manchester bomber, and Khalid Masood, the Westminster killer — were in the pool
of "former subjects of interest" and no longer subject to any surveillance.
A police officer stands guard near the Manchester Arena on May 23, 2017,
following a suicide bombing by an Islamic terrorist who murdered 22
concert-goers. (Photo by Dave Thompson/Getty Images)
The report adds that the two men who beheaded British soldier Lee Rigby in
London, in 2013, had been known to the security services, just as Abedi and
Masood were, but had been dropped to low priority.
David Anderson, QC, the former reviewer of anti-terrorism laws, noted concerns
in his 2015 report about the "speed with which things can change" around
suspects and "the difficulties in knowing how best to prioritise limited
surveillance resources". Senior police have also spoken of the difficulty in
identifying the triggers that might "reactivate" extremist behaviour.
Others had expressed similar concerns about how the jihadi ideology, based in
radical religious belief, is so intensely ingrained that it never leaves
individuals and may easily reactivate a desire to commit atrocities.
Ben Wallace, Minister of State for Security at the Home Office, told The Times
that the existence of a database of thousands of potential attackers clearly
indicates just how serious the threat has become: "This reveals the scale of the
challenge from terrorism in the 21st century," he said. "Never has it been more
important to invest in intelligence-led policing."
One problem is that the police and MI5 lack enough resources to investigate any
more than 3,000 suspects at a time, leaving the other 20,00 free to pass without
surveillance and under the radar. According to a report issued this year by Her
Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), and detailed in The Guardian,
budget cuts to the police forces in England and Wales have left law enforcement
inadequately prepared:
In a stark message about the current state of policing, Zoë Billingham, Her
Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary, said the "disturbing" practices did not
apply to the majority of forces but the watchdog could see the problems
spreading if action was not taken.
"We're leading to a very serious conclusion regarding the potentially perilous
state of policing," she said. "It's a red flag that we're raising at this stage.
A large red flag."
Ironically, this austerity-produced situation stands in stark contradiction to
comments by one of the country's leading security experts:
Anthony Glees, head of security and intelligence studies at the University of
Buckingham, said: "To have 23,000 potential killers in our midst is horrifying.
We should double the size of MI5, as we did in World War Two, and expand the
number of intelligence-led police by thousands. We can't go on as if this wasn't
happening."
In April, as Islamic State was facing defeat in Mosul and Raqqa, a small
national study found that many young British Muslims believed that jihadists
returning from Syria to the UK should be given a "second chance" and should
"reintegrate" within society. This is estimated to be around 800 or 850
individuals. One person interviewed argued that:
When people feel isolated and angry because they are not being treated with
respect and if they go out and fight in Syria and when they come back there is
no help, then I promise you, you will see more terrorism because these young
people will think why should I do anything when my own Government don't care
about me.
That appears to be a threat that ignores completely what sorts of crimes
returnees may have committed abroad. As such individuals do return, they may
well add significantly to the list of potential terrorists living in a country
they had already found occasion to hate. In 2016, "the Government admitted
[that] just 14 of nearly 400 returnee fighters have been jailed, raising fears
the rest are living off the radar and may be vulnerable to radicalisation."
Adam Deen of London's anti-radical Quilliam Foundation stated that:
What is important here is that the more Isis are under siege and the more
territory they're losing, the more they're going to channel their efforts and
energies into terrorism," he said in an interview with The Independent.
Those individuals that have managed to get back into the country will be
activated or will be conspiring to commit some kind of terrorist act. That's a
major concern.
Britain is not alone in facing such potential threats, but it may have the
largest population of potential terrorists. There is confusion in Germany, for
example, as to how many such individuals there are. According to a report from
the Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt), the number of suspects
is on the rise, but they list only 657 people as capable of carrying out an
attack, alongside another 388 "relevant persons" who might lend assistance to
perpetrators. Separate information, however, from the country's domestic
intelligence agency, the Federal Office for Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt
für Verfassungsschutz), stated that the number of radical Salafists in Germany
had risen from 8,350 in 2015 to 10,100 in 2016 (with 680 classified as
"dangerous"), and that hundreds of jihadis entered among the more than one
million migrants welcomed into the country during the two previous years.
Overall, however, the same agency estimates that 24,400 Islamists are active in
Germany, a figures similar to that of the UK.
Things are little better in France, which, according to Gatestone author Yves
Mamou, has a large but never-quantified Muslim population of at least six
million. In April 2017, the French Senate published its "Prevention of
Radicalism and Regional Authorities" report, showing that since the beginning of
March, 17,393 people had been listed as terror suspects. As in Britain, French
authorities said that not all suspects are being constantly monitored; smaller
numbers are investigated at regular intervals.
In May, the general secretariat of the international police organization,
Interpol, published a list of Islamic State fighters who were thought to have
already returned to Europe and may be planning suicide attacks in different
countries:
Interpol has circulated a list of 173 Islamic State fighters it believes could
have been trained to mount suicide attacks in Europe in revenge for the group's
military defeats in the Middle East.
The global crime fighting agency's list was drawn up by US intelligence from
information captured during the assault on Isis territories in Syria and Iraq
European counter-terror networks are concerned that as the Isis "caliphate"
collapses, there is an increasing risk of determined suicide bombers seeking to
come to Europe, probably operating alone.
The situation in the UK is, in some ways, the most alarming, not only because of
cuts to the police budget. Cuts have also been made to the security and
intelligence services, even more sharply since the June general election. Prior
to that, on June 4, Prime Minister Theresa May delivered a speech the day after
the London Bridge attack. Her speech included strong promises to tackle
terrorism by introducing fresh measures to strengthen existing legislation.
While we have made significant progress in recent years, there is – to be frank
– far too much tolerance of extremism in our country. So we need to become far
more robust in identifying it and stamping it out across the public sector and
across society. That will require some difficult, and often embarrassing,
conversations.
Since the emergence of the threat from Islamist-inspired terrorism, our country
has made significant progress in disrupting plots and protecting the public. But
it is time to say "Enough is enough".
She even named the ideological basis for the attacks:
while the recent attacks are not connected by common networks, they are
connected in one important sense. They are bound together by the single evil
ideology of Islamist extremism that preaches hatred, sows division and promotes
sectarianism.
This was progress. Three days after that, May presented proposals for fresh
legislation to clamp down hard on Islamic extremism. They included amendments to
Britain's 1998 Human Rights Act, which protects potential terrorists; tougher
Terrorism Prevention Investigation Measures based on a 2011 Act, but in 2016
only used for six individuals; more deportations of suspects, and longer prison
sentences, even though much radicalization takes place in prisons.
That was one day before the June 8 general election. May, overly confident that
she would win handily and increase her majority in parliament, led a disastrous
campaign that left her with a much reduced majority, forcing her to make an
alliance with Northern Ireland's controversial Democratic Unionist Party. Tim
Worstall, writing for Forbes magazine, wrote:
"It would be both reasonable and fair to say that Theresa May has just run the
worst British election campaign of modern times... Theresa May has in fact
achieved something that no one in modern times has managed, to start a general
election campaign 20 percentage points up and then arrive without even a
parliamentary majority for her party. There simply isn't anything to compare
with this in the annals".
To make matters worse, the Labour party, led by Jeremy Corbyn, came close to
winning the election and performed considerately better than anyone might have
thought a month earlier. Corbyn and his increasingly far-left party had been
considered unelectable. Now, they were a force to contend with in the House of
Commons.
Corbyn is the last person to be entrusted with Britain's security. Addressing a
Stop The War Coalition conference in 2011, he told the crowd: "I've been
involved in opposing anti-terror legislation ever since I first went into
Parliament in 1983". He has also opposed the UK's involvement in all foreign
wars: Sir Gerald Howarth, the former Tory defence minister, said: "Jeremy Corbyn
has opposed every British military intervention and represents complete
capitulation and weakness". He refused for many years to condemn IRA terrorism,
preferring to condemn the British army posted there. He called terrorist groups
Hamas and Hizbullah his "friends"; refused to denounce them as late as 2016, and
only said he regretted his support for them after heavy pressure was put on him.
Since the election, Labour has made it clear that it opposes any changes in
current human rights legislation, and claims that terrorism can be tackled
through the laws presently in force. Given the strains the British government is
now under, especially with weak negotiations for Brexit and May's increasing
unpopularity even within her party, the strong opposition within parliament is
certain to weaken further attempts to block radicalism and terrorism,
particularly where action against both involves (as it inevitably will) Muslims
from various ethnic minority groups.
There has already been vehement opposition to the government's core
anti-radicalization program, Prevent, with schoolteachers, students, and others
claiming it snoops on Muslim communities. Within the Labour party, Corbyn's
radical followers in the Momentum Movement are already planning to force the
deselection of members of parliament who oppose Corbyn, unless the such MPs "get
on board" by wholeheartedly supporting the leader and his far-left policies. As
this takes place, the hard left will strengthen its grip on parliament and make
it even more difficult for strong new legislation to be passed.
Theresa May herself is also not entirely to be trusted in this area. Despite her
calls for no tolerance for extremism, she has recently been widely criticized
for blocking publication of a major report into foreign funding of extremist
Muslim groups. Following an enquiry commissioned by May's predecessor David
Cameron, the report was due for publication in 2016, but is unlikely now to be
revealed for public scrutiny because it is deemed too "sensitive". The
sensitivity derives from Saudi Arabia being exposed as a major financier of
Islamic extremism worldwide, yet May and the UK government depend heavily on
selling arms and other things to the Wahhabi kingdom.
According to the London-based Henry Jackson Society, in its short report on
foreign funding of extremism,
The foreign funding for Islamist extremism in Britain primarily comes from
governments and government linked foundations based in the Gulf, as well as
Iran. Foremost among these has been Saudi Arabia, which since the 1960s has
sponsored a multimillion dollar effort to export Wahhabi Islam across the
Islamic world, including to Muslim communities in the West.
In the UK this funding has primarily taken the form of endowments to mosques and
Islamic educational institutions, which have in turn played host to extremist
preachers and the distribution of extremist literature. Influence has also been
exerted through the training of British Muslim religious leaders in Saudi
Arabia, as well as the use of Saudi textbooks in a number of the UK's
independent Islamic schools.
A number of Britain's most serious Islamist hate preachers sit within the
Salafi-Wahhabi ideology and are linked to extremism sponsored from overseas,
either by having studied in Saudi Arabia as part of scholarship programmes, or
by having been provided with extreme literature and material within the UK
itself.
If the British government itself prefers to cover up such ties, opting to rescue
its trade balance at the cost of endangering the lives of its own citizens, our
concern for the future security of the country deepens immeasurably. The UK,
like much of Western Europe and Scandinavia, stands at a crossroads. For years
now, radical preachers, terrorist recruiters, and fundamentalists who openly
hate this country, its democratic values, and its tolerance for all faiths, have
walked British streets, campaigned on university campuses, and converted and
radicalized young men and women. Sometimes they have been watched, but almost
none has been deported, almost none has been imprisoned, and almost none has
been singled out, due to the pretense that "Islam is a religion of peace". In
Islam, the whole world is divided into two parts" the Dar al-Islam [Abode of
Islam] and the Dar al-Harb [Abode of War]. What seems not to be understood about
"the religion of peace" is that "peace" comes only after the entire world has
been converted to Islam so that a "Dar al-Harb", the "Abode of War," will no
longer even exist.
Theresa May's promise of tightened legislation to protect the British public was
the right response to three major recent terror attacks. Yet fall-out from the
election and May's own wish to protect Saudi Arabia from scrutiny are likely to
guarantee that the serious measures we so much need may never be implemented.
When there are further attacks and more people die, who will step forward to
give us the protection we need? Or by then will it be too late?
Dr. Denis MacEoin taught Arabic and Islamic Studies at a British university and
now specializes in Islamic radicalism, and the Middle East. He has just
completed a major book on concerns about Islam in the UK. He also serves as a
Distinguished Senior Fellow at New York's Gatestone Institute.
© 2017 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
People in Qatar should derive lessons from Bahrain
Sawsan Al Shaer/Al Arabiya/August 03/17
The leaders of the Vilayat Al Faqih (Guardian of the jurist) group in Bahrain
led their people to a historical loss that they both paid for. Meanwhile,
Qatar’s leaders are leading their innocent people to political suicide with it.
This Iranian backed group in Bahrain lost its national compass after it was
deceived by two parties and was later defeated after both of the latter
abandoned it. Our people in Qatar should derive lessons from that as there’s
plenty in common between these two experiences especially that those involved in
the Bahraini experience are still around and the end-result of their work is
still fresh.
The first party that deceived leaders of the Iranian backed group in Bahrain was
international groups which told them that they will rule the region. They told
them that there is plan for the Middle East and they will govern the eastern
area of the Arabian Peninsula. They offered to support them and told them that
they will topple countries and they will rule them later. They of course
believed them and betrayed their partners and brothers and conspired against
them.
The second party was their own their media outlets, religious platforms,
television channels, dailies, writers and social media users and pages as they
embellished their actions for them and put them under the impression that
victory is near. They only trusted their media outlets which only told them what
they liked to hear and which hid half the truth from them and confused the other
half.
All these media outlets cared about was making sure that people only listened to
it so they kept deceiving them into thinking victory is near. They alleged that
the entire world supported them and that it was important to internationalize
their cause and that other countries are better than their own partners who are
as deceitful as Prophet Yusuf’s brothers.
They addressed all international organizations and foreign governments and as
these responded, they thought the contradicting messages conveyed absolute
endless support. They then took things too far and believed that these
international groups will intervene by force to impose this Iranian-backed
group’s control over the Bahraini people.
Leaders in Iran and Qatar are tools for the same project. They misled an Arab
Shiite Gulf group and uprooted it and now they want to uproot the Qatari people
Approach and rhetoric
Their media outlets embellished this plan with their headlines on social media
pages which had the same tone as pages run by Azmi Bishara. Their operations’
room adopted the same approach and rhetoric. International parties thus put this
Iranian-backed group under the impression that it will gain a lot. Ban Ki-moon
was always worried about it.
Barack Obama ordered that the Bahraini people listen to it while the EU said it
will not abandon it. Meanwhile, Iran trained, funded and directed the group’s
members. We used to tell the latter that the solution lies in Bahrain and not
with any international group. We told them that no one can force us to do
something we don’t want to do but they ignored our advice and continued to
internationalize the crisis.
We’re now going through this experience for the second time and it has the same
approach and style. We know how the experience is managed and how the victim is
dragged into drowning. We can advise well on the matter just like we advised
them in Bahrain when we told them no one can protect them but they said: “I will
take refuge on a mountain for protection.”
We advised them and told them their media was lying to them and that it does not
have their best interest at heart but they ignored us. What happened in the end?
International parties and their media outlets only dragged them deeper and the
end-result was political suicide and an unfortunate end which we do not wish for
our people in Qatar just like we did not wish it for that group of our people in
Bahrain.
Leaders in Iran and Qatar are tools for the same project. They misled an Arab
Shiite Gulf group and uprooted it and now they want to uproot the Qatari people,
who are authentic Arabian Gulf people.