LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
December 05/18
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
I tell you, to all those who have, more will be given; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away
Luke 19/11-28: "As they were listening to this, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. So he said, ‘A nobleman went to a distant country to get royal power for himself and then return. He summoned ten of his slaves, and gave them ten pounds, and said to them, "Do business with these until I come back." But the citizens of his country hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, "We do not want this man to rule over us. "When he returned, having received royal power, he ordered these slaves, to whom he had given the money, to be summoned so that he might find out what they had gained by trading. The first came forward and said, "Lord, your pound has made ten more pounds." He said to him, "Well done, good slave! Because you have been trustworthy in a very small thing, take charge of ten cities." Then the second came, saying, "Lord, your pound has made five pounds." He said to him, "And you, rule over five cities." Then the other came, saying, "Lord, here is your pound. I wrapped it up in a piece of cloth, for I was afraid of you, because you are a harsh man; you take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow. "He said to him, "I will judge you by your own words, you wicked slave! You knew, did you, that I was a harsh man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? Why then did you not put my money into the bank? Then when I returned, I could have collected it with interest." He said to the bystanders, "Take the pound from him and give it to the one who has ten pounds." (And they said to him, "Lord, he has ten pounds!")"I tell you, to all those who have, more will be given; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them bring them here and slaughter them in my presence." ’ After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 04-05/18
Aoun during National Library opening: Judicial and security institutions are capable to put an end to violations/NNA/December 04/2018
AUB celebrates its 152nd Founders Day: Toward a new way forward in higher education/NNA/December 04/2018
Israel military says to expose Hezbollah attack tunnels from Lebanon/Reuters, Jerusalem/December 04/18
Syrian Army Raises Alert Over Israel Air Force Activity Along Lebanese Border, Report Says/Haaretz/December 04/18
White House Backs Israeli Op Against Hezbollah Tunnels, Calls on Iran to 'Stop Aggression'/Amir Tibon (Washington)/Haaretz/ December 04/18
Does Israel's Northern Op Mean War With Hezbollah and Iran/Haaretz Weekly/December 04/18
Hezbollah's Attack Tunnels Are Just Part Of Israel's Concerns In North/Jerusalem Post/December 04/18
Haaretz: Israel Prepares to Destroy Hezbollah Tunnels From Inside Lebanon/Agencies/Israeli Today/Tuesday, December 04, 2018 |
Israel Today: IDF Uncover Hizbullah Offensive Tunnel/Agencies/Israeli Today/Tuesday, December 04, 2018 |
Israel Prepares to Destroy Hezbollah Tunnels From Inside Lebanon/Yaniv Kubovich, Noa Landau, Noa Shpigel and Jack Khoury/Haaretz/December 04/18
Report: Hizbullah a Key Player in Lebanon and the Region/Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 04/18/
Climate Denialism and Its Weakness/Liam Denning/Bloomberg/December 04/18
Trump-Xi Give Markets the Most They Could Have Expected/John Authers/Bloomberg/December 04/18
Outrage Over Human Gene Editing Will Fade Fast/Noah Feldman/Bloomberg/December 04/18
"The Worst Deal in History": Theresa May's Surrender/David Brown/Gatestone Institute/December 04/18
Anti-Semitism: The Fast Track in Turkey to a Government Career/Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute/December 04/18
Why Iran Funds Palestinian Terrorists/Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/December 04/18
How to confront Iran’s new ballistic missile tests/Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg/Arab News/December 04/18

Titles For Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on December 04-05/18
Aoun during National Library opening: Judicial and security institutions are capable to put an end to violations
Aoun Condemns War of Words, Says Won't Allow Return to Strife
Aoun Asks Security Agencies to 'Closely Monitor' Situation in South
AUB celebrates its 152nd Founders Day: Toward a new way forward in higher education
Report: Hariri, Khalil Discuss Jahliyeh Incident in Phone Talks
Hizbullah, PSP Say Avoiding 'Any Security Setback' is 'Common Concern'
Khatib Meets Ahmed Hariri in Aftermaths of Jahliyeh Incident
Saudi Embassy Replies to Wahhab
Future bloc: Lebanon fully committed to UN resolutions
Kataeb after politburo meeting: For full state sovereignty over its territory
Israel military says to expose Hezbollah attack tunnels from Lebanon
Syrian Army Raises Alert Over Israel Air Force Activity Along Lebanese Border, Report Says
White House Backs Israeli Op Against Hezbollah Tunnels, Calls on Iran to 'Stop Aggression'
Does Israel's Northern Op Mean War With Hezbollah and Iran?
Hezbollah's Attack Tunnels Are Just Part Of Israel's Concerns In North
Prince Khalid: Hezbollah helped Iran in ‘killing dozens of Americans’
Haaretz: Israel Prepares to Destroy Hezbollah Tunnels From Inside Lebanon
Israel Today: IDF Uncover Hizbullah Offensive Tunnel
Israel Prepares to Destroy Hezbollah Tunnels From Inside Lebanon
Lebanese Army: Situation in southern Lebanese border remains calm
Netanyahu Says 'Border Tunnels' Operation to 'Continue as Long as Necessary'
Israel Launches Operation to Cut off 'Hizbullah Border Tunnels'
UNIFIL's Statement in Connection with Israeli Activities South of Blue Line
Report: Hizbullah a Key Player in Lebanon and the Region

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 04-05/18
Study: Iran runaway spending on defense outpaces even demands of hawks
Egypt's Observatory for Monitoring Takfiri Fatwas: World Terrorism Declined in Nov.
Turkey Urges US to Clear Manbij of YPG
Iranian President Makes New Threats against Gulf as US Carrier Heads to Middle East
Iran Vows to Continue Missile Testing
US Urges EU to Impose Sanctions on Iran
Sadr Urges Iraqi PM to Submit Cabinet Lineup as Soon as Possible
Two US Police Departments Boycott Training in Tel Aviv
Israel Kills Palestinian Man in West Bank
Pope Tawadros II warns against ‘emptying’ Middle East of Christians, sees hope in Saudi reforms

Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on December 04-05/18
Aoun during National Library opening: Judicial and security institutions are capable to put an end to violations
NNA/December 04/2018
President Michel Aoun on Tuesday maintained that the security and judicial institutions were capable of ending violations, whether taking place in words or in deeds, in remakrs made during the opening of the new building of the National Library in Beirut.
Following is the President's speech:
"Honourable audience,
Whoever examines the history of this library, its beginnings, its evolution, its progression and its current state knows what it means when someone believes in a dream and understands the perseverance and determination to make this dream a reality.
In 1919, almost one year after the end of World War I, which caused tragedies, suffering and sorrows around the world in general and in Lebanon in particular, there were those who still had dreams and who were concerned about the importance of preserving the heritage and historical narratives of the time. Philippe de Tarrazi, a historian and writer who valued documents, manuscripts and publications, has thus embarked on a journey of a thousand miles. He started collecting books and archives at home, always looking for more funds and documents to enrich his collection. The library was thus growing and expanding. Numerous leading figures have successively run this library, each leaving his footprint on its structure and making relentless efforts to preserve and improve it. This library witnessed numerous difficulties, events and upheavals in Lebanon that affected it. However, the library has reborn from its ashes and here it is today, a jewel, a source of pride for Lebanon, the culture and history.
I would like to seize this opportunity to thank all those who sponsored and supported the revival of this historical library associated with the memory of the foundation of Lebanon, namely His Highness the Emir of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and his father His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to the Qatari Government for funding the rehabilitation and decoration of our national library, a modern edifice mirroring0 Lebanon's radiant image.
Honourable audience,
If in the beginning was the Word, it is the letter that allowed this verb to be preserved and not to fall into oblivion. The letter, this wonderful Phoenician invention that gave a sound to the image and an image to the sound, which has put together the eye, the ear and the tongue in a unique coherence thus allowing the language to be written and read. The letter was the vessel that has preserved sciences, culture, thought, civilization and religions. The letter paved the way for writing which allowed the preservation of intellectual, cultural and historical heritage. Thus, we were able to see, listen to and read the past. The letter has unleashed the scientific, literary and artistic creativity through billions of books and publications without which humanity cannot exist.
The world of archiving and documentation is a rich and diverse world. It preserves the fragrance, experience and expertise of the past, carries the present and its events and lays the foundations of the future. It is a witness of history and guardian of memory. Needless to say that a people without memory is a people that repeats its mistakes.
Honourable audience,
Lebanon, whose name is usually written on the Mediterranean Sea on the world map because of its small size,
Lebanon, which lacks natural resources and wealth,
Lebanon, whose diaspora greatly outnumbers the number of Lebanese residing on its soil,
Lebanon, which constantly pays the price of the surrounding crises and the conflicting international interests, in terms of security, stability and economy,
Lebanon, which is sinking under the weight of the political and economic crises,
This Lebanon has a different face. We cannot allow the ordeals of the present to hide it because we find its facets between the walls of this building. It is the face of the Lebanese creativity that has spoken and written in the languages of the successive civilizations that have taken root on the Lebanese territory. Lebanon has written thought, philosophy and science in Greek, laws and regulations in Latin, enriched Arab literature, thought and philosophy while preserving its authenticity against the wave of turkification, thus leaving its marks on many living languages around the world.
Dear Lebanese, you are the heirs of an ancient civilization and culture. This heritage is a legacy and not a choice. It is our duty to preserve it despite all the troubles that we are facing today, to pass it from one generation to another. We dearly carry in our heart Gibran Khalil Gibran, Elia Abu Madi, Ameen Rihani, Al-Akhtal As-Saghir, Said Akl, Said Taqi al-Din, Amin Taqi Al Din, Sheikh Abdullah Al-Alayli. This list of scholars in the realms of culture, thought and literature that have left their marks on the Lebanese and international intellectual heritage is non-exhaustive.
Honourable audience,
This image of our country endowed with an ancient cultural heritage and an enlightened thought, is the main driving force behind my proposal submitted to the United Nations and aiming at establishing "the Human Academy for Encounter and Dialogue" in Lebanon. This academy would serve as a platform to promote dialogue among different religions, sects, cultures and races of the world and explore ways to spread the culture of intergenerational dialogue instead of exacerbating isolation, extremism and the rejection of the other, as well as violence, which is raging across our region and the world and causing tragedies.
If we are striving to make Lebanon a forum for dialogue between civilizations, cultures and religions, we need to communicate through a calm and responsible dialogue. The statements delivered in recent days and the ensuing reactions did not harm a person, a party or a group, but did harm to Lebanon as a whole and to all Lebanese without any distinction. These events have almost revived the past, which we will never tolerate. Indeed, the stability enjoyed by Lebanon cannot be targeted by any political party or stakeholder, especially that the judicial and security institutions are capable to put an end to violations, in words or in deed, and are determined to remedy the performance shortcomings, under the leadership of the political class and in line with the applicable laws and regulations. A capable and just state, which we all strive to consolidate, cannot be left to the mercy of actions or reactions, especially if the statements threaten civil peace and offend dignity. Therefore, all the political leaders should be aware of the current critical situation and stand against hostile practices and growing threats in addition to financial and economic losses. It is incumbent upon us all to unite our ranks and to make concerted efforts to ensure a way out of the crisis.
Honourable audience,
The book, which represents history, civilization, and culture, has always been a challenge to any invasion and occupation force, and to any obscurantist and barbaric thought, throughout the ages and all over the world. Many libraries have been burned and destroyed, resulting in the loss of documents related to a certain period, the destruction of valuable historical and intellectual assets, and the disappearance of irreplaceable manuscripts, thus dealing a hard blow to renaissance, civilization and history. However, every library that opens its doors, every effort made to save a book, to restore a document, to dust off a manuscript ignite the hope for the victory of enlightenment against obscurantism, civilization against underdevelopment and culture against ignorance. Today, we are witnessing a major step on the road leading to victory.
Long live Lebanon! Long live culture and civilization!"

Aoun Condemns War of Words, Says Won't Allow Return to Strife
Naharnet/December 04/18/President Michel Aoun on Tuesday condemned the latest verbal attacks and security incidents in the country, stressing that the state will not allow a return to strife.
“The remarks we heard over the past few days and the reactions they drew did not insult a person, a group or a community but rather the country and its sons without discrimination. It almost turned the clock back and this is what we will never allow,” Aoun said in a speech at the opening of the new national library building in Sanayeh. “No one, no matter the political or partisan side they belong to, will manage to target the stability that Lebanon is enjoying, especially that the judicial and security institutions are capable of putting an end to the violations, whether they take the form of statements or reactions” on the ground, the president reassured. “The capable and just state that we are all seeking to consolidate cannot be under the mercy of a word from here or a reaction from there, especially that what has been said jeopardizes civil peace and insults dignities,” Aoun went on to say.
In an apparent reference to the Israeli operation that started in the morning to destroy alleged Hizbullah tunnels on Lebanon’s border, Aoun called on all Lebanese leaders to “understand the severity of the situation that the country is going through amid the hostile practices and increasing threats, in addition to the financial and economic damage we are facing.”“It has become the duty of us all to unite efforts to overcome this situation,” the president urged.

Aoun Asks Security Agencies to 'Closely Monitor' Situation in South
Naharnet/December 04/18/President Michel Aoun on Tuesday called on Lebanon’s military and security agencies to “closely monitor” the situation in south Lebanon, after Israel launched an operation against alleged Hizbullah tunnels on its side of the border.After following up on the developments, the president held a series of phone calls that involved Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and Army Commander General Joseph Aoun, the National News Agency said. “During President Aoun’s phone calls, the situation was evaluated in light of the available information about the objectives of the Israeli operation and security agencies were asked to closely monitor the situation,” NNA added.The Israeli army said it launched an operation dubbed "Northern Shield" to destroy "attack tunnels" it accused Hizbullah of digging under the border. Hizbullah has not yet reacted and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said they had increased patrols along the border, as Israeli bulldozers went to work. "The overall situation in UNIFIL's area of operation remains calm," Joumana Sayegh, a spokeswoman for the U.N. mission which monitors the border region, said in a statement."UNIFIL is working with all interlocutors in order to maintain the overall stability," she said. "UNIFIL peacekeepers have further increased their patrolling along the Blue Line, together with the Lebanese Armed Forces," Sayegh added, referring to the U.N.-established ceasefire line. The Lebanese Army also said it was monitoring the situation closely.

AUB celebrates its 152nd Founders Day: Toward a new way forward in higher education
NNA/December 04/2018
The American University of Beirut (AUB) celebrated its 152nd Founders Day in its annual ceremony held at Assembly Hall in the presence of members of the Board of Trustees, AUB administration, faculty, students, and the AUB community. The celebration reiterated AUB's commitment to the values instilled by its founders since December 3, 1866. Although an old tradition of paying tribute to AUB's founders; a ceremony of caps, gowns, processions, and singing the alma mater; and a pledge to the values that AUB stands for, the focus of this year's Founders Day ceremony was on the way forward. The celebration of AUB's 152nd anniversary of its founding, which launched this year an annual Giving Day, emphasized the importance of a kindled spirit of philanthropy to continue the legacy that AUB's founders introduced, recognizing necessary shifts in higher education that better prepare it for present and future global changes and challenges.  "According to our tradition, it is a day when we honor the founders of our institution, from its small but visionary beginnings in 1866, and celebrate the generations of scholarship, transformative education, and service to communities that followed," said AUB President Dr. Fadlo R. Khuri. "We are also beginning a new tradition this year, of holding an annual Giving Day on the same day as Founders Day, in order to reenergize new generations in the spirit of philanthropy which enabled this university to come to being."
As with every year, AUB students were invited to participate in the Founders Day Student Essay Contest, this year about how AUB can educate tomorrow's leaders today. Four students won the top three prizes. Dima Mehdi, majoring in political studies and public administration, won third prize. Winners of the second prize were Ubah Ali from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Claudette Igiraneza from the Faculty of Health Sciences.
First prize winner was Zine Labidine Ghebouli, a political studies and public administration major in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the recipient of scholarship support from the Middle East Partnership Initiative - Tomorrow's Leaders program. In his winning essay "AUB, an Institution of Today's Leaders," Ghebouli wrote about the opportunity AUB is offering him to live his dream of taking part with other youth in confidently leading his homeland, Algeria, towards a prosperous future, and how? through an inclusive educational system that engages students with policy makers-a generation can be formed of leaders who "speak for their region instead of having others speaking in their name." "AUB has always been the voice of the peoples of the Middle East," he said. "Being one of the youth's voices in the Middle East, AUB has the rightful duty to provide a fresh vision and to restore the trust between this region and the world ... This university has surely changed my life and I want it to change the lives of others; it has not given up on me during the hardest moments and I am certain it will not give up on this region."
Founders Day speaker was Founding CEO at the Abdallah Al-Ghurair Foundation for Education Maysa Jalbout. In her speech entitled "Service to Humanity: The urgent need for universities to lead," Jalbout highlighted the challenging position universities in the region are in today, given the expectations, responsibilities, regional circumstances, and the impacts of global technological changes they face. "Universities face tougher times than ever. They are under scrutiny for everything. They are expected to reform more quickly than the societies they operate in," said Jalbout. "[However], there has never been a more exciting time for universities to have a greater impact on the world. Our world needs it, today's students demand it, and advances in science and technology help make it possible ... Sometimes, universities are best positioned to address the problems at their doorsteps. Perhaps no university knows that more than AUB." Jalbout called for building new types of funding models, partnerships, and big impact system-wide approaches that reverse counterproductive ones and further the sense of urgency and clarity of the purpose of serving humanity. She stressed three critical shifts that are needed in higher education and that can be brought about through those new approaches and partnerships: a shift towards investing in solving some of the most critical challenges of our time; towards increasing inclusion in student bodies regardless of status and financial ability; and towards preserving and reinforcing ethics and values amidst radical and inconceivable impacts of technological change. "It will take an urgency and clarity of purpose, partnerships that incentivize a mentality of abundance, and strong moral leadership to drive big impact, system-wide changes," said Jalbout. "I cannot think of a university in the Arab region better suited to take up these shifts than AUB. Just as AUB was a beacon of hope during my own childhood in Lebanon, its leadership in the service of humanity is needed today more than ever."

Report: Hariri, Khalil Discuss Jahliyeh Incident in Phone Talks
Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and Hajj Hussein Khalil, political advisor of Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah, reportedly held talks over Saturday’s Jahliyeh incident and the repercussions as a result, al-Akhbar daily said on Tuesday. According to the daily, Hariri denounced ex-Minister Wiam Wahhab’s rhetoric against his family saying “no one can accept to have his family exposed to such language.” For his part, Khalil said Wahhab’s “rhetoric is reprehensible and unacceptable,” assuring that Hizbullah “does not accept such behaviour.”Referring to the “controversial” police raid carried out by the Internal Security Forces to arrest Wahhab, Khalil reportedly asked Hariri: “Did you really intend to arrest Wahhab in this way, were you to bear the consequences? What happened was wrong and no one can take responsibility for its repercussions.”The PM stressed, according to the daily, that “Wahhab should have been brought to the investigation.”Wahhab, Head of the Tawhid party, accuses the PM, the Internal Security Forces chief Imad Othman and State Prosecutor Samir Hammoud of attempting to assassinate him. A clash erupted on Saturday during an attempt to arrest Wahhab at his home in Jahliyeh. The security force headed to Jahliyeh to arrest Wahhab at the judiciary’s request after he had been “informed two times of the need to appear before the Intelligence Branch” in connection with a lawsuit filed against him. The lawsuit was filed by a group of lawyers accusing Wahhab of insulting Saad Hariri and his slain father ex-PM Rafik Hariri.

Hizbullah, PSP Say Avoiding 'Any Security Setback' is 'Common Concern'
Naharnet/December 04/18/A Progressive Socialist Party delegation held talks Tuesday in Dahiyeh with Hizbullah secretary-general’s political aide Hussein al-Khalil and Hizbullah coordination and liaison chief Wafiq Safa. “The meeting was characterized by a spirit of understanding and frankness and it was particularly important because of the circumstances that the country has witnessed,” ex-minister Ghazi Aridi of the PSP said after the talks. “It is part of the continuous coordination and we are convinced of the necessity to always resort to the state and its institutions and judiciary because we are keen on Lebanon’s stability,” Aridi added. Khalil for his part said “the common concern with the PSP is to spare Lebanon any security setback.”He also reiterated Hizbullah’s stance that “what happened in Jahliyeh was a reckless act that could have dragged Lebanon into a disaster.”
“Whoever sees the scenes from Jahliyeh would know that the operation was not for notification as it rather reflected an intention to kill or arrest,” Khalil added, referring to Saturday’s Internal Security Forces raid in ex-minister Wiam Wahhab’s hometown.
Wahhab’s bodyguard Mohammed Bou Diab died of his wounds after gunfire erupted with the arrival of the force to Wahhab’s house. The ex-minister has argued that Bou Diab was killed by a gunshot fired by security forces but the ISF has disputed his claim, stressing that the man was hit by a gunshot fired by Wahhab’s supporters and that its force did not fire any arms during the incident. Wahhab had been summoned by the ISF’s Intelligence Branch in connection with a lawsuit filed against him by a number of lawyers for insults he launched against Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri. The Chouf region has always witnessed tensions with the PSP after Wahhab’s supporters roamed its streets in armed convoys in a show of force.

Khatib Meets Ahmed Hariri in Aftermaths of Jahliyeh Incident
Naharnet/December 04/18/Caretaker Minister of Environment Tarek Khatib leading a Free Patriotic Movement delegation visited the Secretary General of al-Mustaqbal Movement, Ahmad Hariri in Qantari in the aftermaths of the Jahliyeh incident. “We carry a message from the FPM chief, (caretaker) Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil to al-Mustaqbal Movement and all the parties in the Mountain region and the homeland, that it is not in our ethics to insult fellow political figures in the country,” said Khatib. “We wish all political parties raise the level of moderation to revive our nation and put our differences aside to spare our internal arena from (foreign) interventions,” he added, Hariri in turn, affirmed “strong relations between the two parties,” and “touched on an array of issues," assuring that al-Mustaqbal Movement never aimed at sowing sedition. “Any manipulation of the State and its legitimate apparatuses is deemed a crime by Mustaqbal,” added Hariri. “He who bears the responsibility of the blood of late Mohammed Bou Diab is the one who prepared for this trap, as Wahab had admitted. There was an order of operations that came from somewhere to sow tension in the Mountain," Hariri said.

Saudi Embassy Replies to Wahhab
Naharnet/December 04/18/The Saudi Arabian embassy in Lebanon refuted on Tuesday the “claims” made by head of the Tawhid Party, Wiam Wahhab, affirming the Saudi keenness on Lebanon’s “stability and unity.”“The Saudi embassy in Lebanon denies allegations made by Tawhid Party head Wiam Wahhab that a Saudi diplomat has asked (Lebanon’s) Internal Security forces to head to Jahliyeh (last Saturday),” the embassy said on Twitter. “The cheap ends of this claim are open to all,” added the tweet, affirming “the kingdom’s keenness on Lebanon’s unity and stability.”On Saturday, the Internal Security Forces raided Jahliyeh, the hometown of ex-minister Wiam Wahhab to arrest him in connection with a libel lawsuit against Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and his slain father Rafik Hariri. Wahhad had accused SA of having a role in the raid.

Future bloc: Lebanon fully committed to UN resolutions
Tue 04 Dec 2018/NNA - The Future parliamentary bloc held a meeting this afternoon at the Center House, headed by MP Bahia Hariri. At the end of the meeting, it issued the following statement that was read by MP Rola Tabsh:
First: The bloc followed up the developments of the situation on the southern border. It underscored that the Lebanese army is solely responsible for the security and safety of the borders, and that the Lebanese State is fully committed to the international resolutions that protect this safety, especially UNSCR 1701 that UNIFIL applies in cooperation with the Lebanese legitimate authorities. Any other position comes in the framework of an unacceptable escalation of the situation.
Second: The bloc discussed the strife that has been taking place for more than one week against national figures, the country and security. These people have been spreading discord without hesitation, slandering the dead and the living and sowing sectarian and regional strife to hide behind it, away from justice. The heroes of these events want to present the aggressor as being a victim. They want the implementation of justice to be discretionary, and they present the duties carried out by the security forces as an invasive act.
Has the crime of slandering the living and the dead become freedom of expression?
Has sowing regional and sectarian discord become a political stance?
Has the crime of threatening Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Judge Samir Hammoud and Major General Imad Uthman of death become a way to vent out stress?
Has the preparation of an ambush for the security forces become a source of pride and an achievement?
Has resorting to the judiciary to deter the aggressor from continuing to commit his crimes become an abuse of power?
Does the implementation by the security forces of an arrest warrant regarding a person who was notified twice and did not attend the interrogation constitute a violation of the law?
Doesn't taking pride in spreading armed men on hills and rooftops to lie in wait for security forces constitute a crime, or an attack on state security?
Isn't slandering the security forces, by accusing them of killing late Mohammed Abu Diab despite the denial of the security forces that their elements fired a single shot, and the assertion of the Mukhtar that the security forces whom he was accompanying did not open fire, a penal crime anymore?
The bloc, which is saddened by what happened and especially the death of late Mohammed Abu Diab, May his soul rest in peace, presents its condolences to his family and the sons of Jahilieh. It calls on all to leave the issue to the judiciary that alone can define responsibilities and achieve justice. The judiciary can use scientific means that can determine the direction of the bullet that killed late Mohammed Abu Diab and where it came from.
The nation is precious, just as freedoms are. There is no nation without the rule of law and when some forces draw red lines to the judiciary and the security forces, the nation will not prevail. Supporting an ally blindly is falling into the state of ignorance. May God protect Lebanon."

Kataeb after politburo meeting: For full state sovereignty over its territory
Tue 04 Dec 2018/NNA - Kataeb Party declared, at the end of its weekly meeting chaired by its leader MP Sami Gemayel, that no solution is possible except through the total sovereignty of the state over the entire Lebanese territory. Kataeb Party's politburo held its periodic meeting on Tuesday at the Saifi House, to broach most recent political developments on the local arena. In a statement issued in the wake of the meeting, Kataeb party warned of the real dangers jeopardizing the state and entity, stressing that "no solution can be possible except through full state sovereignty over its territory, controlling the chaotic and illegal weapons, and protecting the independence of the judiciary." The Party considered that the poor economic and political performance has led the country to paralysis and collapse, saying the security situation has witnessed several "shakes" ushering the worst in the absence of the rule of law, justice and equality. In the face of the failure of the parties concerned by the formation of the government, the party renews its call for the birth of a cabinet of experts, as well as the holding of a national congress in Parliament on the questions of the future. The Party renewed its call for the birth of a cabinet of experts, as well as the holding of a national conference in Parliament on all fateful questions.

Israel military says to expose Hezbollah attack tunnels from Lebanon
Reuters, Jerusalem/December 04/18
Israel’s military said on Tuesday it had begun an operation to “expose and thwart” cross-border attack tunnels from Lebanon dug by the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said the military had detected tunnels crossing from Lebanon into northern Israel. He said the Israeli operation to counter the tunnels would be inside Israel, and would not cross the border.Israel released video footage of digging and pile-driving equipment at work in unidentified locations, carrying out what it said were “tactical preparations to expose Hezbollah’s offensive cross-border tunnel project”. Reuters could not immediately verify the footage. The situation appeared calm on the Lebanese side of the border where UN peacekeepers and Lebanese troops were deployed as usual, a Reuters journalist there said. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah. Israel and Hezbollah have avoided any major conflict across the Lebanese-Israeli border since their last war in 2006, though Israel has mounted attacks in Syria targeting what it said were advanced weapon deliveries to the Shiite group. On Monday, Netanyahu met US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Brussels. An Israeli government source said the meeting was to update Pompeo of the upcoming tunnel operation. The current focus of operations was near the Israeli border town Metulla, Conricus said, adding that some areas near the border fence had been closed off. An Israeli military source said the operation might take weeks to complete. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said the situation in its area of operation “remains calm” and it is coordinating with relevant parties to maintain this stability.
Hints, threats
The military said the tunnels were not yet operational but posed “an imminent threat” to Israeli civilians, and constituted “a flagrant and severe violation of Israeli sovereignty”. It said the army had “enhanced its presence and readiness” and was prepared for “various scenarios”. In September, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu identified three locations in Lebanon where, he said, Hezbollah was converting “inaccurate projectiles” into precision-guided missiles. Netanyahu last month hinted at an upcoming Israeli offensive during a televised address, saying: “I will not say this evening when we will act and how. I have a clear plan. I know what to do and when to do it. And we will do it.”He said an upcoming security challenge would require Israelis to “endure sacrifice”. Last year, Hezbollah’s leader said any future conflict with Israel could take place inside Israeli territory, and there would be “no place that is out of reach of the rockets of the resistance or the boots of the resistance fighters”. Israel’s vulnerability to tunnels was laid bare during its war with Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza in 2014 when Palestinian militants used dozens of secret passages dug from Gaza into Israel to launch surprise attacks.

Syrian Army Raises Alert Over Israel Air Force Activity Along Lebanese Border, Report Says
Haaretz/December 04/18
Source in Damascus says Israeli planes operated in Lebanon's south after 'stalking this region several times last week'.
Israel's air force operated in Lebanon's south on Monday, according a Syrian source quoted on the Al-Masdar News website. Israeli planes have recently been operating along the Lebanese-Syrian border after "stalking this region several times last week," the report claimed.
The report cited a source saying that even though Israeli planes did not enter Syria's airspace, the Syrian military still raised alert levels and prepared air defense systems for a potential attack. The reason for the high alert in Syria, the report said, is that the Israeli Air Force usually uses this route to launch attacks in the Damascus and Homs provinces. Haaretz reported earlier this week that Israel is increasingly worried by the Iranian-Hezbollah effort to set up production lines for precision weaponry in Lebanon. Some of the necessary materials are now being smuggled on the frequent flights from Tehran to Beirut, rather than overland through Syria. Furthermor, Israeli decision-makers are worried about developments in Lebanon, including Russia’s growing interest in events there and the return of some Hezbollah fighters from Syria. Israel has already announced that it intends to continue building a barrier along the border despite Lebanese warnings. Monday's report came after the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war in Syria, said Israel carried out a missile attack south of Damascus last Thursday evening. Israel has not said whether it conducted the attack and Syrian state media did not identify who carried it out.
Russia's RIA news agency said, citing a Syrian security source, that Syria's air defense forces shot down an Israeli war plane and four missiles, but Israel's military said the report was bogus.  On Friday, the Israeli army said it found fragments which most likely belonged to a Syrian anti-aircraft missile in an open field in the Golan Heights.

White House Backs Israeli Op Against Hezbollah Tunnels, Calls on Iran to 'Stop Aggression'
Amir Tibon (Washington)/Haaretz/ December 04/18
John Bolton says 'U.S. strongly supports Israel’s right to defend its sovereignty,' calls on Hezbollah to 'refrain from escalation and violence.
WASHINGTON – The Trump administration expressed its support on Tuesday for Israel’s action against attack tunnels that Hezbollah constructed on the Israel-Lebanon border. U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton issued a statement condemning Iran and Hezbollah and urged Tehran – which supports the militant group – to “stop its aggression” across the Middle East. “The U.S. strongly supports Israel’s right to defend its sovereignty,” Bolton said. He called on Hezbollah to stop tunneling into Israel and "refrain from escalation and violence. The Israeli army launched an operation dubbed Northern Shield on Monday night to destroy the cross-border tunnels constructed by Hezbollah, which cross the Lebanese border into Israel. The army announced the discovery of the tunnels on Tuesday morning and said it has started destroying them. The operation will not only be limited to Israeli territory, its spokesperson later said. "We have to prepare for all scenarios of neutralizing the tunnels," IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis told reporters. "Some of [the scenarios] will not be in our territory and this is something we are preparing for." Operation Northern Shield, added Manelis, will last several weeks: "Some actions will be more precise and some less. At this point we are operating within Israeli territory to seize the tunnels… in the future, these tunnels may be destroyed from other locations." Manelis said that "the decision to keep the operation a secret was made in order to surprise Hezbollah," adding that the timing of the launch was determined after all of the intelligence and technological conditions were right. "This operation wasn't approved last night," he said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Brussels, Belgium on Monday. The two discussed ways to "work together to block Iranian agression in the region - in Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon." The heads of the Mossad and the National Security Council, as well as Netanyahu's military secretary, also attended the meeting

Does Israel's Northern Op Mean War With Hezbollah and Iran?
Haaretz Weekly/December 04/18
After weeks of hints that a big military operation is in the offing, Israel has launched a broad operation against Hezbollah tunnels. A snap audio-analysis with Haaretz's senior military correspondent Amos Harel.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, the Israel Defense Forces launched Operation Northern Shield. The goal of the operation is to destroying tunnels constructed by Hezbollah, which cross from Lebanon, into Israeli territory.The IDF's chief spokesman told reporters that Israel was prepared for a broad operation over several weeks, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – hours after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Brussels – said that anyone who tries to harm the state of Israel will pay a heavy price. Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah is expected to deliver a speech in Beirut on Tuesday evening in response to the launch of the operation. In this breaking news episode of Haaretz Weekly, host Simon Spungin is joined by Haaretz's military correspondent, Amos Harel, to discuss the timing and ramifications of the operation.

Hezbollah's Attack Tunnels Are Just Part Of Israel's Concerns In North
Jerusalem Post/December 04/18
Israel is increasingly concerned with Hezbollah and Iranian efforts to improve the precision and range of the Lebanese terrorist group’s missile arsenal.
The IDF operation, launched on Tuesday to uncover and destroy cross-border attack tunnels Hezbollah has dug into Israel, is just one of the reasons for the rise in tensions in recent weeks along Israel’s northern border.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s surprise trip Monday night to Brussels to meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was said to have been about Israeli concerns regarding Hezbollah’s military buildup in Lebanon. It was, and that briefing included talk about the tunnels and the threat they pose to Israeli civilians. Netanyahu smartly wanted to update the Americans before the operation began.For now, Military Intelligence does not predict that a conflict will erupt with Hezbollah due to the operation and for that reason has instructed residents of the North to continue with their regular routine. The reason is that for now, the operation is taking place completely on the Israeli side of the border and is defensive in nature. As a result, even if it wants to, Hezbollah would have difficulty justifying an attack against Israel. The tunnels, and the need for an operation to uncover and destroy them, was known to the Security Cabinet when it convened on November 13 and decided to accept a ceasefire with Hamas and not launch a larger offensive against the Gaza Strip following the firing of almost 500 rockets into Israel. The ministers were presented with the tunnel threat along the border with Lebanon as well as with the need to launch an operation to destroy the underground passageways. The IDF and Netanyahu all agreed that the Lebanese border needed Israel’s full attention and that an operation against Hamas would have been, at that time, an unnecessary distraction. The tunnels also seem to be what Netanyahu was referring to when he announced two-and-a-half weeks ago that he was holding onto the defense portfolio in wake of the resignation of defense minister Avigdor Liberman. Netanyahu claimed that there was a mysterious security situation unfolding, which he said at the time, he could not reveal to the public.
“I will not say when we will act and how we will act,” Netanyahu said on November 18. “I have a clear plan. I know what to do and when to do it. And we will do it.”While the Hezbollah tunnels were part of this “situation”, they are not the only concern Israel has today when it comes to Lebanon.
Israel is increasingly concerned with Hezbollah and Iranian efforts to improve the precision and range of the Lebanese terrorist group’s missile arsenal. This is being done through the establishment of new missile production facilities in Lebanon – the existence of which Netanyahu revealed at the United Nations in September – as well as with the transfer of new and advanced weapons systems from Iran and Syria, possibly through some of the Iranian transport planes that have begun landing recently at Beirut International Airport. The tense reality along the border will continue and while Israel will do what it can to avoid a full-fledged war, it will need to ensure that certain lines are not crossed that could undermine its operational freedom ahead of a future conflict with Hezbollah.

Prince Khalid: Hezbollah helped Iran in ‘killing dozens of Americans’
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Tuesday, 4 December 2018/Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the United States Prince Khalid bin Salman on Tuesday criticized the Iranian regime for its creation of Hezbollah which has helped Tehran in “killing dozens of Americans and committing genocide against the Syrian people”. “The Iranian regime founded Hezbollah in Lebanon, a terrorist proxy which acts as it’s subcontractor in the region, helping the regime in killing dozens of Americans and committing genocide against the Syrian people, among other things,” Prince Khalid wrote on twitter. “The regime of Iran is trying to copy the Hezbollah model in Yemen, where they finance the Houthi militia and arm it with lethal weapons, enabling them to attack the Yemeni people, disrupt international shipping routes, and destabilize the whole region,” he added. The Iranian regime’s project, as described by Nasrallah, is to make the whole region a part of “the greater Islamic Republic”, ruled by the Ayatollah of Iran, the ambassador said. The Saudi ambassador to the United States has previously warned that Iran wanted to form another Hezbollah in Yemen through its support of the Houthi militias. In March, he told CNN that Tehran was the greatest sponsor of terrorism. “The problem with Iran is its behavior and desire to expand”, he said adding that it does not only want to destabilize Saudi Arabia, but the entire region.

إسرائيل تعلن انها اكتشفت نفق حفره حزب الله من داخل منزل في كفركلا على الحدود وتنوي تدميره حتى من داخل لبنان
Haaretz: Israel Prepares to Destroy Hezbollah Tunnels From Inside Lebanon
Israel Today: IDF Uncover Hizbullah Offensive Tunnel
Agencies/Israeli Today/Tuesday, December 04, 2018 |
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/69427/haaretz-israel-prepares-to-destroy-hezbollah-tunnels-from-inside-lebanon-%d8%a5%d8%b3%d8%b1%d8%a7%d8%a6%d9%8a%d9%84-%d8%aa%d8%b9%d9%84%d9%86-%d8%a7%d9%86%d9%87%d8%a7-%d8%a7%d9%83%d8%aa%d8%b4%d9%81/
IDF troops located a cross-border attack tunnel in the Lebanese southern area of Kafr Kela on Tuesday morning. At this time, the IDF is carrying out an operational and engineering process to neutralize the tunnel,” an army spokesperson said Tuesday. The tunnel originates in the southern portion of the Lebanese town of Kafr Kela. The tunnel crosses over into Israeli territory and is believed to have been dug for use in an upcoming terror attack on Israeli targets. “The Hezbollah terror organization, which is responsible for digging the cross-border attack tunnels, continues its activity that is supported and funded by Iran, to establish its terror infrastructure against Israeli civilians,” an IDF spokesperson said.
في أسفل تغريدات المتحدّث بلسان الجيش الإسرائيلي افيخاي ادرعي حول اكتشاف النفق
04 كانون الأول/18
أدرعي يعلن اكتشاف نفق تابع لحزب الله في كفركلا
ادرعي: قوّات جيش الدفاع الاسرائيلي اكتشفت نفقًا إرهابيّاً في جنوب كفركلا
قوّات الجيش تقوم بخطوات عملياتيّة وهندسيّة في أعقاب اكتشاف النفق تمهيداً لاحباطه
اكتشاف النفق في إطار حملة درع الشمال لكشف وإحباط الأنفاق التي قام حزب اللّه بحفرها
اجتاز النفق الى داخل إسرائيل ولكنه لم يشكل تهديدًا فوريًا بحسب ادرعي
أعلن المتحدّث بلسان الجيش الإسرائيلي افيخاي ادرعي، “أنّ قوّات جيش الدفاع الاسرائيلي اكتشفت نفقًا إرهابيّاً خارقًا للسياج الأمني في منطقة جنوب كفركلا”.
وأشار الى أنّ “قوّات الجيش تقوم بخطوات عملياتيّة وهندسيّة في أعقاب اكتشاف النفق وتمهيداً لإحباطه”.
افيخاي ادرعي
@AvichayAdraee
#عاجل #درع_الشمال اكتشاف نفق إرهابي هجومي في منطقة قرية #كفر_كلا
اكتشفت قوات جيش الدفاع نفقًا إرهابيًا خارقًا للسياج الأمني في منطقة جنوب كفر كلا. في هذه الساعات تقوم قوات الجيش بخطوات عملياتية وهندسية في أعقاب اكتشاف النفق وتمهيدًا لإحباطه.
وقال ادرعي عبر حسابه على “تويتر”:”لقد تم اكتشاف النفق في إطار حملة درع الشمال لكشف وإحباط الأنفاق الإرهابيّة التي قام حزب اللّه بحفرها بإتجاه الأراضي الإسرائيلية”. مضيفاً:”لقد اجتاز النفق الى داخل إسرائيل ولكنه لم يشكل تهديدًا فوريًا على سكان المنظقة”.
افيخاي ادرعي
@AvichayAdraee
· 2h
#عاجل #درع_الشمال اكتشاف نفق إرهابي هجومي في منطقة قرية #كفر_كلا
اكتشفت قوات جيش الدفاع نفقًا إرهابيًا خارقًا للسياج الأمني في منطقة جنوب كفر كلا. في هذه الساعات تقوم قوات الجيش بخطوات عملياتية وهندسية في أعقاب اكتشاف النفق وتمهيدًا لإحباطه.
افيخاي ادرعي
@AvichayAdraee
لقد تم اكتشاف #النفق في إطار حملة #درع_الشمال لكشف وإحباط الأنفاق الإرهابية التي قامت منظمة #حزب_الله الإرهابية بحفرها باتجاه الأراضي الإسرائيلية. لقد اجتاز النفق الى داخل #إسرائيل ولكنه لم يشكل تهديدًا فوريًا على سكان المنظقة.
وكان أعلن الجيش الإسرائيلي، الثلاثاء، انطلاق عملية عسكرية على الحدود الشمالية مع لبنان، تستهدف كشف وإحباط أنفاق يحفرها حزب الله داخل الأراضي الإسرائيلية.
وأطلق الجيش الإسرائيلي على الحملة اسم “درع الشمال” ويقودها طاقم خاص ومشترك لهيئة المخابرات والقيادة الشمالية”، وسلاح الهندسة وإدارة تطوير وسائل قتالية.

Israel Prepares to Destroy Hezbollah Tunnels From Inside Lebanon
Yaniv Kubovich, Noa Landau, Noa Shpigel and Jack Khoury/Haaretz/December 04/18
Military says one attack tunnel, stretching 200 meters and crossing into Israel, was dug from a private home in southern Lebanon ■ Netanyahu: There are already operational achievements in Operation Northern Shield.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday that the operation launched earlier in the day to destroy cross-border tunnels built by Hezbollah will not only be limited to Israeli territory.
“We have to prepare for all scenarios of neutralizing the tunnels,” Israel Defense Forces spokesman, Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis, told reporters. “Some of [the scenarios] will not by in our territory and this is something we are preparing for.
The Israel Defense Force announced the discovery of the tunnels on Tuesday morning, saying it has started destroying them, dubbing the campaign Operation Northern Shield.
Israel has warned Lebanon and UNIFIL, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Lebanon, that anyone who approaches the area puts himself in danger, Manelis said.
He added that the tunnel revealed on Tuesday was dug from a private home in Kafr Kila in southern Lebanon. It took two years to build, he said, and stretches some 200 meters – 40 of which are inside Israeli territory.
Contrary to the Gaza tunnels, Manelis added, these tunnels have air conditioning, lighting and are tall enough for people to walk upright.
After the 2014 Gaza war, Manelis said, Israel “understood that there is an underground threat against Israel that needs to be removed. Two teams are created: One in the south, which has so far exposed some 17 tunnels, and another [team] on the Northern Command, which operated under the assumption that if there are tunnels in the south, it is likely there are [tunnels] in the north.”
Operation Northern Shield, added Manelis, will last several weeks: “Some actions will be more precise and some less. At this point we are operating within Israeli territory to seize the tunnels… in the future, these tunnels may be destroyed from other locations.”
Manelis said that “The decision to keep the operation a secret was made in order to surprise Hezbollah,” adding that the timing of the launch was determined after all of the intelligence and technological conditions were right. “This operation wasn’t approved last night,” he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that there had already been “operational successes” in the operation. “Whoever tries to harm the State of Israel will pay a heavy price,” Netanyahu said in a statement, adding that Israel “is operating divisively and responsibly on all fronts simultaneously. We will continue with further actions – public and clandestine – in order to safeguard the security of Israel.”

Lebanese Army: Situation in southern Lebanese border remains calm
Tue 04 Dec 2018/NNA - The Lebanese army command on Tuesday confirmed in a communiqué that the situation on the Lebanese southern border remains calm and stable, in the wake of the Israeli enemy's announcement of its "Northern Shield" operation to look for alleged tunnels on the border.
"The situation is under close follow-up," army command communiqué read. The army units deployed in the area are carrying out their usual missions along the border in cooperation and coordination with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to prevent any escalation or destabilization in the area of the South, communiqué added.Army command confirmed the army's fully preparedness to confront any emergency.

Netanyahu Says 'Border Tunnels' Operation to 'Continue as Long as Necessary'
Associated Press/Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 04/18/Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Tuesday that an operation launched by the Israeli army on Lebanon’s border to destroy suspected Hizbullah tunnels would continue “as long as necessary.”Netanyahu said the alleged tunnels are aimed at “sending terrorists into northern Israel.”Noting that the operation decision had been taken weeks ago, the Israeli premier described it as “a small part of a deployment operation on all fronts to defend Israel.”
"We are acting with determination to prevent Iran from being rooted in Syria... we are also acting against Iran's terrorist actions in Lebanon," he said. Netanyahu said he would discuss the matter with world leaders in the coming days and that he was seeking an urgent meeting of the U.N. Security Council to discuss Hizbullah's "aggression." An official from the so-called Axis of Resistance -- a grouping led by Iran and made up of Syrian officials, Iraqi Shiite militias, Hizbullah and other groups -- meanwhile said Hizbullah fighters were "on high alert to confront any possible Israeli aggression." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the group's military activities with the media.

Israel Launches Operation to Cut off 'Hizbullah Border Tunnels'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 04/18/Israel's army said Tuesday it had detected Hizbullah tunnels infiltrating its territory from Lebanon and launched an operation to destroy them, a move likely to raise tensions with the Iran-backed group. The surprise announcement came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Brussels over regional dangers, with both having repeatedly warned over the activities of Iran, Israel's main enemy. Israeli army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said the "attack tunnels" were not yet operational. He declined to say how many were detected or how they would be destroyed. "We have launched Operation Northern Shield to expose and thwart cross-border attack tunnels dug by Hizbullah organisation from Lebanon into Israel," Conricus told journalists. The area around the Israeli town of Metula has been declared a closed military zone, with the army distributing images of heavy machinery digging into the ground. All operations would take place within Israeli territory, Conricus said, though it still raised the risk of a response from Hizbullah, the Shiite group with which Israel fought a devastating war in 2006.
According to Conricus, the tunnels were part of Hizbullah's 2012 plan to "shift the battlefield to Israel" and "conquer the Galilee" in a future conflict by infiltrating its territory. In 2013 the army acted on reports Hizbullah was digging tunnels, but failed to locate any, he said. Following the 2014 war between Israel and Gaza, in which Islamist movement Hamas used cross-border attack tunnels to infiltrate the Jewish state, the army said it found that "Hizbullah and Hamas share knowledge" and soon after began intensive work to prevent tunnels from Lebanon. The military has used various means to collapse or fill in tunnels from the Gaza Strip. "There is no immediate threat to Israeli citizens," Conricus said of the Lebanese front, noting that while the army has enhanced its presence in the north, it has not summoned reserve soldiers. He said the military "holds the Lebanese government responsible for all activities perpetrated in Lebanon towards Israel."
'Irresponsible'
Netanyahu said he had planned to discuss with Pompeo "steps we are taking together to block the aggression of Iran and its proxies in the north," referring to Syria and Lebanon. Netanyahu has spoken of a sensitive security situation in recent days without providing details, particularly after his Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman resigned over a controversial Gaza ceasefire last month. Lieberman's resignation threatened to provoke early elections, but Netanyahu worked to hold his coalition together and is now clinging to a one-seat majority in parliament. The premier had said that polls now would be "irresponsible" due to undefined security threats.His comments were seen by some at the time as an attempt to save his government, with polls showing wide disapproval among the Israeli public of his handling of the Gaza flare-up in November."In a period of security sensitivity like this, it is irresponsible to take down the government," he said last month. Netanyahu has pledged to stop arch-foe Iran from entrenching itself militarily in Syria and to keep it from transferring advanced weapons to its ally Hizbullah in Lebanon. There has been increased attention in Israel in recent days over Israeli officials' concerns regarding Iranian activity in Lebanon. Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes in Syria against what it says are Iranian military targets and deliveries of advanced arms to Hizbullah. However, a friendly fire incident in Syria in September that led to the downing of a Russian plane by Syrian air defences during an Israeli strike has complicated Israeli operations there. Russia subsequently upgraded Syrian air defences with the delivery of the advanced S-300 system, which Damascus had said last month would make Israel "think carefully" before carrying out further air raids.

UNIFIL's Statement in Connection with Israeli Activities South of Blue Line
Naharnet/December 04/18/UNIFIL was informed by the Israeli army this morning that they have started activities south of the Blue Line to look for suspected tunnels, a UNIFIL statement said on Tuesday. The overall situation in UNIFIL’s area of operation remains calm and UNIFIL is working with all interlocutors in order to maintain the overall stability, it said. UNIFIL peacekeepers have further increased their patrolling along the Blue Line, together with the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), to maintain the overall stability and avoid misunderstandings that could lead to any escalation.
UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Stefano Del Col is in close contact with both LAF and the Israeli army,, and is again urging all parties to use UNIFIL’s liaison, coordination and tripartite mechanisms in de-escalating any tension. UNIFIL’s liaison teams are operating on both sides of the Blue Line. UNIFIL monitors the Blue Line around-the-clock and reports all violations of the UN Security Council resolution 1701, which forms the core of UNIFIL’s mandate.

Report: Hizbullah a Key Player in Lebanon and the Region
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 04/18/
Lebanon's Hizbullah, which Israel accused Tuesday of digging cross-border "attack tunnels", has grown considerably as a domestic political player and a regional military power since its foundation three decades ago. The Israel army announced the launch of an operation dubbed "Northern Shield" to destroy the alleged tunnels. - 'Resisting' Israel -Hizbullah, whose name means "Party of God" in Arabic, was founded during the Lebanese civil war after Israel overran the capital Beirut in 1982.
Created at the initiative of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the group gained its moniker as "the Resistance" by fighting Israeli troops who occupied southern Lebanon until 2000.
It is the only faction to have retained its weapons after Lebanon's 15-year conflict ended in 1990.
In 2006, Israel and Hizbullah clashed in a month-long war that killed 1,200 Lebanese -- mostly civilians -- and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers. UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL is supposed to monitor the border area with Israel in coordination with the Lebanese armed forces, but Hizbullah regularly showcases its military preparedness for any new war with Israel.
In September, as fears grew that Iran was seeking to transfer some of its military influence from Syria to Lebanon, Hizbullah said it had successfully acquired precision missiles.
- A regional force -The group intervened in Syria two years after war broke out there in 2011, providing key military backing to the Damascus regime, also an ally of Iran. Hizbullah has lost many hundreds of fighters, including senior commanders, since it deployed some of its forces in the neighbouring country. It is believed to have between 5,000 and 8,000 fighters in Syria.
The conflict is winding down in many parts of Syria, but the group's leader Hassan Nasrallah has said its fighters will remain until further notice. Further afield in the Middle East, the Shiite group has also supported Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Yemen. Nasrallah said last year he had sent "a large number of commanders and cadres" to help the powerful Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary forces battle the Islamic State jihadist group in Iraq. Hizbullah is also accused of providing weapons to pro-Iran Huthi rebels in Yemen, which the group has denied.
- Yellow flags -Hizbullah was founded in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, but has since become predominant in all Shiite areas, including in the capital's southern suburbs and the south of the country near Israel.
The movement runs an extensive social services network -- complete with schools, hospitals and a wide range of charitable organisations. This, coupled with its branding as the party of "resistance" against Israel, means it enjoys fierce support among the country's Shiites, who make up around a third of the population. Its trademark yellow flags and huge portraits of its charismatic leader adorn areas of the country where it is popular. The group is remarkably organised but is often accused of rejecting all opposition in areas under its control.
- Hizbullah in government -Hizbullah first entered parliament with the end of Lebanon's civil war and began steadily imposing itself as a political player, with its first ministers in 2005.
Parliamentary elections in May saw the Shiite movement and its political allies secure enough political support to ensure its military arsenal would not be challenged. With its military activities outside Lebanon potentially slowing down, the movement appears bent on converting its dominance to the domestic political arena. More than six months after the polls, observers say the failure to form a government is partly caused by the group's new insistence on a line-up that reflects its gains.
- Global pressure -The United States has considered Hizbullah a "terrorist" organisation for years, blaming it for a series of bombings and hijackings in the 1980s, including one targeting US Marines in Beirut. The United States has targeted the party with tough sanctions, and the European Union blacklisted the group's military wing in 2013. The administration of US President Donald Trump has ramped up sanctions against Hizbullah, with its latest raft of measures last month targeting Nasrallah's son Jawad, among other individuals. Hizbullah is also accused of involvement in assassinating Lebanon's former premier Rafiq Hariri in 2005, with several of its members charged by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 04-05/18
Study: Iran runaway spending on defense outpaces even demands of hawks
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Tuesday, 4 December 2018/A study by the prestigious London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), an independent think tank, has revealed many hidden aspects of Iran’s defense spending and the shifting balances within the Islamic Republic’s military structures. One key finding is that the 2018–19 defense budget bill is much higher than what even the hawks within the Iranian establishment had sought. The hawks wanted 5 percent of the country’s total budgetary outlay for defense, which was already achieved in 2016. Iran’s military expenditure for 2018–19 is estimated at $19.6 billion out of $260 billion total outlay, which makes defense spending at 7.5 per cent of Iran’s total budget. The IISS study says when measured in real-terms, Iran’s military expenditure is 53% higher in 2018 when compared to five years ago.
Access to funds
This upward trajectory for defense spending is exacerbated in Iran by the fact that “many institutions, especially those in defense, can access funds from sources outside the official budget and leverage finances from extra-budgetary funds, such as the income from domestic oil sales.” Apart from the above, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has other ways it can raise revenue: by establishing private companies, as well as using its influence to get infrastructure contracts and private tenders worth more than $2.5 million in diverse sectors like housing development, energy, road construction, food and transportation. Another pitfall when it comes to assessing Iran’s defense spending is that it has other irregular forces that may operate as a military force. The latest defense budget also has an 84 percent rise in allocations for local forces pointing to rising internal dissent. The IRGC also gets an allotment of 33 percent of the entire defense budget amounting to $6.4 billion.

Egypt's Observatory for Monitoring Takfiri Fatwas: World Terrorism Declined in Nov.
Cairo - Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 4 December, 2018/The Observatory for Monitoring Takfiri Fatwas and Extremist Ideologies at Egypt's Dar al-Ifta said there was a relative decline in violence and terrorism during the last week of November in which a total of 191 victims were recorded compared to the third week of the same month which saw 685 victims. According to the observatory's statement on Monday, the total of terrorist operations dropped compared to last week, with the index recording around 21 terrorist operations conducted by six terrorist groups targeting 11 states in various regions of the world. Afghanistan, Somalia, and Iraq came in first place as the countries most prone to terrorist operations this week. Each country witnessed four terrorist operations. In the second place came Nigeria, which was a victim of two attacks conducted by Boko Haram, killing seven. The group also conducted a major terrorist offensive in Cameroon. The terrorist groups focused on targeting civilians in the majority of the operations, in an indicator that these groups seek to spread chaos and spur panic among civilians. The observatory also monitored a decline in terrorist operations in Syria this week; one operation less than last week's attacks.In the final place came Thailand, Yemen, Cameron, Pakistan, Congo, and Niger. Each country witnessed one terrorist attack. Boko Haram captured 15 girls from Niger in an attack by almost 50 armed men from the group. This strategy is usually used by the group: kidnapping girls and obliging them to conduct a suicidal attack. The observatory underpinned the necessity of intensifying international efforts to dry up intellectual and organizational sources of terrorism in which it is essential to lay hands over all tools used by extremist groups to lure youths.

Turkey Urges US to Clear Manbij of YPG
Ankara - Saeed Abdulrazzak/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 4 December, 2018/Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Donald Trump discussed clearing Manbij in Syria of Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and recent developments in Aleppo on the margins of the G20 summit in Argentina. “Our relations with the US are based on strategic partnership. As two strategic partners, we had opportunity to elaborate the developments in the northern Syria, east of Euphrates, Manbij. We also had the chance to talk on Idlib but our main agenda is Manbij. We have discussed how we can clear Manbij of these organization while we reiterated our view on the Democratic Union Party (PYD)/YPG,” Turkish media quoted Erdogan as saying. Erdogan reiterated his country’s frustration over Washington’s choice in partnering with a terror organization, referring to YPG, to eliminate another terrorist group, ISIS, stressing: “as Turkey, we witness this double standard on the terrorist actions both in our country and our neighbor Syria.”"Terrorists, who act within Turkey, kill civilians and mess with terrorism, roam freely in Western countries under the name of political refugees and can even collect tribute," indicated President Erdogan. “The supporters of FETO, who initiated the coup attempt and killed 251 of our people, are being protected by certain countries, notwithstanding of all the mounting evidence we have presented," he said. Observers believe US behavior is worrying Ankara, particularly as Washington slows down the implementation of Manbij agreement to withdraw Kurdish YPG to East Euphrates and jointly oversee security and stability in the city until a local council is established. They explained that the problem for Turkey is that the United States, through its existence and activity in Manbij, is allowing the YPG to enhance its strength and permitting the Kurds to establish a "terrorist state" on Turkey's borders. Meanwhile, Turkish and US military forces completed the second round of training to carry out joint patrols in northern Syria’s Manbij area. Turkish Defense Ministry said in a tweet on its account that the joint exercises come within the framework of the road-map concerning Manbij. The joint exercises were launched in November and witnessed the deployment of 4 patrols during that month, after Turkey criticized the US for slowly implementing the agreement as agreed.

Iranian President Makes New Threats against Gulf as US Carrier Heads to Middle East
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 4 December, 2018/Iranian President Hassan Rouhani made fresh threats against the Arab Gulf Tuesday as he struck a defiant stance against crushing US sanctions. "America should know... it is not capable of preventing the export of Iran's oil," Rouhani said at a televised rally in Semnan province. "If it ever tries to do so... no oil will be exported from the Gulf," he added. Washington has reimposed sanctions, including an oil embargo, since withdrawing from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers in May. It has vowed to reduce Iran's oil sales to zero, but has granted temporary waivers to eight countries. Rouhani last threatened to close the Gulf in July when he warned the US "should not play with the lion's tail."The president downplayed the economic impact of sanctions, accusing the media of exaggerating the country's problems, reported AFP. "No hyperinflation, no massive unemployment will threaten us. People should stop saying such things in the papers," he told the crowd. The latest inflation report from Iran's central bank says food prices rose 56 percent year-on-year in October. Rouhani acknowledged there were "some problems", but said these would be addressed in the new budget plan to be presented on December 16. He said the government would maintain subsidies on essential goods and increase public sector wages and pensions by 20 percent. Meanwhile, a US aircraft carrier strike group will arrive in the Middle East within days, US defense officials said, ending the longest period in two decades that such a military presence has been absent from the region, reported the Wall Street Journal Monday. The USS John C. Stennis and accompanying ships will arrive by this week’s end, the first such military presence in the region in eight months, the officials said, to exhibit a show of force against Iran.

Iran Vows to Continue Missile Testing
London/Asharq Al-Awsat/December,04 2018/Iran affirmed Sunday that it will continue its missile testing to foster defense, and denied violating UN resolutions following testing of a missile capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday condemned what he described as Iran’s testing of a medium-range ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple warheads as a violation of the international agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program signed in 2015, according to Reuters.
Armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi said testing missiles and increasing the military might of Iran are only meant for defense and in line with the country’s deterrence.
“We will continue both the test and development of the missiles,” he said, adding that any negotiation with foreigners on the missile program is out of question since the issue is related to the country’s national security. “Iran just test-fired an INF range ballistic missile capable of reaching Israel and Europe. This provocative behavior cannot be tolerated,” tweeted US National Security Advisor John Bolton. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt posted on Twitter, “Deeply concerned by Iran’s test firing of a medium-range ballistic missile. Provocative, threatening and inconsistent with UNSCR 2231. Our support for JCPoA in no way lessens our concern at Iran’s destabilizing missile program and determination that it should cease.” In another context, an Iranian fertility expert accused of working with foreign “espionage networks” has been arrested, state news agency IRNA confirmed on Sunday. It did not give details of the charges but quoted a lawyer who named the expert as Meimanat Hosseini Chavoshi. She is listed by the University of Melbourne as working at its School of Population and Global Health, and had published widely on Iran’s once-lauded fertility and family-planning policies. On Saturday, Kayhan newspaper reported the arrest of several “activists… who, under the cover of scientific activities, had infiltrated state bodies”. It said they manipulated data and handed sensitive information to Iran’s enemies as part of efforts to carry out a “cultural and social invasion”. Iran was once considered an international success story in population control, bringing birth rates down from seven per woman in the 1980s to 1.66 in 2016, according to World Bank figures. Chavoshi has written extensively about these efforts, which she described as the “fastest fall in fertility ever recorded.”

US Urges EU to Impose Sanctions on Iran
Asharq Al-Awsat/December,04 2018/The US called on Monday the European Union to impose sanctions against Iran targeting its ballistic missile program. Over the weekend, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo charged that Iran tested a medium-range missile capable of carrying multiple warheads and striking parts of Europe and the entire Middle East. "We are accumulating risk of escalation in the region if we fail to restore deterrence," Pompeo said. Washington deemed the move a "grave and escalating threat."Pompeo said the test violated UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the Iran nuclear deal signed by world powers with the Islamic republic. "The Iranian government claims that its missile testing is purely defensive in nature. It's not defensive," Washington's Iran special envoy Brian Hook told reporters aboard Pompeo's plane as he traveled to Brussels for a NATO meeting. "We would like to see the European Union move sanctions that target Iran's missile program." Hook said President Donald Trump's campaign of "maximum pressure" on Tehran since withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal "can be effective if more nations can join us in those (sanctions)." "It is a grave and escalating threat, and nations around the world, not just Europe, need to do everything they can to be targeting Iran's missile program," he added. Hook said "progress" was being made on getting NATO allies to consider a proposal to target individuals and entities that play key roles in Iran's missile program.
On Thursday, he accused Iran of violating a UN ban on Iranian arms exports by sending weapons to its proxies in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. The United States decided in May to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions on Iran. EU countries have denounced the move and are working to preserve the nuclear deal, even though they have also criticized Iranian positions on other matters.

Sadr Urges Iraqi PM to Submit Cabinet Lineup as Soon as Possible
Baghdad – Hamza Mustafa/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 4 December, 2018/Head of the Sadrist movement, Moqtada al-Sadr, warned on Monday Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi that he alone will be held responsible if he should “submit” to the developments going on behind the scenes in the government formation process. He made his remarks on the eve of a parliament vote on the eight candidates proposed to fill the vacant defense and interior minister posts. Abdul Mahdi has been struggling to fill the remaining positions in his government, with political bickering hindering his efforts. Sadr, leader of the Sairoon bloc that was the victor in the May parliamentary elections, said in his message to the PM that he sought to contain political disputes over the cabinet formation by allying himself with Hadi al-Ameri. “Corrupt” powers, however, were lured away towards striking new sectarian alliances, he lamented.
He reminded Abdul Mahdi that he was chosen as PM because he promoted himself as an independent figure and he should therefore “avoid yielding to the developments taking place behind the scenes.”He also urged him to complete his government with independent technocratic ministers and to submit the lineup as soon as possible and without disputed candidates. Security ministers must be chosen from among “brave leaders” who liberated Iraqi territory from the ISIS terrorist group, Sadr proposed. “They are most qualified for these posts,” he explained in clear rejection of the candidacy of Faleh al-Fayyad as interior minister.Parliament in October approved 14 out of 22 cabinet ministers.

Two US Police Departments Boycott Training in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv - Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 4 December, 2018/Two US police departments decided over the past week to cancel their participation in a program that involves visiting Israel and meeting Israeli police officers, following public pressure by a coalition of progressive organizations, led by Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS). In a complaint letter to Inspector-General Ronnie Al-Sheikh, Israeli police confirmed that the decision to cancel was made following pressure exerted by the activists of the Israeli boycott movement in the United States "who convinced the police stations that the training received by US and other officers in Israel supports a culture of violence, hostility and hatred, thus attendees will return to their country more violent, aggressive and hostile against US citizens and foreign visitors. Therefore, the Israeli police principles do not suit them.”
The program discussed is a week-long seminar in Israel, during which participating police officers from across the United States learn how Israeli law enforcement deals with the threat of terrorism. Attending officers and policemen meet with Israeli police officers and exchange experiences. It is funded and organized by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), and this is the first time that police departments decide to boycott the program in nearly 20 years. The two departments’ decisions were hailed as a victory by boycott groups. A number of groups affiliated with the BDS movement and others focused on domestic law enforcement issues in the US claiming the program inspires the police departments and other law enforcement agencies to adopt harsher policies commonly used in Israel. Jewish Voice for Peace pushed the US police departments to cancel their participation and released a press statement stating: “For the first time in 20 years, the all expense-paid trips to Israel where American law enforcement are trained by the Israeli military and police have run into a snag.”As a result of the campaign, Vermont State Police, responsible for law enforcement in approximately half of the northeastern state and Northampton, Massachusetts, police department informed the ADL office in Boston that they will not take part in the program, which is scheduled to begin in Israel within days. The movement boycotting the program is currently working to convince other police departments to back out of the program. “It was a total focus on hate crimes, the development of white supremacy rising in our nation, how to respond to that,” Massachusetts Police Chief Jody Kasper said of that trip.

Israel Kills Palestinian Man in West Bank
Tel Aviv- Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 04 December/18/Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man during a clash in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Palestinian officials said. The Israeli military said its troops opened fire during what it described as a violent riot. It did not mention any casualties. The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said Israeli forces entered the town of Tulkarm and raided several houses and that a crowd gathered in the area. An Israeli military spokeswoman said that while troops were operating there, "a violent riot was instigated in which dozens of Palestinians hurled rocks". "Troops responded with riot dispersal means and later on with live fire," said the spokeswoman. Palestinian health officials said a 22-year-old was killed after being shot in the head. Israeli troops frequently mount raids in the West Bank to detain suspected militants. Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Middle East war. Palestinians seek to establish a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Exclusive: Pope Tawadros II warns against ‘emptying’ Middle East of Christians, sees hope in Saudi reforms
Arab News/December 05/18
Coptic pope said recent attacks on Copts are an attack on Egyptian unity
Tawadros sees hope in the reforms of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and is looking forward to visiting Saudi Arabia
CAIRO: Coptic Pope Tawadros II warned of the danger of emptying the Middle East of Christians, in an exclusive interview with Arab News. “This emptying act is against nature,” the pope said, adding that recent attacks on Copts and their places of worship are an attack on Egyptian unity. “Our regions have been established with the existence of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. What happened in some countries like Syria and Iraq is painful.”
Tawadros spoke about the damage inflicted on the Copts in Egypt during the Muslim Brotherhood’s rule from 2012 to 2013. “The migration of Christians in Egypt resulted from the circumstances that took place,” he said. “Christians feared for their lives and fled the country. When the country regained its stability, a lot of them returned to Egypt. Christian emigration rates have dropped significantly.”
Tawadros, who is looking forward to visiting Saudi Arabia soon at the invitation of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said he personally follows the “positive developments” taking place there under his reforms. He said the crown prince’s meetings with religious, political and cultural figures around the world encompass “a lot of hope” are “in the interest of Saudi Arabia and contribute to human development.”Tawadros visited the Vatican in 2013, the first visit of a Coptic pope in 40 years, and his last trip was in July this year. “It is a good relationship based on friendship and love with Pope Francis,” he said.
“There is a dialogue committee between us and the Vatican that meets annually.” In the interview, conducted in Cairo and published to mark the crown prince’s tour that included other Arab states and Argentina for the G20 Summit, the pope also shared his views of the region.Tawadros views Palestine as an “occupied country” and said he hopes a “spirit of understanding prevails” between Israelis and Palestinians so that Jerusalem can be a capital for both states “and peace reigns in the region.”

Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 04-05/18
Climate Denialism and Its Weakness
Liam Denning/Bloomberg/December 04/18
One problem I have with “climate denial” is the name. Nobody denies there’s a climate (not yet, anyway). I guess it fits better into a tweet, but that brings me to another problem I have with climate denial: It’s really stupid.
To illustrate what I mean, here’s President Donald Trump trashing his own administration’s dire climate assessment, published with impeccable timing on Black Friday, to the Washington Post last week:
One of the problems that a lot of people like myself — we have very high levels of intelligence, but we’re not necessarily such believers. You look at our air and our water, and it’s right now at a record clean. But when you look at China and you look at parts of Asia and when you look at South America, and when you look at many other places in this world, including Russia, including — just many other places — the air is incredibly dirty. And when you’re talking about an atmosphere, oceans are very small. And it blows over and it sails over. I mean, we take thousands of tons of garbage off our beaches all the time that comes over from Asia. It just flows right down the Pacific, it flows, and we say where does this come from. And it takes many people to start off with.
As with Ulysses, professors will surely be arguing for centuries over what the president was going on about there. Yet to parse the words is to miss the point. The paragraph is pure misdirection, conflating carbon emissions with “dirty” air and thereby casting the US as “clean” (and Trump isn’t exactly helping on that score anyway; see this and this.) Ditto the whataboutism regarding China and Russia, as the U.S. is still the world’s second biggest emitter of carbon, and Trump walked away from an international climate agreement.
This is what I mean by stupidity: lines of argument barely designed to withstand even the slightest scrutiny. This isn’t just a presidential prerogative. In the same week, Rick Santorum, former Republican senator and champion of intelligent design, accused the climate assessment’s authors of being in it for the money. Come on. The upstream oil industry alone — not counting refining, natural gas, or coal — rakes in roughly $5-6 billion of revenue a day at current prices. Yet the vested interest here is a bunch of scientists spread around labs and universities? Sure.
Incoherence serves a purpose, though. Whether Trump genuinely struggles to string a proper sentence together on this subject or just chooses not to, it offers a certain protection from effective rebuttal by turning the normal process of argument and counterargument into a farce.
There’s no real argument about the science. The tell is when Trump said he isn’t a believer. Recasting the issue as a matter of faith rather than reason lets him simply ignore the evidence. Moreover, resisting the consensus about climate change fits with other themes Trump champions, especially disdain for “elites” (scientists and other assorted intellectuals in this case) and international cooperation. Similarly, Santorum’s blithe smearing of scientists dovetails with the established theme of the “swamp” while also ducking the real issue.
So climate change actually serves a purpose, signaling Trump’s resolve on unrelated red-meat issues to his supporters. It follows that persuasion via yet more scientific evidence is a futile exercise. David Bookbinder, chief counsel to the Niskanen Center, a think tank advocating for action on climate change, among other things, summed it up for me last week: “It’s very hard to reason someone out of a position that they weren’t reasoned into.”
Kevin Book, managing director at ClearView Energy Partners LLC, a DC-based research firm, suggests past efforts to address climate change have often failed in securing public buy-in for what needs to be done. Consider, for example, the backlash against President Emmanuel Macron’s recent hike in gasoline taxes. This disconnect from the public creates an opening for those dismissing the mounting scientific evidence:
It is quite a thing for the world to proceed with a wholesale renovation of its energy systems without public buy-in, isn’t it? But at the same time, maybe that isn’t really that different from setting a trajectory towards inaction without scientific buy-in. Both approaches seem incomplete, but short political time horizons can rush things, notwithstanding long industrial and geological timescales. That doesn’t mean progress is impossible. Action to address climate change is ongoing at state and city levels, and in other countries at the national level. And while the push on climate change by incoming Democratic House members won’t result in legislation under this administration, it does mean the issue will likely be more prominent in 2020.
Of course, if Democrats push the issue harder, right-wing intransigence may harden further. But then, given the depths to which the Republican leadership’s arguments on climate change have sunk already, that is hardly a reason to hold back. Raising public awareness of both the risks of climate change and the opportunities for new jobs and businesses, and not just costs, that come from dealing with it is essential anyway.So is looking beyond those “short political time horizons” Book mentioned. While Trump dominates his party now, the recent midterm results and the gathering clouds of the Mueller investigation remind us that he is politically mortal. Younger Republicans, while more skeptical than Democrats, appear to be more open to taking action on climate change than their older counterparts. As sociologist Robert Brulle has argued persuasively, the key to shifting Republican attitudes about climate change may well be to shift the cues provided by the right’s leading figures (or, elites, if you prefer) given their central role in shaping that amorphous thing known as “public opinion.” Jerry Taylor, a former climate-change denier who founded the Niskanen Center, points out Trump managed to get his party to abandon seemingly bedrock positions regarding free trade, Russia, and deficits pretty quickly. Only a decade ago, the late John McCain was campaigning on climate change as the Republican presidential candidate. Nothing is necessarily set in stone.The resort to misdirection and conspiracy theories makes progress tough but also hints at the underlying fragility of climate denial. Ultimately, the issue of climate change can be boiled down to this: We have built prosperous societies on the extensive use of fossil fuels, but now know those same fuels also threaten our survival, requiring us to reimagine how we power our way of life. It is as simple and as difficult as that. And our debates, forceful as they are, should focus on the reimagining part. All else — the presidential free-associating, the tweets and the TV soundbites — is noise.

Trump-Xi Give Markets the Most They Could Have Expected
John Authers/Bloomberg/December 04/18
Trade truce.
Oh, what a circus. Oh, what a show. Buenos Aires is accustomed to staging political drama. This weekend it provided a stage for China and the US to call timeout on their escalating trade confrontation. Both needed a break, and both needed to show they’d won something, so some kind of accord was very likely.What they achieved was no more than what many had expected, but it was also the most that anyone could fairly have expected. And it delivered for some important domestic constituencies, such as U.S. soybean farmers. The real risk of a serious downside (an angry confrontation and a meeting ending with recriminations and no agreement) has been avoided, providing a good excuse for anyone who wants to be “risk-on” on Monday to take some extra risks.
That’s about the limit of it. As Diana Choyleva of Enodo Economics figures, this is a truce and not a breakthrough, and provides both sides with 90 days to intensify talks on the most difficult of matters. Such matters are formidable:
- But for Washington, forced technology transfer, intellectual property rights and non-tariff barriers are key
- We expect China to cede ground on the above, but its high-tech leadership ambitions are non-negotiable
- The trade war is likely to morph into a tech war in 2019
The tech war matters a lot. It’s widely understood that the US-China relationship is crucial for the world and will take years to resolve. The widespread review of ancient history, led by Thucydides, in the last week makes clear that investors understand that this is a long-term conflict that moves far beyond economics, and will not be resolved in a hurry. As Win Thin, a currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman put it, this could turn out to be a “can kick that will come back to haunt investors in 2019.” That’s about right — one immediate downside risk has been removed, but in the longer term, all the risks remain in place. And soon we will return to the other underlying problem, which is China’s slowing economy. By Monday morning in Europe and the U.S., we should have the latest PMI figures for China’s manufacturing sector. The last official reading for the Caixin survey was exactly 50.0, the dividing line between expansion and contraction. Any further declines in the PMI would shift concern back from trade and on to China’s stressful attempts to deflate its credit bubble without causing a crash.
Did cutting red tape put stocks in the black?
Beyond the tax cut, Trump’s first year as president had one other very market-friendly development. He promised to cut regulations for businesses, and he delivered in spectacular fashion. Deregulation is hard to quantify, but George Washington University’s Regulatory Studies Center keeps a great website loaded with data. It suggests that when it comes to deregulation, something truly special did happen in Trump’s first year, providing a big-one effect on the private sector.
Take the Federal Register, which is where federal rules have been published since the time of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In Trump’s first year in office, the register shrunk by the most since President Harry S. Truman was attempting to bring the country off a war footing in 1947.
If we view this in terms of the total volume of regulations, then the rule book is now only as big as it was the latter years of the Carter administration. The Reagan administration engineered a significant reduction in regulations, but not on the scale seen under Trump. Again, viewed this way, the first year of the Trump administration was historically significant.
This is not just about cutting rules already on the books. The pace of new rules introduced, which accelerated under the Obama administration, has collapsed to a level not seen since the second year of Ronald Reagan’s second term. Neither of the Bush administrations ever managed to get through a year with so few new rules put on the books. The problem is knowing what to make of this trend from an investing standpoint. On a typical list of reasons why stocks did so well in 2017, “deregulation” tends to be mentioned right after “cutting taxes,” and it should almost by definition be beneficial to corporate profits in the short run. Any increase in profitability as the result of a relaxed regulation should stay in place, but this would be a one-off impact on growth, the effects of which we have presumably felt in the startlingly good numbers reported by corporate America this year.
The problem is that it can be very hard to map the impact of deregulation. It is not part of standard earnings models, and the initial impact will occur on a company-by-company basis. Management, its auditors and institutional investors should understand the effects of a rewritten rule. Others may not. It is a good bet that some of the surprise element from the huge US profit increases this year, not seen elsewhere, came from deregulation. As such, this low-hanging fruit has been picked, and there will be much less deregulation over the rest of the Trump presidency.
Another issue is whether too much deregulation has taken place. If you read Michael Lewis’s latest book, “The Fifth Element,” you might agree that with that there has, and we may live to discover that some of this excessive regulation did us good as a society. For now, though, the point is that deregulation has been real, not just a Trumpian brag, and its impact is probably not fully understood.

Outrage Over Human Gene Editing Will Fade Fast
Noah Feldman/Bloomberg/December 04/18
It’s too soon to know whether a Chinese researcher who claims to have successfully edited the genomes of newly born twins is telling the truth. But if he is, and if the girls turn out to be healthy and normal, it heralds a significant change in the scientific and ethical status of human gene editing. The outrage might not last long. The consensus in the scientific community now is that human gene editing is medically dangerous and ethically wrong. Both of those beliefs are susceptible to changing, almost as fast as science is capable of progressing. And, interestingly, the two main concerns about gene editing using the Crispr-Cas 9 system are almost diametrically opposed, logically speaking. The first worry is that Crispr technology, while cheap and powerful, isn’t reliable enough for use in humans. Specifically, the concern is that changes in one gene that has been “knocked out” and replaced with another could have unforeseen and harmful effects elsewhere in the genome.
Called “off-target” effects, such unintended modifications are rare but not unheard of in Crispr experiments in mice. When it comes to humans, the worry goes, an intended mutation that is beneficial or even lifesaving could turn out to have serious, permanent negative effects elsewhere.
The second worry is that Crispr editing of the human genome will work all too well. That could lead to parents seeking to have designer babies, offspring whose genomes have been edited so that they will be more athletic or more attractive or more intelligent.
The ethical concerns there range from the obvious (it seems too much like eugenics) to the more subtle (it could enhance class differences between those with access to the technology and those without). Then there’s the fact that gene editing isn’t restricted to that one child. Crispr genetic mutations are passed on to the next generation, whether for good or for ill. These scientific and ethical concerns are serious. But they can change fast. Consider the off-target effects. This worry is based on empirical science: either there is a meaningful probability of dangerous off-target mutations, or there isn’t. If children like the twins who have been reportedly modified are born and live healthy, normal lives, then scientific worries about off-target effects will begin to recede. As an editorial in Nature Medicine pointed out last summer, all acts of sexual reproduction carry a background probability of spontaneous mutation — that’s why evolution is possible. If the rate of off-target effects is lower than that of natural mutation, scientists and regulators may come to consider it to be tolerable.
That leaves the designer-babies worry — and there are a couple of reasons to predict that it, too, may fade. To begin with, designing taller or smarter babies is not a realistic possibility in the foreseeable future. Most observable human features are associated with hundreds of genetic mutations, not just one or two. One leading study on height found that 697 genetic variants accounted for one-fifth of the difference among people. It isn’t realistic to use Crispr to knock out and replace those 697 genes to achieve a possible 20 percent gain in height.
Other examples of human variability, such as intelligence, would be even harder to change with current editing techniques. We can’t even produce a consistent definition of intelligence, much less identify its genetic determinants.
As the public gradually realizes that designer babies aren’t a very realistic option, the ethical worry about producing them is likely to fade.
What will remain is the strong ethical value of protecting future generations from debilitating disease. The reported Chinese human editing case was unnecessary, because there are other, simpler ways of protecting a fetus from contracting HIV from a paternal donor. But plenty of other diseases can be avoided only by genetic mutation.
If and when it becomes scientifically safe to proceed with human gene editing, the legitimate ethical concern about designer babies is likely to be outweighed by the ethical imperative to avoid disease, and to enable parents to reproduce who might otherwise not have been able to do so.
Over time, the ethical question will cease to be whether it is permissible to use gene editing to prevent disease. Instead, ethicists will be asking whether it is ethically permissible not to make interventions that would avoid human pain and suffering.
All this will take time — possibly as long as a decade, depending on how many scientists break the current norms and how well their patients do. But if the science works, expect the ethical norms to follow. Forty years ago, ethicists fretted about in vitro fertilization. Today, the practice seems ethically unproblematic or even attractive to the public in most countries.

"The Worst Deal in History": Theresa May's Surrender
David Brown/Gatestone Institute/December 04/18
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13360/brexit-no-deal
This Brexit "deal" is anything but good for the nation.
This "deal" will cost the British taxpayer £60 billion; require that the British still comply with EU rules without having any say in what those will be, and worst of all, it permits the British to leave the EU only if the EU agrees. It commits the British effectively to subjugation by the EU in perpetuity, with no recourse should the British change their mind. It is a prison. It is also the first step of the EU toward its dream of global governance: unaccountable, untransparent, unelected by the public, and with no way out.
There is still a way out of this mess; an easy alternative. The solution is No Deal. Without any further action, the UK's membership of the EU will lapse on March 29, 2019, and unless that majority can unite around a viable alternative, we will leave. Even better, according to a House of Lords report, there would be no legal obligation for the UK to make any payment as part of a financial settlement.
But, we have nearly left the EU haven't we? After all, we keep hearing about this deal. We must be nearly there by now, surely?
Just because some of us are immersed in this stuff, many of us are not. Back in the real world where people are trying to find their bus passes, generally keep warm, or asking who will do the school pick-up, Brexit is not everyone's first and overwhelming thought.
In the margins, there are the headlines on the six o'clock news telling you Theresa May has a "deal" agreed to by Brussels -- and she is off to sell it to the nation.
A "deal" implies you got more than what you bargained hard or hoped for, or that someone threw in an extra bottle of Fairy Liquid for free.
Theresa May is misusing the term "deal". What she is calling a "deal" is a literal deceit to the nation. This "deal" is anything but good for Great Britain.
This "deal" will cost the British taxpayer, £60 billion; require that the British still comply with EU rules without having any say in what those will be, and worst of all, it permits the British to leave the EU only if the EU agrees. As Nigel Farage, former UKIP leader and one of creators of Brexit, asks, "Why should it?"
This "deal" effectively commits the British to subjugation by the EU in perpetuity, with no recourse should the British change their mind. It is a prison. It is also the first step of the EU toward its dream of global governance: unaccountable, untransparent, unelected by the public, and with no way out.
The French will still be able to fish in British waters, and the Spanish will claim that the UK will have to open talks on the sovereignty of Gibraltar. As Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has said, "Once the UK has left the EU, Gibraltar's political, legal and even geographic relationship with the EU will go through Spain..."
New trade barriers would also be put in place between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, fundamentally undermining the constitutional and economic integrity of the United Kingdom.
This "deal" is, in reality, a sell-out. Farage has described it as "The worst deal in history"; even more wretched, as he points out, is that -- as one cannot leave it without the EU's permission -- it offers Britain even less sovereignty than it has now.
Theresa May and her Remainers are counting on this deceit as well as the utter fatigue of Conservative constituents -- an understandable impatience of voters for Brexit to be "over" with it -- to push her sordid "deal" over the line.
We must not allow this to happen.
There must be no "deal" -- apart from the one for which the British voted and were repeatedly promised (falsely as it turns out) would be honoured.
The "deal" as it now stands is nothing more than a surrender to the EU, the Germans, the French and the Spanish. We shall remain in the Customs Union; the transition period could be extended beyond two years; the "backstop" can only end with EU agreement; the EU will still control our laws and there will be customs checks in the Irish Sea; Northern Ireland will be treated differently, and we will be paying £60 billion to be able not to walk out the door.
May's offer is a surrender. "Leave" voters need to look at this surrender to the EU and dig deep, to June 23, 2016, and what you voted for: To take back control of our country, our laws and our British people first.
There is still, however, a way out of this mess; an easy alternative. Theresa May's Surrender is not the only deal possible -- no matter how many times you hear May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker repeat each other's scripted talking points.
The solution is No Deal. Without any further action, the UK's membership of the EU will lapse on March 29, 2019, and unless that majority can unite around a viable alternative, we will leave, and be free of the EU.
Even better, the UK would be out of the EU with no strings attached and no agreement in place. According to a House of Lords report, there would be no legal obligation for the UK to make any payment as part of a financial settlement.
With no new trade agreement with the EU, the rules of the World Trade Organization would apply and Great Britain would be free to sign trade agreements around the world as soon as it could finalise them. Those peddling confusion -- including the BBC -- will talk in terms of "crashing out" with no deal -- invoking images of cars overturned, planes ablaze and people screaming.
They are wrong. We will not crash anywhere. We are British. We will leave politely, without a deal, and apologise when someone else stands on our foot.
We will not run out of drinking water, bacon sandwiches, insulin or ferries. Online marketers would smell an opportunity and in an instant fill it for profit. There is whole world market out there, not just Europe. Leaving is our golden opportunity to take a cue from our economically savvy friends across the Pond and "Make Britain Great Again."
So, dig in deep for a No Deal Brexit. Do not let your MP capitulate to May's Surrender.
A No Deal Brexit is exactly what most of us voted for. All we need now is a leader prepared to deliver it.
*David Brown is based in the United Kingdom. © 2018 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.

Anti-Semitism: The Fast Track in Turkey to a Government Career?
Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute/December 04/18
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13370/anti-semitism-turkey
"King Mohammed VI of Morocco made a breakthrough in the Muslim world and told the world press that 'education has the power to fight ugly phenomena such as discrimination, racism and anti-Semitism.'" — Mois Gabay, Şalom.
"What about the fact that... an awakening about Israel and Jews is on the rise in many other majority-Muslim countries." — Mois Gabay, Şalom.
"The government should immediately recognize anti-Semitism as a hate crime and impose penal sanctions on the perpetrators." — Işıl Demirel, an anthropologist from Turkey; Avlaremoz.
Demirel's suggestion would make perfect sense in a free and genuinely democratic society. But in a country where the president, his advisers and MPs regularly and proudly spit out hatred not only against Jews, but also against other minorities, how is anti-Semitism to be dealt with when demonizing Jews or Israel seems to serve as a fast track to a career in government?
There are currently fewer than 15,000 Jews in Turkey and their number reportedly keeps declining. Istanbul's Neve Şalom Synagogue (pictured) was attacked three times by terrorists: in 1986 (by the Abu Nidal Organization); in 1992 (by Turkish Hizballah); and in 2003 (by Al-Qaeda). Image source: Chadica/Wikimedia Commons
As the Islamist government of Turkey grows increasingly authoritarian, religious minorities in the country seem to be the most targeted and affected group.
The concerns of Turkey's Jewish community were addressed recently by Mois Gabay, a columnist for the country's Jewish weekly, Şalom, in an article entitled, "What Kind of Turkey Are We Living In?"
In it, Gabay discussed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's establishing nine councils, the members of which he appointed, and who are responsible for "offering policy proposals, ideas and strategies to the president" on the economy, foreign policy, education and law.
Among those appointed to official positions within these councils, Gabay wrote, are well-known public figures who have made blatant anti-Semitic statements.
In an interview with the Turkish journal Yörünge in August, for instance, author Alev Alatlı, now a member of Erdogan's culture and art council, said that the "anti-Erdogan forces of the world" are led by Jews and motivated by millennia-long Jewish teachings. "The real project [of the Jews] is to cleanse the universe of goyim," she said, referring to "goyim" as those "for whom there is no place in the world unless they serve the Jews."
In another interview the same month with the newspaper Takvim, Alatlı said:
"American imperialism and Jewish alliance (Evangelism and Jewish) have once again stepped into action today and are dragging the world into chaos. Their first target is Turkey."
Last year, Professor Burhan Kuzu, a former MP of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), tweeted: "Kennedy took the mandate for printing the U.S. dollar from the Jewish bank and gave it to the state's central bank and got killed; the killer remains unidentified."
Kuzu is also now a member of Erdogan's law council.
In his column in the newspaper, Star, on September 19, Yiğit Bulut (no relation), one of Erdogan's key advisers, wrote: "Israel, which has been shedding Muslim blood for years in the region, has now started to attack Russia. At this point, Israel thinks it will 'run and hide behind America,' but will it really have the time to run and hide? That is a little doubtful."
Bulut is now on Erdogan's economic council.
Then there is the folklorist and writer, Hakan Yılmaz Çebi, whom Gabay quoted as saying on Turkey's Beyaz TV on October 9:
"What is this Jewish utopia? When one looks at the disasters that have fallen upon us recently, one sees that Jewish utopia is behind them."
Gabay himself wrote:
"While these people have not even bothered to explain or apologize for their anti-Semitic statements or writings, King Mohammed VI of Morocco decided to incorporate Holocaust studies into his country's high school curriculum.
"Meanwhile, our so-called folklorists continue to poison our people through the 'Jew-Mason-Illuminati' trio. Yet, King Mohammed VI of Morocco made a breakthrough in the Muslim world and told the world press that 'education has the power to fight ugly phenomena such as discrimination, racism and anti-Semitism.'"Erdogan's appointment of anti-Semites, such as those mentioned above, should not come as a surprise. When U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Erdogan responded by referring to a hadith (a saying by Islam's prophet, Mohammed) about Judgement Day:
"Those who think they are the owners of Jerusalem today will not even be able to find trees to hide behind tomorrow," he said, during a Human Rights Day event in Ankara on December 10.
The full hadith, 223275, is as follows:
"Abu Huraira reported Allaah's Messenger (sall Allaahua layhiwa sallam) as saying: The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allaah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews."
Gabay continued:
"Knowing the realities of the country where we live causes us to lose more hope each day. Does reading the Jewish-related views of the persons at the highest political positions who have the authority to represent us not give us an idea concerning in what kind of a country we will be raising our children?
"What about the fact that open, as well as hidden, antisemitism have become part of daily life [in Turkey], while an awakening about Israel and Jews is on the rise in many other majority-Muslim countries?
"As long as required steps to struggle against anti-Semitism are not taken by the government in this environment, where Israel is demonized every day, we as Turkish Jews can persuade only those in our own neighborhood, even if we organize activities to raise awareness day in and day out."
Anti-Semitism and physical assaults against Jews have a long history in Turkey. In Istanbul's Neve Şalom Synagogue, for example, Jews were victims of three terrorist attacks: in 1986 (by the Abu Nidal Organization); in 1992 (by Turkish Hizballah); and in 2003 (by Al-Qaeda). There are currently fewer than 15,000 Jews in Turkey and their number reportedly keeps declining.
"I do not think that there has ever been a period in this country in which anti-Semitism and hatred against Jews has decreased," said Işıl Demirel, an anthropologist from Turkey and an author for the news site, Avlaremoz.
"And during the current political atmosphere, hate speech against Jews in Turkey is even more commonplace. The attacks against synagogues in particular have made security an even more alarming issue for the Jewish community. That is why, for many years, synagogues and other Jewish institutions have been protected by safety measures.... The government should immediately recognize anti-Semitism as a hate crime and impose penal sanctions on the perpetrators. I think this is the most important step to be taken to help the Jewish community live in peace here."
Demirel's suggestion would make perfect sense in a free and genuinely democratic society. But in a country where the president, and his advisers and MPs regularly and proudly spit out hatred not only against Jews, but also against other minorities, how does one deal with anti-Semitism when demonizing Jews or Israel seems to serve as a fast track to a career in government? Uzay Bulut, a Turkish journalist born and raised a Muslim, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute and currently based in Washington D.C.
© 2018 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.

Why Iran Funds Palestinian Terrorists
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/December 04/18
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13361/iran-funding-palestinian-terrorists
The message that Iran is sending to Palestinian families is: "If you want money and a good life, send your children to die on the border with Israel." This is a message that is likely to reverberate far and wide among Arabs, well beyond the Palestinians.
The declared goal of the Iranian-sponsored World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought is to forge unity between Muslims. For the Iranians and their proxies, Islamic unity is a prerequisite to advancing the ultimate goal of removing the "cancerous tumor" (Israel) from the face of the earth. Iran has been doing its utmost to achieve this goal.
Were it not for Iranian support, the Lebanese Shiite terrorist organization, Hezbollah, would not be aiming tens of thousands of rockets and missiles at Israel. Were it not for Iranian military and financial backing, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terrorist groups would not have been able to fire more than 500 projectiles at Israel in 24 hours, as they did last month.
To set the record straight: Iran cares nothing for the Palestinians; Iran seeks to obliterate Israel, and if it could, obliterate the US, as its expansion into South America suggests.
It seems that some mullahs in Iran cannot wait for Khamenei's prediction of Israel's destruction in 2040. The Iranian money promised to the families is meant to encourage other all Arabs and Muslims to send their children to launch rocket attacks on Israel and throw stones and firebombs at Israeli soldiers.
In keeping with its long-standing policy of funding anyone who seeks to destroy Israel or kill Jews, Iran has decided to pay stipends to the families of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip who were killed during attacks on Israel. Pictured: Young Palestinian men in Gaza prepare their slingshots to hurl rocks at Israeli soldiers on the other side of the Gaza-Israel border fence, on May 14, 2018.
In keeping with its long-standing policy of funding anyone who seeks to destroy Israel or kill Jews, Iran has decided to pay stipends to the families of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip who were killed during attacks on Israel. The decision refers to the Palestinians who were killed while attacking Israeli soldiers during the weekly Hamas-sponsored riots along the Gaza-Israel border; they began in March 2018 under the banner of the "March of Return."
What are the implications of the Iranian decision? The message that Iran is sending to Palestinian families is: "If you want money and a good life, send your children to die on the border with Israel." In other words, Iran is telling Palestinian families that the best way to improve their living conditions is by sending their children to kill or injure a Jew. This is a message that is likely to reverberate far and wide among Arabs, well beyond the Palestinians.
The expansion of Iranian influence to the Middle East in general and the Palestinian arena in particular began during the Obama administration, which turned a blind eye to Iran's aggressive intentions, and later embarked on a policy of appeasement toward its mullahs. Under the Obama administration, the Iranians must have felt they had a pass to do whatever they wanted. That is evidently why, today, they are sitting not only in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, but also in Syria, Yemen, Libya and Iraq.
Recently, Gatestone reported how Iran was planning to take over the Gaza Strip. The article pointed out that the Iranians were strengthening their ties with Hamas and Islamic Jihad to ensure that the two terrorist groups maintained their tight grip on the Palestinian population there.
One should probably not have expected anything different from the Iranians. In fact, the decision to fund the families of the Palestinians killed in attacks on Israelis is consistent with the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic policies of the rulers of Tehran, as well as others. The Iranians are even boasting of this decision. They are hoping that the move will bolster Iran's standing in the Arab and Islamic countries and allow it to continue meddling in the internal affairs of countries in the Middle East.
It is no coincidence that the decision was announced shortly after Iran's purportedly "moderate" president, Hassan Rouhani, called Israel a "cancerous tumor" and a "fake regime" established by Western countries to advance their interests in the Middle East.
Rouhani's remarks are further confirmation of Iran's openly declared goal of destroying Israel
Iranian leaders and their Palestinian allies deserve credit for being honest and straightforward about their intentions. Earlier this year, Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, called Israel a "rabid dog" and said the Islamic world should arm itself against the Jewish state.
Last year, the Iranians unveiled a digital countdown showing 8,411 days to what they say would be the "destruction of Israel." The prediction of based on a statement made by Khamenei in 2015, in which he said there would be "nothing" left of Israel by the year 2040.
The decision to fund the families of Palestinian terrorists was announced during a conference of The World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought, a forum established in 1990 by order of Khamenei for the reconciliation of different Islamic schools and branches. The man who announced the decision was Mohsen Araki, the leader of the forum. Iran, he said, has decided to "adopt" the families of the Palestinians killed on the Gaza-Israel border. When the Iranians talk about "adopting" someone, they mean that Tehran will look after the families of those who targeted Jews and provide them with everything they need, including money, healthcare and education.
Iran's Palestinian proxies, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, were quick to applaud the decision. They called it a "positive step toward unifying Muslims." In the words of Islamic Jihad leader Khaled al-Batsh, "The Islamic nation has no choice but to be united. We hope that the rest of the Arabs and Muslims will follow suit and support the marches and the lifting of the blockade [imposed on the Gaza Strip]."
The Iranians even invited senior Hamas officials to the conference, thereby further signaling Tehran's continued support for the Gaza-based terrorist group that also seeks the elimination of Israel. The Hamas delegation was headed by Mahmoud Zahar, regarded in the Gaza Strip as the "commander in chief" of Hamas's military wing, Izaddin al-Qassam. The declared goal of the conference is to forge unity between Muslims. For the Iranians and their proxies, Islamic unity is a prerequisite to advancing the ultimate goal of removing the "cancerous tumor" (Israel) from the face of the earth. Iran has been doing its utmost to achieve this goal. Were it not for Iranian support, the Lebanese Shiite terrorist organization, Hezbollah, would not be aiming tens of thousands of rockets and missiles at Israel. Were it not for Iranian military and financial backing, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terrorist groups would not have been able to fire more than 400 projectiles at Israel in 24 hours, as they did last month.
Iran supplies the means to anyone who shares the Islamic Republic's objective of eliminating Israel. Hezbollah has been receiving billions of dollars from the Iranians in order to prepare for the next war against Israel. Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip have been receiving political, financial and military aid from Iran in order to continue their attacks on Israel. Iran's actions are not only directed against Israel, but also against the US. As Hussein Sheikh al-Islam, a senior official with the Iranian Foreign Ministry, explained: "The latest decision [to fund Palestinian families] is aimed at supporting the Palestinians in the face of American conspiracies to eliminate the Palestinian cause and rights."To set the record straight: Iran cares nothing for the Palestinians; Iran seeks to obliterate Israel, and if it could, obliterate the US, as its expansion into South America suggests.
It seems that some mullahs in Iran cannot wait for Khamenei's prediction of Israel's destruction in 2040. The Iranian money promised to the families is meant to encourage other all Arabs and Muslims to send their children to launch rocket attacks on Israel and throw stones and firebombs at Israeli soldiers.
The money is not going for the building of medical clinics or schools in the Gaza Strip. Iran is prepared to pursue its fight against Israel and the US to the last Palestinian or Arab or Muslim. In fact, the mullahs might well like to see more Arabs and Muslims die in order to promote the jihad against Israel and the US. The question is, will the international community allow this plan to continue, or will it wake up to the fact that Iran has much more than Israel and the US in its sights?
*Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East.
© 2018 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.

How to confront Iran’s new ballistic missile tests
Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg/Arab News/December 04, 2018
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday disclosed that Iran had recently test-fired a medium-range ballistic missile, capable of carrying multiple warheads and able to reach most of the Middle East and parts of Europe. Pompeo stressed that Iran was, as such, in clear breach of UN Security Council resolution 2231.After the US disclosure, Iran admitted to the test, saying that it would continue testing ballistic missiles, but denied that it was violating the resolution. The ballistic missile test and Iran’s public admission have put the EU in a difficult spot, as it has been leading its reluctant membership to keep Iran’s nuclear deal, which is also governed by resolution 2231. The EU has taken extraordinary measures to safeguard the nuclear deal and shield Iran and European companies from US sanctions.
Resolution 2231 calls on Iran to refrain from “any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology.” The scrutiny regime imposed by this resolution, which was adopted in 2015, reinforces restrictions that had been imposed by the earlier resolution 1929, which the Security Council adopted in 2010.
Since the American disclosure of Iran’s breach, the UK and France — key European partners in the nuclear deal with Iran — expressed concern. On Monday, they condemned Iran’s missile testing, calling it a provocative action that contributes to destabilizing the area.
On Tuesday, France and Britain asked for a closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss Iran’s violation. However, that meeting was not expected to produce any results because of a potential veto from Russia, which is involved in developing Iran’s missile program and is keen to shield it from criticism.
What to do then about Iran’s missile program, given Tehran’s declared intention to continue developing and testing its missiles? The countries of the region, which are directly threatened by Iran’s missile program, need to bolster their defenses.
The UNSC may be deadlocked because of the potential Russian veto, thus making it difficult for the UN to deal with Iran’s defiance. The countries of the region, which are directly threatened by Iran’s missile program, need to bolster their own defenses against the growing threat of Iranian missile development.
Saudi Arabia has already been subjected to hundreds of Iranian-supplied short- and medium-range missiles launched by the Houthi militia from Yemen over the past three years. The technology used in those missiles, and more recently unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), is evolving. The recent test-firing of missiles capable of carrying multiple warheads increases the potential destruction that they could wreak. The possibility that those missiles and drones could carry nuclear warheads or others weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) should not be ruled out.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) last week organized a public conference in Riyadh to discuss Iranian threats. Military and strategic experts from the region stressed the need to bolster the GCC’s capabilities to meet the growing threats of Iran’s proliferation of ballistic missiles and drones, as well as WMDs carried by those devices.
The GCC takes into consideration not only the existing technologies that Iran and its proxies possess, but the potential for more sophisticated capabilities in the future, with the help of Russian, Chinese or North Korean experts. The recent launch represents an escalation and Iran declared last week that it will continue to develop its missile capabilities, aiming for longer range and more destructive weapons. The GCC strategy, discussed at last week’s conference in Riyadh, is multi-pronged. Saudi Arabia’s missile defenses have demonstrated their capacity to withstand the attacks launched by the Houthis using Iranian-supplied missiles and drones. The Kingdom and its GCC partners are developing those defenses to withstand more sophisticated missiles that may be launched in large numbers simultaneously. The GCC and the US have also held discussions on building an integrated, GCC-wide ballistic missile defense network that provides such capabilities.
At the same time, the GCC is trying to deal diplomatically with ballistic missile proliferation in the Gulf. It has called on the UNSC to strengthen the oversight and inspection regime included in resolution 2231. All states, but especially UNSC permanent members, should refrain from helping Iran develop its missile program. The GCC has also offered Iran a way out of confrontation. The arms race that Iran has started is putting pressure on the region’s resources and diverting funds from development.
The GCC is also working with close allies, especially the US and UK, to deal with Iran’s threats. The US is bolstering its military presence in the region, which is already one of the most guarded in the world. The USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier and accompanying war ships are scheduled to arrive in a few days. This armada will end an eight-month hiatus in the US military presence, and it demonstrates a renewed show of force against Iran. Similarly, the UK is bolstering its military footprint in the region, from Kuwait to Oman and other GCC countries.
The objective is to persuade Iran to sue for peace and ensure that it will have nothing to gain, in the long run, from military escalation.
**Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg is the GCC Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs & Negotiation, and a columnist for Arab News. The views expressed in this piece are personal and do not necessarily represent GCC views. Twitter: @abuhamad1
Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News' point-of-view.