LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
May 27/2018
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias
Bejjani
The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://data.eliasbejjaninews.com/newselias18/english.may27.18.htm
News Bulletin Achieves Since
2006
http://data.eliasbejjaninews.com/newselias18/english.may26.18.htm
Bible
Quotations
We suffer with him so
that we may also be glorified with him
Letter
to the Romans 08/12-18: "We are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according
to the flesh for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by
the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all
who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.For you did not receive
a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit
of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’it is that very Spirit bearing
witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then
heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ if, in fact, we suffer with
him so that we may also be glorified with him. I consider that the
sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about
to be revealed to us."
Titles For
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources
published on May 26-27/18
The Majority Of Lebanese Politicians have Succumbed to The Iranian
occupation/Elias Bejjani/May 24/18
Hezbollah’s bogus Liberation & Resistance Day/Elias Bejjani/May 25/18
Israeli security and the consolidation of Hezbollah's influence in
Lebanon/Ali Al-Amin/Al Arabiya/May 26/18
Canada: A "Different" Kind of Antisemitism?/Philip Carl Salzman/Gatestone
Institute/May 26/18
EU: How to Stop Mass-migration from Africa? Bring Everyone to Europe!/Judith
Bergman//Gatestone Institute/May 26/18
In the European Appeasement Olympics, Who Wins?/Bruce Bawer/Gatestone
Institute/May 26/18
Swallowing a lie for fear of an imaginary war/Amir Taheri/Al Arabiya/May
26/18
Muqtada Al Sadr’s plea for help/Mashari Althaydi/Al Arabiya/May 26/18
Titles For Latest LCCC
Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on May 26-27/18
The Majority Of LebanSee Two New Portfolios Added
Berri, Nasrallah Discuss Elections’ Outcome, Other Files
US Warns Syria of 'Firese Politicians have Succumbed to The Iranian
occupation
Hezbollah’s bogus Liberation & Resistance Day
Lebanon Voices Concern over New Syrian Redevelopment Law
Report: Cabinet Might m' Action over Southern Offensive
Report: Govt. Policy Statement Under ‘International Scrutiny’
Bassil Tells Muallem, Gutteres: Lebanon Concerned about New Syria Land Law
PLO factions congratulate Hariri on his renewed mandate: We hope the
ministerial statement will note the civil rights of Palestinians
Hariri says upcoming government shall do its utmost to ensure sports sector
rise
Mossa: National unity government of consensus most important gift on
Liberation Day
Bsharre Municipality thanks all sides for their effort in recovering the
body of Sa'ib
Lebanese Forces says it has no connection with Marjayoun incident, calls on
security apparatuses to prosecute the culprits
Riachi expresses surprise how a nonlocal tweet can embody local nuances
Berri meets with Ambassadors of Qatar and China
Army Chief, General Joseph AounAoun windsup Australia visit, emphasizes good
security conditions in Lebanon
Mario Aoun calls for speedingup cabinet formation
Berri, Nasrallah discuss internal files, election results
Israeli security and the consolidation of Hezbollah's influence in Lebanon
Titles For The
Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on
May 26-27/18
US-Turkey Agree 'Roadmap' on Kurd-Held Manbij in Syria
Trump Says Kim Summit Could Still Go Ahead on June 12
Five White Helmets Rescuers Killed in Gunmen Attack in Syria
South, North Korean Leaders Meet for Second Time
Arab Coalition Thwarts Houthi Drone Attack against Saudi Abha Airport
Not Enough to Follow Instincts
Mekunu Lashes Yemen, Oman after Being Downgraded to Tropical Storm
American-Yemeni Man Pleads Guilty of Joining ISIS
China in Another Victory in Campaign to Isolate Taiwan
Pressure Mounts for OPEC Exit from Production Cut Deal
Egyptian Female Preachers Confront Extremist Thought
Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on
May 26-27/18
The Majority Of
Lebanese Politicians have Succumbed to The Iranian occupation
Elias Bejjani/May 24/18
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/64883/elias-bejjani-the-majority-of-lebanese-politicians-have-succumbed-to-the-iranian-occupation/
Lebanon is an occupied country by all means
and standards.
Almost 90% of the Lebanese active and practising politicians who are
involved currently in politics on all levels and in all domains did overtly
or covertly succumb to the occupation and practice under its umbrella and in
line with all its enforced red lines and taboos.
The priority of the majority of the Lebanese politicians and political
parties is their own and individual interests and gains, and not in any way
the fate of the oppressed and impoverished Lebanese people, or independence,
sovereignty or the implementation of both the country's constitution or the
UN Resolutions 1559 and 1701.
Sadly, our beloved country, The Holy Lebanon, is totally occupied by Iran
through its Hezbollah terrorist proxy.
In reality, the majority of the Lebanese politicians from all denominational
factions, and in a bid to remain in power, maintain their own personal
interests, protect their own businesses and financial investments, they
evilly keep a blind eye on the Iranian occupation and camouflage all their
political activities with shameful non patriotic approaches and stances.
Meanwhile almost 90% of the top notch politician, parties, clergymen and
officials and with very few exceptions are cowardly subservient to the
occupier and work under its Faramens (dictated orders and decrees) with a
100% Dhimmitude education and mentality.
Therefore any changes that might take place under the Iranian occupation
like a new Federal System or any other constitutional amendments will be
completely dictated and forced by Iran to serve its denominational Persian
scheme of expansionism and dictatorship.
Within the realm of this occupational enforced reality of succumbing and
Dhimmitude emerged the results of the Iranian orchestrated recent Lebanese
parliamentary elections that gave the occupier, Hezbollah and its Iranian
masters the upper hand in the parliament.
In conclusion, at the present time, sadly there is no hope what so ever from
the majority of the current Lebanese politicians, political parties or
officials due to the actual unfortunate fact that they all did succumb to
the occupier.
Hezbollah’s bogus Liberation & Resistance Day
Elias Bejjani/May 25/18
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/64890/elias-bejjani-hezbollahs-bogus-liberation-resistance-day-2/
Believe it or not, on May 25 each year since 2000 Lebanon has been
celebrating a so-called “Liberation & Resistance Day.” Sadly, this
celebration commemorates a bogus event, and a phony heroism that did not
actually take place.
On May 22, 2000 the Israeli Army unilaterally and for solely Israeli
domestic reasons withdrew from the security zone of South Lebanon in
accordance with UN Resolution 425. The withdrawal was a fatal Israeli
decision that has inspired the Hamas terrorism acts and the on-going havoc
in the Palestinian Gaza strip.
During the last 13 years many Israeli officials and politicians form all
parties openly and harshly criticized Barak’s Government (Barak was PM at
that time) hasty and unwise decision through which Israel’ abandoned its
ally the South Lebanon Army (SLA) and gave Hezbollah all south Lebanon on a
plate of sliver.
The unilateral Israeli withdrawal created a security vacuum in south
Lebanon. The Syrians who were occupying Lebanon at that time and fully
controlling its government, did not allow the Lebanese Army to deploy in the
south and fill this vacuum after the Israeli withdrawal. Instead Syria
helped the Hezbollah militia to militarily control the whole southern
region, and even patrol the Israeli-Lebanese border.
It is worth mentioning that the Israeli army’s withdrawal was executed
without any military battles, or even minor skirmishes with Hezbollah, or
the Lebanese and Syrian armies. The Syrian regime, in a bid to justify both
its on going occupation of Lebanon and the avoidance of disarming Hezbollah,
came up with the “Shabaa Farms occupation big lie” and declared Hezbollah a
Liberator, alleging it had forced Israel to withdrawal from South Lebanon.
Syria, in the same camouflaging and devious context, dictated to both the
Lebanese parliament and government to declare May 25th a National Day under
the tag of “Liberation & Resistance Day”.
In reality Hezbollah did not force the Israeli withdrawal, and did not play
any role in the Liberation of the southern Lebanese region. In fact both
Hezbollah and Syria deliberately hindered and delayed the Israeli withdrawal
for more than 14 years.
Every time the Israelis called on the Lebanese government to engage in a
joint, serious effort under the United Nations umbrella to ensure a safe and
mutually organized withdrawal of its army from South Lebanon, the Lebanese
government refused to cooperate, did not agree to deploy its army in the
south, and accused the Israelis of plotting to divide and split the
Syrian-Lebanese joint track. This approach to the Israeli calls was an
official Syrian decision dictated to all the Lebanese puppet governments
during the Syrian occupation era.
Since then, Hezbollah has been hijacking Lebanon and its people, refusing to
disarm and advocating for the annihilation of Israel. This Iranian mullahs’
terrorist army stationed in Lebanon, is viciously hiding behind labels of
resistance, liberation and religion. Hezbollah has recklessly jeopardized
the Lebanese peoples’ lives, safety, security and livelihood. It has been
growing bolder and bolder in the last four years and mercilessly taking the
Lebanese state and the Lebanese people hostage through terrorism, force and
organized crime.
Sadly, Hezbollah is systematically devouring Lebanon day after day, and
piece by piece, while at the same time marginalizing all its governmental
institutions in a bid to topple the Lebanese state and erect in its place a
Shiite Muslim regime, a replica of the Iranian Shiite mullahs’
fundamentalist republic. Meanwhile the free world and Arabic countries are
totally silent, indifferent, and idly watching from far away the horrible
crime unfolding without taking any practical or tangible measures to put an
end to this anti-Lebanese Syria-Iranian scheme that is executed through
their spearhead, the Hezbollah armed militia.
Who is to be blamed for Hezbollah’s current odd and bizarre status?
Definitely the Syrians who have occupied Lebanon for more than 28 years
(1976-2005). During their bloody and criminal occupation, Syria helped the
Iranian Hezbollah militia build a state within Lebanon and fully control the
Lebanese Shiite community.
But also the majority of the Lebanese politicians, leaders, officials and
clergymen share the responsibility because they were subservient and acted
in a dire Dhimmitude, selfish and cowardly manner. If these so-called
Lebanese leaders had been courageous and patriotic and had not appeased
Hezbollah and turned a blind eye to all its vicious and human rights
atrocities, intimidation tactics, crimes and expansionism schemes, this
Iranian Shiite fundamentalist militia would not have been able to erect its
own mini-state in the southern suburb of Beirut, and its numerous
mini-cantons in the Bekaa Valley and the South; nor would Hezbollah have
been able to build its mighty military power, with 70 thousand militiamen,
or stockpile more than 50 thousand missiles and force the Iranian “Wilayat
Al-Faqih” religious doctrine on the Lebanese Shiite community and confiscate
its decision making process and freedoms.
Since Hezbollah’s emergence in 1982, these politicians have been serving
their own selfish interests and not the interests of the Lebanese people and
the nation. They went along with Hezbollah’s schemes, deluding themselves
that its militia and weaponry would remain in South Lebanon and would not
turn against them.
This failure to serve the people of Lebanon allowed Hezbollah to make many
Lebanese and most of the Arab-Muslim countries through its terrorism
propaganda to blindly swallow its big lie of theatrical, faked resistance
and Liberation.
Hezbollah would not have been able refuse to disarm in 1991, like all the
other Lebanese militias in accordance to the “Taef Accord,” which called for
the disarmament of all militias. Hezbollah would not have become a state
inside the Lebanese state, and a world-wide terrorism Iranian-Syrian tool
which turned against them all after its war with Israel in year 2006 and
after the UN troops were deployed on the Lebanese – Israeli borders in
accordance with the UN Resolution 1701.
On May 7, 2008 Hezbollah invaded Sunni Western Beirut killing and injuring
in cold blood hundreds of its civilian citizens, and attempted to take over
by force Mount Lebanon.
Hezbollah’s General Secretary Sheik Hassan Nasrallah called that day (May 7,
2008) a great and glorious victory for his resistance, and keeps on
threatening the Lebanese that a replicate of that day will take place if
they do not succumb and obey his Iranian orders.
Hezbollah is a deadly dragon that the Lebanese politicians have been
allowing him to feed on sacrifices from the southern Lebanese citizens,
especially on those who were living in the “Security Zone” and who fled to
Israel in May 2000 after the Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon. This
dragon who enjoyed devouring his southern sacrifices has now turned on all
the Lebanese and if they do not stand for their rights and dignity, he will
keep on devouring them all one after the other.
We call on the Lebanese government, the Lebanese Parliament and on all the
free and patriotic Lebanese politicians and leaders to cancel the May 25
National Day, because it is not national at all, and also to stop calling
Hezbollah a resistance, put an end for its mini-state, cantons and weaponry,
and secure a dignified, honorable and safe return for all the Lebanese
citizens who have been taking refuge in Israel since May 2000.
N.B: This article was first published in 2010
Lebanon Voices Concern
over New Syrian Redevelopment Law
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 26 May, 2018/Lebanese Foreign Minister Jebran
Bassil voiced on Saturday his country’s concern over a new Syrian law aimed
at redeveloping areas devastated by seven years of war, saying it could
impede the return of Syrian refugees to their homes. "Law 10" of the
legislation allows people to prove they own property in the areas chosen for
redevelopment, and to claim compensation. But aid groups say the chaos of
war means few will be able to do so in the time specified. The law has yet
to be applied and the legislation came into effect last month.
In a letter to Syrian regime FM Walid al-Muallem, Bassil said “Law 10” could
make it difficult for refugees to prove property ownership, and in turn
discourage some from returning. Lebanon hosts more than a million Syrian
refugees and Bassil expressed concern over the limited time frame given for
refugees to prove possession of their properties. "The inability of the
refugees to practically present what proves their possession (of their
properties) during the given time limit might lead to them losing their
properties and their sense of national identity," Bassil said in the letter,
according to a Foreign Ministry statement. "This would deprive them of one
of the main incentives for their come return to Syria," he added, echoing
comments earlier this week by Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri. Hariri
said the law "tells thousands of Syrian families to stay in Lebanon" by
threatening them with property confiscation. Moreover, Bassil voiced concern
that the law would pave the way for the naturalization of Syrian refugees in
Lebanon. He stressed that Lebanon is “committed to its constitutional right
to prevent naturalization,” reiterating that the only way to resolve the
refugee crisis is for them to return to their homes, if they are located in
safe areas. He stated that Lebanon would not forcibly deport the Syrians or
link their return to any issue, such as the political solution. Bassil sent
a similar letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, calling for
action to protect the rights of Syrian refugees in maintaining their
properties. He urged it to assume its full responsibilities in informing all
Syrians in Lebanon of the law and urge them to take the necessary measures
to prove their ownership of property and return home. Lebanon, said Bassil,
faces many challenges that prevent it from informing all Syrians of the law,
blaming this problem on the “negative policy” and “lack of transparency”
adopted by UN agencies in failing to disclose information about refugees to
the Lebanese government.
Report: Cabinet Might
See Two New Portfolios Added
Naharnet/May 26/18/Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri is set to begin
lining up his government starting next week amid reports that the future
Cabinet will see two new ministries added to the already 30-member assembly,
the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa daily reported Saturday. “Monday will see another day
in the path of the Prime Minister in charge of forming an expanded
government of national unity, as described by Speaker Nabih Berri, and it
will be comprised of 32 ministers to include for the first time, minority
Alawite and Christian ministers,” said the daily. In 2016, Lebanon added two
new portfolios, an anti-corruption post and a minister for women’s affairs,
forming a 30-member Cabinet. Hariri was designated Thursday for a third term
as Lebanon's prime minister.
Berri, Nasrallah Discuss Elections’ Outcome, Other
Files
Naharnet/May 26/18/Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah met with
re-elected Speaker Nabih Berri on Friday evening where they “discussed the
general situation in Lebanon and the latest developments on the Palestinian
arena,” the National News Agency reported on Saturday. The meeting was held
in the presence of caretaker Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil (senior
political aide to Berri) and senior Hizbullah official Hussein Khalil. The
two parties expressed their "satisfaction” with the results of the May 6
parliamentary elections, and the “broad popular participation that confirmed
the commitment to the resistance and the political project carried by
Hizbullah, AMAL Movement and their allies."They voiced contentment with the
“re-election of Speaker Nabih Berri and the re-appointment of Prime Minister
Saad Hariri.""A national unity government that reflects the correct
representation,” should soon be formed, they said. Discussions have also
touched on economic, financial and administrative files, in which hard work
was emphasized to fight corruption, concluded NNA. The two men discussed the
general situation in the region, mainly in Palestine, affirming “solidarity”
with the Palestinian people in their national struggle.
US Warns Syria of 'Firm' Action over Southern Offensive
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 26/18/The US has warned Damascus it will
take "firm" action if the regime of Bashar al-Assad violates a ceasefire
deal, after Syrian aircraft dropped leaflets on a southern province ahead of
an expected offensive. Residents of Daraa told AFP Friday that several
different leaflets were scattered across the province, which has borders
with Israel and Jordan and is expected to be among the next targets in the
resurgent regime's reconquest. One of them, seen by a journalist
contributing to AFP in the city of Daraa, includes a picture showing lined
up bodies, presumably of anti-government fighters. "This is the inevitable
fate of anyone who insists on carrying arms," reads the leaflet. The US
State Department issued a statement late Friday saying it was "concerned" by
the reports and that the area in question was within the boundaries of a
de-escalation zone it had negotiated with Russia and Jordan last year. "We
also caution the Syrian regime against any actions that risk broadening the
conflict or jeopardize the ceasefire," said spokeswoman Heather Nauert,
adding that the ceasefire had been re-affirmed by President Donald Trump and
his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at a meeting in Vietnam in November.
"As a guarantor of this de-escalation area with Russia and Jordan, the
United States will take firm and appropriate measures in response to Assad
regime violations," she added. Syrian regime and allied forces on Monday
retook the Yarmuk area in southern Damascus, giving President Bashar
al-Assad full control of the capital and its surroundings for the first time
since 2012. Daraa's location makes any broad operation there very sensitive,
with Israel suspecting Damascus' Iranian allies of seeking to establish a
military footprint closer to its borders. Government and allied forces
control about 30 percent of Daraa, the rest of which is held by various
factions, including a small contingent of fighters from the Islamic State
jihadist group.
Report: Govt. Policy Statement Under ‘International
Scrutiny’
Naharnet/May 26/18/Lebanon’s upcoming new government to be lined up under
Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri “may adopt the format of the previous
government's policy statement regarding a clause on Hizbullah’s resistance,”
the pan-Arab al-Hayat daily reported on Saturday. Quoting political sources
who spoke on condition of anonymity, they said the government may adhere to
the same clauses on Hizbullah’s resistance as the ones mentioned in the
policy statement back in 2016. The statement had stressed Lebanon’s
determined will to liberate parts of land occupied by Israel, stressing the
Lebanese right to “resist” the Israeli occupation. “In the conflict with the
Israeli enemy, we will spare no effort or resistance in order to liberate
the remaining occupied Lebanese territories and protect our homeland from an
enemy that continues to covet our land, water and natural resources, based
on the responsibility of the state and its role in maintaining the
sovereignty of Lebanon, its independence and unity and the safety of its
citizens,” the former policy statement had read. It added that “the
government affirms the duty of the State and its efforts to liberate the
Shebaa Farms, Kfarshouba hills and the Lebanese part of the Ghajar village
by various legitimate means, while reaffirming the right of Lebanese
citizens to resist the Israeli occupation.”According to the sources, the new
policy and the statement made by UN Chief Antonio Guterres early this week
are subject to “international monitoring,” mainly after the U.S. Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo’s remarks. Pompeo said “his government would review its
aid program to Lebanon, including military assistance in light of the
election results and Hizbullah’s growing role in Lebanon and Syria.”He also
said that “Hizbullah is not only a problem in Lebanon, but it has also
become a problem in Syria.”On the other hand, in his Monday report Guterres
strongly criticized Hizbullah for operating as the most heavily armed
militia and a political party in Lebanon and urged the militant group to
halt military activities inside and outside the country, including in Syria.
Bassil Tells Muallem, Gutteres: Lebanon Concerned about
New Syria Land Law
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 26/18/Foreign Minister
Jebran Bassil sent a message to his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem and UN
Chief Antonio Guterres in which he expressed Lebanon's concern about the
“negative repercussions” that could results of a property law issued
recently in Syria, the National News Agency reported on Saturday. Bassil
stressed the significance of that Decree No. 10 in encouraging many
displaced Syrians to return to their regions, but emphasized that “Lebanon
fears that the conditions of implementation would make only quite a few of
the displaced return to their areas.” The Urban Renewal Law, commonly known
as Decree 10, allows the government to take private property to create zoned
developments, compensating owners with shares of the new projects. Under
Decree 10, once Syria's government designates a development zone,
authorities have one month to publicly notify landowners of the shares
option. Those with deeds in government registries automatically receive
shares, but those without must prove ownership within 30 days. Bassil
explained in his letter that the thirty-day time limit given to real estate
owners to prove ownership is not sufficient. “The procedures of advertising
and publication relating to Decree 10 and the thirty-day deadline for owners
to prove their ownership is insufficient to inform the displaced persons in
a timely manner,” said Bassil. “Inability of the displaced to practically
prove their ownership within the given period of time may cause them to lose
their property and sense of national identity which deprives them of one of
the main incentives for their return to Syria,” he warned. He expressed his
hope the "issue will receive the necessary attention by the Syrian
government based on keenness of the two countries on the return of the
displaced to their homes as soon as possible." He reiterated “Lebanon's
adherence to its constitutional right to prevent settlement and its
principled stance that the only sustainable solution for the Syrian
displacement crisis is the safe return of displaced persons to safe areas
inside Syria, while respecting non-forced return or linking the return to
anything, such as a political solution.”
PLO factions congratulate Hariri on his renewed
mandate: We hope the ministerial statement will note the civil rights of
Palestinians
Sat 26 May 2018/NNA - The Palestinian Liberation Organization
factions and activists in Lebanon congratulated Saturday Prime
Minister-designate Saad Hariri, the Lebanese people and all national and
Islamic forces on re-naming Hariri to form the next Lebanese government. The
statement hoped that the upcoming ministerial statement "will accord
attention to the civil rights of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, and work
to endorse them in the new Parliament so as to alleviate their suffering and
improve their living conditions...which falls within the interest of both
the Lebanese and Palestinian people, who remain attached to their national
constants and their right to return to their homeland." "This great
political confidence in PM Hariri by the majority of parliamentary blocs in
the Lebanese Parliament and his re-appointment to form the next government
is highly admired and respected by our Palestinian people," the statement
added. The PLO factions praised Hariri's renewed mandate "so he can pursue
his accomplishments at the national level, through his policy of moderation
and consensuses manifested in the recent constitutional achievements, namely
the election of President Michel Aoun as President of the Republic and the
successful parliamentary elections." The PLO factions statement also
commended the PM-designate "for his continuous efforts to strengthen the
Lebanese-Palestinian relations, the steadfastness of the Palestinian people
and their just cause, and his strong support for the cause of Jerusalem and
the Palestinian national constants in all Arab and international forums."
Hariri says upcoming government shall do its utmost to
ensure sports sector rise
Sat 26 May 2018/NNA - Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri vowed Saturday
that the next government will do all it can to ensure the advancement of the
sports sector in Lebanon. Speaking before a Nejmeh-Riyadi Sports Club
delegation who visited him at the "House of Center" today, Hariri emphasized
his interest in "supporting and activating sports work and initiatives in
the country." The Nejmeh-Riyadi team thanked the Prime Minister-designate
for his continuous encouragement and relentless support.
In turn, Hariri wished them all success and victory in representing Lebanon
in competitions abroad.
Mossa: National unity government
of consensus most important gift on Liberation Day
Sat 26 May 2018/NNA - MP Michel Moussa deemed Saturday that "the most
important gift to the Lebanese marking 'Resistance and Liberation Day' is to
strengthen the consensus between various political parties through a
national unity government that translates citizens' aspirations in ensuring
reform, eliminating corruption and providing basic services to them." Moussa
considered that the Lebanese people's support to the army and security
institutions, and their adherence to the "people, army, resistance" equation
would boost the internal front in the face of the Israeli threats and greedy
ambitions in our land and natural resources. "The South, which has paid a
heavy price in wake of the Israeli attacks since the Nakba of Palestine,
continues to commit to coexistence and to supporting the army, resistance
and the strong capable state, as well as defending the Palestinian cause and
the right of Palestinians to return to their homeland."
Bsharre Municipality thanks all sides for their effort
in recovering the body of Sa'ib
Sat 26 May 2018/NNA - In an issued statement on Saturday, the Municipality
of Bsharre thanked all parties involved in recovering the body of Lebanese
citizen, Raymond Sa'ib, who fell yesterday in the valley of Qannoubine,
especially the Army Command, Civil Defense teams and the Red Cross. The
Municipality statement greatly valued the immediate intervention and
relentless efforts by the concerned sides in attempting to rescue Sa'ib,
hoping that this regretful incident would be the end of sorrows.
Lebanese Forces says it has no connection with
Marjayoun incident, calls on security apparatuses to prosecute the culprits
Sat 26 May 2018/NNA - The Lebanese Forces Party's Marjayoun-Hasbaya office
confirmed in an issued statement Saturday that it had nothing to do with the
attack on the Arab Baath Socialist Party's office in Marjayoun. The
statement categorically denied recent circulated news about a clash in
Marjayoun between LF and the Future Movement on one hand, and the Arab Baath
Socialist Party on the other hand," stressing that the "fabricated news was
groundless," and "the publishers of such false news shall be sued." The
statement urged the official apparatuses to unveil the incident details and
prosecute its perpetrators.
Riachi expresses surprise how a nonlocal tweet can embody local nuances
Sat 26 May 2018 /NNA - Information Minister Melhem Riachi expressed surprise
via his Twitter account on Saturday how a "non-local tweet can have many
local connotations," deeming it "really strange!" Inspired by the holy month
of Ramadan's fasting, Riachi had earlier tweeted: "Nimrod thought that he
could do whatever he wished, get whatever he desired, and monopolize
everything to himself, without sharing bread with his brethrens...and he
began to spoil the earth and thought that he could strike God with his
arrow...So, the Almighty allowed him to reach the highest tower of Babylon
and then dropped him from top to bottom, so he died crushed!" In a
responding tweet, Justice Minister Selim Jreissati said, "To the Minister of
Information, with all sincerity: Look for Nimrod and you will find him under
your rooftop (inspired by ancient history and the recent present)!" In
another response to Minister Riachi's tweet, Free Patriotic Movement Head,
Caretaker Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil, said, "Isolation has become a
means to which they resort for additional political gains...There is no
isolation whatsoever, but the fact is that each and every one should be
content with their size of representation...and no contacts or meetings
shall be of benefit to them, nor complaining on the inside nor seeking power
from the outside." In turn, "Strong Republic" Parliamentary Bloc Secretary
Fadi Karam responded to Bassil through his Twitter account, saying,
"Minister Bassil, hope you don't consider yourself the owner of the
Republic! Your falsified statements are no longer beneficial to you, most
evidently through the recent elections outcome in which you were forced to
seek a large group of independents to cover your weaknesses...You tried to
isolate us and when you were defeated, you retreated as if nothing had
happened." "Stop accusing others of what you are committing...No one would
have heard of you, had you not been a cover and a weapon for the outside!"
exclaimed Karam.
Berri meets with Ambassadors of Qatar and China
Sat 26 May 2018/NNA - House Speaker Nabih Berri met this afternoon with
Qatari Ambassador to Lebanon, Ali bin Hamad Al Marri, who said on emerging
that he conveyed the greetings of Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al
Thani to Speaker Berri upon his re-election. "Qatar always stands by Lebanon
and its people," emphasized Al Marri, wishing Lebanon continuous security
and safety. Berri later met with Chinese Ambassador to Lebanon, Wang Kejian
, who handed him a letter from the Standing Chairman of the National
People's Congress (NPC), Li Zhanshu, congratulating him on his re-election.
The Chinese Ambassador expressed "high appreciation for the role played by
Speaker Berri in promoting relations between Lebanon and China and
developing parliamentary cooperation between both countries."Among the
Speaker's interlocutors for today was also UN-ESCWA Executive Secretary,
Mohamed Ali Hakim, who congratulated Berri on his re-election and briefed
him on the role of the Organization.
Army Chief, General Joseph AounAoun windsup Australia
visit, emphasizes good security conditions in Lebanon
Sat 26 May 2018/NNA /NNA - Army Chief, General Joseph Aoun, and his
accompanying delegation concluded Saturday their visit to Australia,
stressing in their meetings with Australian officials on Lebanon's stable
security conditions. "The security situation is good and political affairs
are stable, in wake of the election of a president and the holding of the
parliamentary elections," Aoun reassured. "Terrorism is one of the most
important challenges facing the world, and the army is cooperating with all
friendly countries to fight it," the Army Chief asserted. Aoun and his
accompanying delegation ended their visit by touring the Martyrs' Museum in
Melbourne, where the Army Chief laid a wreath on the tomb of the "Unknown
Soldier" in the presence of Lebanese Ambassador Miled Raad, Lebanese Consul
in Victoria Ziad Itani and Head of Melbourne's Chamber of Industry and
Commerce Fadi Zouki. The Army Chief also received an invitation to visit the
Parliament of Victoria, where he met with Cabinet Minister Marilyn Keyrouz
and MPs César Melhem and Nazih Asmar, all of Lebanese origin. Legislative
Council Speaker Bruce Atkinson also joined the meeting, during which
discussions touched on ways of strengthening Lebanese-Australian relations
and extending support to the Lebanese army. General Aoun also met with
members of the Lebanese Physicians Association in Australia, headed by Dr.
Walid al-Ahmar, who expressed the Association's readiness to support the
Lebanese Military Hospital with medical equipments.
Mario Aoun calls for speedingup cabinet formation
Sat 26 May 2018/NNA - Member of the Parliament, Mario Aoun,
called Saturday on all Lebanese counterparts to speed-up the formation of a
new government in order to find solutions for pending files. Aoun, whose
words came during an interview with "Al-Jadeed" Television Station, said
that representation in the new cabinet would be according to the size of
parliamentary blocs. Commenting on Hezbollah-FPM relationship, the lawmaker
deemed that "nothing can destabilize the relationship with Hezbollah, which
has been actively involved in the state-building and anti-corruption
project." Aoun concluded by emphasizing that "a strong state needs a free
and strong judiciary."
Berri, Nasrallah discuss internal files, election
results
Sat 26 May 2018/NNA - Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah
met yesterday with House Speaker Nabih Berri, in the presence of Caretaking
Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil and Hezbollah Secretary-General's
Political Aid, Hussein Khalil, with talks dwelling on internal files and the
parliamentary elections outcome. The general situation in the region and the
ongoing incidents in Palestine also featured high in their discussions,
whereby both men stressed full support to the Palestinian people in their
national struggle. The meeting was a chance to agree on "the positive
assessment of the parliamentary elections results and the broad popular
participation that confirmed citizens' commitment to the option of
resistance, the building of the state and its institutions and the political
project supported by Hezbollah, Amal Movement and their allies."Additionally,
both sides expressed "great satisfaction towards the election of the House
Speaker and the appointment of the Prime Minister-designate," hoping "to
complete these steps by rapidly forming a national unity government that
reflects correct representation."The two sides tackled as well the pending
economic, financial and administrative dossiers, emphasizing the need for
hard work in combating corruption
Israeli security and the consolidation of Hezbollah's
influence in Lebanon
Ali Al-Amin/Al Arabiya/May 26/18
Stability on the northern borders of Israel is the key objective of Israeli
policy on Lebanon and Syria. Israel is enjoying economic prosperity and an
exceptional level of development with a growth rate as high as 8%. Its tourism
sector is flourishing at a time when Arab countries are facing major challenges,
especially those close to the Hebrew state. Most of them are suffering from
disasters, as well as political, economic and developmental crises.
Israel rules the roost
It’s enough to point to the war that Syria has been suffering from as it has
witnessed displacement, slaughter and devastation. This is in addition to the
terrorism that has afflicted Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan in the backdrop of the
Syrian crisis. By contrast, Israel has been achieving political advancement and
has secured US support, which is proven by the US decision to move its embassy
to Jerusalem. The Israeli government has once again imposed its vision of the
peace with the Palestinians by eliminating the terms and conditions of the
settlement amid the international community’s silence, if we are not to say
“acceptance” or “support,” towards this approach.
Israel has not faced any security or strategic threat during the course of the
Syrian crisis. At the same time, Syrian and Iranian military positions, as well
as Hezbollah targets in Syria, have for many years until today suffered many
Israeli attacks, which have not been met with any serious retaliation. In fact,
there is coordination between the Israeli government and the Russian forces in
this context, as such Israel can target what it considers is a threat to its
security in coordination with Russian forces to dodge any clash between them.
All the countries surrounding Israel were and still are subject to tensions, war
and terrorism. On the other hand, the state of Israel seems immune to all these
problems. Conflicts and clashes have swept across the Syrian landscape, while
borders with the Occupied Golan have maintained peace and stability. The
missiles of the Syrian regime and its allies, whether Iran or loyal Shiite
militias, neither spared any city or town in Syria nor the lives of thousands of
civilians. Nevertheless, they have remained orderly and calm in their response
to all Israeli assaults against them.
This is what Israel has today: an enemy devoted to guarding its borders so much
that it cannot make the mistake of permitting the entry of guerrilla groups to
Israel or to launch missiles deep into Israel. This enemy thus settles with
making verbal threats which is a condition to protect the status quo. Israel
understands this as an essential factor to maintain the current formula which
suits its leaders.
On this basis of Israeli calculations, we can deduce the future steps that
Israel can take or defer from on matters related to its northern border. As long
as Iran and Hezbollah are committed to the terms of stability on its borders as
Israel sees fit, both countries’ presence and influence, whether in Lebanon and
in Syria, will remain secure against any Israeli threat. Israel thus has no
problem if Iran and its militias fight to protect the regime of Bashar al-Assad
with all the legitimate and illegitimate weapons and if Hezbollah controls the
Lebanese state with its security, military and political institutions as long as
this does not threaten its security.
No Iranian reprisal to Israeli strikes
What matters most to Israel is the compliance of both parties to the rules and
conditions of Israeli security on the border and protecting stability on both
its sides. This explains why Israel, which has presumed there is a potential
threat from some Iranian bases in Syria, has launched multiple and deadly
missile strikes to destroy these bases. Israel will keep striking these
locations as long as Iran keeps bolstering its military presence in areas
considered vital to Israeli strategic security. Iran, whom confronting Israel is
not among its priorities, will not make any military reactions to retaliate the
attacks on its forces or militias in Syria.
The Iranian command is overwhelmed today in other wars and other priorities that
have to do with the Arab map on the one hand and the protection of the nuclear
agreement, which precludes that it needs to maintain a certain extent of its
relations with Europe and Russia, on the other. This of course can’t be achieved
if Iran responds to any Israeli strikes on Syria, particularly as long as
European countries consider these strikes as Israel’s legitimate right to
maintain its security.
As such, Lebanon is not outside this equation. Israel is imposing the security
equation on its borders and implementing its strategic conditions which revolve
around the fact that it has absolute power in executing whatever it wants
towards Jerusalem and the Palestinians. Meanwhile, Hezbollah’s rockets are safe
in their storage units not ready to be launched and the way to Jerusalem remains
far.
Furthermore, Lebanon is arranging the return of the Hezbollah fighters from
Syria in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s call to withdraw all
militias from Syrian territory. This call will be probably accepted by
Hezbollah, if not in the near future then in the long run. The return of these
fighters to Lebanon will not be in the context of completing the liberation of
Jerusalem, but to preserve the dominance and role of Hezbollah, which will be
implemented on the idea of detaching Lebanon from its Arab environment. This
power’s military task will not be defending Lebanon in the face of “Arab
conspiracies” but it is a task which in the future will allow Hezbollah to
justify keeping its weapons.
Iran’s hidden agenda
Israel, which is aware that the guarantees for its security are not only decided
by international resolutions or understandings, knows that its security is
solidified through the cracks that have permeated the Arab front, particularly
in Lebanon and Syria. It is also aware that the priority of Hezbollah today is
to control Lebanon, and the long road to attain full control is linked to
respecting Israeli security.
The purpose of Hezbollah is no longer liberating Jerusalem or fighting the
colonial powers or establishing an Islamic Republic in Lebanon or in Syria and
Iraq. Its goal is to protect Iranian influence. This is its plan and it is clear
as daylight. This approach leads to controlling the decision centers in the
state. Hezbollah is thus taking this path in Lebanon by controlling
decision-making, hiding behind the Lebanese state and its institutions, and by,
most importantly, reminding Israel and anyone concerned that it is the source of
stability in southern Lebanon and northern Israel, and to proclaim that it, i.e.
Hezbollah, and no one else, can provide this stability.
Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News
published
on May 26-27/18
US-Turkey Agree 'Roadmap' on Kurd-Held Manbij in Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 26/18/Turkish and US officials
on Friday agreed on a "roadmap" for further cooperation to ensure the security
of a Kurdish-held city which became a major headache between the NATO allies,
according to a joint statement. The northern city of Manbij is held by the
People's Protection Units (YPG) Kurdish militia, a group which Ankara says is
the "terrorist" offshoot of Kurdish hardliners in Turkey. The US has a military
presence in Manbij and has provided military support to the YPG in the fight
against the Islamic State (IS) extremist group, causing anger among Turkish
officials. After Turkey launched a cross-border operation against the YPG in the
western enclave of Afrin in January, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened
to take the offensive to Manbij. The prospect raised fears of a confrontation
between Turkish and American troops. The offensive also caused tension between
the allies because Washington urged Turkey to show "restraint" and said it could
harm the fight against IS extremists. US officials were in Ankara on Friday as
part of a working group on Syria. After talks with Turkish counterparts, the
statement was issued by the Turkish foreign ministry and the US embassy in
Ankara. "The two sides outlined the main contours of a roadmap for their further
cooperation in ensuring security and stability in Manbij," the statement said,
giving no further detail. The working group was established to try to resolve
the Manbij issue and coordinate US-Turkey efforts in Syria after Turkish Foreign
Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and then US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met in
February. Turkish officials were in Washington in March as part of the working
group, set up after the threats by Ankara and repeated calls for the YPG to
leave the city. Cavusoglu is due to meet the new US Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo in Washington on June 4. According to the joint statement, the two men
will "consider the recommendations" of the working group during their meeting.
Ankara says the YPG is linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is
blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Ankara, the US and the European
Union. The PKK has waged an insurgency inside Turkey since 1984. Erdogan has
repeatedly urged the US to halt support for the YPG.
His ruling Justice and Development Party published a manifesto on Thursday
calling for "concrete steps" by the US to end its backing of the YPG and provide
"concrete support" to Turkey in its fight against the PKK.
Erdogan vowed Turkey would "continue its operations in Syria until the last
terrorist is cleared".
Trump Says Kim Summit Could Still Go Ahead on June 12
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 26/18/U.S. President Donald
Trump, a day after his cancellation of a high-stakes summit with North Korea,
said Friday that the meeting with Kim Jong Un could still go ahead. "We're going
to see what happens," Trump told reporters at the White House, after welcoming
Pyongyang's latest statement on the talks as "very good news." "It could even be
the 12th," he said in a reference to the original June 12 date set for the
meeting in Singapore. "We're talking to them now," Trump said of the North
Koreans. "They very much want to do it. We'd like to do it. We'll see what
happens." North Korea, responding to Trump's abrupt cancellation of the meeting
over "hostility" from Pyongyang, said Friday that it is willing to talk to the
United States "at any time." Trump welcomed the statement as "warm and
productive.""We will soon see where it will lead, hopefully to long and enduring
prosperity and peace. Only time (and talent) will tell!" the US president said
in a tweet. In a letter to Kim, Trump said Thursday he would not go ahead with
the summit in Singapore, following what the White House called a "trail of
broken promises" by the North. Trump blamed "open hostility" from Kim's regime
for his decision to call off the talks, and warned North Korea against
committing any "foolish or reckless acts."But Pyongyang's reaction to the sudden
U-turn has so far been conciliatory. First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye
Gwan called Trump's decision "unexpected" and "regrettable." But he left the
door open for talks, saying officials were willing "to sit face-to-face at any
time."Just before Trump announced the cancellation of the meeting, North Korea
declared it had "completely" dismantled its nuclear test site in the country's
far northeast, in a carefully choreographed goodwill gesture ahead of the
summit.
But the chances of success for the unprecedented face-to-face had recently been
thrown into doubt as threats were traded by both sides.
'Shocking'
The U.S. summit cancellation blindsided treaty ally South Korea, which until now
had brokered a remarkable detente between Washington and Pyongyang, with
President Moon Jae-in calling the move "shocking and very regrettable."Japanese
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said however he respected and supported the U.S.
president's move. China, Pyongyang's sole major ally, urged the two foes to
"show goodwill," while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the
parties to keep talking, as did host Singapore, and Russia's President Vladimir
Putin held out hope the talks would eventually take place. Trump's announcement
came a day after Pyongyang hardened its rhetoric, calling comments by Vice
President Mike Pence "ignorant and stupid.""Sadly, based on the tremendous anger
and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is
inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting," read Trump's
letter to Kim. But he said talks could still go ahead "at a later date."
Politically, Trump had invested heavily in the success of the planned summit. As
the date drew nearer, however, the gulf in expectations between the two sides
became apparent. Washington has made it clear it wants to see the "complete,
verifiable and irreversible denuclearization" of the North. But Pyongyang has
vowed it will never give up its nuclear deterrent until it feels safe from what
it terms U.S. aggression.
U.S. aides stood up
A senior White House official said Pyongyang had demonstrated a "profound lack
of good faith" in the run-up to the summit -- including standing up the White
House's deputy chief of staff, who had traveled to Singapore for preparatory
talks. The White House viewed North Korea's objections to the latest US-South
Korean joint military exercise -- and its recent cancellation of a meeting with
the South Koreans -- as a breach of its commitments leading up to the summit. It
also was unhappy about the North's failure to allow international observers to
verify the dismantling of the Punggye-ri test site, the staging ground for all
six of its nuclear tests which was buried inside a mountain near the border with
China. But the North's Kim Kye Gwan countered that Pyongyang's angry statements
were "just a backlash in response to harsh words from the US side that has been
pushing for a unilateral denuclearization." Both Pence and Trump's hawkish
National Security Advisor John Bolton had raised the specter of Libyan leader
Moamer Khadafi, who gave up atomic weapons only to die years later at the hands
of US-backed rebels. Experts warned that cancelling the meeting could have
knock-on effects, especially among allies already rattled by Trump's
unpredictability. "In a contest of who can be the most erratic leader,
President Trump beats Kim Jong Un hands-down," Joel Wit, founder of the
respected 38 North website which monitors North Korea, wrote on Twitter. "His
unsteady hand has left everyone scratching their heads, including our ROK (South
Korean) allies."But others said Trump's willingness to walk away could extract
further concessions from Pyongyang. "North Korea will have to propose more
detailed plans for denuclearization if it wants to talk in the future," said Go
Myong-hyun, an analyst at the Asan Institute of Policy Studies.
Five White Helmets
Rescuers Killed in Gunmen Attack in Syria
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 26 May, 2018/Five Syrian White Helmets rescuers
were killed on Saturday in an attack by masked gunmen in the northern
province of Aleppo, the volunteer network said. The rescue force said armed
men stormed its Al-Hader center in a pre-dawn attack and fired on the first
responders inside. Four volunteers were killed on the spot and a fifth died
later in hospital, it wrote on Twitter. "At around 2:00 am, an armed group
stormed the Al-Hader center, blindfolded the staff members who were on the
night shift, and killed five of them," said Ahmad al-Hamish, who heads the
center. "Two others were wounded and another two were able to flee. The
attackers were masked and escaped after stealing some equipment and
generators," he said. It was unclear whether the attack was a
robbery-gone-wrong or if the center and its crew had been specifically
targeted. Founded in 2013, the White Helmets are a network of first
responders who rescue wounded in the aftermath of air strikes, shelling or
blasts in rebel-held territory. More than 200 White Helmets rescuers have
been killed in Syria's seven-year war, usually in bombing raids or shelling
on their centers. While attacks like the one on Saturday are rare, they have
happened before. In August, seven White Helmets members were killed in a
similar assault in the town of Sarmin, in neighboring Idlib province. On
Saturday, five people were killed in a blast in the urban capital of the
province, also called Idlib, according to the Britain-based Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights. "Two were civilians, including a child. There
was also one Uzbek fighter and two unidentified people," said Abdel Rahman.
The explosion hit a wide street in Idlib lined by tall cement apartment
blocks. Several cars parked outside had been burned by the explosion. White
Helmets rescuers could be seen carrying several wounded out of the building,
including a crying infant and a wounded man on a stretcher, to ambulances
parked nearby. The killings come as the White Helmets are facing a "freeze"
on funding from the United States, which is still reviewing over $200
million earmarked for stabilization in Syria.
South, North Korean Leaders Meet for Second Time
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 26 May, 2018/South Korean President Moon Jae In
and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met for the second time in less than a
month. Their historic second meeting on Saturday was held in wake of US
President Donald Trump’s cancellation of a much-anticipated summit with Kim
that was set for next month. "They exchanged views and discussed ways to
implement the Panmunjom Declaration and to ensure a successful US North
Korea summit," Seoul's presidential Blue House said in a statement, adding
Moon would make a personal statement on Sunday morning. The leaders held
talks for two hours in the same Panmunjom truce village where they had met
on April 27, making a declaration vowing to improve ties. Pictures showed
them shaking hands and embracing on the North Korean side of the
Demilitarized Zone separating the two nations. The meeting is the latest
remarkable diplomatic chapter in a roller coaster of developments on the
Korean peninsula. Trump had rattled the region on Thursday by cancelling his
meeting with Kim which had been due to take place in Singapore on June 12
citing "open hostility" from Pyongyang. But within 24 hours he reversed
course saying it could still go ahead after productive talks were held with
North Korean officials. Moon met with Kim in an effort to ensure the
landmark meeting between Trump and the North Korean leader goes ahead.
Trump's original decision to abandon the historic summit blindsided South
Korea which had been brokering a remarkable detente between Washington and
Pyongyang. However, there was a further signal from the US Saturday the June
12 summit may yet go ahead as the White House said it would send a team to
Singapore to prepare for the meeting. "The White House pre-advance team for
Singapore will leave as scheduled in order to prepare should the summit take
place," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said. Moon, a longtime
advocate of engagement with the North, won election last year partly by
vowing to be open to dialogue with Pyongyang and finding a solution to a
Cold War-era sore that continues to blight the region. But the flurry of
diplomatic backslapping and bonhomie disappeared in recent weeks as the
summit was thrown into doubt by increasingly bellicose rhetoric from both
top US administration officials and Pyongyang. Trump eventually pulled the
plug on talks in a personal letter to Kim on Thursday. But he left the door
open to future meetings and Pyongyang responded by saying it was willing to
sit down "at any time", prompting Trump to reply that the Singapore summit
could still take place. Saturday's meeting between Moon and Kim took place
in a grand building on the North Korean side of Panmunjom, a heavily
fortified village that lies between the two countries and marks the spot
where the armistice ending the Korean War in 1953 was signed. Koh Yu-hwan,
an expert on Korean relations at Dongguk University, said Saturday's meeting
between Moon and Kim increased the likelihood of the Singapore summit taking
place as originally intended. "Today's summit is aimed at resolving the
misunderstanding caused by communication glitches between Washington and
Pyongyang and lay the groundwork for the US-North Korea summit," he told AFP.
Unlike last month's summit, which was held in front of live TV cameras,
Saturday's meeting was much more low-key, taking place in utmost secrecy,
with reporters only being told later that the face-to-face had taken place.
Footage released by the Blue House on Twitter, accompanied by a dramatic
orchestral score, showed Moon arriving in a convoy of cars and first shaking
hands with Kim's sister Kim Yo Jong, who has played a major public role in
recent talks with the South, including leading a delegation across the
border during February's Winter Olympics. Saturday's talks are only the
fourth time serving leaders of the two Koreas, who remain technically at
war, have ever met.
Arab Coalition Thwarts Houthi Drone Attack against
Saudi Abha Airport
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 26 May, 2018/The Arab Coalition announced on
Saturday that it foiled a Houthi drone attack against Saudi Arabia’s Abha
International Airport. Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki said that
the Air Defense unit assigned to the airport detected the drone and
destroyed it according to the Rules of Engagement, reported the Saudi Press
Agency. Coalition experts inspected the wreckage of the drone and determined
that it was a terrorist Iranian-Houthi militia UAV. It was identified as an
Iranian UAV Ababil. Maliki said that the aircraft was launched from Yemen’s
Saada region. The drone was attempting to launch an attack on Abha airport,
in violation of International Humanitarian Law. Maliki revealed that there
was minimal damage caused by the drone. No one was injured in the incident.
Maliki stressed: “The Joint Forces Command of the Coalition will strike with
an iron fist all those who are involved in terrorist activities that
threaten the safety and security of Saudi nationals, residents, economy and
critical capabilities.”
Not Enough to Follow Instincts
Joe Scarborough/Asharq Al Awsat/May 26/18/American presidents' strategic
miscalculations in the bloody years following Osama bin Laden's attacks on
New York and Washington have had a catastrophic impact on the Middle East.
In response to those attacks by al-Qaeda, Presidents George W. Bush and
Barack Obama spent the next 15 years committing foreign policy sins of
omission or commission that unleashed chaos upon an already troubled region.
The fallout from those grave missteps empowered our enemies and undermined
the noble causes for which too many Americans fought and died. If
Afghanistan is truly the graveyard of empires, then today's Middle East is
where rigid ideologies go to die. Bush's addiction to the schemes of neocons
led to Iraq's unraveling, just as Obama's obsessive retreat from the region
left Syria in ruins, ISIS on the rise and Iran marching westward. Both of
these well-meaning commanders in chief made historic miscalculations because
they were captive to ideological assumptions. Obama's belief that the United
States could escape history in an area undone by his predecessor's policies
proved to be as misguided as Bush's call for "ending tyranny in our
world."Now it is President Donald Trump who has been motivated by his
political instincts to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem while
abandoning the Iran nuclear deal. Both geopolitical decisions appeal to many
conservatives like myself in the way that liberating Iraq from the reign of
Saddam Hussein once did. Today, few remember that 76 percent of Americans
once supported the Iraq War, while 77 US senators — and a majority of
Democrats — voted for the resolution backing the invasion. Proving once
again that failure is an orphan, Iraq's most tragic lessons are too often
lost on the politicians, press and public who blithely supported a war whose
tragic consequences few fully considered. Put me at the top of that list.
Unlike Bush's momentous missteps in 2003, however, Trump's policy shifts on
Israel and Iran are opposed by a majority of Americans and viewed
skeptically by most of our allies. Support for both policies is mainly
limited to conservatives who support a stronger Israel and a diminished
Iran. If the 21st century has taught Americans anything, it is that Middle
East policy decisions demand that our presidents question their assumptions
and challenge their ideological instincts. Following their "gut" always ends
in disaster. That is a tall order for a politician such as Trump, who lives
in the eternal now and brushes aside the complexities of history and the
consequences of his actions. Were he more introspective, Trump might
conclude that moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem at this moment in history
only helps the terrorist group “Hamas,” which had been back on its heels for
failing miserably to deliver for its followers. More troubling, but just as
predictable, is the burden Trump's decision places on our closest regional
allies. Egypt last Thursday opened its border with Gaza for the longest time
in five years to "ease the burdens on the brothers in the Gaza
Strip."Meanwhile, Trump's decision to abandon the Iran nuclear deal will
further strain relations with our closest European allies, undermining
long-term US interests. I opposed the 2015 agreement, but unilateral US
withdrawal from it just three years later will further strengthen Iran and
isolate the United States. While Iran has been the epicenter of
international terrorism for 40 years, its leaders have usually proved
themselves to be shrewder than the US presidents they have opposed. Expect
Iran to remain in the nuclear deal and to give our European allies no reason
to answer Trump's call for banking or oil sanctions on a country that Europe
believes to be adhering to the agreement's terms. Without those secondary
sanctions imposed by Europe or China, the United States will lose most of
its leverage over Iran's economic future — and also have far less power
shaping Iran's nuclear program than it did when the United States was part
of the international deal. As we learned from George W. Bush's invasion of
Iraq and Barack Obama's speedy retreat, following one's ideological
instincts in places such as Israel and Iran usually ends in disaster. We can
only hope that those advising this president will take great care navigating
America's course across the Middle East in the coming years.
Mekunu Lashes Yemen, Oman after Being Downgraded to
Tropical Storm
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 26 May, 2018 /Cyclone Mekunu was downgraded to a
tropical storm on Saturday after lashing eastern Yemen and southern Oman,
leaving several people dead in its wake. In Yemen, officials said on Friday
that winds blew down houses and took out communication lines and water
services in the country’s easternmost province on the border with Oman.
Rageh Bakrit, the governor of al-Mahra province, said on his official
Twitter account that the Hawf district was worst affected. Emergency aid,
including drinking water and fuel, was sent to province. He did not say
whether there were any casualties. Bakrit later said that communication
lines in some areas, including Hawf, have been partially fixed, promising
full restoration in the coming hours. Cyclone Mekunu also hit the Yemeni
island of Socotra, listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Yemeni
security officials said rescuers have recovered two bodies from the island,
with more than 30 people still missing. The officials stated four Indians
were rescued from a ship that ran aground during the storm, and that another
two Yemenis were found alive.
SABA news agency quoted Socotra Governor Ramzy Mahrous as confirming that
four sailors were found alive. Five Yemenis and two Indian sailors were
confirmed dead when Mekunu hit Socotra on Thursday, causing heavy damage,
Yemen's fisheries minister Fahad Kafin said.
In Oman, at least two people were killed after the storm pummeled its
southern coast. Mekunu had intensified to a category two cyclone as it hit
Oman's Dhofar and Al-Wusta provinces on the Arabian Sea on Friday, battering
the coast with torrential rains, strong winds and massive waves. The
national civil defense committee said on Saturday the cyclone had subsided
to a tropical storm but was still lashing the country with heavy rain and
winds at some 90 kilometers (56 miles) an hour. Oman's directorate general
of meteorology said the cyclone had gone inland and was heading northwest
into Saudi Arabia, but that heavy rains would likely continue into Sunday.
Oman police reported that a man died after floods swept him away with his
car near Salalah, a day after a 12-year old girl died when a gust of wind
smashed her into a wall. Three wounded Asians were rescued and civil defense
teams said they had saved hundreds of people including 260 foreign sailors
trapped at sea. In Salalah, rains had almost stopped on Saturday, an AFP
photographer said, but many streets were still under water and nearby
valleys were flooded.
Material damage was mostly limited to agriculture, with many farms swept by
winds at up to 170 kilometers (105 miles), he added. Mekunu is now heading
towards southern Saudi Arabia and is expected to hit parts of the Empty
Quarter, one of the world's most arid deserts, late Saturday.
American-Yemeni Man Pleads Guilty of Joining ISIS
Washington – Mohammad Ali Salih/Saturday, 26 May, 2018/An American youth, of
Yemeni origins, confessed to belonging to the ISIS terrorist group and now
faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Akram Musleh had been
under surveillance by the FBI for five years, when he was still 15 years,
after it was alerted to his pro-ISIS activity on the internet. The
Indianapolis Star reported Friday that the 20-year-old pleaded guilty before
federal court on Wednesday of trying to join ISIS. Musleh was born and
raised in Brownsburg, Indiana. His involvement with the terror group began
on social media in 2013, according to court documents, when he posted videos
of terrorist leaders. FBI agents spoke with Musleh at the time, hoping to
prevent him from heading down the extremist path. The teen told
investigators he posted those videos “simply to understand Islam's history.”
In 2016, Musleh read a news article about an Indiana Department of Homeland
Security list of 8,500 potential terror targets in the state. Around that
time, he had researched explosive materials online. He also was seen by an
FBI agent shopping for pressure cookers at a Wal-Mart near Brownsburg,
Indiana. Pressure cookers are used as a component in some improvised
explosive devices. A Google Plus account connected to a YouTube account,
highlighted by investigators as belonging to Musleh, showed posts and
comments on YouTube videos, at least one of which included a reference to
ISIS. In 2013, he commented on a video that referenced Adolf Hitler,
writing: “Gays are going to hell.” On another video shared on his Google
Plus account in 2014, he wrote: “Someone Should Of Shot All Those Cops And
Then Burn There [sic] Bodies.”
China in Another Victory in Campaign to Isolate Taiwan
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 26 May, 2018/China and Burkina Faso signed an
agreement to formally establish diplomatic relations on Saturday, days after
the West African nation cut ties with self-ruled Taiwan, handing Beijing yet
another victory in its campaign to isolate the island. A communique on
establishing relations was signed at a state guest house in Beijing by
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his counterpart Alpha Barry. Burkina
Faso broke off ties with Taiwan on Thursday, becoming the second country to
do so within a month and leaving the democratically ruled island with only
18 diplomatic allies around the world, including the kingdom of Swaziland,
the only African state. "Now Africa has only one country with which we have
not yet established (relations)," Wang said in a speech afterward. "We hope
this country can join the big China-Africa family of friendship as soon as
possible," he said about Swaziland. China and Taiwan split in 1949 after a
civil war won by the Chinese communists. The two sides often use economic
support and other aid as bargaining chips for diplomatic recognition.
Beijing still considers Taiwan to be a renegade province to be reunified
with the mainland, by force if necessary. China's hostility to Taiwan has
grown since President Tsai Ing-wen took over in Taipei in 2016.
Pressure Mounts for OPEC Exit from Production Cut Deal
Kuwait - Wael Mahdi/Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 26 May, 2018/The decision
anticipated to be taken by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC) and its Russian-led allies at their next Vienna meeting,
scheduled for late June, will not be easy. OPEC and non-OPEC countries
partaking in the production cut deal were supposed to decide on extending
the cuts until the end of 2018, but pressure has been on the rise by
consumers, especially the United States, for easing production restrictions
and manage price hikes. Under current conditions of improving fundamentals
of supply and demand, met with a decline in OPEC production and a potential
US embargo, oil prices experienced a 75 percent rise since last summer's
rate. This has alarmed US politicians and their Beijing, New Delhi and Seoul
counterparts. Pressure has been on the rise since the International Energy
Agency published its monthly report acknowledging that the oil market was
now balanced and that commercial glut in major industrial countries fell by
about 1 million barrels. Strangely enough, consumers do not alone want to
see the end of the agreement and more supply on the market, but Russian oil
companies also expressed a similar desire. On Friday, many statements by
OPEC officials and Russia came to reflect a change in the general trend,
which until a few days ago had been backing an extension of the agreement
till 2018 ends. Energy ministers of Russia and Saudi Arabia said their
countries were ready to ease oil production cuts to calm consumer fears and
reassure the international markets that sufficient supplies are available.
Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said the easing of restrictions would
be gradual so as to not shock the market, noting that producing countries
would soon have the capacity to liberalize supply and that this could
probably happen in the second half of 2018. Russian Energy Minister
Alexander Novak said current cuts were in reality 2.7 million bpd due to a
drop in Venezuelan production - somewhere around 1 million bpd higher than
the initially agreed reductions. Novak did not say whether OPEC and Russia
would decide to boost output by 1 million bpd at their June meeting. But he
said an agreement of a gradual easing was the likely outcome. “Different
options will be put forward. But, it is likely that this will be a gradual
easing,” Novak said in comments published on the Russian energy ministry
website. Initial talks are being led by the energy ministers of OPEC kingpin
Saudi Arabia and Russia at St. Petersburg this week along with their
counterpart from the United Arab Emirates, which holds the OPEC presidency
this year, sources said.
Egyptian Female Preachers Confront Extremist Thought
Cairo - Waleed Abdul Rahman//Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 26 May, 2018/Female
Egyptian preachers are countering extremist ideologies by holding meetings
and seminars at mosques and gathering places. Observers believe that their
preaching helps fight extremism advocated by terrorist groups on the social
media, especially after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has made a
call to counter this phenomenon. Sisi has wondered why religious sects don’t
coexist. The Egyptian Ministry of Endowments has placed 300 female preachers
in huge mosques during the month of Ramadan to lecture women following
prayers. The ministry, which is responsible for mosques, decided for the
first time in February 2017, to appoint 144 women as preachers to work in
huge mosques. Observers say that appointing female preachers falls within
the framework of implementing Sisi’s call to correct wrong concepts,
especially among women who are a target of extremist groups. Egyptian
Minister of Endowments Mohammed Mokhtar Jomaa affirmed that the
participation of female preachers contributed to spreading the true concept
of the religion and to raise awareness on community topics. Subsequently,
this would correct misconceptions and spread the culture of Islam as well as
support coexistence. Female preacher Nivine Mokhtar stated that Muslim women
should be able to enhance the moral behavior of their children and to stop
them from following extremist ideology. Mokhtar added that women should
teach their children that terrorism has no religion and no country. She shed
light on some of the current problems such as spreading false information
and misconceptions on the internet.
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources published
on May 26-27/18
Canada: A "Different" Kind of Antisemitism?
Philip Carl Salzman/Gatestone Institute/May 26/18
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12339/canada-antisemitism
"I have a confession to make. If you are Jewish... I used to hate you. I
hated you because I thought you were responsible for the [Somali civil] war
which took my father from me for so long... When we had no water, I thought
you closed the tap. ... If my mother was unkind to me, I knew you were
definitely behind it. If and when I failed an exam, I knew it was your
fault. You are by nature evil, you had evil powers and you used them to evil
ends. Learning to hate you was easy. Unlearning it was difficult." — Ayaan
Hirsi Ali, quoted in The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts
to Solemn History, by Andrew G. Bostom.
In Canada, Wael al-Ghitawi, the imam of Al-Andalous Islamic Centre, and
Sayed al-Ghitawi "both called for the death of Jews. The sermons came to
public attention in February 2017, when YouTube videos of the talks were
translated into English."
Let us be frank: as is all too clear from the recent European experience,
importing large numbers of Muslims means importing Islamic antisemitism.
Hate crimes against Canadian Jews are already on an upward trajectory. Is it
the Canadian Government's policy to encourage an increase in antisemitic
hate crimes?
In Berlin, on evening of the May 17, 2018, two men wearing Jewish skull caps
were attacked by three Arabic speaking men, who repeatedly cursed at them
and called them "yahudi," Jew, in Arabic. One of the Arabs knifed one of the
men, Adam Armoush, with his belt. The attack was recorded, and the video
widely seen.
Ironically, Adam is not a Jew. He is an Israeli Arab, who was wearing the
skull cap to test whether it was unsafe to show oneself as a Jew in Berlin.
He was skeptical; he has now reconsidered.
One of the assailants, a 19 year old refugee, claiming he was from Syria,
later turned himself into the police.
In response to the attack, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that she was
saddened, and that it was depressing that antisemitism had not been
destroyed for good in Germany. There were, in fact, more than 1,000
antisemitic incidents in Berlin last year alone. Merkel pointed out that, in
addition to some traditional German antisemitism remaining, "We have a new
phenomenon of refugees or people of Arab origin who bring another form of
anti-Semitism into the country."
Germany's first Antisemitism Commissioner, Felix Klein, pointed out that
"We've observed that Salafist and Islamist extremists seek to approach
refugees in Germany and try to incite anti-Semitism and hatred." Muslim
Arabs speakers as well as Iranians Pakistanis, Afghans, Muslim Africans and
Turkic speakers from Turkey and Central Asia, would be vulnerable to such
influences.
Throughout Europe during the past decade, there have been many attacks on
Jews.[1]
Christian antisemitism used to be based on Jews not accepting Jesus as the
Messiah, and the belief that the Jews were responsible for Jesus's death.
Little consideration was given to the facts that both One God and the
Messiah were Jewish ideas, that the Ten Commandments were given to the Jews,
or that Jesus and his Apostles were themselves Orthodox Jews. Christian
antisemitism frequently broke out in violence, as with Western European
Crusaders slaughtering Jews in the cities they passed through on the way to
the Holy Land, where they also murdered Jews, and as with the regular Pogrom
attacks in Eastern Europe that were a beloved feature of Easter. Then there
were the expulsions of Jews from England, Spain, Austria, Hungary, and
Germany, among 109 mostly European locations that expelled them, and, in
Spain, the torture and execution of converted Jews during the Holy
Inquisition. Fortunately, in recent times, many Christian churches have
distanced themselves from this kind of antisemitism.
Meanwhile, Islamic antisemitism arose in reaction to the frustration of
Mohammed's fond hopes that the Arabian Jewish tribes would accept him as the
final Prophet of the line of Jewish prophets. Mohammed had drawn much from
Judaism: One God, the Prophets, repeated daily prayer, circumcision, and
food prohibitions. When the Jewish tribes declined to accept Mohammed's
offer, that he was their final Prophet, Mohammed declared war on them,
executed all of the men in one Jewish tribe, and distributed the women and
children among his followers, and exiled another tribe from their
traditional territory.
The foundational documents of Islam also reflect total rejection of the Jews
and all "disbelievers". In the hadith (sayings and deeds of Mohammad), there
is a verse, still quoted in Article 7 of Hamas's charter:
In Saheeh Muslim (2922), it is narrated from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah that
the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: "The
Hour will not begin until the Muslims fight the Jews and the Muslims will
kill them, until a Jew hides behind a rock or a tree, and the rock or tree
will say: O Muslim, O slave of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and
kill him. Except the gharqad (a thorny tree), for it is one of the trees of
the Jews."
In the Quran, surahs referring to Jews, as well as all "disbelievers, and
recommend:
And kill them wherever you overtake them and expel them from wherever they
have expelled you, and fitnah is worse than killing. And do not fight them
at al-Masjid al- Haram until they fight you there. But if they fight you,
then kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers. [Quran
2:191-193; Sahih International translation]
Islam further claims that all Jewish Prophets -- Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
Moses, and all -- were Muslims:
Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but he was one inclining toward
truth, a Muslim [submitting to Allah]. And he was not of the polytheists.
[Quran 3:67; Sahih International translation]
Jesus and Mary were also added to this list of Muslim Prophets. Islamic
antisemitism is reflected in the vast holy literature of Islamic texts, and
in the almost uncountable incidents in the 1,400-year history of Islam.
What can be offered here are a few short statements that will have to
suffice to illustrate Islamic antisemitism. In the Islamic Holy Book, the
Quran, believed by Muslims to be the direct words of God, is the following:
Have you not seen those who have received a portion of the Scripture? They
purchase error, and they want you to go astray from the path. But Allah
know[s] best who your enemies are ... Some of the Jews pervert words from
their meanings, and say 'We hear and we disobey,' ...twisting with their
tongues and slandering religion. ... But Allah had cured them for their
disbelief, so they believe not, except for a few. (Quran 4:44-46, seventh
century a.d.)
The famous Jewish philosopher, Maimonides, in Epistle to the Jews of Yemen,
1172, reports that:
The nation of Ishmael [Muslims]...persecute[s] us severely and devise ways
to harm us and to debase us. ... None has matched it in debasing and
humiliating us. ... We listen, but remain silent ... In spite of all this,
we are not spared from the ferocity of their wickedness, and their outbursts
[of violence] at any time. On the contrary, the more we suffer and choose to
conciliate them, the more they choose to act belligerently toward us.
According to al-Maghili, a prominent theologian in Morocco, late fifteenth
century, "Love of the Prophet requires hatred of the Jews." In a 2002 sermon
at the Al-Haram Mosque in Mecca, the most important shrine in Islam, the
imam and preacher Saudi Sheikh Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sudayyis, claimed the
following:
Read history and you will understand that the Jews of yesterday are the evil
fathers of the Jews of today, who are evil offspring, infidels, distorters
of [God's] words, calf-worshippers, prophet-murderers, prophecy-deniers, ...
the scum of the human race whom Allah cursed and turned into apes and pigs.
... These are the Jews, an ongoing continuum of deceit, obstinacy,
licentiousness, evil, and corruption.
The Somali-American human rights advocate, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, describes (May
4, 2006) what she learned as a Muslim:
I have a confession to make. If you are Jewish ... I used to hate you. I
hated you because I thought you were responsible for the [Somali civil] war
which took my father from me for so long... When we had no water, I thought
you closed the tap. ... If my mother was unkind to me, I knew you were
definitely behind it. If and when I failed an exam, I knew it was your
fault. You are by nature evil, you had evil powers and you used them to evil
ends. Learning to hate you was easy. Unlearning it was difficult.
The evidence is overwhelming that the sentiments expressed here by Muslims
against Jews are, unfortunately, typical in the Islamic world.
Does Islamic antisemitism exist in Canada? We know that Jews are the most
targeted religious group, with 221 antisemitic hate crimes in 2016. There
were 139 hate crimes directed against Muslims. With a Canadian Jewish
population of 329,500, and a Canadian Muslim population of 1,053,945, there
was an antisemitic hate crime for every 1491 Canadian Jews, and an
anti-Muslim hate crime for every 7582 Muslims. On a per capita basis, Jews
were by far the most targeted religious group.
While the authors of many hate crimes are unknown, some cases stand out.
Muslim Sleiman Elmerhebi firebombed the United Talmud Torahs Jewish
elementary school in Montreal. He was convicted and jailed, and his mother
given probation as an accessory after the fact.
While Muslim attackers of Jews often keep a low profile and are not found by
police, Muslim religious and political figures, whose job it is to speak
out, have been frank about their views of Jews:
In Canada, at the Al-Andalous Islamic Centre in the St-Laurent borough of
Montreal, Wael al-Ghitawi, the center's imam, in November 2014, and Sayed
al-Ghitawi, who was visiting from the Middle East, in August 2014, both
called for the death of Jews. The sermons came to public attention in
February 2017, when YouTube videos of the talks were translated into
English. In February 2017, two Jewish groups filed complaints against the
imams with the Montreal police. Quebec's prosecutors, however, chose not to
proceed, arguing that that too much time had elapsed.
Later, in July 2017, a Quebec judge issued an arrest warrant for an imam who
had made several violent anti-Semitic statements at another Montreal mosque
in December 2016. Sheikh Muhammad bin Musa al-Nasr, a Palestinian-Jordanian,
while visiting Canada had said in the video that Allah has ordained that
Jews should be killed by Muslims "at the end of time." He was apparently
drawing on the same Jew-killing hadith (Sahih al-Bukhari Book Number 56
Hadith Number 791 - Muflihun) invoked by the U.S. imams. After an
investigation by the Montreal police hate crimes unit, he was charged under
Section 319(2) of the Criminal Code with the willful promotion of hatred.
Canadian campuses are home to the organizations Students for Justice in
Palestine and the Muslim Students Association which actively campaign
against Israel in such events as "Israel Apartheid Week," and which sponsor
boycotts of Israel and a wide array of anti-Israel speakers. Although these
anti-Israel advocates, many of them Middle Eastern and Muslim in origin,
claim not to be antisemitic even while denying Jews a 3,000 year history in
their historical homeland, their animosity toward Jews repeatedly breaks
out. For example, a Facebook post celebrating an anti-Israel event at the
University of Ontario Institute of Technology asserted that "Jews are
rodents." Other media posts advised Jewish students to "Go back to
Palestine." At Toronto's Ryerson University, Holocaust education was opposed
with a staged walkout.
At McMaster University, numerous incidents have been documented of students
writing antisemitic social media posts. Nadera Masad, a member of Solidarity
for Palestinian Human Rights, tweeted "hitler should have took you all."
[Rawan] Qaddoura — a political science and economics major who
unsuccessfully ran for the SPHR presidency in 2016 — tweeted in September
2012, "i just don't like jews lol #sorrynotsorry"
On August 2013, she wrote, "'@judeZAdude: The whole world is controlled by
Zionist Jews and until you understand that, life will never make sense.'"
Qaddoura also repeatedly praised Hitler, tweeting in January 2012, "I
honestly wish I was born at the time of the second world war just to see the
genius, Hitler, at work."
She doubled down on these sentiments in June 2013, writing, "everytime I
read about Hitler, I fall in love all over again."
On July 2015, [McMaster student Esra] Bengizi tweeted a photo of Hitler —
captioned with heart emojis — alongside the fake quote, "The only Religion I
respect is Islam. The only prophet I admire is the Prophet Muhammad."
A year earlier, she wrote, "'@KMKurd: Where is hitler when u need one?' I
literally ask this every day." On the same Twitter thread, she added, "hitler
did more than just kill. He was also a great leader & role model to many..."
Bengizi's admiration of Hitler sometimes accompanied tweets that were
explicitly antagonistic towards Jews. 'I'm actually going to the rule the
world and get rid of anyone who doesn't have basic common sense or if youre
yahoodi [Jewish]' #QueenE, she tweeted on May 2014. Bengizi praised Hitler
as 'so intelligent' later on the same thread.
Do not worry about Jew-hatred at McMaster, however. The McMaster
administration is on the case. Its "Equity and Inclusion" committee is
promoting an anti-Islamophobia campaign, seeking out instances of possible
hostility toward Muslims, and publicizing them widely.
At McMaster University in Canada, numerous incidents have been documented of
students writing antisemitic social media posts. (Image source: Mathew
Ingram/Wikimedia Commons)
Undoubtedly there are Canadian Muslims who do not share the antisemitic
views quoted above, and others whose prejudice is more on the mild side. But
strong antisemitic views are apparently as prevalent in the Canadian Muslim
community, as in the international Muslim community.
When antisemitism is integral to orthodox Islam, how could it be otherwise?
Islamic antisemitism raises serious questions about the exuberant and
thoughtless support for multiculturalism and open-borders immigration
celebrated among some Canadian political parties and the Canadian media
commentariat. Let us be frank: as is all too clear from the recent European
experience, importing large numbers of Muslims means importing Islamic
antisemitism. Hate crimes against Canadian Jews are already on an upward
trajectory. Is it the Canadian Government's policy to encourage an increase
in antisemitic hate crimes?
*Philip Carl Salzman is Professor of Anthropology at McGill University,
Senior Fellow of the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, and Fellow of the
Middle East Forum. [1] In France, a gang of African and North African
immigrants led by Youssouf Fofana kidnapped, severely tortured, and
eventually abandoned Ilan Halimi, whose body was 80% covered by burns, and
who died on the way to the hospital. An Islamist gunman, Mohammed Merah,
murdered three children and a teacher at a Jewish school in Toulouse. Four
Jews were murdered in the Jewish grocery store Hyper Casher by a Muslim
Tunisian immigrant, in an explicitly antisemitic attack. Dr. Sarah Halimi
was a 65 year old Jewish woman, a retired physician, who was tortured by a
Muslim neighbour shouting Allahu akbar, Allah is the Greatest, and then
thrown out her third floor window to her death. The reluctant authorities
finally acknowledged antisemitism as motive. Mirelle Knoll, an 85 year old
holocaust survivor, was stabbed and set afire by a Muslim neighbour who she
had known, and was on good terms with, since he was a boy.
© 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.
EU: How to Stop Mass-migration from Africa?
Bring Everyone to Europe!
Judith Bergman//Gatestone Institute/May 26/18
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12363/europe-africa-immigration
While the focus on illegal migration remains, the original goal of stopping
African citizens from migrating into Europe appears to have been lost
entirely. Instead, the declaration pronounces African legal migration to be
a positive thing, even stressing the beneficial idea of migration of certain
groups, such as researchers and business people.
No one seems to ask how draining Africa of skilled labor, such as
businessmen and researchers, is going to help the continent develop and thus
stem the trend of migration?
The Hungarian government appears to be the only government that considers
whether the citizens it was elected to serve would support the declaration.
Other European governments appear to think that asking their electorates
what they think about African migration into Europe is irrelevant.
"Migration is a priority for all of us here" said EU Commissioner for
Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos, at the
recent Fifth Euro-African Ministerial Conference on Migration and
Development in Marrakesh at the beginning of May. The conference is a part
of the Euro-African Ministerial Dialogue on Migration and Development (also
known as the Rabat Process[1]).
The Euro-African Ministerial Dialogue on Migration and Development was
founded in 2006 to contain migration from Africa into Europe, specifically,
at the time, the increase of migrants crossing the Strait of Gibraltar from
Morocco into Spain and from there into the rest of Europe.
Dimitris Avramopoulos (center), the EU Commissioner for Migration, Home
Affairs and Citizenship, at the Fifth Euro-African Ministerial Conference on
Migration and Development in Marrakesh on May 2, 2018. (Image source: EU)
The 2006 Rabat Declaration established that the purpose of the process was
to
"offer a ... response to the fundamental issue of controlling migratory
flows ... the management of migration between Africa and Europe must be
carried out within the context of a partnership to combat poverty and
promote sustainable development and co-development".
In other words, Europe would fund development and anti-poverty measures in
Africa, so that Africans would stop looking for a better future in Europe.
Almost 60 European and African countries, as well as the European Commission
(EC) and the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
are involved in the Rabat Process.
The founding document from 2006 also mentioned, as a brief addendum:
"...this partnership will also address the migratory phenomenon from all
points of view deemed relevant by the partner countries, such as making
better use of the potential of legal migration and its beneficial effects on
the development of countries of origin and host countries".
It did not take long for the brief addendum on legal migration to take
center stage. The Second Euro-African Ministerial Conference on Migration
and Development in Paris (2008) decided that "organised labour migration ...
represents a source of cultural and social enrichment through the human and
economic exchanges it generates" and that dialogue should be centered around
the following priorities: Organizing legal migration, fighting against
illegal migration and focusing on the synergies between migration and
development.
"Legal migration...makes it possible for labour markets to work better in
destination countries and contributes, through both remittances and the
acquisition of professional skills by migrants, to the development of
countries of origin. In addition, it can serve as an important deterrent to
irregular migration... It is therefore advisable to promote legal
migration...according to the needs and capacities of each national economy,
without prejudice to other forms of legal migration, including family
reunification, while respecting national competences".
At the Third Euro-African Ministerial Conference on Migration and
Development in Dakar (2011), legal migration was described as representing
"...an opportunity for the economic and social development of the countries
of origin and destination, and an opportunity for the migrant in terms of
human development, and the acquisition of resources and skills... The
partners reaffirm their wish to boost the creation of opportunities for
legal migration..."
At the fourth Euro-African Ministerial Conference on Migration and
Development in Rome in 2014, a fourth "pillar" was added, "promoting
international protection".
At the Fifth and most recent Euro-African Ministerial Conference on
Migration and Development, the participants went even further. They
declared:
"... the Rabat Process partners recognise the need to encourage and to
strengthen the pathways to regular migration... and to promote the mobility
of certain categories of travellers (in particular, businessmen and
businesswomen, young professionals or researchers) between European and
North, West and Central African countries".
They also decided to "Promote regular migration and mobility, especially of
young people and women, between Europe and North, West and Central Africa,
and within these regions... Encourage the establishment of exchange networks
between vocational training institutes and employment agencies in Europe and
Africa, in order to draw full benefit from the skills of young migrants...
".
There are now five priorities of the Rabat Process which are, in the words
of EU Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos,
"Address the root causes of irregular migration, better organization of the
legal channels of migration and mobility, giving protection to those who
need it, fight in a more effective way against the networks of
traffickers... improvement of... cooperation in the field of the
repatriation of illegal immigrants".
While the focus on illegal migration remains, the original goal of stopping
African citizens from migrating into Europe appears to have been lost
entirely. Instead, the declaration pronounces African legal migration to be
a positive thing, even stressing as beneficial the idea of migration of
certain groups, such as researchers and business people.
No one seems to ask how draining Africa of skilled labor, such as
businessmen and researchers, is going to help the continent develop and thus
stem the trend of migration?
Hungary appears to be the only European country to discover the discrepancy
between the original intent of the Rabat Process and the positive view of
legal migration from Africa that it advocates today. As a result, Hungary
refused to sign the declaration of the Fifth Euro-African Ministerial
Conference on Migration and Development. "The statement adopted in Marrakech
within the framework of the Rabat Process could lead to a fresh wave of
migration, and for this reason Hungary did not join the political
declaration", Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on
Hungarian television. "The declaration adopted at the meeting [says] that
migration is a positive process that must be encouraged, and accordingly new
migration channels must be opened and migrants cannot be differentiated
based on their legal status", he continued.
"According to the statement, which Hungary was alone in refusing to support,
the countries of Europe are supporting the position of the African
countries. And this is totally at odds with the Rabat Process that began ten
years ago, the original goal of which was precisely to use European funding
to realize development projects in Africa in the interests of reducing
emigration.
"Based on the mandate that the Hungarian Government has received from the
electorate, it is its explicit duty to put forward its anti-immigration
standpoint at every opportunity".
The Hungarian government appears to be the only government that considers
whether the citizens it was elected to serve would support the declaration.
Other European governments appear to think that asking their electorates
what they think about African migration into Europe is irrelevant. Indeed,
the Rabat Process, including the latest conference in Marrakesh, has gone
largely unreported in the European press and is not the subject of debate,
because most Europeans will have never heard of it.
In the meantime, Europeans may have noticed that whatever their politicians
were telling them about stemming African migration to the continent,
migration has only grown. According to the World Migration Report 2018 --
published by the International Organization for Migration (IOM):
"Since 1990, the number of African migrants living outside of the region has
more than doubled, with the growth to Europe most pronounced. In 2015, most
African-born migrants living outside the region were residing in Europe (9
million), Asia (4 million) and Northern America (2 million)".
According to the IOM, "The African countries with the largest number of
emigrants tend to be in the north of the region... In 2015, Egypt had the
largest number of people living abroad, followed by Morocco, Somalia, Sudan
and Algeria".
The growing migration of Africans, however, is not limited to the north of
Africa. According to a February 2018 Pew Research Center analysis:
"International migration from countries in sub-Saharan Africa has grown
dramatically over the past decade, including to Europe and the United
States. Indeed, most years since 2010 have witnessed a rising inflow of
sub-Saharan asylum applicants in Europe... In the case of Europe, the
population of sub-Saharan migrants has been boosted by the influx of nearly
1 million asylum applicants (970,000) between 2010 and 2017, according to a
Pew Research Center analysis of data from Eurostat, Europe's statistical
agency. Sub-Saharan Africans also moved to European Union countries, Norway
and Switzerland as international students and resettled refugees, through
family reunification and by other means".
According to EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship
Dimitris Avramopoulos, the recent Euro-African conference was "Excellent...
[and] Committed to strengthen our cooperation to address root causes, reduce
irregular migration and enhance protection and legal channels. Europe and
Africa need each other more than ever". They have already tried to do that
for 12 years. It is unlikely to lead to anything but more migration.
Then again, Avramopoulos does not consider his job to stop migration. "We
cannot and will never be able to stop migration", he wrote in late 2017. "At
the end of the day, we all need to be ready to accept migration, mobility
and diversity as the new norm and tailor our policies accordingly".
*Judith Bergman is a columnist, lawyer and political analyst.
[1] There is also a Khartoum process, which mirrors the Rabat Process but is
meant as a platform for political cooperation among the countries along the
migration route between the Horn of Africa and Europe.
© 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.
In the European Appeasement Olympics, Who Wins?
Bruce Bawer/Gatestone Institute/May 26/18
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12375/in-the-european-appeasement-olympics-who-wins
The difference [between what Tommy Robinson did and any
reporter] is that the BBC and other mainstream media are determined to give as
little coverage as possible to the mass Muslim rape of infidel girls.
These same cops arrested Tommy Robinson on Friday not because he did anything
wrong, but because he was drawing attention to Muslim crimes that they would
rather see ignored – and drawing attention, too, by extension, to their own
genuinely criminal failure to defend innocent children from what was essentially
jihadist torture.
Within hours, according to some sources, Robinson was tried and sentenced to
thirteen months in prison. Even in Islam-appeasing Britain, this seems
inconceivable. It sounds like Soviet or Nazi "justice," not like British
jurisprudence.
However Tommy Robinson may have strayed from the straight and narrow over the
years, he is a champion of those victimized children, a voice for freedom, and a
living rebuke to the cowardice of the British media, police, social workers, and
other officials and public figures who knew what was going on in flats in
Rotherham, Newcastle, and elsewhere, but stayed silent.
All right, the competition is over. Britain wins.
For years I thought that Britain's long tradition of open debate and individual
liberty would enable it to stand up more firmly to the encroachments of Islam
than other Western European countries. I worried more about the Netherlands,
where Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh were murdered, Ayaan Hirsi Ali was hounded
into exile, and Geert Wilders, a member of parliament, was put on trial -- and
still is on trial this week -- for criticizing Islam in public. I worried more
about Denmark, where Lars Hedegaard, a serious historian, was tried for
criticizing Islam in the privacy of his own home, and where the Jyllands-Posten
cartoon crisis caused riots. I worried about Norway, where people at the highest
levels of government conspired to force an apology out of the editor of a tiny
Christian periodical who had dared to reprint the Danish cartoons. I worried
about France, where the suburbs of major cities were increasingly becoming
sharia enclaves, and Sweden, where a cordon sanitaire was put around the one
party that dared criticize that country's own steady Islamization.
But I was wrong. It is Britain that is falling fastest to Islam. It is Britain,
our mother country, home of the Magna Carta, that is most firmly betraying its
own history and values. It has already banned Robert Spencer, a serious and
cogent American critic of Islam, from its shores, even as it lets in the
looniest of sharia preachers. More recently, three other critics of Islam –
American Brittany Pettibone, Austrian Martin Sellner, and Canadian Lauren
Southern – were turned away by British border authorities.
Now, Tommy Robinson has been arrested – not for the first time. Born Stephen
Bellon, he is a lifelong resident of Luton who helped found the English Defence
League, which he left in 2013 because he disapproved of its focus on race rather
than ideology; since then, he been involved with Quilliam, a reformist Muslim
think tank; with the Canadian alternative-media group Rebel Media; and with
Pegida UK, the British chapter of a German anti-Islam organization. Robinson has
been an outspoken critic of Islam, and has been imprisoned several times,
sometimes for relatively minor physical disturbances and other misdemeanors – he
has admitted that he is no saint – and sometimes simply for speaking his mind. I
have never met the man, but I have watched hours of interviews with him and
other videos in which he does speak his mind, interviews others, and covers
various events, and I must say that he comes off consistently as a decent man
who is free of prejudice but legitimately concerned about Islam.
Tommy Robinson. His concern about Islam has made him a target of British
authorities. Photo: Tommyrobinson.online.
It is his concern about Islam that has made Robinson a target of British
authorities. A few years ago, knowing his public profile as a critic of Islam,
they put him into a penal institution, Woodhill Prison, where they knew he would
be surrounded by Muslim convicts and vulnerable to physical abuse if not
jailhouse murder. Indeed, he was assaulted there, and it was apparently only
thanks to intervention by Maajid Nawaz, the founder of Quilliam and a prominent
Liberal Democratic Party politician, that he was moved to a safer lockup. Since
his release, he has been repeatedly harassed by British police. In May of last
year, after he was hired as a Rebel Media correspondent, he was arrested while
reporting from outside a court in Canterbury where a Muslim rape trial was
underway.
Just a few weeks ago, Robinson was the headliner at a "Day of Freedom"
free-speech rally in London. Other speakers included UKIP leader Gerard Batten,
YouTube celebrities Gavin McInnes and Carl Benjamin (who goes by the name
"Sargon of Akkad"), Anne Marie Waters of the political party For Britain, and
Milo Yiannopoulos. I watched it on YouTube. It was impressive. It gave me a bit
of hope for that scepter'd (but battered) isle.
Now Robinson has been arrested again. On Friday, while livestreaming on Facebook
from outside a court in Leeds, where yet another trial of Muslim child rapists
was underway, he was taken into custody by a phalanx of police officers. The
charge? "Breaching the peace." In fact, anyone who watches the video of his
arrest can see quite clearly that he was only doing what any reporter for the
BBC would have done – standing in front of a courtroom, talking into a
microphone, and being filmed by a camera. The difference is that the BBC and
other mainstream media are determined to give as little coverage as possible to
the mass Muslim rape of infidel girls. As for the police, they knew about these
"grooming gangs" for many years (as did armies of social workers) but did
nothing for fear of being labeled racist or sparking Islamic uprisings. These
same cops arrested Tommy Robinson on Friday not because he did anything wrong,
but because he was drawing attention to Muslim crimes that they would rather see
ignored – and drawing attention, too, by extension, to their own genuinely
criminal failure to defend innocent children from what was essentially jihadist
torture.
It gets worse. Within hours, according to some sources, Robinson was tried and
sentenced to thirteen months in prison. To send him to a British prison, where a
very high percentage of inmates are likely to be Muslim, is to condemn him to a
life of brutal harassment and, very possibly, a violent death. Even in
Islam-appeasing Britain, this seems inconceivable. It sounds like Soviet or Nazi
"justice," not like British jurisprudence.
Make no mistake: however Tommy Robinson may have strayed from the straight and
narrow over the years, he is a champion of those victimized children, a voice
for freedom, and a living rebuke to the cowardice of the British media, police,
social workers, and other officials and public figures who knew what was going
on in flats in Rotherham, Newcastle, and elsewhere, but stayed silent. Anyone in
the United Kingdom who believes in freedom, recognizes the danger of Islam, and
has any self-respect should rally to Robinson's cause.
**Bruce Bawer is the author of the new novel The Alhambra (Swamp Fox Editions).
His book While Europe Slept (2006) was a New York Times bestseller and National
Book Critics Circle Award finalist. His other books include A Place at the Table
(1993), Stealing Jesus (1997), Surrender (2009), and The Victims' Revolution
(2012). A native New Yorker, he has lived in Europe since 1998.
© 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.
Swallowing a lie for fear of an imaginary war
Amir Taheri/Al Arabiya/May 26/18
Listen to the so-called “moderate faction” in Tehran and you are likely to hear
a litany of woes, echoed by some European circles, about alleged attempts by the
Trump administration to push the Middle East towards a new war. The leitmotiv is
the claim that the so-called “nuke deal”, also known as Joint Comprehensive Plan
of Action (JCPOA) is an almost sacred text that should be neither amended nor
improved.
“We shall not accept an iota of change in this text,” says Iranian President
Hassan Rouhani.“There is no alternative to JCPOA,” echoes Federica Mogherini,
foreign policy spokeswoman for European Union. As for Alistair Burt, the man in
charge of the Middle East in the British Foreign Office, the so-called “nuke
deal” is an “unalterable text” that cannot be renegotiated let alone revised.
But how could this be?
What is so special about JCPOA that we should treat it as a sacred text with one
single unalterable version? After all, even synoptic gospels, not to mention
Saint John’s Gospel, offer different narratives of the same body of memory,
doctrine and belief.
In a secular context, all national constitutions are open to revision and
amendment. For example, the US Constitution has been amended no fewer than 27
times. Sometimes a whole national constitution is consigned to the dustbin and
replaced by a new one, as has been the case in France five times in a century.
Mogherini’s native Italy, created as a nation-state in 1861, has had no fewer
than six constitutions in its short life. Burt’s United Kingdom has never had a
constitution, plodding along with tradition and compromise.
Compared to the documents mentioned above, JCPOA has a lesser claim to
sacredness. To start with, it lacks a universally recognized version, coming in
three different versions, two in Persian and one in English with significant
differences in each. Next, it was negotiated between Iran and the so-called
P5+1, a group with no legal status, no mission statement and no accountability
to anyone. Thirdly, it was not signed by anyone and no Cabinet and no
legislature ever debated let alone legally approved it.
Finally, as we have shown in several articles, both Iran and P5+1 have
repeatedly violated key aspects of it.
Iran is still subject to heavy sanctions while, among other violations, it has
failed to send all its stock of enriched uranium outside the country and shelved
the re-design of its plutonium plant with the excuse that it finds no partner to
help it do so.
Rouhani complains that the P5+1 have not honored their part of the bargain.
Mogherini forgets the fact that ENI, the oil giant in her native Italy, has
reneged on an energy deal with Iran while Danieli, Italy’s steel giant, has
jettisoned a $5 billion contract to the dustbin, in direct violation of the
JCPOA. As for Burt, his government is still unwilling to allow Iran in London
the right to open a bank account so that it doesn’t have to pay its employees in
cash. Last week the British Petroleum dropped a joint venture with Iran. The UK
still refuses to unfreeze upwards of $2 billion in Iranian assets while China, a
P5+1 member, is sitting on $22 billion worth of frozen Iranian money.
False peace
The JCPOA fan club, which still includes former US President Barack Obama and
his sidekick John Kerry, pretends that the only alternative to the fudge they
market is an invasion of Iran by the United States.
“The choice is between the deal and war,” Kerry muses as he tours the world to
lobby for Iran.
But why should we reduce our choice to swallowing a lie for fear of an imaginary
war?
To be sure, the Iranian nuclear problem should be solved so that Iran can resume
some kind of normal existence while the rest of the world is reassured that it
won’t face a nuclear-armed rogue state.
The existing JCPOA does not deliver on either of those accounts. However, a new,
revised and improved JCPOA may just do that. But that would require jettisoning
the Obama “lie” and renegotiating a new text.
Any future negotiations should be done within the transparent system of
international law that is to say between the UN Security Council and Iran as a
member of the United Nations. If the UNSC so wishes, it could appoint the same
P5+1 as its negotiating side with a clear mission statement and transparent
accountability. The P5+1 would no longer be a posse chasing a fugitive, i.e.
Iran; it would be a legally appointed sheriff seeking to bring a suspect to
justice.
Next, the new negotiations would have to take place within the rules of the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Nuclear Nonproliferation
Treaty (NPT), both of which Obama circumvented, and the framework of seven
unanimously passed UNSC resolutions, and, again, haughtily ignored by the
precautious Nobel laureate.
Fresh negotiations would establish a single new text, part of which borrowed
from segments of the existing JCPOA, in all the official languages of the UN
with the exactitude that the JCPOA lacks.
Once a clear text is established, it should be submitted to relevant
parliaments, including the US Congress and the Islamic Republic Majlis, for
ratification giving it the force of a treaty, something that the JCPOA lacks.
Provided she is still in her European chair, Mogherini could invite the European
Union Council to ratify the new treaty.
A legally binding treaty, backed by international and national law, would not
permit a la carte implementation as is the case for JCPOA that allows the Trump
administration to “walk out” of something into which it had not walked. It would
also make violation by individual companies, such as British Petroleum, the
French Total, the Italian Danieli and many others a crime under national and
international law. More importantly, it would block Iran’s path to playing games
with implementation with 1001 excuses, some valid mostly not. Whether one likes
Trump or not the fact is that when he says that the Emperor is naked he is
telling the truth. It is quite possible that he says that to vilify Obama. But
that does not change the fact that the witches’ brew that Obama cooked is laced
with poison. Let’s not use the excuse of an imaginary war to market a false
peace. Let’s prepare for a true settlement of the Iranian nuclear dispute. Let’s
get serious.
Muqtada Al Sadr’s plea for help
Mashari Althaydi/Al Arabiya/May 26/18
Will Iran allow the man who’s now become the most important player in Iraq’s
political life to experiment with the possibilities of rapprochement between
Iraqi blocs and create a moment of national political consensus away from the
influence of Iran and other foreign powers?
Muqtada Al Sadr, the popular Shiite leader, is unlike other Iraqi leaders which
Iran has gotten used to dealing with, especially after Muqtada’s alliance
Sairoon won the largest number of seats in the recent parliamentary elections.
Muqtada, the descendant of the religious and political Sadr family in Iraq and
son of the most popular branch of the Sadr family, that of Sayyid Mohammed Sadeq
al-Sadr, has inherited the popular base that his father had gained among
non-partisan popular categories. This is evident in the capital Baghdad,
especially in highly-populated neighborhoods like the Sadr City or Al-Shu'ala.
Iran will use its proxies to intimidate Muqtada Al-Sadr and his bloc in order to
keep Iraq under its influence
Speaking of Al-Shu'ala, there have recently been terror attacks which I think
have been carried out by Muqtada’s foes. It’s expected that Iran will use its
allies and proxies, like the Popular Mobilization led by Hadi al-Amiri or Nouri
al-Maliki, to intimidate Sadr and his bloc into accepting an Iranian solution in
order to keep Iraq under Iran’s influence.
Few days ago while meeting with Special Representative of the United Nations
Secretary-General (SRSG) for Iraq Jan Kubis, Muqtada said: “Our vision for the
next phase is for decisions to be purely Iraqi national decisions. This stems
from people’s desires and the phase also necessitates this because the Iraqi
people have suffered a lot from corruption and poor governance.” He added: “It’s
important that the international community and the UN increase their support for
Iraq to get out of the tunnel of abominable sectarianism and quotas and stop
regional interferences in the election file.”
Will Iraq’s popular leader Muqtada al-Sadr succeed in bringing Iraq out of the
tunnel of sectarianism, corruption and quotas? This is the question.