LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

July 13/16

 Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site

http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.july13.16.htm

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Bible Quotations For Today

You Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 11/37-41/:"While he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him; so he went in and took his place at the table. The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner. Then the Lord said to him, ‘Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also?So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you."

When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied
Acts of the Apostles 19/01-10/:"While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the inland regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. He said to them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?’ They replied, ‘No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.’ Then he said, ‘Into what then were you baptized?’ They answered, ‘Into John’s baptism.’Paul said, ‘John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.’On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. altogether there were about twelve of them. He entered the synagogue and for three months spoke out boldly, and argued persuasively about the kingdom of God. When some stubbornly refused to believe and spoke evil of the Way before the congregation, he left them, taking the disciples with him, and argued daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord."

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on July 12-13/16

Top 10 Richest Politician of Lebanon/Publisher: Toprichests/July 12/16
Reflections on the Second Lebanon War, 10 Years On/Jonathan Spyer/The Jerusalem Post/July 12, 2016
10 stories on 10 years after the Second Lebanon War/Jerusalem Post/July 12/16
The war from the Lebanese side/Roi Kais/Ynetnews/July 10/16
Christine Williams/Jihad Watch: A lesson from Ontario, Canada for Sharia Law advocate Theresa May/Jihad Watch/July 12/16
Saudi prince's endorsement of MEK angers Iranian officials/Arash Karami/Al-Monitor/July 12/16
How the IRGC is trying to tighten its grip on Rouhani/Zahra Alipour/Al-Monitor/July 12/16
Next US President’s hands will be tied in Middle East/Joyce Karam/Al Arabiya/July 12/16
Kathem’s regret on destroying Saddam’s statue/Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/July 12/16
The Boeing blow/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/July 12/16
Iraq: The struggle between past and present/Mshari Al Thaydi/Al Arabiya/July 12/16
Female empowerment in modern Western politics/Dr. Halla Diyab/Al Arabiya/July 12/16
Russian anti-ISIS war from Syria to Caucasus/DEBKAfile Exclusive Report July 12, 2016,
Reactions In Egypt To Israeli PM Netanyahu's Africa Visit/MEMRI/July 12, 2016
What is Netanyahu prepared to give to become part of the Sunni Bloc/Yossi Melman/Jerusalem Post July 12/16
Analysis: Egyptian diplomacy pushes France aside/Herb Keinon/Jerusalem Post/July 12/16
Canadian Green Party sponsors resolutions targeting Israel/Kayla Rosen/Jerusalem Post/July 12/16
Stabbing Policemen, "Slut-Shaming" and New Death Threats/Yves MamouGatestone Institute/July 12/16
Old Mideast Foes Unite Over Gas Deals and Fighting Militants/David Wainer/Jonathan Ferziger/Ahmed Feteha/Bloomberg/July 11/16

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on July 12-13/16

Top 10 Richest Politician of Lebanon
France urges end to Lebanon political paralysis
Ayrault Meets Lebanese Leaders, Urges All Parties to Talk to Each Other to 'Find Solution'
Ayrault winds up Lebanon visit
Ayrault visits Rahi in Bkerki
Bassil after meeting Ayrault: We reject any proposal for refugee resettlement
Finance Minister defies Siniora to resort to court over corruption
Future bloc hails Ayrault visit as advantageous to presidential dossier
Ten Years Later, Hizbullah Fighting Another 'Existential War'
STL Axes Trial of Slain Hizbullah Commander
Al-Rahi Appointed on Vatican's Pontifical Council for Social Communications
Aoun Reportedly Seeking to Visit Saudi Arabia
Change and Reform Stresses Need for 'Christian Agreement' on Presidency, 'Fair' Electoral Law
Berri Says Parliamentary Polls in Spring Even if No New Law
HRW Decries 'Forced Anal Exams' in Lebanon, 7 Other Countries
Iran indicts Iranian-American businessman and a Lebanese citizen for no declared reason
Reflections on the Second Lebanon War, 10 Years On
The war from the Lebanese side
 

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 12-13/16
UN calls for aid access, civilian evacuations in Syria's Aleppo
US signs memo with Peshmerga to boost Kurdish forces in Mosul battle
US troops head to Iraq ahead of Mosul fight
Suicide bombing in Baghdad Shiite district kills 11
Rebels launch assault in Syria’s divided Aleppo
Europeans fear terror risk amid refugee influx
Finally: Sanders endorses Clinton for president
Trump and Christie join forces to attack Obama, Clinton
Jews rally near tense Holy site in memory of murdered teen
UN: 36,000 civilians seek shelter in South Sudan capital
Images show high level of activity at North Korean nuclear site
UN-Backed Tribunal Says China Has 'No Historic Rights' in South China Sea
Israel Approves Contentious NGO Foreign Funding Law
Canadian Anglicans vote down same-sex marriage
10 stories on 10 years after the Second Lebanon War

Links From Jihad Watch Site for July 12-13/16
A lesson from Ontario, Canada for Sharia Law advocate Theresa May
Egypt “blesses” Israeli drone strikes against jihadi terrorists in Sinai Peninsula
Mounting public regret about Muslim refugees but German migration boss thinks more migrants are needed
Robert Spencer in Epic Times: Theresa May Prime Minister: A Disaster for Britain
South Africa: Muslim twins arrested for ISIS plot to bomb US embassy and Jewish sites
Radio Pakistan falsely claims UNESCO declared Islam the most peaceful religion
Video: Robert Spencer on Breitbart — The Complete Infidel’s Guide to Iran
Pakistan: Police hunting for Christian accused of insulting Islam
Families of jihad terror victims sue Facebook for giving jihadis platform
Benghazi report: Ben Rhodes pushed false Muhammad video narrative after jihad massacre
Europeans fear wave of refugees will mean more terrorism, fewer jobs
Obama admin brushes aside reports that Iran is buying key nuclear materials

Latest Lebanese Related News published on July 12-13/16

Top 10 Richest Politician of Lebanon
Publisher: Toprichests
http://toprichests.com/top-10-richest-politician-of-lebanon/
June 07, 2016
1. Najib Mikati
Najib Mikati is the Lebanese richest person and the politician and served as the Prime Minister of Lebanon twice. First he served as the Prime Minister in the caretaker government from Apr 2005 to June 2005. He was also nominated in the parliamentary consultation to serve as the Prime Minister and he gains the majority of the votes and holds the Prime Minister office from June 2011 to March 2013. He is also a businessman and established the telecommunication firm “Investcom” in 1982 with his brother Taha Mikati. Najib Mikati estimated net worth is US $ 3.3 billion and he is ranked at first in the list of top 10 richest politician of Lebanon.
2. Issam Fares
Issam Fares is the most prominent Lebanese businessman and politician. He also served as the member of the Lebanese Parliament and the former Deputy Prime Minister of the Lebanon. At the age of seventeen he left his home and find the job as the clerk in the food serving firm in 1954 in Qatar. Just after two years he leading the Abela Group finances which managing its operation in Kuwait, Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Issam Fares estimated net worth is US $ 2.3 billion and he is ranked at second in the list of top 10 richest politician of Lebanon.
3. Saad Hariri
Saad Hariri is the Lebanese billionaire and politician and the ex- Prime Minister of Lebanon. His father Rafik Hariri is also the former Prime Minister of Lebanon and was assassinated in 2005. He is the leader of the Movement of Future party since 2005. Before entering into politics he served as the chairman of the Oger Telecom which has interest in the Middle East and in Africa. He was also the chairman of the Omnia Holdings and the member of the Oger International board. Saad Hariri estimated net worth is US $ 1.5 billion and he is ranked at third in the list of top 10 richest politician of Lebanon.
4. Michel Aoun
Michel Aoun is the Lebanese politician and the ex-Army Commander of Lebanon. He is also the founder of the Free Patriotic Movement and he served as the president for 10 years from 2005 to 2015. He also served as the Prime Minister of Lebanon at the end of the Lebanon civil war from 1988 to 1990. He escaped to the French Embassy in Beirut and later he moves to the France. He returned back to the Lebanon in 2005 after the Syrian troops are withdrawal from the country. Michel Aoun estimated net worth is US $ 90 million and he is ranked at No. 4 in the list of top 10 richest politician of Lebanon.
5. Walid Jumblatt
Walid Jumblatt is the Lebanese politician and the leader and chairman of the Progressive Socialist Party which is founded by his late father Kamal Jumblatt. He started his professional career as the reporter in Beirut for An Nahar. The BBC describe him as the leader of the Lebanon mainly powerful Cruze people and the inheritor of the political leftist dynasty based party the Progressive Socialist Party. Walid Jumblatt estimated net worth is US $ 83 million and he is ranked at No. 5 in the list of top 10 richest politician of Lebanon.
6. Nabih Berri
Nabih Berri is the Lebanon politician and the speaker of the Lebanon’s Parliament and the leader of the Amal Movement. He start his political career as the student and was elected as the president of the Lebanese students National Union and actively participated in the political and student affairs conferences. He becomes lawyer in his early career and serve as the lawyer in the Court of Appeals and he also work as the lawyer for several companies in 1970. Nabih Berri estimated net worth is US $ 78 million and he is ranked at No. 7 in the list of top 10 richest politician of Lebanon.
7.Tammam Salam
Tammam Salam is the Lebanese politician and since February 2014 he has been the Prime Minister of Lebanon and since May 2014 he also serving as the acting President of the Lebanon. He also served as the Minister of Culture in the previous government of Lebanon from 2008 to 2009. He start his career ahs the businessman after completing his graduation and later he entered into politics in 1970s and established the political party as the Pioneers of Reform Movement in 1973. Tammam Salam estimated net worth is US $ 71 million and he is ranked at No. 7 in the list of top 10 richest politician of Lebanon.
8. Suleiman Frangieh Jr.
Suleiman Frangieh is the politician and the member of the Parliament for the seat of Maronite Zgharta-Zawyie from the North Lebanon. He is also the current leader of the Marada Movement. His military career starts at the age of 17 and he became the leader of Marada Brigades. He first become the member of the parliament in 1991 as the most youngest MP of the country and continuously elected for 3 successive terms in 1992, 1996 and in 2000. Suleiman Frangieh estimated net worth is US $ 65 million and he is ranked at No. 8 in the list of top 10 richest politician of Lebanon.
9. Amine Gemayel
Amine Gemayel is the Lebanese politician and served as the President of the Lebanon for six years from 1982 to 1988. He is the current leader of the Kataeb Party. He starts his career after completing his graduation and start practicing as an attorney in 1965. Amine Gemayel estimated net worth is US $ 58 million and he is ranked at No. 9 in the list of top 10 richest politician of Lebanon.
10. Michel Suleiman
Michel Suleiman is the Lebanese politician and was served as the President of the Lebanon for 7 years from 2008 to 2014. He also served as the Chief Commander of the Lebanese Armed forces before he becomes the president of the Lebanon. Michel Suleiman estimated net worth is US $ 49 million and he is ranked at No.10 in the list of top 10 richest politician of Lebanon.
Publisher: Toprichests

France urges end to Lebanon political paralysis
AFP, Beirut Tuesday, 12 July 2016/French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Monday told rival Lebanese leaders they must solve the political paralysis that has prevented the election of a new president since 2014.“A solution must be found and it is up to the Lebanese political parties to find a way to comprise,” Ayrault said at the start of a two-day visit to Lebanon. Deep divisions among the country’s Christians, Sunni and Shiite Muslims and Druze leaders have sparked a political paralysis. The tiny Mediterranean country has been without a president since May 2014 when Michel Sleiman’s mandate expired, and parliament has extended its own mandate twice since 2009. As a result, government institutions are paralyzed and the country faces a myriad of problems, including the burden of hosting more than a million refugees from worn-torn Syria -- nearly a quarter of its population. The government is also split roughly between a bloc led by the Shiite movement Hezbollah and another headed by former prime minister Saad Hariri. Hezbollah is backed by Iran and has sent men to fight in Syria alongside the forces of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, while Hariri’s bloc is supported by Saudi Arabia and the United States. Ayrault, speaking to a group of politicians invited to a banquet at the French embassy in Beirut, said Syria’s five-year war “alone cannot justify the absence of a solution to the institutional crisis” in Lebanon. He held separate talks with some of Lebanon’s political leaders and he is to hold further meetings on Tuesday.Ayrault also inspected French peacekeepers serving with the UN in southern Lebanon and travelled to UNIFIL headquarters in the town of Naqura on the border with Israel. Watch: Hariri stress with Lavrov on ‘interventions preventing’ the election of a president

Ayrault Meets Lebanese Leaders, Urges All Parties to Talk to Each Other to 'Find Solution'
Naharnet/July 12/16/French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault met with several Lebanese leaders on the second day of his official visit to Lebanon and urged all Lebanese parties to engage in dialogue to “find a solution.”“The prime minister is working with all due courage and competency but the political situation in Lebanon is very complicated and Lebanon must overcome the crisis in order to confront the economic, security and social challenges, including the Syrian refugee crisis,” said Ayrault after talks with Prime Minister Tammam Salam at the Grand Serail.The minister had voiced the same call on Monday evening during a dinner banquet he threw at the Pine Residence in honor of the presidential candidates and the heads of the political parties. “This is a call for everyone to shoulder their responsibilities in order to find a solution through dialogue,” he said. After talks with Salam on Tuesday, Ayrault said he will soon resume his international contacts “so that we cooperate for the sake of finding a solution for Lebanon.”He later met with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain al-Tineh and Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi in Bkirki. During the meeting with the French guest, al-Rahi extended gratitude to France over its concern over the situations in Lebanon and called anew for "electing a president regardless of the conflicts in the region or the developments in Syria, especially the Iranian-Saudi dispute. "France's top diplomat is also scheduled to meet with the head of Hizbullah's Loyalty to Resistance bloc MP Mohammed Raad and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil on Tuesday. Ayrault's Monday meetings involved talks with al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri. Hariri's press office said the two men “discussed the ongoing efforts to put an end to the presidential void, the international contacts that France is conducting, and the assistance required to help Lebanon cope with the impact of the Syrian refugee influx.”They also talked about “supporting the Lebanese state and its institutions and preserving Lebanon's stability amid the regional and terrorist threats that are surrounding it.”Ayrault also met on Monday with Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun, Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea. Ayrault had started his trip on Monday with an inspection visit to French UN peacekeepers stationed in the South, where he announced that “stability on the Blue Line is a priority for France.”

Ayrault winds up Lebanon visit
Tue 12 Jul 2016/NNA - French Foreign Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, winded up on Tuesday his Lebanon visit, and headed back to Paris. At the airport, he was accompanied by French Ambassador to Lebanon, Emmanuel Bonne, and a panel of the French Embassy staff.

Ayrault visits Rahi in Bkerki
Tue 12 Jul 2016/NNA - Maronite Patriarch, Beshara Rai, received on Tuesday in Bkirki French Foreign Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, accompanied by French Ambassador to Lebanon, Emmanuel Bonne. Rai thanked France for its concern about the Lebanese situation. He also called upon the parliament to elect a President apart from regional conflicts or the recent developments in Syria, notably the Iranian Saudi conflict. "I am pleased to welcome you at the Maronite Patriarchate. We are delighted to see you representing France during these delicate moments Lebanon and Middle East region are passing through nowadays," he said in his speech. "We appreciate the symbolic visit of French President Francois Hollande to Lebanon," he added. "You confirmed the commitment of your country towards unity, sovereignty, and stability. You contacted Iranian and Saudi officials to find a solution to the crisis," Maronite Patriarch pointed out. Rai urged Lebanese politicians not to give up their responsibilities. "They should be aware that we are facing regional interventions, linking the presidential elections to the ongoing conflict in Syria and the one between Iran and Saudi Arabia."
The Patriarch stressed the need for a solution to the crisis of displaced Syrians and Palestinian refugees. "Lebanon must benefit from its buried treasure, which may be stolen, notably its natural gas wealth and oil."He also called upon the international community to end the wars in Iraq, Syria, Palestine, and the region, and to work in favor of a just, comprehensive, and permanent peace. "Christians and Muslims must go back to their homeland."Ayrault, in turn, said that France respected its relations with Lebanese people and the Middle East region, noting that "the situation of Christians in the East is very hard. We have to make decisions in this context."He underscored, "Lebanon is a message and an example to follow because of the values of freedom, respect, and balance between all communities and components of the Lebanese society. "I came to stretch out my hand to the Lebanese folk, namely in the presidential crisis. We must find a solution to the Lebanese crisis. We leave it to the Lebanese to choose carefully but our goal is to support them in order to facilitate their work. "Lebanese people are going through a difficult situation in the shade of security threats and tragic consequences of the war in Syria and Syrian refugees fleeing to neighboring countries including Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey. France provides, in cooperation with its international partners, efforts to find a solution to Lebanon."The French minister stressed the need for a cease-fire in Syria and the delivery of humanitarian aid to needy ones. "The refugees want to go home. We are supposed to work on this issue. Lebanon must be protected. It is a reference and we must preserve its diversity," he concluded.

Bassil after meeting Ayrault: We reject any proposal for refugee resettlement
Tue 12 Jul 2016/NNA - Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Minister, Jibran Bassil, voiced utter rejection of any proposal to resettle refugees in Lebanon. Minister Bassil's fresh stance came in the wake of his meeting with his French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault, who visited him at Villa Boustros today. "Lebanon is attempting to stay away from regional crises," Bassil said, pointing out that Lebanon is currently facing numerous perils with repercussions' risking our security. Minister Ayrault, for his part, deemed French-Lebanese relations as "deeply entrenched and cohesive," saying that Lebanon, like France, is currently facing the danger of terrorism."We are besides Lebanon in enduring the refugee crisis," Ayrault said. The French Minister also called for finding a political solution to the presidential vacuum deadlock, stressing that "France cannot interfere in Lebanon's affairs and take the decision on behalf of the Lebanese."

Finance Minister defies Siniora to resort to court over corruption
Tue 12 Jul 2016/NNA - Minister of Finance, Ali Hassan Khalil, rejected the statement issued on Tuesday by Future bloc, which, according to him, MP Fouad Siniora had devoted to level false accusations. "Everybody knows that those accusations only apply to Siniora's mandate," the Minister said. "The Ministry of Finance does not need a certificate from somebody who is accused and under accountability," he added. "Siniora had best confront us and we defy him to meet before the public opinion and judicial authorities to pursue him for corruption and public funds waste," he concluded.

Future bloc hails Ayrault visit as advantageous to presidential dossier
Tue 12 Jul 2016/NNA - Future parliamentary bloc hailed on Tuesday the current visit paid to Lebanon by French Foreign Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, who is discussing with the Lebanese top officials the solutions to the presidential issue. "This visit is an additional proof of the deep friendship between Lebanon and France, as well as the French strong wish to sustain Lebanon's stability, unity, independence, territorial integrity, and institutions," lawmakers said in a statement following their weekly meeting, renewing calls to elect a new president of the republic. The bloc did not fail to remember July war, upon its 10th anniversary, highlighting the importance of people's resistance and the sacrifices of the Lebanese army, in addition to the efforts of Fouad Siniora-led government. On the financial level, conferees underlined that budgets must be set upon their constitutional date, according to regulations.

Ten Years Later, Hizbullah Fighting Another 'Existential War'
Associated Press/Naharnet/July 12/16/In front-line villages of south Lebanon, the posters of Hizbullah members killed fighting Israel 10 years ago still stand, but have faded. Now rising up around them is a new generation of posters, bearing the faces of young fighters from the group killed in Syria. They reflect Hizbullah's shift from decades of fighting Israel, a cause that at one time earned it soaring popularity across Lebanon and the Arab and Muslim world, to the far less popular role of fighting in defense of Syria's embattled president, Bashar Assad. It is a venture that is proving costly for the group. The war in neighboring Syria is bleeding Hizbullah of fighters and experienced military commanders, and has left the group more vulnerable to accusations of complete subservience to Iran. So far, more than a thousand of the group's fighters, including several founding members, have been killed in Syria, a toll higher than the one incurred by the group in nearly two decades of fighting Israeli occupation forces. Hizbullah's involvement in Syria has also changed the public discourse around the group in the Arab world in general and at home in Lebanon, where it continues to dominate politics but is much more publicly criticized. Public opinion is sharply polarized among those who see the group as dragging Lebanon into the Syria morass, and others who support it. "I think that we're seeing rumblings of discontent. I mean some families obviously aren't happy. We've heard a lot of stories about families saying why are our kids dying in Syria, we can understand them dying in the fight against Israel but why are they dying in the fight in Syria," said Maha Yahya, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. But whatever criticism of Hizbullah exists among Lebanese Shiites, it tends to remain inside the Shiite community. Public support for the group so far appears intact because the majority of Shiites still see supporting Assad, a member of the minority Alawite sect that is an offshoot of Shiite Islam, as crucial and vital to their interests. That's in part because of how Hizbullah frames the war to its supporters. The group has depicted itself as battling Sunni extremists intent on wiping out Shiites, arguing it must fight them in Syria to keep them away from Lebanon. It also calls the war an extension of its fight against Israel, saying that Syria is under attack from Western powers seeking to eliminate Assad as a "center of resistance" to Israel.
"Syria has been the worst imaginable piece of news for Hizbullah. A challenge that has transformed the party into something it does not want: the perception of a Sunni killer," said Bilal Saab, a senior fellow for Middle East Security at the Atlantic Council.
It is difficult to measure sentiment within Hizbullah, a highly secretive and disciplined organization. On the 10th anniversary of the 2006 war with Israel, an Associated Press team gained rare access into the homes of slain fighters in south Lebanon, where relatives grieved but said they supported the group's justifications for fighting in Syria.
In one home, the socks and boots stained with the blood of a Hizbullah fighter killed in 2006 are on display in the sitting room of his parents' house. In another, the military uniform worn by a fighter killed in Syria lay on his bed, laid out carefully by his grieving mother. "Khalil was my soul but I won't hide my son and say, let other people send their children," said Hanan Ibrahim, whose son Khalil was killed near Damascus on Dec. 27, 2013. "He should go (fight in Syria), and my other son too and if I had a third son I would also send him," she said, speaking in her living room, decorated with a giant picture of her son Khalil on a front line in Syria. Hizbullah's popularity across the Arab world and in Lebanon had taken a major hit beginning in 2005, when it was accused by some of being behind the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri with a massive bombing in Beirut. In 2008, the group briefly seized several Sunni neighborhoods of west Beirut after the government moved to close down its secret telecommunications network, pointing its weapons internally for the first time since the end of Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war.
Hizbullah's involvement in the Syrian war has, according to its critics, left the group looking even more like an Iranian tool fighting for its own self-interest. It is a far cry from back in 2000, when Hizbullah was celebrated across much of the Arab world, including among Sunnis, for its guerrilla campaign that eventually forced Israeli troops to pull out of a slice of southern Lebanon they had occupied for 18 years. And despite some criticism, the group was supported by the majority of Lebanese during the 2006 war with Israel, which began with a cross-border Hizbullah raid that kidnapped two Israeli soldiers, triggering a massive Israeli air and ground campaign. The 2006 fighting killed about 1,200 Lebanese, including hundreds of civilians, and about 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers. The war failed to neutralize the group's rocket threat, and Israeli officials say Hizbullah's improved missile arsenal is now capable of striking virtually anywhere in the country. Israeli political and military leaders, however, say that the war succeeded in re-establishing Israeli deterrence and provided a decade of quiet on its northern front — and gleefully note that the group's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is still in hiding 10 years later.
Israeli officials also acknowledge that as a group, Hizbullah is amassing more combat experience and has more than replenished its arms via smuggling from Syria. That pipeline is one key reason why preserving the existing Syrian regime is seen as so existential for Hizbullah.
In the front-line village of Aynata, only few miles away from the Israeli border, residents vividly recall the 2006 war. The village was heavily damaged by Israeli airstrikes and ground fighting between Israeli soldiers and Hizbullah fighters. Fourteen Hizbullah fighters and 28 civilians were killed. Since Hizbullah began sending fighters to Syria in 2012, six other fighters from the village have died. "What is common between these two wars is that they are existential wars against Hizbullah, and to be more precise, it is a war against Shiites," said Hisham Khanafer, whose two younger brothers, Moussa and Abbas, were killed — one fighting Israel in 2006 and one in Syria last year.
Abbas, who was 25, had planned to marry his fiancee as soon as he returned from Syria. Moussa was 29, his third daughter born on the day he was killed. Khanafer wears a yellow shawl, the color of the Hizbullah flag, with portraits of his slain brothers on each side. "Every war has a price," he says.
Hizbullah first began sending fighters in small numbers to Syria in 2012, to help protect Shiite shrines near the capital, Damascus, and has gradually escalated its involvement, dispatching fighters to ever more distant places to shore up the battered forces of Assad. Nearly 30 Hizbullah fighters were killed in one single battle around the city of Aleppo near the Turkish border last month."For Israel, this is a dream scenario. All its enemies are killing each other in Syria... without them having to fire a bullet or place even one soldier in the line of fire," said Yahya of the Carnegie Middle East Center.
She said although Hizbullah's overall control is not as tight as it used to be, the group is nowhere near a breaking point yet.

STL Axes Trial of Slain Hizbullah Commander
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 12/16/A special UN court set up to prosecute the killers of former prime minister Rafik Hariri overturned Monday an earlier decision to try in absentia a Hizbullah military chief who is thought to have died in May. The Hague-based Special Tribunal for Lebanon's (STL) appeals chamber found by a majority "that sufficient evidence had been presented... to establish the death of Mustafa Badreddine," it said in a statement. The court's judges last month insisted they would continue with the trial of Badreddine and four others, despite thousands attending Badreddine's funeral in Beirut. The tribunal's appeals judges however had a different opinion and "ordered the Trial Chamber to terminate proceedings against the accused" -- but said the case could be reopened should new evidence come to light proving Badreddine is still alive. Hizbullah said Badreddine, who was on a US terror sanctions blacklist and wanted by Israel, was killed by artillery shelling carried out by “takfiri groups” on May 12 near Damascus international airport. The Lebanese, Iran-backed group has deployed thousands of fighters in Syria where Badreddine had led its intervention in support of President Bashar Assad's forces, which are also backed by Russia and Iran. The STL launched proceedings against Badreddine and four other Hizbullah suspects in January 2014. They have never appeared in court. Badreddine stood accused of masterminding the 2005 bombing that killed Hariri, who was killed along with more than 20 others in a massive suicide car bombing on Beirut's waterfront. The STL was set up in 2007 and is the only international ad-hoc tribunal with the jurisdiction to try an act of terror.

Al-Rahi Appointed on Vatican's Pontifical Council for Social Communications
Naharnet/July 12/16/Pope Francis has appointed Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi as a member of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Lebanon's National News Agency reported on Tuesday.It said the decree was issued on June 30, 2016.At the age of 71, al-Rahi was elected patriarch of the Maronites on March 15, 2011.He was designated a Cardinal by pope Benedict XVI on November 24, 2012.

Aoun Reportedly Seeking to Visit Saudi Arabia
Naharnet/July 12/16/Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun has requested to visit Riyadh to meet with top Saudi officials, a media report said on Tuesday. “Aoun is trying to appease some parties that have reservations or objections against him being elected as president and he has reportedly asked to visit the Saudi capital to hold talks with the kingdom's top officials,” As Safir newspaper reported. According to the daily, Aoun made his request during the dinner banquet that Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awadh Asiri hosted at his residence prior to the holy month of Ramadan. The report comes six days after the FPM founder called the Saudi ambassador to offer Eid al-Fitr greetings and condemn the suicide bombings that targeted the kingdom. Aoun paid visits to Speaker Nabih Berri and Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan on the same day. There has been speculation in the country that the latest rapprochement between Aoun and Berri could lead to an agreement over the stalled presidential election or the parliamentary polls. Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the electoral sessions at parliament, stripping them of the needed quorum. Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.

Change and Reform Stresses Need for 'Christian Agreement' on Presidency, 'Fair' Electoral Law
Naharnet/July 12/16/The Change and Reform parliamentary bloc on Tuesday underlined the importance of what it called Christian consensus over the country's next president, while reiterating its call for a “fair” electoral law for parliamentary polls. “We should shoulder our responsibilities as Lebanese, at the Christian level and at the national level, but the Christian level comes first,” MP Ibrahim Kanaan told reporters after the bloc's weekly meeting in Rabieh, in remarks citing French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault's visit to Lebanon on Monday and Tuesday.“Like the presidency, the electoral law is also a priority and we must agree on a fair law that consolidates national partnership,” Kanaan said. “We need a fair law that corrects representation and leads to real Muslim-Christian partnership, and this requires all political parties to rise above petty interests,” he added. Reiterating the bloc's call for a law based on the proportional representation system, Kanaan said that after the latest municipal polls, “everyone has realized that this law is the most appropriate one and that it can be discussed and modified.”Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the electoral sessions at parliament, stripping them of the needed quorum. Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.

Berri Says Parliamentary Polls in Spring Even if No New Law
Naharnet/July 12/16/Speaker Nabih Berri has reiterated his firm rejection of a new extension of the parliament's term, noting that the next parliamentary elections will be held in the spring of 2017 even if the political parties fail to agree on a new electoral law. “Should no new electoral law be reached by November at the latest, the Interior Ministry will be obliged to prepare for parliamentary polls in the spring under the law that is currently in effect – the 1960 law,” Berri told As Safir newspaper in remarks published Tuesday. The speaker has several times repeated his rejection of the 1960 law, urging an electoral system based on proportional representation. Berri has also proposed a so-called “package deal” involving parliamentary elections under a new electoral law before electing a new president and forming a new government. Should the parties fail to agree on a new law, the parliament's current extended term would be curtailed and the elections would be held under the 1960 law which is currently in effect, Berri says.

HRW Decries 'Forced Anal Exams' in Lebanon, 7 Other Countries
Associated Press/Naharnet/July 12/16/Human Rights Watch is urging an end to "forced anal examinations" with a report documenting them in eight countries, mostly in Africa, saying the practice is based on flawed ideas about supposedly proving homosexual conduct. The advocacy group calls the examinations "a form of cruel, degrading and inhuman treatment" that amounts to sexual assault, violates international conventions and could rise to the level of torture. The report unveiled Tuesday draws on interviews with 32 men and transgender women subjected to the exams in eight countries that ban same-sex conduct: Cameroon, Egypt, Kenya, Lebanon, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uganda and Zambia. The report says the exams are rooted in "discredited 19th century theories" that homosexuals can be identified by characteristics of the anus.

Iran indicts Iranian-American businessman and a Lebanese citizen for no declared reason
Reuters, Ankara Tuesday, 12 July 2016/Iran’s judiciary has indicted three detained Iranian dual-nationals and a Lebanese citizen also held in the Islamic Republic, the judiciary’s official news website Mizan said on Monday. Several Iranian dual nationals from the United States, Britain, Canada and France have been detained in the past few months and are being kept behind bars on various charges, including espionage or collaborating with a hostile government. “After the issuance of indictments, the cases against (British-Iranian) Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, (American-Iranian) Siamak Namazi, (Canadian-Iranian) Homa Hoodfar and (US-Lebanese) Nizar Zakka ... have been referred to court for processing,” the website quoted Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi as saying. He did not provide details about the charges brought against the four. Dolatabadi also did not say whether the court was a Revolutionary Court, which handles security-related cases. A judiciary source told Reuters their cases had been referred to the court “within the past two weeks.”“But it does not mean that they will stand trial soon. Iran’s judiciary is reviewing their cases very carefully,” said the official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter. Iran does not recognize dual nationality and treats detainees only as Iranian, depriving them of consular access.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 37, a program coordinator with the London-based charity Thomson Reuters Foundation, was detained in early April before boarding a flight back to Britain with her two-year-old daughter. Her British husband, Richard Ratcliffe, says their daughter has been put in the care of Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s family in Iran. In a statement emailed to Reuters on Monday, the Foundation said Zaghari-Ratcliffe “has yet not been given access to a lawyer.”
“I expect the Iranian authorities to free Nazanin and to release the passport of her daughter Gabriella as soon as possible,” said Monique Villa, Thomson Reuters Foundation CEO in the statement. Accusations Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) accused Zaghari-Ratcliffe in a statement published last month of trying to “overthrow” the government. Her husband has dismissed the accusation.Dubai-based businessman Siamak Namazi, a dual US-Iranian citizen, was detained by the IRGC last October while in Iran visiting his family. Dolatabadi did not mention the case of Namazi’s 80-year-old father, Baquer Namazi, another dual American-Iranian national who his family said was detained in February. The Iranian authorities have not confirmed the elder Namazi’s detention.
The US State Department said on Monday that a US citizen and a US legal resident, reported to have been indicted in Iran, were “unjustly detained” and should be released. Hoodfar is the most recent dual national to be arrested in Iran. The IRGC detained the 65-year-old Canadian-Iranian scholar on June 6 in Tehran. She had traveled to Iran in February for personal reasons, but had also been continuing her academic research while in the country, her family said. Iranian state media said in November that American-Lebanese IT expert Nizar Zakka had been detained in Iran, accusing him of having links to the US military and intelligence agencies. Lebanese media reported that Zakka had disappeared on Sept. 18 after attending a conference in Tehran.The Iranian judiciary has not commented on their cases or made the charges against them public. But Iran’s judiciary spokesman said in January that most of the detained dual nationals were facing espionage charges. In January, Iran released four Iranian-American dual nationals and an American in a prisoner swap negotiated between the United States and Iran coinciding with the implementation of a landmark nuclear deal with six major powers in 2015 aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear program in return for the lifting of economic sanctions. The United States also released seven Iranians, six of whom also had dual US nationality.

Reflections on the Second Lebanon War, 10 Years On
Jonathan Spyer/The Jerusalem Post/July 12, 2016
Jonathan Spyer/The Jerusalem Post: Reflections on the Second Lebanon War, 10 Years On
Israeli soldiers returning from the front with captured Lebanese and Hezbollah flags, July 25, 2006.
For those of us who took part in it, the war remains quiet and always just in view, like a suitcase filled with items of memory in the corner of a room.
It was an entirely inglorious and partially botched and inconclusive affair, a "major and serious missed opportunity," as the second report of the Winograd Committee termed it.
It has also been rapidly forgotten.
This, it seems, is the way of the small wars that Israel fights these days. None of them passes into legend, as did the great conflicts of the state's foundation. Today's conflicts, after a short time, become largely the private property of those who participated in them.
This may not be a bad thing. Perhaps it is akin to the rapidity with which Israeli cities clean up and move on after terrorist attacks. Still, the long quiet on the northern border that has followed the 2006 war has helped to further obscure some of the lessons of that summer. It is worth, therefore, recalling in unforgiving focus some of what took place.
Ten years of quiet on Israel's northern border have helped obscure the war's painful lessons.
A cabinet led by people with minimal security experience (and a prime minister now serving a jail term), and an IDF led by its first chief of staff from the air force, set out for war with the Iranian proxy Hezbollah organization on July 12, 2006.
It is now evident that no coherent and achievable plan for the conduct of the war had been decided upon at the rushed and overheated cabinet meeting that set it in motion. This problematic, unprepared leadership was in turn commanding an army ill-suited for the war it would need to fight.
There were two reasons for the IDF's state of unreadiness: The first was practical: The 2006 war came immediately after five years of intensive counter-insurgency, in which the IDF was engaged against a large-scale Palestinian uprising. The demands of the second intifada left little time for training for conventional war.Israel lacked a coherent and achievable plan for the conduct of the war.
The challenges faced by troops at that time were considerable. But they were mainly of a police-like nature, not employing or testing the specialized skills of front-line military units in battlefield conditions.
This army in 2006 found itself facing a well-armed, mobile enemy, on terrain that the Israeli side knew far less well than its foe.
The resulting difficulties were compounded by a second, conceptual, issue.
The 2006 war was not the fight the army was expecting. Then chief of staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Dan Halutz expected to spend his period at the IDF's helm facing the key challenge of the Iranian nuclear program and focusing on ballistic missile defense. Future wars, it was assumed, would be fought using air power, with small numbers of trained specialists on the ground.
As a result, resources had in preceding years been diverted from training the large reserve land army. It was assumed that this was a force unlikely to be used.
Subsequently, in 2006, some reserve armored formations went into battle against Hezbollah having taken part in only one training exercise using tanks in the previous half-decade. Full disclosure: I was a member of such a force.
These were the circumstances in which Israel went to war in 2006. The war for the greater part of its duration consisted of limited ground operations by the IDF in an area adjoining the border, air operations up to Beirut, as well as a successfully maintained naval blockade; and on Hezbollah's side, defense of areas under ground attack and a successful effort to maintain a constant barrage of short-range rockets on northern Israel.A cease-fire came into effect at 8 a.m. on August 14, 2006, following the passing of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. The end of the fighting found some IDF units deployed at the Litani River, but with Israel far from control of the entire area between the river and the Israeli border.Hesitant political leadership and lack of an overall plan for the war were the reasons for its inconclusive results. Looking back, it is clear that hesitant Israeli political leadership and a lack of an overall plan for the war were the reasons for its inconclusive results. Had the IDF, even the poorly prepared force that entered the war of 2006, been presented with clear orders at an early stage to move forward into Lebanon, according to one of the available plans for achieving this, a less ambiguous result could have been achieved. No such order was ever given.Much public anger followed the war and its inconclusive results, as Hezbollah and its friends in the West sought to build a narrative of "divine victory" from the events.From the perspective of a decade later, however, much of the euphoria of Hezbollah and the despair on parts of the Israeli side seem exaggerated.The results of the war from an Israeli perspective in 2016 are mixed.The border has indeed been quieter since 2006 than at any time since the late 1960s. This fact in itself says more about Hezbollah's true assessment following the damage suffered in 2006 than any Al-Akhbar editorial excitedly proclaiming divine victory.
**Jonathan Spyer is director of the Rubin Center for Research in International Affairs and a fellow at the Middle East Forum.
 

The war from the Lebanese side
Roi Kais/Ynetnews/July 10/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/07/12/roi-kaisynetnews-the-war-from-the-lebanese-side/
Despite the clear signals showing that the Lebanese people don't want a war with Israel, Hezbollah is still gearing up for the next round of fighting 10 years after the Second Lebanon War. Hezbollah is losing its standing in Lebanese society, and may feel pressured to prove itself once again as the 'heroes of Lebanon.'
It's a scene that’s been burned into the Middle East's collective memory; then Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora is crying in front of the cameras during a meeting with the foreign ministers of the Arab League while talking about the destruction and casualties which the IDF caused to his country.
"Rescue Lebanon!" he begged them.
His tears were a direct contrast to the triumphant speeches given by Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah as the war waged on. The differences in mood between the Sunni President and the head of the Shia terror group show the immense divides in public opinon 10 years after the Second Lebanon War.
The summer of 2006 saw Nasrallah at the height of his rock star popularity. Perfume shops were selling Nasrallah cologne, and china shops were selling plates with Nasrallah's face on them.
He was able to unify the various sects in Lebanon through a process which academics would term "Lebanonization." Even before the war, Nasrallah was downplaying the Shia-Islamism and pro-Iranian agenda which his organization represented, and was highlighting his organization as a Lebanese national movement which only wanted to integrate into local politics. The Second Lebanon War was presented to the Lebanese people as a part of this framework.
According to Dr. Omri Nir, a researcher specializing in Lebanon at Hebrew University, Nasrallah stressed that Hezbollah and the Shia population sacrificed their lives and their homes to make sure that Lebanon wouldn't not be occupied by Israel.
"It gave Shia in Lebanon access to Lebanese society. The Lebanese Shia population was always treated as a population more loyal to Iran (than Lebanon -ed). And now, these are the people who paid with their own flesh and blood for the sake of Lebanon."
This war strengthened Hezbollah's standing for the very short term. This is because there was a second side to the war – the tangible effects of it; destruction, death, and mass casualties.
According to Dr. Nir, the people in Lebanon began to ask themselves if Hezbollah's evolution – from resistance organization to part of the government – would lead Lebanon to the brink of destruction.
This question opened up a public debate which continues to this day, and there are more and more people who are coming to the conclusion that the Second Lebanon War was a tactical move by Hezbollah to try and take over the country.
"After 10 years, what stands out most in Lebanese society are the memories of the war, which have turned into a restraining factor," said Professor Nir. "For Hezbollah, it's not just a fear of Israel, but a fear that it will be viewed by the Lebanese public as a group which might lead to more violence in Lebanon."
$9.5 billion in damages
Little by little the results of the war are being exposed to the Lebanese population; 1,200 dead, thousands of injured, and hundreds of thousands who lost their homes.
The majority of the approximately 30,000 buildings which were destroyed were located in the Hezbollah stronghold of Dahiya in the southern section of Beirut. Dozens of bridges were also destroyed, along with miles of roads and infrastructure. All of Lebanon's ports and its international airport were either hit or destroyed, as were a large portion of the factories in that country. The overall cost to the Lebanese economy was estimated to be $9.5 billion.
In 2013 University of Beirut economist Professor Jassem 'Ajafa said "We lost approximately $10 billion in the war in 2006, and the next war won't be any better." He urged Nasrallah to not drag Lebanon into a new war which will lead the Lebanese economy to the precipice of collapse again, especially during the summer tourist months which are critical for the Lebanese economy and GDP.
Despite marketing the war as a "divine victory," a sense supported by the feeling in Israel that it had failed militarily, Hezbollah doesn't come out blameless in its handling of the war or its results. It's important to remember that Nasrallah has been hiding in his bunker since August 2006.
Hezbollah forces went out of control
An Arabic news publication had a wide ranging examination which attempted to determine what kind of impact the Second Lebanon War had on Lebanese society and Hezbollah's standing in Lebanese society in 2011. The headline read "Five years after the war; divine victory or the legitimization of Hezbollah's weapons hegemony?"
A resident of the Dahiyah neighborhood of Beirut named Umm Husain was interviewed for the article. She lost her home, but had the chance to meet with Nasrallah. "He brought us divine victory," she said. "He has brought us pride amongst the Arabs."
Her neighbor Zeinab Aish added that "while it's true we lost our possessions, we were able to reconstruct everything, and now our houses are nicer that they were before. Hezbollah didn't forget about us."
But behind their statements lies a Lebanese and perhaps even international failure. The day after the ceasefire came into effect on August 15, 2006, Hezbollah representatives came with cash and handed out $12,000 to every family who lost their home. Dr. Nir suggests that "If the West would have handed out cash that quickly instead of Hezbollah, Hezbollah would have been remembered as the group which brought destruction to Lebanon."
These two women represent one side of the equation. In the same article, people who are opposed to Hezbollah from within the Shia community gave their negative opinions.
One of these people said that "the gulf that exists in Lebanon only got wider after the war and after Hezbollah turned into an uncontrollable force. The war gave Hezbollah an unusual amount of power because they believed that they had triumphed as no other Arab country had before."
The issue of "legitimizing Hezbollah's weapons" is one of the most pressing issues in Lebanon from the war. The issue's climax came following a trial two years after the war whereby Hezbollah engaged in street battles with Lebanese political factions who didn't want Hezbollah to be in control of Lebanese telecommunications. The battles lasted a week, and saw 11 people killed and 30 wounded in what would be known as the "2008 conflict in Lebanon." In the Arab press article from 2011, a man who was involved in the battles said "Israel is everyone's enemy, but we hate it when they (Hezbollah) turn their weapons on Beirut as opposed to Israel."
'One eye on the south, the other on Aleppo'
Yet despite the lively public debate, not only can the fact that Hezbollah has amassed a huge arsenal of weapons be changed, but neither can the fact that these weapons are currently pointed at Sunni rebels in Syria as opposed to Israel. In a meeting with Hezbollah fighters, Nasrallah said in one sentence a very apt summary of the change in the organization's priorities. He said "one eye to the south (Lebanon), and one eye on Aleppo."Nasrallah's effort to help his ally Bashar Assad was done in the hope of strengthening Hezbollah's position as a "defender of Lebanon" from the alleged Sunni extremist threat which might spill over into Lebanon. Dr. Nir said that "even Hezbollah's Christian rivals know that if ISIS comes to Lebanon that ISIS will slaughter the Christians. There are Christian villages in the Bekaa valley who are trying to buy weapons from Hezbollah."
There are an estimated 7,000 Hezbollah fighters in Syria. On the one hand, the organization is gaining valuable experience for its future war with Israel, all the while maintaining its rocket arsenal of over 100,000 rockets which can hit every city in Israel. On the other hand, Hezbollah has lost a lot of soldiers in Syria – approximately 1,400. This is double the number they lost in the Second Lebanon War.
However, despite Nasrallah's best efforts, the war in Syria is having an impact on both the Lebanese public's impression of the organization and on the morale of its fighters. Hezbollah's reputation as an organization which is resisting Israel is getting smaller and smaller, while it is getting a reputation for being a Shia agent for the Iranians is only increasing.
One can see in an op-ed published in the Hezbollah affiliated A-Safir on the 16th anniversary of the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon which said that the Takfiri groups – the extremist Sunni groups – are the organization's main priority, not Israel.
This criticism can also be seen outside of Lebanon. Hezbollah's reputation as the hero of the Arab world has taken a harsh hit following Hezbollah's involvement in Syria. The organization's low point was when the Arab League recognized the Shia group as a terrorist organization.
Where will the Shia go?
The Shia population in Lebanon – the population which Hezbollah is supposedly most attuned to – hasn’t accepted the reality of a new war with Israel, especially with the destruction of their houses in 2006 still fresh in their memories.
They are at a crossroads, and it doesn’t seem like they will be ready for more war with Israel any time soon. Ten years have passed since the initial euphoria. The residents of southern Lebanonare depressed that they are losing their sons in Syria.
Hezbollah has always been worried; worried about what's going on in neighboring countries; from Sunni Jihadist groups; from the consequences of being an Iranian puppet; and from the bad economic situation in Lebanon. There are signs of stress which aren’t being shown publicly, and the criticisms aren't being said out loud. However, it is clear that Hezbollah's arrogance has significantly diminished.
Meanwhile, the organization is being affected by the demographic changes happening in Lebanon due to over a million Sunni refugees coming into the country from Syria. Additionally, the pre- 2006 rivalries between the various sects in Lebanese society still exist.
In south Lebanon and Dahiya its impossible to see the devastation from 10 years ago. Its also impossible to see Hezbollah's enormous arsenal tucked away in Shia villages in southern Lebanon, waiting to be fired. While Hezbollah is preparing for more violence, the memories of the destruction from the last war are still fresh in the Lebanese collective memory. Yet despite everything, ten years after the summer of 2006, Hezbollah is preparing for a third Lebanese war. The war can break out at any moment, even if neither side wants it
Hezbollah is aiming it's weapons at Syria instead of Israel

10 stories on 10 years after the Second Lebanon War
Jerusalem Post/July 12/16
The Second Lebanon War and what may come next.
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/07/12/jerusalem-post-10-stories-on-10-years-after-the-second-lebanon-war/
Second Lebanon War
Ten years ago, on July 12, 2006, eight IDF soldiers were killed and two were kidnapped on the border with Lebanon in an attack by Hezbollah. Hezbollah simultaneously launched Katyusha rockets against Israeli communities near the border. The next 34 days of military conflict in Lebanon and Northern Israel—which continued until the United Nations issued a cease-fire on August 14 that formally ended on September 8, 2006—later became known as the Second Lebanon War.
In commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the Second Lebanon War, The Jerusalem Post looks at the current thoughts, reflections and analyses of the war period, the situation today and what may await tomorrow.
1.The IDF is ready for another conflict with Hezbollah at a moment’s notice
A decade after the start of the Second Lebanon War, the IDF has undergone a radical transformation as it keeps close tabs on Hezbollah – its most formidable enemy over the northern border. This Iranian-backed Shi’ite terrorist army is gaining battlefield experience in Syria that IDF soldiers are not able to receive even in the most rigorous combat training programs. Today, Hezbollah is the most heavily armed, trained and capable fighting force threatening Israel.
2. Editor's Notes: From Entebbe to Lebanon
A decade though provides perspective: despite less than a handful of small border flare-ups, the Lebanese front today is quiet. For the most part, Hezbollah is not deployed along the border, definitely not in the open way it was before the 2006 war, when guerrilla fighters in army fatigues brandishing M-16s manned posts right up along the fence. This does not mean that Israel is in the clear. Quite the contrary. Today, Hezbollah is Israel’s primary threat, replacing the Syrian military which continues to disintegrate as a result of the country’s ongoing civil war. Israeli concerns stem from two dramatic upgrades Hezbollah has undergone in the decade since the last war.
3. As 10-year war anniversary nears, Israel to receive new stealth fighter jets
Ten years after Second Lebanon War, Hezbollah is armed with surface to air missiles and a vast rocket arsenal, and the fifth-generation aircraft will be key in helping the IAF tackle these threats. The Israeli defense establishment calls it a game changer, and views it as the plane that will provide the country with unparalleled aerial capabilities against its enemies.
4. Analysis: Reflections on the Second Lebanon War, 10 years on
Looking back, it is clear that hesitant Israeli political leadership and a lack of an overall plan for the war were the reasons for its inconclusive results. Had the IDF, even the poorly prepared force that entered the war of 2006, been presented with clear orders at an early stage to move forward into Lebanon, according to one of the available plans for achieving this, a less ambiguous result could have been achieved. No such order was ever given. Much public anger followed the war and its inconclusive results, as Hezbollah and its friends in the West sought to build a narrative of “divine victory” from the events. From the perspective of a decade later, however, much of the euphoria of Hezbollah and the despair on parts of the Israeli side seem exaggerated. The results of the war from an Israeli perspective in 2016 are mixed.
5. Brig.-Gen. Gal Hirsch sets the record straight
The general, who went on to found a company, returned in 2012 to serve in the reserves as deputy commander of Depth Corps, which oversees combined special operations. He warns that the public must be prepared for a third Lebanon war, and that Syria has become a tinderbox, with extremist groups now having a direct access to the border due to the chaos there.
6. Peretz takes credit for 10 years of quiet
Zionist Union MK Amir Peretz has no regrets, 10 years after leading Israel into the Second Lebanon War as its minister of defense. In an interview at his office in the Knesset on the eve of another likely run for leadership of the Labor Party, he explained why what went right in the war was his doing and what went wrong was not.
7. How the Lebanon War led Bennett from hi-tech millions to politics
A start-up millionaire completely changed his life’s course after fighting in Lebanon in 2006; Naftali Bennett talks about how the war pushed him into politics.
8. Analysis: 10 years after latest Lebanon War, next one will be far more brutal
Though Tony Badran, a Lebanon expert and research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, fears that "Hezbollah has effectively painted a target on the back of Lebanon," a Beirut resident responded to JPost that "No one is thirsty for war [here]," so an imminent war does not seem likely, let alone threatening, for now.
9. Assessing the covert war between the IDF and Hezbollah
A decade after the Second Lebanon War, Israel and Hezbollah have kept their guns silent, and the northern border has experienced an unprecedented period of mostly incident-free years. Hezbollah rebuilt southern Beirut and Lebanon and restocked its weapons depots, while the IDF began training and arming itself for the next potential phase of hostilities. Yet under the surface, it seems, a covert struggle could be raging right now between them, with neither side interested in escalating the ‘low-flame’ affair into an open conflict.
10. Analysis: Was the Second Lebanon War a success?
Ten years after the outbreak of the Second Lebanon War, more and more Israelis are changing their perception and acknowledging that the Second Lebanon War was an impressive strategic success. The strategic goals set by the government led by then-prime minister Ehud Olmert – who is now serving time in prison after being convicted on corruption charges – were achieved by the IDF: deterrence of Hezbollah was deepened. The Shi’ite Lebanese movement, which still is Israel’s number one enemy, is deterred and fears entering into a new round of hostilities with Israel... And yet many Israelis and commentators continue to wrongly insist that the Second Lebanon War was a failure, and are engaged in a heated debate on its legacy.
 

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 12-13/16

UN calls for aid access, civilian evacuations in Syria's Aleppo
Reuters, Geneva Tuesday, 12 July 2016/The United Nations said on Tuesday it was deeply concerned about increased fighting in and around the Syrian city of Aleppo and called for humanitarian aid access and the safe and rapid evacuation of civilians.
UN spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci told a regular UN briefing in Geneva that intensified hostilities between government forces and armed groups had cut 300,000 people in eastern Aleppo off from humanitarian supplies and commercial goods, and prices in the city were already rising.

US signs memo with Peshmerga to boost Kurdish forces in Mosul battle
Al Arabiya English Tuesday, 12 July 2016/The Pentagon on Tuesday signed a memo with the Peshmerga ministry to give the Kurdish forces of the autonomous northern region of Kurdistan in Iraq financial and military backing, the local Al-Sumaria News reported. The Peshmerga, the military force of Kurdistan, is controlled separately by Kurdistan’s two main Kurdish political parties -- the Democratic Party of Kurdistan and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.American and Kurdish officials, including Kurdistan’s President Masoud Al-Barazani, attended the signing. The independent Iraqi Al-Sumaria News reported that the memo also includes paying the salaries for the Peshmerga. Kurds in Iraq and Syria have gained a reputation as formidable soldiers, and especially their women fighters in their battle against ISIS. Meanwhile, Al Arabiya News Channel reported on Tuesday that the Peshmerga’s role in the upcoming battle to recapture Iraq’s second largest city of Mosul, is to storm the city from the northern and eastern axis, while Iraqi forces enter from the south. Mosul was seized by ISIS in a lighting offensive in June 2014. Professor George Joffe, a Middle East expert from Cambridge University, dubbed the peshmerga forces participating in the upcoming Mosul battle as “essential.”Joffe said “what the Kurds are saying is if you do not pay our costs, we can not provide you with the forces” on the backdrop of low oil prices, a key natural resource Kurdistan depends on to make its profits. Asked if the signing of the memo would anger the central government in Baghdad, he said “it is an attack on Iraq’s sovereignty, but it [Baghdad] can not argue against because Americans are paying the bills.”
While Baghdad might not be happy about such memos, the government of Prime Minister Haider Abadi still needs the Kurds to recapture Mosul. “They absolutely do [need the Kurds],” the professor said. “The problem for the Iraqis is that if they are not using the Kurds, they will be using the Hashed, but they do not want to do that because that will alienate all the Sunnis,” he added, using the Arabic word ‘Hashed’ for the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), volunteer forces made mainly of Shiites. Like the Kurds, the PMU has gained a reputation for its hard-hitting and “willing to die” fighters, who emerged after Iraq’s army abandoned the country’s second largest city of Mosul in June 2014. Their power intensified after the Iraqi army then lost Anbar’s Ramadi in May the same year. However, Sunnis fear the PMU over alleged reports of retaliatory acts following liberation of Sunni areas. To further back Iraq’s quest in defeating ISIS, Defense Secretary Ash Carter in an unannounced visit to the country on Monday said that the United States will send 560 more troops to Iraq to help strengthen a newly retaken air base as a staging hub for the long-awaited battle to recapture Mosul. Carter’s day-long visit to Iraq comes on the heels of the two-day NATO summit in Warsaw where allies agreed to expand their military support for the war. Iraq has also recently recaptured the strategic Al-Qayara air base, south of Mosul, paving the path to claim control over the ISIS-held city again. In addition to Qayara, Iraqi government troops recently have retaken Ramadi, Fallujah and a number of towns along the route to Mosul. But ISIS militants still control large swathes of the country and continue to launch deadly attacks, including a massive suicide bombing last week at Baghdad’s bustling commercial area of Karada, killing as many as 300.

US troops head to Iraq ahead of Mosul fight
Reuters, Baghdad Tuesday, 12 July 2016/The United States is stepping up its military campaign against ISIS by sending hundreds more troops to assist Iraqi forces in an expected push on the city of Mosul, the militants' largest stronghold, later this year. US Defense Secretary Ash Carter made the announcement on Monday during a visit to Baghdad, where he met U.S. commanders, as well as Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi. Most of the 560 additional troops will work out of Qayara air base, which Iraqi forces recaptured from ISIS militants and plan to use as a staging ground for an offensive to retake Mosul, Iraq's second biggest city. Government forces said on Saturday they had recovered the air base, about 60 km (40 miles) from the northern city, with air support from the US-led military coalition. "With these additional US forces I'm describing today, we'll bring unique capability to the campaign and provide critical support to the Iraqi forces at a key moment in the fight," Carter told a gathering of US troops in Baghdad. The new troops were "ready to come" and it would be a matter of "days and weeks, not months," he said. Abadi has pledged to retake Mosul by the end of the year.

Suicide bombing in Baghdad Shiite district kills 11
The Associated Press, Baghdad Tuesday, 12 July 2016/A suicide car bomb ripped through an outdoor market in a Shiite-dominated northeastern district of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 11 people, officials said, as government forces deployed across much of the Iraqi capital in preparation for a major military parade later this week.The developments came on the heels of two large-scale attacks claimed by ISIS that killed more than 300 people last week. On Monday, visiting US Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Washington will send 560 more troops to Iraq to help battle ISIS. In Tuesday's bombing, the explosives-laden pickup truck exploded during the morning rush hour at a vegetable and fruit market in the al-Rashidiya district, a police officer said. The blast killed 11 and wounded up to 32, and also damaged several cars, he added. A medical official confirmed the casualty figures. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to the media. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but it bore the hallmarks of ISIS. The extremists, who consider Shiites heretics, swept across northern and western Iraq in the summer of 2014, capturing large chunks of territory and plunging the country into its worst crisis since US troops left at the end of 2011.Last week, ISIS killed more than 300 people in two attacks. A massive truck bombing struck a bustling commercial area in a Baghdad's predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Karada, killing 292 people — one of the deadliest attacks since the 2003 US-led invasion. And last Thursday, an attack at a Shiite shrine north of Baghdad killed 37 people. Iraqi government forces deployed in most of Baghdad on Tuesday, closing off main roads and snarling traffic. The Interior Ministry spokesman, Brig. Gen. Saad Maan, said the troops were "practicing for a planned military parade for a specific occasion." Maan didn't name the occasion, but the country is due to mark the anniversary of its 1958 overthrow of a Hashemite monarchy and the declaration of Iraq as a republic on Thursday. The recent uptick in ISIS attacks beyond the front lines demonstrated the ISIS group's ability to launch lethal attacks despite recent territorial losses in both Iraq and Syria, where it has established a self-proclaimed caliphate. ISIS militants still hold pockets of territory in northern and western Iraq. According to Carter, who on Monday met with top Iraqi officials, the new American forces should arrive in the coming weeks. They will primarily be tasked with transforming an air base retaken this month from ISIS into a staging hub for the long-awaited battle to recapture Mosul — Iraq's second-largest city — from ISIS militants.

Rebels launch assault in Syria’s divided Aleppo
AFP, Aleppo, Syria Tuesday, 12 July 2016/Rebel fighters launched a major assault on government-held districts of Syria’s long-divided Aleppo on Monday, after the regime severed their only remaining supply route into the battleground city. Once Syria’s economic powerhouse, Aleppo has been ravaged by the war that began with anti-government protests in 2011 and which has since killed more than 280,000 people. Rebels launched the offensive at dawn to reopen the Castello Road, their last lifeline into the northern city, an AFP correspondent said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 19 regime forces were killed Monday when rebels blew up a tunnel in the Old City. Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said: “The opposition has not advanced because of the heavy aerial bombardment the regime is carrying out on the areas where fighting is underway.”Air raids on the rebel-held parts of Aleppo killed 13 civilians Monday, the Observatory said, most of them in the Bab al-Maqam neighborhood near the front line. An AFP journalist saw rescue workers help a stocky, shirtless man out of the rubble in Bab al-Maqam, his face and thick beard caked in dust. The unidentified man entered a field hospital and embraced the limp bodies of two young boys. “He was martyred. He’s gone,” he said crying over the body of one them. Several rounds of UN-brokered talks to end the conflict have failed, but the UN’s special envoy Staffan de Mistura said Monday that a “crucial moment” had been reached in efforts to secure a political settlement. But despite the diplomatic flurry, fighting has intensified in Aleppo, divided between government forces in the west and rebels in the east since mid-2012.
Barrage of shells
Rebels fired a barrage of at least 300 shells into western Aleppo, killing nine civilians, the Observatory said.Ahmed, a resident of the government-controlled west of the city, said his home in the Syria quarter was completely destroyed. “The shells have rained down on the western neighborhoods since 4:30 am,” he told AFP. Residents lifted debris in the Syria quarter and helped neighbors gather their belongings so they could leave in search of shelter elsewhere. Mahmud Abu Malak, a spokesman for the Nureddin al-Zanki rebel group, described fierce fighting. “All kinds of heavy artillery and machine-guns are being used in the assault, which is intended to ease the pressure on the Mallah and Handarat fronts,” he said, referring to areas near the rebel supply route into Aleppo. The Castello Road route was effectively severed last Thursday when government forces seized a hilltop within firing range. The advance leaves the opposition-held east of the city cut off, and raises the prospect of total siege. On Sunday, at least 29 opposition fighters were killed when rebels launched a fruitless assault to push government forces back from the road and reopen the route.Watch: Regional, international diplomats struggle over Aleppo
Meagre food stocks
The severing of the Castello Road has already created shortages of food and fuel in the east of Aleppo, with local market stalls sparsely stocked.“There are very few vegetables today because the Castello Road is closed,” said Abu Mohamed, a vendor in the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood. “If we hadn’t planted eggplant and zucchini inside the city, we wouldn’t have had any vegetables at all,” he said, pointing to his meagre stock of vegetables.Residents also described searching in vain for fuel, whether for vehicles or home use. The UN says nearly 600,000 Syrians live in besieged areas of the country, most surrounded by government forces, although rebels also use the tactic. The latest violence comes despite an extension until early Tuesday of a nationwide truce declared last week by the government to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. In northwest Idlib province, 17 people including two children were killed in air strikes which the Observatory said were carried out by either regime or allied Russian warplanes. US Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Moscow this week to seek common ground on how to deal with the ongoing bloodshed, it was announced Monday.The current truce does not cover extremists from ISIS or the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front. Also Monday, ISIS militants entered the historic city of Palmyra in central Syria for the first time since being defeated there by regime forces in March. But they were killed and the attack was now over, according to the Observatory. ISIS fighters also claimed a suicide attack on a rival rebel group in the town of Dumeir, east of Damascus, on Sunday that killed 16 people.

Europeans fear terror risk amid refugee influx
AFP, Berlin Tuesday, 12 July 2016/A majority of Europeans fear the recent refugee influx will heighten the risk of terrorist attacks and cost their countries jobs and social benefits, said a survey released Monday by the Pew Research Center. The US institute's survey across European countries shows growing concern about the historic influx of more than one million asylum seekers last year and about the integration of minority groups, Muslims in particular. In eight of the 10 countries surveyed, representing 80 percent of the European population, at least half of the public believe that "incoming refugees increase the likelihood of terrorism in their country", the survey said. The view was held most strongly, by 76 percent of respondents, in Hungary and by 71 percent in Poland -- both countries which have received proportionately few migrants as their governments have adopted a tough stance toward refugees. In Germany -- the largest EU economy, which last year took in the biggest number of migrants and refugees -- 61 percent shared this concern, while 60 percent of Italians and 52 percent of British voiced the same fears. Paradoxically, in France, a country hard hit by militant attacks in 2015, only 46 percent thought the danger of an attack had increased. In general, the Pew Center found that "the refugee crisis and the threat of terrorism are very much related to one another in the minds of many Europeans". "The recent surge of refugees into Europe has featured prominently in the anti-immigrant rhetoric of right-wing parties across the continent and in the heated debate over the UK's decision to exit the European Union," it pointed out. The study found that perceptions of refugees are influenced in part by negative attitudes toward Muslims already living in Europe. "In Hungary, Italy, Poland and Greece, more than six-in-ten say they have an unfavourable opinion of the Muslims in their country -– an opinion shared by at least one-in-four in each nation polled," it said. The study also found that majorities in seven of 10 countries saw the arrival of refugees as "a burden on our country because they take our jobs and social benefits". The proportion who held this view reached 82 percent in Hungary, 75 percent in Poland, 72 percent in Greece, 65 percent in Italy and 53 percent in France. In top refugee destinations Germany and Sweden, however, majorities did not share this fear and believed refugees make their nations stronger because of their work and talents. Pew said the survey was conducted with 11,494 respondents between April 4 and May 12.

Finally: Sanders endorses Clinton for president
The Associated Press, Portsmouth Tuesday, 12 July 2016/Bernie Sanders is at last endorsing Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee for president. The Vermont senator stood side-by-side with Clinton in Portsmouth, N.H., Tuesday. He pledged that his “political revolution” would continue. But he acknowledged that she, and not he, had won the delegates to snag the nomination. That has been true for weeks, and Democrats have not-so-quietly been angling for him to drop out and endorse the former secretary of state.
Sanders promised to work to help Clinton win in November, calling her “far and away the best candidate” to confront challenges facing the country. Republican Donald Trump has been trying to draw Sanders supporters to his campaign.

Trump and Christie join forces to attack Obama, Clinton
Reuters, Washington Tuesday, 12 July 2016/Republicans Donald Trump and Chris Christie teamed up on Monday to assail Democratic President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as weak on domestic security, making the kind of one-two punch possible if Trump picks Christie as his running mate. At a rally in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, and Christie, the tough-talking New Jersey governor, seized on the Dallas police shootings as examples of why Americans need a “law and order” candidate like Trump. Much of the debate about security in the presidential campaign has been about threats abroad. The shooting deaths of five Dallas police officers last week and violence in other cities have shifted the debate back home for now. Trump, a wealthy real estate developer, presented himself as “the law and order candidate” and called Clinton weak. He said she has grown out of touch with the plight of ordinary Americans and cited her making paid speeches to corporate interests as a cause. “Perhaps it is easy for politicians to lose touch with reality when they are being paid millions of dollars to read speeches to Wall Street executives, instead of spending time with real people in real pain,” he said. “The disconnect in America is deep. There are two Americas: the ruling class, and the groups it favors, and then everyone else,” said Trump. In the final days of his search for a vice presidential running mate, Trump was introduced at the event by Christie, who is one of Trump’s top potential picks to be his vice presidential running mate. Christie, a former rival of Trump for the presidential nomination, showed himself capable of assuming the role of political attack dog, a job the vice presidential nominee usually assumes. He suggested Obama has taken sides against police in the country’s debate over race and police brutality. “We need a president who once again will put law and order at the top of the priority of the presidency of this country,” Christie said. “Our police officers ... need to understand that the president of the United States and his administration will give them the benefit of the doubt, not always believe that what they have done is somehow wrong.” Trump has been test-driving his vice presidential possibilities. He campaigned last week with former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, and is to appear with a third No. 2 possibility, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, in Indiana on Tuesday.
The New York businessman has appeared most comfortable publicly with Gingrich. Both Gingrich and Christie have been advisers for Trump behind the scenes. Trump is also considering retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn for the job, but told The Washington Post in an interview published on Monday that he is leaning toward a conventional politician. “I don’t need two anti-establishment people,” Trump said. “Someone respected by the establishment and liked by the establishment would be good for unification. I do like unification of the Republican Party.” Trump said he would decide on his vice presidential pick in the next three or four days. The Republican National Convention, at which he is to be nominated as the party’s candidate, opens in Cleveland next Monday.

Jews rally near tense Holy site in memory of murdered teen
AFP, Jerusalem Tuesday, 12 July 2016/Jewish hardliners and Israeli right-wing politicians rallied near a flashpoint holy site in Jerusalem on Tuesday in support of a family whose 13-year-old daughter was murdered by a Palestinian. The provocative rally of a few hundred people was also attended by the girl’s parents, who later joined dozens of others in visiting the nearby Al-Aqsa mosque compound, revered by Jews as the Temple Mount. The compound is one of the most potent symbols of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Clashes frequently erupt there between Israeli police and Palestinians who suspect Israel of seeking to change rules governing it.The parents’ visit along with relatives and supporters took place under heavy police guard. Hardliners at the rally near the site spoke of building a new Jewish temple at the highly sensitive compound. One man wore a t-shirt saying: “There’s no such thing as Palestine,” as well as a necklace with a bullet dangling from it.A few confused tourists looked on while queueing to visit the compound.
A strength to the nation
The girl’s parents, from an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, addressed the crowd before visiting the site and called for the bridge leading to it to be named for their daughter. “Our daughter’s heart was stabbed. We’re strengthening the nation’s heart,” said Rina Ariel, the mother of Hallel Yaffa Ariel. “This is the nation’s heart,” she said of the holy site. “Come up with us.”The compound is located in east Jerusalem, occupied by Israel in 1967 and later annexed in a move never recognized by the international community. Jews are allowed to visit the compound, but are barred from praying there to avoid provoking tensions. It is the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina. Jews consider it their most sacred as the location of the first and second temples, destroyed by the Babylonians and the Romans. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said repeatedly he has no intention of changing the rules, but Jewish hardliners have long pushed for prayer rights. They include those from his own governing coalition, such as Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel, who attended the rally with other right-wing politicians and is also a relative of the family. He could not visit the holy site as parliament members are not currently allowed to do so due to its sensitivity.

A wave of terror
The 13-year-old was stabbed to death in her bedroom in the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba in the occupied West Bank on June 30. The Palestinian who killed her, who was 19, was shot dead by a guard. Kiryat Arba is located on the outskirts of the Palestinian city of Hebron, where tensions run high between Israeli settlers and Palestinian residents. Several hundred settlers live in the heart of Hebron under heavy guard among some 200,000 Palestinians. The murder was part of a wave of violence since last October that has killed at least 214 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese. Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, according to Israeli authorities. Others were shot dead during protests and clashes, while some were killed by Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip.

UN: 36,000 civilians seek shelter in South Sudan capital
Reuters, Geneva Tuesday, 12 July 2016/The United Nations called on Tuesday for free movement and protection of civilians fleeing fighting in the South Sudanese capital of Juba, where it said at least 36,000 displaced people are seeking shelter in UN sites and other locations. “Access to those in need is limited by the ongoing fighting and insecurity,” UN spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci told a news briefing in Geneva. Access to the UN compound is being blocked for civilians, who are trapped in churches and schools without access to water and sanitation, the World Health Organization (WHO) said, adding that it was sending trauma kits. Meanwhile the UN refugee agency called on neighboring countries to keep their borders open to people seeking asylum and said it was gearing up for possible refugee outflows. Watcj: South Sudan rebel chief Riek Machar sworn in as vice president

Images show high level of activity at North Korean nuclear site
Reuters Tuesday, 12 July 2016/Recent satellite images show a high level of activity at North Korea's nuclear test site but it is unclear whether this was for maintenance or preparation for a fifth nuclear test, a US-based North Korea monitoring project said on Monday. A report on the 38 North website said the commercial satellite imagery from July 7 was not of sufficiently high resolution to determine the exact nature of the activity at the Punggye-ri test site, but it added: "It is clear that North Korea is ensuring that the facility is in a state of readiness that would allow the conduct of future nuclear tests, should the order come from Pyongyang." The report on 38 North, which is run by Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, said the imagery showed stacked supplies or equipment and what could be mine ore carts, suggesting a tunnel was being actively worked on. It said several groups of people and small vehicles could also be seen on the road south of the test facility. "It is likely that they are either engaged in spring maintenance or traveling to and from the test facility," the report said. Speculation has intensified that North Korea may conduct a fifth nuclear test after the United States blacklisted the country's leader Kim Jong Un on July 6 for human rights abuses. North Korea said last week it was planning its toughest response to this move, which it called a "declaration of war." North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test in January and launched a long-range rocket the following month, resulting in tough new UN sanctions.

UN-Backed Tribunal Says China Has 'No Historic Rights' in South China Sea
Agence France Presse/July 12/16/Beijing's claims to a vast swathe of the South China Sea are invalid, an international tribunal ruled Tuesday, dealing a devastating diplomatic blow to its ambitions in one of the world's most important flashpoints. China, which boycotted the proceedings at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, rejected the ruling, calling it "null and void."But analysts said it was a "huge win" for the Philippines, which brought the case. The resource-rich, strategically vital waters of the South China Sea are disputed between the Asian giant -- which claims almost all of them on the basis of a "nine-dash line" that first appeared on Chinese maps in the 1940s -- and several other countries including the Philippines. The row has embroiled the United States, which has deployed aircraft carriers and a host of other vessels to assert freedom of navigation in waters through which one-third of the global oil trade passes. China says that its fishermen have visited the area for centuries, but the PCA tribunal said that under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Beijing had not had exclusive control of it. Any historic rights were "extinguished" when it signed up to UNCLOS, it said, and there was "no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within the sea areas falling within the 'nine-dash line'," it said. Crucially, it ruled that none of the Spratlys, a chain of outcrops in the south of the sea, were "islands" under the meaning of UNCLOS, meaning that whoever had sovereignty over them -- an issue it did not address -- they were not entitled to 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of their own.
Some sea areas were therefore definitely in the Philippines' EEZ, it said, as they were "not overlapped by any possible entitlement of China".China had violated the Philippines' sovereign rights in its EEZ and the artificial islands Beijing has been furiously building in recent years -- reshaping facts in the water in an effort to bolster its claim -- have inflicted severe environmental damage, it added. - 'Branded as an outlaw' -The damning decision was "as unfavourable to China as it can be", said Yanmei Xie, China analyst for the International Crisis Group. The award by the five-member panel -- chaired by a Ghanaian -- "overwhelmingly favors the Philippines -- a huge win," said M. Taylor Fravel of MIT.Manila welcomed the decision but Beijing reacted furiously, saying it "neither accepts nor recognizes" the ruling. "The award is null and void and has no binding force," China's foreign ministry said on its website, reiterating its territorial claims. The official news agency Xinhua cited President Xi Jinping as saying the islands have been Chinese territory since ancient times, and Beijing will not accept any action based on the decision.
China has consistently said the tribunal does not have jurisdiction on the issue -- declaring the support of multiple countries for its stance, many of them poor but with significant trading relationships with it -- and Xinhua reported the ruling under the headline: "Law-abusing tribunal issues ill-founded award". In Washington, the State Department said the ruling was an "important contribution" to resolving regional disputes and should be seen as "final and legally binding". China is a permanent member of the UN Security Council and has been seeking a greater role on the global diplomatic stage, and will not want to be seen as a violator of international law. But how the decision could be enforced remains open to question. Richard Heydarian, a political analyst at De La Salle University in Manila, told AFP: "China has been branded as an outlaw in unequivocal terms. US, Japan and other major powers should now focus on enforcing this binding verdict if China fails to comply." In the short term, the decision was likely to escalate the "war of words" but would not immediately change the geopolitical dynamics in the sea, said Xie of the International Crisis Group. "We’re going to see a continuation of the chest thumping we've seen, especially from the China side."
'Tough reaction'
Beijing has held naval drills between the Paracels and the southern Chinese island of Hainan in recent days, while US Pacific Command said on Twitter that the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan had launched flight operations to support "security, stability" in the South China Sea. Bonnie Glaser of the Center for Strategic and International Studies told AFP: "I expect a very tough reaction from China since it has lost on almost every point."China could choose to withdraw from UNCLOS, or begin building on Scarborough Shoal, which it seized from the Philippines in 2012 -- which Washington would view as a provocation. Beijing could also declare an air defense identification zone over the South China Sea, claiming the right to interrogate aircraft passing through the airspace, or try to remove a ship grounded by Manila on Second Thomas Shoal for use as a base. Xu Tiebing, international relations professor at Communication University of China, told AFP that Chinese would see the PCA decision as evidence of international opposition to their country. "These international organizations were not absolutely neutral, and in fact they are still subject to the manipulation and influence of big powers," he said. The Philippines, which had lodged the suit in 2013, welcomed the "milestone decision", and foreign secretary Perfecto Yasay said: "We call on all those concerned to exercise restraint and sobriety."Nationalist demonstrations are not rare in China, sometimes apparently with the tacit backing of authorities, and the Philippine embassy in Beijing has warned its citizens to beware of personal "threats." Chinese police sealed off the street where the mission stands.

Israel Approves Contentious NGO Foreign Funding Law
Agence France Presse/July 12/16/The Israeli parliament finalized a controversial law compelling NGOs that receive most of their funding from foreign state entities to declare it in official reports, a Knesset spokesman said early Tuesday. The law, seen by critics as targeting leftist groups that campaign for Palestinian rights, was passed in a 57-48 vote following a lengthy debate. "The law wishes to deal with the phenomenon of NGOs which represent foreign interests of foreign states, while acting under the cover of local organisations seeking to serve the interests of the Israeli public," its introduction read.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the law's goal was "to prevent an absurd situation, in which foreign states meddle in Israel's internal affairs by funding NGOs, without the Israeli public being aware of it.""Unlike the left's claims, the law's approval will increase transparency, contribute to creating a discourse that reflects the Israeli public opinion, and will strengthen democracy," he wrote on his Facebook page following the final vote. The law will compel the relevant groups to report their main source of income to the NGO registrar, publish it on their website and state it in relevant publications.
Earlier versions of the law had included the requirement that representatives of applicable NGOs must wear identifying tags and declare their funding sources when speaking at a Knesset, or parliament, committee. Opposition head Isaac Herzog said ahead of the vote that the law represents "the buds of fascism blooming in Israel."Head of the Arab Joint List Ayman Odeh said the law sought to "intimidate and wipe away the few organizations that act and fight in the public sphere for equality to the Arab public."The law does not specifically refer to leftist organisations, but will be applicable to some 25 NGOs. Right-wing NGOs, such as those supporting Israel's occupation of the West Bank, tend to rely on private donations, to which the law does not apply. Several left-wing Israeli NGOs receive large percentages of their funding from abroad, including from European governments. Peace Now, a prominent settlement watchdog NGO, called the law "a blatant violation of freedom of expression.""Tailored specifically to target only peace and human rights organizations, its true intention is to divert the Israeli public discourse away from the occupation and to silence opposition to the government's policies," the group said in a statement, vowing to challenge the law in court. Human Rights Watch said: "If the Israeli government were truly concerned about transparency, it would require all NGOs to actively alert the public to their sources of funding, not just those that criticize the government's policies."
 

Canadian Anglicans vote down same-sex marriage
Church needed lay, clergy and bishops all on side for vote to pass
The Canadian Press Posted: Jul 11, 2016
A passionate debate on whether the Anglican Church of Canada should bless same-sex marriages came to a head Monday when delegates to their triennial conference voted against authorizing such unions. More than 200 delegates to the church's six-day General Synod just north of Toronto rejected the resolution after speakers lined up to make their points, with most speaking in favour of the resolution. In order to pass, the resolution required two-thirds support from each of three orders — lay, clergy and bishops. The bishops voted 68.42 per cent in favour of the resolution, and the lay delegates voted 72.22 per cent in favour. However, the clergy voted 66.23 per cent, just missing the percentage needed. The vote by General Synod 2016, which followed complaints of bullying and intimidation, sparked bitter disappointment among some members.
'It's the right thing to do,' Toronto Anglican Bishop Colin Johnson told the church's 41st General Synod. He said the resolution on same-sex marriage would not remove the 'conscience clause,' but allow for a 'fuller clause that allows for greater flexibility.' (Anglican Church of Canada)
"It is breaking my heart that there are people who see gay marriage as a separation from God and from love," said Eliot Waddingham, 24, a transgender person from Ottawa who was an observer. The vote, she worried, was tantamount to a "death sentence" for the church. Archbishop Colin Johnson of Toronto cited his own decades of marriage in arguing in support of the motion. "I want my gay and lesbian colleagues to have the same joy," Johnson said. "I believe it's the right thing to do." The Rev. Allison Courey of Manitoba's Rupert's Land diocese said she did not choose to be a lesbian and received hate mail in the leadup to her marriage. She made an impassioned plea in support of the resolution, saying 'the Bible runs so deeply in my veins I cannot imagine my life without it.' (Anglican Church of Canada) The Rev. Allison Courey of Manitoba's Rupert's Land diocese said she loved to study the Bible throughout her life and she did not choose to be a lesbian. She made an impassioned plea in support of the resolution, saying "many of us" have committed suicide because "death was better than being rejected by God."
However, other speakers urged delegates to reject the idea of same-sex marriage, with one saying it would cause "ghettoes of resentment" if allowed, while several aboriginal delegates denounced the resolution as condoning an "abomination" and disobedience of God. "God did not create another Adam," said one young speaker. "He created a woman."Delegate René Boeré from Calgary said during his speech that he would vote against same-sex marriage. 'The creator made us male and female and that marriage is the union of those two,' he said. (Anglican Church of Canada)
The vote was the culmination of three years of work that began when the last General Synod, the church's legislative body, asked a panel to come up with the draft motion. Even if it had passed, the decision would still have needed to be affirmed by the next General Synod in 2019, which could have made its own amendments. Before the main vote, delegates voted to amend what would have been an opt-out clause for those opposed to same-sex marriage on principle to instead give bishops authority to allow such marriages in each diocese.
The complaints about bullying emerged during weekend discussions on the resolution in smaller working groups. In remarks ahead of the vote, Archbishop Fred Hiltz urged respectful discussions on a topic that has proven bitterly divisive. "Some members of our synod are deeply hurt. Some of them are deeply offended. Some are feeling unsafe to continue to speak lest they be reprimanded," Hiltz told the gathering. "This kind of behaviour is not appropriate. It's unacceptable." Indigenous bishops resisting change. The bishops' group had indicated in February that the threshold would likely not be met. Indigenous bishops had also said they would resist having "Western cultural approaches" imposed on them. The electronic voting was essentially conducted secretly at the request of delegates as a privacy measure. Before the vote, Hiltz told delegates their decision would have consequences for the country's third-largest church.
"There may be people who feel compelled to leave our church," Hiltz said. "That's the gravity and the weight of the situation that is before us."Another delegate, Stephen Warner, said he wasn't surprised to hear the complaints of intimidation given that every member was given a "bully pulpit" during the small group chats as the issue comes to a head. "This is my seventh synod overall over five years," said Warner, 20, of Toronto. "I've never seen a more tense and dour environment." About 1.6 million Canadians identify themselves as Anglican, according to Statistics Canada, and church figures indicate more than 500,000 of them are part of about 2,800 congregations across the country. With files from CBC

Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on July 12-13/16

Christine Williams/Jihad Watch: A lesson from Ontario, Canada for Sharia Law advocate Theresa May

Jihad Watch/July 12/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/07/12/christine-williamsjihad-watch-a-lesson-from-ontario-canada-for-sharia-law-advocate-theresa-may/

Dreadfully, incoming Prime Minister Theresa May has been continuing to defend her position on Sharia Law. Imagine, she is worried about Muslim women’s rights but she defends Sharia law. Sharia law is opposed to women’s rights, period, despite the propaganda that stealth jihadists continue to spew as they erode our democratic constitutions.
Ontario, Canada faced a similar situation 12 years ago that should be a model example for Westerners, when the Ontario premier at the time finally declared after a battle: “one law for all Ontarians.”
In 2004, Toronto lawyer Syed Mumtaz Ali announced in 2004 that an “Islamic Institute of Civil Justice” would shortly begin arbitrating family matters on the basis of sharia law, accompanied by his verbal warning that “to be a good Muslim, all Muslims must use these sharia courts”. A a heated controversy began that pitted Muslims against each other: those for and those against Sharia law in Ontario, which would set a precedent for Canada.
Many women’s groups including Muslims opposed the sharia and the Muslim Canadian Congress argued that sharia does not view women as equals and therefore cannot provide equal justice to all parties in a dispute especially on issues of divorce, child custody and division of property.
In a 2004 Canadian national Globe and Mail report two Muslim immigrant women, Homa Arjomand and Alia Hogben, are featured where both lobbied hard for Ontario to change its arbitration law. Arjomand even launched a petition, “International Campaign Against Sharia Courts in Canada.”
Alia Hogben’s discusses the difference in the Muslim population from when her family came to Canada in 1946 when the Muslim population was very small. She explains that as the Muslim population grew dramatically, many Muslims began living in ‘enclaves’ and remained isolated from the rest of Canadian society.
Hogben warned that “many of the new arrivals have brought with them a far more rigid version of Islam” and she said that “a lot of money is being poured into North America from very traditional groups from Saudi Arabia and Libya.”
The article also points out a critical fact that Theresa May fails to understand in her ignorant quest to so-called “protect” the rights of Muslim women……
“Immigrant women are among the most vulnerable people in Canada. Many don’t speak English, are poorly educated, and are isolated from the broader culture. They may live here for decades without learning the language, and stay utterly dependent on their families. They have no idea of their rights under Canadian law.
The arbitrators can be imams, Muslim elders or lawyers. In theory, their decisions aren’t supposed to conflict with Canadian civil law. But because there is no third-party oversight, and no duty to report decisions, no outsider will ever know if they do. These decisions can be appealed to the regular courts. But for Muslim women, the pressures to abide by the precepts of sharia are overwhelming. To reject sharia is, quite simply, to be a bad Muslim.”
Dalton McGuinty who was Ontario Premier at the time finally declared:
“There will be no sharia law in Ontario. There will be no religious arbitration in Ontario. There will be one law for all Ontarians.”
Since 1991, arbitration decisions were being made according to religious laws and were enforceable in Ontario courts, but the Premier rescinded the Arbitration Act that settled disputes related to commerce, religion and civil issues.
Let’s hope that there will be enough opposition to Theresa May’s defense of Sharia, for her to conclude sensibly that there will be one law for all Brits as this misguided leader vows to unite Britain. She sure is off to a bad start.
Robert Spencer also wrote about why Theresa May is a disaster for Britain.
“Theresa May forced to defend views on Sharia Law as she prepares to enter No 10”,

by Zoie O’Brien, UK Express, July 12, 2016:
INCOMING Prime Minister Theresa May has defended her position on Sharia Law on the eve of taking over as the leader of the Conservative party.
May sparked controversy when she spoke out in support of the Islamic courts operating in the country, telling the nation they could “benefit a great deal” from Sharia teachings.
The future Tory leader made the comments as she ordered a review into the system which are accused of ordering women to stay with abusive partners.
Mrs May, said she is worried the courts are “misused” and “exploited” to discriminate against Muslim women, but defended their place in society.
Sharia is Islam’s legal system derived from both the Koran, Islam’s central text, and fatwas – the rulings of Islamic scholars.
There are thought to be around 100 Sharia Law courts operating throughout the UK, dispensing Islamic justice outside the remit of our own legal system.
Judgements handed down by the informal courts have no legal basis, but there are fears their presence means many Muslim women are not getting access to the justice they deserve.
Now, before she takes over Number 10, May has been forced to restate her position on Sharia Law.
The Home Secretary, when asked by Buzzfeed’s Emily Ashton about a group which says she supports Sharia in the UK, said she is “concerned” that the ‘law’ is operating in a way that could be counter to “our single rule of law”.
She said: “I’ve been the politician who’s been willing to say no.
“I’m concerned that Sharia law is operating in a way that could discriminate against women and that could be counter to what is our single rule of law that we have in the UK.
“So there is one rule of law in the UK – that’s why I’ve set up the review that I have, chaired by Professor Mona Siddiqui, and that will be looking at the operation of Sharia law and whether it is actually operating to discriminate against women and counter to our overall rule of law.”
Sharia councils aim to help resolve family, financial and commercial problems in accordance with Sharia principles.
The majority of cases involve women wanting to end their Islamic marriage.
The review, which will last up to 18 months, will investigate whether there are instances where British law is being broken in the name of Sharia…….
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2016/07/a-lesson-from-ontario-canada-for-sharia-law-advocate-theresa-may

Saudi prince's endorsement of MEK angers Iranian officials
Arash Karami/Al-Monitor/July 12/16
The attendance of Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud at the July 9 rally backed by the Iranian opposition group People’s Mujahedeen of Iran (MEK, or Mujahedeen-e-Khalq) has angered many Iranian officials and media. The rally in Paris is typically condemned by Iran, given the group's history of carrying out attacks against the Islamic Republic. However, the attendance and speech of Faisal, who is part of the Saudi royal family and was head of Saudi intelligence for over two decades, has brought charges by Iranian officials of Saudi material support for terrorism against Iran.
The presence of Faisal “shows the longstanding link” between Saudi Arabia and the MEK, said Ramazan Sharif, the head of public relations for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, former deputy foreign minister for Arab and African Affairs, said of Faisal’s comments' supporting the MEK in the overthrow of the Islamic Republic: “These statements confirm that Saudi Arabia’s widespread financial and security support for terrorism has always been the agenda of Riyadh.” Many Iranians have often wondered how the MEK could afford to pay exorbitant sums, ranging from $20,000 to $100,000 for a single appearance, to former US officials to speak on its behalf.
Mohsen Rezaei, IRGC commander during the Iran-Iraq War and current secretary of the Expediency Council, accused Saudi Arabia of being responsible for the attacks by the MEK and also accused the Gulf country of supporting recent attacks by Kurdish groups against Iran’s security forces.
Conservative Iranian media likened Faisal’s appearance to former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s support of the MEK. An article in the IRGC-affiliated newspaper Javan was headlined, “Saudi in the direction of Saddam.” A Mashregh News article was headlined, “The hypocrites yesterday with Saddam, today with Wahhabi Saudis.” Iranian media and officials often refer to the MEK with the religiously charged term “hypocrites.”
Mashregh News also criticized Iran’s Foreign Ministry, particularly Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, for not condemning the meeting between Faisal and the MEK. The article accused the Hassan Rouhani administration of pursuing a weak foreign policy with respect to Saudi Arabia that has only emboldened the kingdom. The article said that even sidelining Amir-Abdollahian will not stop Saudi enmity toward Iran. Conservatives have speculated that Zarif replaced Amir-Abdollahian in June in a conciliatory gesture toward Saudi Arabia. The article said Zarif's and the Foreign Ministry’s silence with respect to Faisal meeting with the MEK “is a mystery for the Iranian people.”
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Faisal’s speech is his reference to the “late” Massoud Rajavi, the leader of the MEK. Rajavi's wife, Maryam, has been the public face of the MEK since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. Some have speculated that Massoud fled into hiding after the invasion or died in the invasion. The front page of Reformist Shargh Daily covered the topic with a cartoon image of Faisal lifting a casket containing Massoud Rajavi’s body with the headline, “The death announcement of a dead person.” In response to Faisal’s comments about the “late” Massoud Rajavi, the MEK continued to deny Massoud’s death. Shahin Ghobadi, spokesman for the MEK, said Faisal’s comments were “misinterpreted.” In the audio, however, Faisal refers on two different occasions to Massoud as “marhoom,” which means “late” in both Arabic and Persian.
The MEK has existed as an Islamist-Marxist group since 1965, when it fought against the government of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. It carried out a number of attacks against US soldiers stationed in Iran and years later it was put on the US State Department terrorist list. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the MEK lost power to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and in response resorted to bombings and assassinations. Iran accuses the group of being responsible for 17,000 deaths. The MEK’s most devastating bombing was the 1981 blast at the Islamic Republic headquarters building that killed over 70 people, including Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, who was believed to be the second-most influential figure in Iran at the time after Khomeini.
The MEK took refuge in Iraq and in the final year of the Iran-Iraq War in 1988 launched an unsuccessful military attack against Iran, resulting in thousands of MEK deaths. Thousands of alleged MEK supporters in Iranian prisons are believed to have been executed in response. The group, while at one time a popular revolutionary force, is now accused of being a cult-like operation run by Maryam Rajavi.

How the IRGC is trying to tighten its grip on Rouhani
Zahra Alipour/Al-Monitor/July 12/16
A bill passed in the Iranian parliament outlining requirements for “how to hire individuals for sensitive positions” has sparked an outcry within the government and among lawyers and political analysts. Critics are incensed not only by the content of the bill, but also how it was passed. The text was approved May 24, in the final days of the previous, conservative-dominated legislature, but the Guardian Council, citing legal issues, rejected the measure June 12 and sent it back to the newly sworn in parliament for revisions on multiple clauses.The bill banned people from 11 groups from appointment to sensitive positions. Among them are individuals who hold dual citizenship, have spied for foreigners or are suspected of having done so or are in contact with foreign nationals blacklisted by Iran's security and intelligence organizations.
The measure also obliged executive bodies to vet applicants for sensitive positions not only through the judiciary and the Intelligence Ministry but also the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The bill exempted from the proposed regulations entities operating under the supervision of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the judiciary as well as positions that constitutionally require specific procedures for appointment.
Controversy over dual nationals holding key posts began in 2011 after Mahmoud Reza Khavari, then-head of Melli Bank, fled to Canada after being implicated in a massive, 30 trillion rial ($1 billion) embezzlement scandal. Abbas Abdi, an Iranian political analyst, said cases such as Khavari's are the driving force behind such bills being passed in parliament.
“A person who holds citizenship of another country has sworn to serve the interests of that country,” Abdi told Al-Monitor. “Under such circumstances, placing him in a sensitive position that also requires serving the interests of the principal country would naturally be difficult.” He added, however, “Even if Khavari did not have [Canadian] citizenship, he could have gone and bought it. Did [notorious suspected embezzler] Babak Zanjani have dual citizenship when he took his actions?”
Of note, Iran does not recognize dual citizenship. Moreover, based on Article 41 of the constitution, authorities can revoke the citizenship of Iranians who obtain citizenship in another country. The article has never been invoked, however, given that millions of Iranians have a second nationality. In recent years, this issue has become a hot topic in the political arena because of the dual nationality of some Iranian officials and officials' children.
Indeed, in January 2015, 13 parliamentarians sent a letter to President Hassan Rouhani, advising him not to employ people with dual citizenship in government posts. The lawmakers did not mention any names, but there was speculation that the intended target had been Mohammad Nahavandian, Rouhani's chief of staff, who had reportedly received a green card in 1993 while living in the United States. It is unclear whether Nahavandian still holds permanent US residency.
Al-Monitor spoke to Mohammad Saleh Nikbakht, a prominent Iranian lawyer, about the controversial bill. He referred to the case of a detained Iranian American who no longer wanted his Iranian citizenship, saying, “He can’t [do that unilaterally]. In fact, an individual can only be stripped of his Iranian citizenship if he [specifically] states this to the relevant authorities in Iran. For instance, Khavari, who was one of the government’s trusted advisers during [former President] Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s era, would only be stripped of his citizenship if he formally declared his wish to have his citizenship revoked to Iran’s Foreign Ministry.”
The listing of the IRGC as one of three organs that must vet appointees to sensitive positions, alongside the judiciary and the Intelligence Ministry, is among the other key criticisms directed at the parliamentary bill. Nikbakht told Al-Monitor, “Iran’s Constitution accepts the formation of a body known as the IRGC, and the Intelligence Organization is one of the subgroups of this body. The ratification of this bill in a way limits the powers of the government, meaning that in addition to acquiring permission from other organizations, another intelligence entity that has no links to the government in terms of duties can now play a role [in the hiring of people]. Nonetheless, the [IRGC Intelligence] Organization does have a legal mandate and was for instance, in relation to the arrests after the 2009 presidential election, in charge of pursuing misconduct.”
According to Nikbakht, the involvement of the IRGC’s Intelligence Organization in the hiring process for some government positions could lead to conflicts in the management of the country, given that it is a military organization that operates under the supervision of the supreme leader. He told Al-Monitor, “It would have been better if the [IRGC Intelligence] Organization would transfer its intelligence on individuals through the Intelligence Ministry instead of acting independently, since intelligence bodies in all countries work in solidarity and their output comes from a single source.”
Al-Monitor also spoke with Iranian lawyer Mostafa Tork Hamedani about the bill. “In Iran’s judicial system, the assumption is that the entity responsible for security matters is the Intelligence Ministry,” Hamedani said. “However, we are facing a new legal innovation in this bill, which places another entity in parallel with the Intelligence Ministry. This could lead to problems or differences of opinion between the IRGC and the Intelligence Ministry, and these differences could cause ambiguities.”
Abdi described the bill as “unreasonable,” asserting that “unity among intelligence bodies” is a pillar of every country’s intelligence system. “However, internal differences and parallelism [among intelligence bodies] have prompted the previous parliament to take such a measure.”
Considering that the bill bans individuals suspected of spying from holding sensitive positions, critics say it contradicts the principle of the presumption of innocence as well as the right to employment. On this, Hamedani said, “It is possible that a person will be accused of something, but errors are made in verifying his credentials because his trial may take a long time. Suppose that we have a suspect with a security file, and suppose that his file will take two years to be processed. In such a situation, this person cannot be employed anywhere [during this time]. Based on the constitution, this violates the right to employment.”
Abdi believes that the previous, conservative-dominated parliament’s passage of the bill in its final days indicates a lack of attention to rules of the game. “This bill is aimed at restricting the employment of those individuals who can be beneficial to the new government,” Abdi said. “With the objections made by the Guardian Council, the bill will naturally have to be reviewed again in parliament, and it will either be dropped quietly or more changes will be made to it. Of course, the current parliament can also come up with ways to neutralize such bills. In the end, I don’t think this bill will have too much of an impact.”

Next US President’s hands will be tied in Middle East
Joyce Karam/Al Arabiya/July 12/16
Waiting for the end of the Obama administration has become for many the harbinger for a new era in US policy in the Middle East. A closer look at regional events, however, show a much narrower room for Washington to navigate in order to the move the needle in regional diplomacy and conflict zones. Whether it’s Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, the next US President will be faced with new realities on the ground in Syria, in Iraq and in Yemen, that make any settlement proposals and promises on the campaign trail sound too ambitious. The next White House resident will encounter a deeply divided region, more defiant leaders among friends and foes, on top of a full blown counterterrorism nightmare feeding off the chaos and political stagnation.
New realities in conflict areas
While both Clinton and Trump have voiced support for some form of a “safe zone” in Syria (Trump wants the GCC to pay for it), the events on the ground where such a safe zone can take hold have drastically changed since proposing it last year. Northern Syria is witnessing advances for al-Qaeda’s affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, while Russia’s bombardment of that region has interjected these plans. The Kurds in the North have also made military advances and created a semi-autonomous region. Turkey itself has been cognizant of that shift, trying to mend fences with Moscow, and scaling back its own regime change ambitions in Syria as it faces an increased ISIS threat, and a more ambitious Kurdish movement. The level of chaos, the stubborn nature of both the conflicts and regional players, make grand shifts and short-term breakthroughs less likely for President 45 in the Middle East. South of Syria could prove to be a more flexible terrain to create a Safe Zone, as the more moderate opposition gains foothold in the area and with less bombardment from Russia. However, Jordan’s consent and cooperation would be crucial to put together such structure and there are no signs that Amman would want to risk a confrontation with an emboldened Assad regime or invest militarily in Syria. After the latest attack by ISIS on the Jordan-Syria border, Jordan’s position has doubled down on prioritizing the fight against terror and finding a political settlement for the conflict. It is also unlikely with all the campaign rhetoric about “defeating ISIS” in Iraq that the next US President will have much better chances at achieving this goal. The Iraq that the next President will inherit is a fragmented country, with a weak central government and an army that is growing more dependent on Shiite militias backed by Iran. The US in 2017 will be as reliant on Shiite and Kurdish militias to fight ISIS in Iraq as it is today. Changing this dynamic requires training and equipping a Sunni tribal force and confronting Iranian influence in Baghdad, while risking a possible blowback on the Iranian nuclear deal and US presence in Iraq.
The only conflict that is showing signs of a potential settlement in the Middle East is Yemen, but that’s irrelevant of the US role and more contingent on Kuwait talks and the future of the Houthis and GCC security.
Washington has neither exerted enough pressure on the parties involved to reach a resolution, nor does it have enough leverage to bring forth a settlement. Fighting al-Qaeda and continuing the drone will likely continue to the define the US policy in Yemen. Defiant and belligerent actors. The next US President will also inherit a more audacious tier of leaders when it comes to flexing regional muscle and defying US wishes. The events of the last four years from a quasi-military coup in Egypt, to the war in Yemen, to Russia’s intervention in Syria and Turkey’s belligerent behavior, all predict a more tumultuous road ahead for the next White House. Trump’s own affinity to dictators and strongmen including Vladimir Putin, toppled authoritarians Saddam Hussein and Muammar Qaddafi will mean much less pressure on regional actors to change course, and a more accommodating foreign policy to adjust to the big players’ wishes in the Middle East. Clinton on the other hand knows regional leaders personally and will be faced with similar challenges that Obama encountered while pressuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, or marketing and implementing the Iran nuclear deal. There is no question that the next US President will have an opportunity to pursue more engagement and display a stronger hand diplomatically and perhaps militarily in the Middle East. Yet, the level of chaos, the stubborn nature of both the conflicts and regional players, make grand shifts and short-term breakthroughs less likely for President 45 in the Middle East.

Kathem’s regret on destroying Saddam’s statue
Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/July 12/16
Kadhim Hassan al-Jabouri, the Iraqi who used a sledgehammer to attack the statue of Saddam Hussein when the late president’s regime was toppled, recently told the BBC of his deep regret over what he did considering what has happened to Iraq since. The significance here is the irony, as everyone knows how violent Saddam was. Before he was toppled, I wrote dozens of articles about his tyranny, which resulted in countless insults against me and my family. Regarding Saddam’s successors, some well-informed people believe former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki’s “deep state” is stronger than that of current President Haidar al-Abadi, which has failed to protect people and their interests. Perhaps the recent Karada explosion is the biggest example of this. The world may have become more secure with Saddam’s departure, but it is more dangerous to ignore the number of men who resemble him and came after him.
During his era, we had one person to negotiate with, wage war against or ally with. However, we now have different versions of him, and they are more dangerous and harmful because they ally with bloody parties such as Tehran, Hezbollah and al-Qaeda. Popular nostalgia in Iraq is justified. The late poet Abu Tayyib al-Mutanabbi said: “Those who live long can see life change before them until they view truth as lies.”I still think Saddam was a tyrant, but his tyranny was unfortunately not as bad as the current situation in Iraq
Foundations of the state
Under Saddam there was a state, and affairs were managed by institutions. However, Iraq post-Saddam is like a countryside governed by beneficiaries. The state was destroyed, and terrorism destroying whatever was left, resulting in isolated entities unfamiliar with one another. The US-led invasion was not a liberation - it unleashed savagery, sectarianism, social defects and political infiltration. It is like Ahmad Saadawi’s story “Frankenstein in Baghdad,” about monsters roaming the streets and relentlessly destroying everything before them. Iraq needs strong foundations, and the state’s task is to control the situation. In his book “The Concept of the State,” Abdullah Laroui wrote: “Since the beginning of history, the state has had an amount of rationality, whether plenty or a few. This is normal as long as the state means organization, and as long as the latter means discovering an easier way that’s closer to achieving an aim.
“Major events in the modern history of Europe, religious reform, the commercial and industrial revolutions, development of cities, patterning law and musical notation can be considered phases in the process of continuous rationalization. The state is always present in the meeting point of all these developments.”Iraq’s past is bad, but its present is worse. When the country weakens and collapses, the Arab spirit constricts. Amal Donqol’s description in his poem “The Last Words of Spartacus” is apt:
“Do not dream of a happy world
After every emperor who dies
There is a new emperor.
And after every rebel who dies: Sorrows avail
And tears are shed in vain.”
I still think Saddam was a tyrant, but his tyranny was unfortunately not as bad as the current situation in Iraq.
**This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat on July 12, 2016.

The Boeing blow
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/July 12/16
The economy is vital to the existence of the Iranian regime, and the major motive behind the nuclear deal. However, so far Tehran has not achieved what it wants or attained what it was promised. Its biggest disappointment has been the obstruction by a US Congressional subcommittee of a $24-billion deal to sell 100 Boeing planes, which would have been the biggest deal in Iran’s history, and the most prominent item on its American shopping list. The subcommittee’s decision includes European Airbus factories, which will be banned from selling Iran 118 passenger jets because they contain US-manufactured parts. US legislators have not left politicians and tradesmen any way around the ban. Many parties testified before the subcommittee that Iran uses commercial airlines to transfer gunmen, arms and funds to Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. The committee warned Boeing that it would be an accomplice in such practices if the deal was implemented, and the company acknowledged that it would have no say in how Iran uses the planes. It seems the US government has no desire to defend the deal, which is another indication of the coldness of relations with Tehran despite the nuclear agreement. Even if the White House decided to challenge Congress, it would require a lot of time - time the current administration does not have since President Barack Obama’s term ends in less than five months. The $24-billion deal to sell 100 Boeing planes, would have been the biggest deal in Iran’s history, and the most prominent item on its American shopping list
Reaction
Tehran has either not yet woken up from the shock of the decision, or is trying to remain calm. Newly-appointed Foreign Ministry spokesperson Bahram Qassemi said: “We don’t care what’s happening in terms of [US] internal affairs. We expect the American government to honor its pledges.” The weakest point in the body of the Iranian regime is not military or political, it is economic. It is the Achilles' heel. International boycotts had suffocated the Iranian regime, and would have threatened its existence had it not given in and signed the deal freezing its nuclear program. If it does not achieve the desired trade through this deal, it will face a difficult political crisis domestically. Iran disappointed Western politicians who thought the nuclear deal would make it a positive power in the region. The regime has in fact become more evil, increasing its hostile military activity in the region. Its relationship with the West is still shrouded with mutual doubt, and the deal’s results are still controversial. There are doubts regarding Tehran’s behavior following reports that it seeks equipment relating to nuclear production on the European market. In addition, the relevant parties have not yet finished forming the team tasked with monitoring the nuclear deal.
This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat on July 12, 2016.

Iraq: The struggle between past and present
Mshari Al Thaydi/Al Arabiya/July 12/16
Who said history does not repeat itself? An example is Iraq, where there is a clear and uncontrollable sectarian struggle. The Sunnis’ mistake in Iraq was being lenient with al-Qaeda, which hijacked the resistance and contaminated it with spiteful sectarian slogans against all Iraqi Shiites. Most Iraqi Sunnis were against al-Qaeda’s ideology, and are against that of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). However, their voices have not been heard due to the stupid US management of Iraq, which was pushed by experts in Washington toward a model of Iranian Islam – US President Barack Obama has clearly revealed that. For the new rulers in Baghdad, from Ibrahim al-Jaafari to Nouri al-Maliki and even Haider al-Abadi – the worst being Maliki – decisions are made in the interest of Iran and Shiite groups affiliated to it, which deepen sectarian grudges.Iraq is sick, which is why it is subject to the struggle of international and regional wills, and to the Sunni-Shiite conflict. This is Iraq’s present, but was it also its past?
History
Following Iraqi appeals for help from Safavid tyranny against Sunnis, Ottoman Sultan Sulaiman al-Qanuni led a huge campaign to liberate the country in 1533. He did so by 1534, and stayed there for months to organize matters, calm Sunni-Shiite tensions, and relieve Ottoman authorities from the Iraqi headache and Safavid threats.Safavid-Ottoman wars from 1543-1547 ended with the drawing of boundaries of geographic influence between the two, which included Iraq and other Arab territories. However, Iraq fell to the Safavids in 1623, and then to the Ottomans in 1638. History is repeating itself in a more hideous and stupid way. This article was first published by Asharq al-Awsat on July 11, 2016.

Female empowerment in modern Western politics
Dr. Halla Diyab/Al Arabiya/July 12/16
With David Cameron announcing that he would resign as prime minister on Wednesday, paving the way for interior minister Theresa May to take over the job the same day, all eyes are fixed on the female leadership in two of the world’s most powerful countries. At a time when the United States is torn by rising Islamophobia and gun crime, and the UK is divided over the vote to leave the EU, women are carving out new roles for themselves in modern Western politics. The prospect of Theresa May as British prime minister and Hillary Clinton as US president is a sign that gender barriers are being breached. May is renowned for her wise, restrained approach, which kept her away from the fray of the EU referendum, and from the gender game manipulated by her political opponent Andrea Leadsom, who suggested that being a mother made her a better choice for prime minister. May is keen to be viewed as a political leader, but not through the lense of her gender. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, Hillary Clinton is gradually forcing the world to no longer perceive her as “the good wife” who swallowed her pride to stand by her husband after his cheating scandal. She is now viewed not as a female victim, but as a strong, inspirational woman who could lead the world’s most powerful country and provide better opportunities for all Americans. The prospect of Theresa May as British prime minister and Hillary Clinton as US president is a sign that gender barriers are being breached
Middle East
Both May and Clinton have extensive political experience. The former is Britain’s longest-serving Home Secretary in 50 years, its second female prime minister after Margaret Thatcher, while the latter was US secretary of state from 2009 until 2013. Their experience in dealing with domestic and foreign challenges can benefit the conflict-torn Middle East. They may have a less militarized approach to the Syrian war than that of their male peers. A woman of law and order, May would look at the war through a security lense, as she realizes that a political settlement in Syria would bring regional stability. The features of the conflict have been shaped by masculine power via war, arms, territorial expansion and political alliances. This is clear in the proxy war over Syria. Under female leadership, the crisis would be dealt with more sensitively and sensibly.

Russian anti-ISIS war from Syria to Caucasus
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report July 12, 2016,
In a supreme effort to prevent ISIS suicide units from reaching Russia from Syria, Sergei Shoigu, Russia's
Defense Minister, has promoted the Russian commander in Syria, Colonel-General Alexander Dvornikov. to an expanded command as head of the South Russia military district. This district covers Russian forces including naval units in the Black and Caspian Seas, the Fourth Air Force Defense Army and Russian bases in Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Armenia. Gen. Dvornikov will also command tens of ground force divisions, including paratroopers, marines and special coastal defense units.
The fact that the Russian Defense Ministry emphasizes in its announcement that “The decision about the appointment of a new commander of the Syrian operation is pending,” indicates that General Dvornikov will remain in charge of Russian forces in Syria from his new Black Sea HQ. His deputy, Gen.-Lt. Alexander Zhuravlyev, will continue to serve under him in the Syrian arena.
Moscow’s realignment of its military command is taken by debkafile’s military and counter terrorism sources as a step towards becoming the first world power outside the Middle East to recognize and address the trans-frontier, global character of the Islamic peril, a lesson drawn from ISIS suicide attacks in Paris, Brussels, the US, Tunisia Egypt and Turkey.
Unimpressed by President Barack Obama’s optimistic assertions about ISIS’ loss of territory and weakening state, the Kremlin judges the counter-terror war to be just beginning. Russian intelligence has found the group to be in full fighting mode and setting up an army of suicide bombers, each team numbering some 20-15 terrorists, ready for strikes in Europe, including Russia, and the Middle East.
This is borne out by the information released in Ankara by Turkish intelligence sources on July 11, showing that since the bombing in Istanbul airport, on June 28, in which 42 people were killed, ISIS has discontinued its passageway through Turkey for suicide terrorists trained in Syria to reach Europe. They are now smuggling terrorists across Azerbaijan, Georgia and Cyprus.
This Turkish announcement has serious implications:
First, that the ISIS’ use of Azerbaijan and Georgia as way stations for its suicide squads points to its presence on the Black Sea coast right up to Russia’s frontier. This region has now passed to the command of Gen. Dvornikov..
Second, that Turkish intelligence can confirm Russian information about large squads of suicide terrorists gearing up for multiple attacks, some of which are already on-site of their targets, with back-up teams in case the first misses out.
The impending massive invasion of suicide terrorists to Europe and the Middle East was, according to debkafile’s sources, an important item on the agenda of the recent meeting between Yossi Cohen, head of the Israeli Mossad, and Mikhail Yefimovich Fradkov, head of the Russian SVR, that took place on July 1, at the Russian organization's Yasenevo HQ outside Moscow.

Reactions In Egypt To Israeli PM Netanyahu's Africa Visit
Egyptian MP: The Visit Threatens Egypt's National Security;
Al-Masri Al-Yawm Owner: Time For Cooperation With Israel
MEMRI/July 12, 2016 Special Dispatch No.6520
In early July 2016, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, and Ethiopia, and also met with the leaders of South Sudan, Tanzania, and Zambia. The visit, which began with a July 4 ceremony at Entebbe Airport marking the 40th anniversary of the Israeli hostage rescue operation, in which Netanyahu's brother Jonathan was killed, was aimed primarily at strengthening Israel's economic and political ties with Africa.
The visit elicited many responses in the Egyptian media, with most commentators expressing reservations and fears regarding its implications for Egypt, particularly regarding the sensitive issue of Egypt's Nile water quotas. On the other hand, businessman Salah Diab, owner of the Egyptian daily Al-Masri Al-Yawm, argued that such comments reflect "childish logic" and "wartime behavior during peacetime," and called on Egypt to cooperate with Israel's investments in Africa.
Following is a review of reactions in Egypt to Netanyahu's Africa visit:
Arab League Secretary-General: Israel-Africa Relations Cannot Come At The Expense Of The Palestinians
Newly elected Arab League Secretary-General and former Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said that Arab relations with African nations are good and must not be negatively impacted by Netanyahu's visit. The visit, he said, was aimed at breaking Israel's international isolation, which stems from its ongoing occupation of Arab lands and from its racist actions. He added that Israel was attempting to market itself as a normal country that can help others on issues like security and growth, but expressed confidence that African nations that once fought for their freedom are fully cognizant of the meaning of occupation and colonialism. Reiterating the African Union's position on the Palestinian matter, he stated that he hoped that the countries visited by Netanyahu would not allow their relationship with Israel to come at the expense of their great and historic support for Palestinian rights.[1]
Sa'id Al-Lawandi, a researcher at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, told Al-Ghad TV that the visit was "questionable and undesirable." He argued that while Egypt has neglected relations with African nations until recent years, Israel, "the classic enemy of the entire Arab ummah," has been operating there for some time.[2]
Egyptian MP Hatem Bashat, chairman of the Egyptian parliament's African Affairs Committee and an official in the Free Egyptians Party, said that his committee would meet on July 17 with the foreign minister's African Affairs advisor and his team, at parliament headquarters, to discuss the Foreign Ministry's official response to Netanyahu's visit and what they called his dangerous and divisive statements. According to Bashat, Egypt should act on both the parliamentary and the Foreign Ministry level on the matter and the parliamentarians should seek a meeting on the issue with President Al-Sisi . He added that discussing Netanyahu's visit with African ambassadors in Egypt would not help, but Egypt had to tighten its relations with African nations in light of the current global competition.[3]
Fears That Netanyahu Visit Will Impact Intra-African Nile Water Dispute
Concerns in Egypt regarding Netanyahu's visit centered primarily on its potential implications for the sensitive intra-African dispute on the division of the Nile water. This issue has been a major concern in Egypt since Ethiopia's 2013 announcement that it was diverting the Nile in order to construct the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance hydroelectric dam, which would impact Egypt's guaranteed quota of Nile water. In 2014, Egyptian media featured many articles implying that Israel had encouraged the Ethiopians to construct the dam and was the chief benefactor of the move.[4] Following Netanyahu's visit, this issue is again in the headlines.
Ibrahim Youssri, a former aide to the Egyptian foreign minister, posted a Facebook status using the hashtags #Al-Nahda Dam [the Arabic name for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam] #Netanyahu, and #Egypt: "Netanyahu's provocative visit to the Nile Basin countries is meant to congratulate them on their policy of drying Egypt up, to which [Israel] incites. Are we still truly allies of the Zionists? ..."[5]
Egyptian MP Mustafa Bakri called for an urgent parliamentary session attended by the prime minister and the ministers of foreign affairs, water, and electricity and energy, to discuss Netanyahu's visit to the Nile Basin countries and the risks it poses to Egypt's Nile water quota and national security.[6]
In the official Egyptian daily Al-Ahram, Nabil Al-Sagini wrote that the Nile originates in the four countries visited by Netanyahu, and that this "confirms that the issue of the Nile water will be one of the main topics discussed during the Israeli prime minister's visit to Africa, in an attempt to realize Israel's historic dream of diverting the Nile water to the Negev desert... Suspicious Israeli movements in Africa come at the same time as intensive Egypt-Sudan-Ethiopia talks, and the presentation of the Al-Nahda Dam issue at the African Summit... and it is clear that [Israel] is working to thwart any potential agreement" between the three countries on the issue of the dam.[7]
Dr. Hazem Hosny, professor of economics and political science at Cairo University, warned that the visit was part of a plan to expand Israel "from the Nile to the Euphrates... since the Nile begins in Ethiopia. This visit is an expression... of an organized Zionist plan against Egypt [aimed at] controlling its water and food..."[8]
"Al-Sisi gave Netanyahu [control of] the faucet" for the "Al-Nahda Dam" (klmty.net, July 8, 2016)
'Al-Masri Al-Yawm' Owner To Opponents Of Netanyahu's Visit: It Is Time To Cooperate With Israel
A July 7, 2016 article in Al-Masri Al-Yawm by "Newton" (pen name of the paper's owner, Salah Diab), criticized the opponents of Netanyahu's Africa visit, and argued that the time has come to cooperate with Israel:
"[Some say:] 'I will allow Israel to achieve exclusivity in Africa, since we have a disagreement with it. I will let it invest in the Nile Basin since I hate Israel. Let us look from the side as it expands its joint projects with the African governments [since] I am already at odds with Netanyahu.' All these [comments] reflect childish thinking and nothing more. This is illogical behavior, wartime behavior during peacetime. Outdated clichés.
"No one in Africa wants to relinquish Egypt. Egypt cannot relinquish Africa and the Africans will never relinquish Israel or their own interests [merely] to play nice with the Arabs. They want us to work together and cooperate with anyone who invests in Africa. The Dark Continent suffers from many problems and Africans will not reject any hand extended to them, even Netanyahu's.
"This is the truth we should accept. This is reality and it is our duty to recognize it. Ever since Yitzhak Rabin's famous visit to Africa in 1987 [likely referring to his visit to South Africa], Israeli investments have been streaming into African countries, while we lived, and still do live, under the illusion that Africans would reject the hand that Israel extends. This has not happened, and will not happen. There is no escaping cooperation, because it is unthinkable for us to forgo our strategic interests in Africa, first and foremost the Nile.
"Yesterday, Al-Masri Al-Yawm ran, on its front page, an Anadolu News Agency report on [Turkish Prime Minister] Erdogan, who said: 'Yes to normalization and partnership with Israel; no to reconciliation with Egypt.' This was said by a man who wants to appoint himself leader of Sunni Muslims around the world, and sees no problem with partnership with Israel. Erdogan will be Netanyahu's partner in Dark Continent investments. He will enter Africa hand in hand with Israel...
"Today, after some 50 years of peace, and after [President Al-]Sisi's call for reconciliation between Arabs and Israel, this call cannot pass us by as if it never existed. It can change the face of the region in terms of economics, culture, science, and more... We must demand that Al-Sisi follow through [with this initiative] until it achieves its goals."[9]
Endnotes:
[1] Al-Ahram (Egypt), July 7, 2016.
[2] Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London), July 7, 2016.
[3] Al-Ahram (Egypt), July 10, 2016.
[4] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 5671, After Reaching A Dead End In Talks Over Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Egyptian Media Ponders Diplomatic, Military Alternatives In Nile Water Crisis, March 10, 2014.
[5] Facebook.com/Ibrahim.youssri, July 7, 2016.
[6] Al-Yawm Al-Sabi' (Egypt), July 7, 2016.
[7] Al-Ahram (Egypt), July 7, 2016.
[8] Rassd.com, July 7, 2016.
[9] Al-Masri Al-Yawm (Egypt), July 7, 2016.

Analysis: What is Netanyahu prepared to give to become part of the Sunni Bloc?
Yossi Melman/Jerusalem Post July 12/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/07/12/yossi-melmanjerusalem-post-analysis-what-is-netanyahu-prepared-to-give-to-become-part-of-the-sunni-bloc/
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry's surprise visit to Jerusalem and his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday is just a public expression of the special relationship - particularly in regard to security cooperation - that has been unfolding between the two countries over the last two years. The two countries have common interests: the fight against ISIS, which hurts Egypt economically and damages its tourism revenue; isolating Hamas; and, a desire to block Iran's influence. A former senior Israeli official told Bloomberg on Monday that Israeli drones have participated in the Egyptian war against ISIS in Sinai and that there is close intelligence cooperation between the two countries.
The Netanyahu government's recent diplomatic and security successes with Turkey, and his trip to Africa, served as a catalyst for Shoukry's visit on Sunday. The reconciliation agreement with Turkey, which isn't exactly Egypt's "cup of tea," as well as Netanyahu's summit with seven east African leaders - some of whom Egypt has clashed with (mainly Ethiopia) over the distribution of Nile River water - further strengthened Israel's standing as a regional power.
It can also be surmised that Shoukry's visit was sanctioned by Saudi Arabia, Egypt's "sponsor," which provides Cairo with billions of dollars. Without this aid, the Egyptian economy would fall to even lower depths. According to the website Intelligence Online, security ties between Israel and the Saudis have also been developing recently, and several weapons deals in the field of intelligence have even been reported.
What does Netanyahu offer the Sunni world?
So, after two years of covert contacts, the visit brings to the surface the relations between Israel and Egypt, which have mainly been carried out under the radar. And because there are no free lunches, it is understood that Egypt expects to be compensated by Israel.
The hoped-for compensation in Cairo is Israel's tacit agreement to advance diplomatic steps with the Palestinian Authority. This is what Shoukry emphasized in his comments following his meeting with Netanyahu. The visit, in this respect, is a continuation of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's May speech in which he raised the idea that came to be known as "the Egyptian initiative to hold a regional peace conference."
To what degree Netanyahu will be prepared to answer Egypt's call is another question. He knows well that the Palestinian issue is not a top priority in Egypt's diplomatic and security agenda. However, he is also aware of Egypt's sensitivity in everything connected to its status in the Arab world.
If the prime minister is genuinely interested in putting Israel in what he calls "the Sunni bloc" - Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait (which has lately spoken openly about making peace with Israel), Jordan and Morocco - which would put an iron wall before the "Shi'ite Bloc" that Iran is trying to build in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon (Hezbollah), he must also be prepared to give something in return.

Analysis: Egyptian diplomacy pushes France aside
Herb Keinon/Jerusalem Post/July 12/16
Standing Sunday in the Prime Minister’s Office under a bust of Theodor Herzl, and in front of a bank of Egyptian and Israeli flags, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry placed Cairo firmly in the center of the Middle East diplomatic process, shoving Paris to the side.
“My visit to Israel today is a continuation of Egypt’s longstanding sense of responsibility towards peace for itself and all the peoples of the region, particularly the Palestinian-Israeli peoples who have suffered for many decades due to the perpetuation of the conflict between them,” he said.
In other words, Egypt – feeling more self assured than it has in a number of years, and with more and more countries seeing Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as a important actor in the regional battle against Islamic State – served notice that it is reclaiming the role that was filled for years by Hosni Mubarak, before he was deposed in 2011, as a central player in the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic process.
And, by so doing, Egypt was shunting to the side the French, and their initiative calling for an international conference in December.
Shoukry made no mention of any international conference during his statement before meeting Netanyahu, but, rather, spoke of direct negotiations – something that surely pleased his host, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Itzhak Levanon, who served as Israel’s ambassador to Egypt from 2009 to 2011, said that both the Palestinian Authority and Israel would prefer Cairo’s involvement to that of Paris.
Levanon said that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas prefers Egyptian mediation because he knows Sisi will not change his position on what a final accord should look like: a Palestinians state inside the 1967 lines with east Jerusalem as its capital.
The Egyptians will only move off of this position, Levanon stated, if the Palestinians do, and Abbas knows that. He also understands that the Egyptians have leverage over Israel that the French do not.
“Israel is in a trap,” Levanon said. “It can’t say to the Egyptians what it said to the French – that their initiative is not worth anything. It can’t say this to Sisi because the relationship is so good and important. Israel will weigh what it says to Egypt dozens of times before saying it, and Abbas knows that.”
As to why, therefore, Israel wants Egyptian involvement, Levanon explained that this was because “Egypt understands us much more than the French,” and certainly more than some of the others trying to play a role in the diplomatic process, such as Turkey or Qatar.
According to Levanon, Israel enjoyed a relationship with Mubarak whereby it articulated to him the country’s red lines, and he then relayed them to the Palestinians.”
“Egypt understand us and can convince the Palestinians to be a bit more flexible,” he said.
Shoukry’s visit did not come out of nowhere, Levanon added, and was certainly preceded by a great deal of interaction over the last few weeks between Cairo, Jerusalem and Ramallah, where the Egyptian foreign minister visited two weeks ago.
Sisi, according to Levanon, feels that now – as his country has improved ties with Russia, China, India Europe and even the US – it is time to return Egypt to its rightful role in the Middle East diplomatic process, a role it is uniquely able to fill because of its strong ties with Israel, born of shared concerns over terrorism and Iran. Moreover, Levanon said, Israel’s recent diplomatic steps have not gone unnoticed by the Egyptian president.
“He is reading the map, and sees that Netanyahu succeeded [in reaching an agreement] with Turkey; has good relations with Russia; and just returned from Africa where they want to give Israel back its observer status in the African Union,” Levanon said.
“Sisi understands that he is dealing with a statesman who is strong. Forget the [domestic] investigations against him. Sisi sees him as someone who can deliver.”

Canadian Green Party sponsors resolutions targeting Israel
Kayla Rosen/Jerusalem Post/July 12/16
It would seem natural for Canada’s Green Party, which supports social justice and sustainability, to support the Jewish National Fund, an organization widely recognized for its environmental contributions to Israel – but it’s not the case.
Members of the Green Party sponsored two resolutions last month that target Israel: one urging the Canada Revenue Agency to revoke the JNF’s charitable status and another to support BDS in Israeli sectors that allegedly profit from occupied Palestinian territories.
“Given the glut of environmental and human crises the world faces, it strikes us as absurd and inappropriate for Green Party members to negatively single out Israel or Israel-related matters as the primary subject for attention,” said Josh Cooper, CEO of JNF Canada. “They’re allowing an obsession with Israel to distract them from the Green Party’s valid environmental priorities.”
The resolution regarding the JNF states that the organization is discriminatory against non-Jewish Israelis, that Ayalon Canada Park sits in occupied Palestinian territory and that it takes away the rightful land of Palestinians through the creation of parks and forests.
The BDS-related resolution states that Israel is violating international law through its settlements in occupied Palestinian territory.
“Tikkun olam teaches me that I must speak out when injustice occurs,” said Corey Levine, the Green Party member who initiated the JNF resolution. “I have a moral obligation to speak out when these injustices are a part of my community and are done in my name as a Jew.”
Green Party members participated in an online vote that decided whether or not the resolutions would be discussed at a convention in August where party policy is decided. The members voted 61.5 per cent in favor of discussing the JNF resolution and 58.5 per cent in favor of discussing the BDS resolution.
Depending on what happens at the convention, the party may shift its policies on these subjects, which would make it the only Canadian political party that supports BDS. The JNF as well as Independent Jewish Voices have been invited to speak at the convention.
“I hope that this resolution brings an awareness of the realities of what really is behind Canada Park and how this is subsidized by Canadian taxpayers,” Levine said. “Second, I hope it brings an understanding that criticism of Israeli government policies and JNF actions does not constitute anti-Semitism.”
Green Party leader Elizabeth May, who has attended JNF events and voted against BDS in the past, sponsored the JNF resolution after a discussion with a Palestinian man who said that his village was destroyed and then turned into the JNF-funded Ayalon Canada Park.
May met with Josh Cooper the CEO of JNF’s Canadian branch and some of his staff members to discuss the resolutions. May described this meeting as productive and respectful and maintained that she does not support the BDS movement. May also recognized that she has some concerns over the JNF resolution, which she hopes to discuss further at the convention.
“It would be irresponsible for the Green Party leadership to make Israel and JNF an issue based on falsehoods,” said Cooper.
“Long before there was an environmental movement, there was JNF.”
In response to these resolutions the JNF and the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) launched a campaign that urged their supporters to write letters to May. The template letter calls these resolutions a “blacklist” of the JNF and condemns the party for supporting “the discriminatory, fringe BDS movement.”Over 7,000 people participated in the campaign. May responded to each of these participants with an email that emphasizes that the members of the Green Party have a right to try and change policy and that she has never raised human rights concerns about Israel in her time at parliament.
“When a small core of activists manipulates the language of human rights in order to push an anti-Israel agenda, it’s incumbent upon us to point out to the party that not only is this discriminatory and counter-productive to peace, but it’s only reflective of a very tiny margin of Canadian society,” said Steve McDonald, deputy director of communications and public affairs for CIJA.
The party’s policy on Israel and Palestine states that, “The Green Party supports a two-state solution to the Israel–Palestine conflict that addresses the security, economic, and religious concerns of both sides.”
This is not the first time a Green Party has targeted Israel. In 2015 the Green Party of the United States also supported a resolution that urged a boycott of Israeli academic institutions.

Stabbing Policemen, "Slut-Shaming" and New Death Threats
One Month of Islam and Multiculturalism in France: June 2016
Yves MamouGatestone Institute/July 12/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8376/france-stabbing-policemen
Muslim perpetrators rationalize their violence by convincing themselves that they live in a racist society that rejects them and their religion. And the government legitimizes them when it asks Parliament to vote for a law that favors "diversity" on public television channels.
Islamist terrorist Larossi Abballa, 26, stabbed to death police officer Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and his wife, police administrator Jessica Schneider, in front of their son, at their home in the Paris suburb of Magnanville. The murderer then live-streamed a video on Facebook, in which he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS).
After the Islamist, anti-gay attack in Orlando, left-wing politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon wrote in his blog that he fears a possible "wave of hatred against Muslims". For many Islamists in France, the Muslim is always the victim, even when he is the killer.
Islamization is gaining ground in the Muslim community of France. For a long time, this trend remained restricted to the cultural sphere and created strong controversies between Islamists and secular intellectuals (such as the ban on face-covering veils in schools and public places). But the debate stopped being a debate. Sometimes Islamic intolerance takes on the appearance of a civil war. The violence, which was mostly concentrated in the suburbs prior to the January 2015 terrorist attack on the satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, is spreading now to the heart of French cities. Murders, assaults, death threats and "slut-shaming" happens almost every day here and there.
Muslim perpetrators rationalize their violence by convincing themselves that they live in a racist society that rejects them and their religion. And the government legitimizes them when it asks Parliament to vote for a law that favors "diversity" on public television channels. What is interesting is that judiciary system seems in disarray and does not know how to treat these types of conflicts: two jihadists back from Syria are condemned to a suspended sentence of six months in prison and a Muslim who slapped a female waiter because she served alcohol during the Ramadan was sentenced to eight months in prison.
The absence of political guidelines spreads fear and aids the rise of the right-wing political party, the Front National.
June 1. Karim Benzema, a French soccer star of Algerian descent, declared, in the Spanish sports newspaper Marca, that French national team's coach, Didier Deschamps "bowed to the pressure of a racist part of France" by not including him in the team. Benzema was not included in the national soccer team for the UEFA Euro 2016 championship because he is apparently involved in a sex-tape extortion scandal targeting his colleague, Mathieu Valbuena.
June 2. Patrick Kanner, Minister of Urban Affairs, Youth and Sport, said in Le Parisien that Karim Benzema plays an "unfair and dangerous" game when he implies that "ethnic reasons" might have played a role in the decision not to include him in the French soccer team.
June 2. It was reported that the Saudi preacher, Mohammed Ramzan Al-Hajiri, was banned from entering France until 2050. The daily, La Voix du Nord, reported that on May 15, the salafist Abou Bakr Essedik mosque of Roubaix had arranged for him to preach by phone. In April 2014, the same Saudi preacher had declared in public: "Losing your faith makes you no better than an animal" and "to kill a Muslim is a less serious crime than to make him an infidel."
June 5. A 25-year-old Frenchman was arrested at the border between Ukraine and Poland. According to the TV channel M6, his truck was loaded with three portable rocket launchers, more than 100 kilograms of TNT, 100 detonators and half a dozen Kalashnikov assault rifles. He was unknown to security services and was planning terrorist attacks against synagogues and mosques in France.
June 6. One thousand migrants from Afghanistan, Sudan and Somalia, who were living in tents in the 18th district of Paris (Les Jardins d'Eole), were evacuated peacefully by police. According to the media, it is the 23rd operation of this kind in Paris since 2015
June 6. Swastikas and the words "white power" were tagged on the walls of the synagogue of Verdun. A similar incident of vandalism took place two months prior, said Jean-Claude Lévy, leader of the Jewish community in Verdun.
June 6. Gérard Tardy, mayor of Lorette, a small city in the Loire region of France, posted two messages on the electronic information boards of the city:
"Ramadan must be lived in peace without noise"
"In the Republic, nobody covers his face."
The far left and Muslims organizations said these messages were "outrageous" and "disrespectful" to Muslims.
June 7. A waitress at a bar in Nice was violently slapped by a Muslim because she was serving alcohol to customers on the first day of Ramadan. Both the owner of the bar and the victim filed a complaint at the police station. The attacker escaped.
June 8. In Grigny, an outer suburb of Paris, people filmed used their smartphones to film a riot between "youths" [the French media's euphemism for young Muslims] and police, and aired it live on Periscope, an "app" for instant video. No one knows what caused the riot. A father living in Grigny said, "In my time, violence with cops had always a motive: arrest, a stolen car... But now, it is different. It looks like people fight with police for fun".
June 8. At midnight, Aya Ramadan, a female activist of the Parti des Indigènes de la République, posted on Twitter her congratulations to the two Palestinian terrorists who shot people in a bar in Tel Aviv, killing three. She wrote; "Dignity and pride! Cheers to the two Palestinians who have led a resistance operation in Tel Aviv."
Gilles Clavreul, the High Commissioner of the Fight against Racism and anti-Semitism, said he would sue Ramadan for acting as an "apologist for terrorism." The maximum punishment for such an offense is two years in prison and €100,000 fine. The Parti des Indigènes de la République is a racialist organization developing a political ideology to take the power from the "whites" to give it to the "colored people" in France.
June 8. The Observatory of Secularism (Observatoire de la laïcité), an official body linked to the prime minister's office, published its annual report. According to the report, anti-Semitic attacks remain at a high level (808 attacks) and anti-Muslim attacks have tripled (from 133 last year to 429 in 2015). The report failed to establish a proportion between the number of Jews in France (half a million) and the number of Muslims (between six to ten million). The report also does not relate that most anti-Jewish acts are committed by Muslims. The Observatory of Secularism found itself in the eye of a storm last year for its complacency towards Islamism.
June 9. Jacqueline Eustache-Brinio, Mayor of Saint-Gratien, declared war on shops with veiled saleswomen. She wrote on her Facebook page. "I have decided to boycott all shops who impose veiled cashiers and veiled saleswomen on me." She says she is committed to support, by all means possible, women who refuse to wear veil.
June 9. Provocation? The Parti des Indigénes de la République issued a public invitation to all Muslims to begin the night of Ramadan in front of Saint Denis Basilica, a huge Catholic monument that played an important role in history of France. The Catholic kings of France were crowned and are buried in the Basilica.
June 9. Soldiers protecting a synagogue in Garges (a Paris suburb) were attacked with a barrage of stones launched by a group of twenty people. One soldier was wounded.
June 8. Twenty MPs co-signed and published an open letter in the news magazine Valeurs Actuelles, addressed to Minister of Education Najat Vallaud-Belkacem. They were protesting the decision of the Ministry of Education to promote teaching Arabic at schools to young children of five or six years old. "This decision is stupid. Priority must be given to teaching French, the language of the Republic".
June 13. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, of left-wing New Anticapitalist Party (NPA), wrote in his blog after the Islamist, anti-gay attack in Orlando, that he fears a possible "wave of hatred against Muslims". For many Islamists in France, the Muslim is always the victim, even when he is the killer.
June 13. Islamist terrorist Larossi Abballa, 26, stabbed to death police officer Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and his wife, police administrator Jessica Schneider, in front of their son, at their home in the Paris suburb of Magnanville. The murderer then live-streamed a video on Facebook, in which he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS). When police stormed the house, they rescued the three-year-old boy. According to Le Figaro, the killer had been sentenced in 2013 to three years of prison for participating in recruiting jihadists and funneling them into Pakistan, but was released almost immediately.
Paris police officer Jean-Baptiste Salvaing (left) and his wife, police administrator Jessica Schneider (right), were stabbed to death in front of their son by Islamist terrorist Larossi Abballa (inset) on June 13. The murderer then live-streamed a video on Facebook, in which he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
June 14. A 19-year-old female student was stabbed at a bus station in the city of Rennes. Passersby succeeded in capturing her attacker, a Muslim man who said he was obeying "voices" that ordered him to make a "sacrifice for Ramadan." The young woman was taken to a hospital, and the attacker was taken to a psychiatric hospital.
June 14. In reaction to the June 13 murder of two police officers by an Islamist terrorist, the government authorized all policemen to keep their gun on them when they are not on duty.
June 15. According to the Belgian daily La Dernière Heure, the Belgian antiterrorism service informed police departments that ISIS fighters left Syria at the beginning of June to be sent to France and Belgium to commit terrorist attacks.
June 15. Maude Vallet, 18 years old, was harassed, insulted and threatened by five women in a bus because she was wearing shorts on her way back from the beach. She wrote her story on Facebook: "Hi, I am a bitch". She denounced traditions and the clergy, but refused to mention that these "slut-shaming" attackers were Muslim women. She said the ethnicity to which they belonged was not relevant.
June 15. Ali S, 32, a Tunisian who slapped a female waiter in a bar in Nice because she was serving alcohol during Ramadan was sentenced to eight months in prison and ordered to pay 1000 euros to the waitress. Because he was residing illegally in France, he will be deported and prohibited from returning to France for three years.
June 16. A street encampment of around 400 Sudanese and Afghan migrants, mostly men, was evacuated by the police in the 18th district of Paris. It is the 24th evacuation since June 15, 2015.
June 16. In reaction to the June 13 murder of two police officers by an Islamist terrorist, the right-wing politicians began campaigning to send 13,000 people registered as an "S" (people who live in France and suspected of being affiliated with a terrorist organization) to special "camps".
June 16. A 22-year-old convert to Islam was arrested in Carcassonne with a knife and a machete. He confessed to the police that he wanted to kill American and English tourists before stabbing a policeman or a soldier. He is being held in custody in Toulouse. The man is registered as an "S".
June 18. Abou Kamel Chahid threatened on Facebook to commit terrorist attacks in France. "We are four brothers, each has a mission. I swear by Allah, France is going leave the coalition. They won't have choice. These kouffars [infidels] will never feel well in this country. Be careful, brothers and sisters, things are going to accelerate".
June 18. For a year, the public multimedia library of Lannion (Britany) has been suffered a rash of vandalizations of its books, comics and DVDs -- all relating to the Jews, such as books about the Holocaust and comics by Johan Sfar, the author of "La chat du rabbin" ("The Rabbi's Cat"), a bestselling comic book.
June 19: An inmate of the Beziers prison in the south of France was sentenced to an additional six months in prison because he said he wanted to commit a terrorist attack against the nudist beach of the Cap d'Agde. The man, Alain G, a convert to Islam, was reported by other inmates.
June 19: 4000 French Muslims responded to a call launched by a group of Mosques in the area of Magnanville, a Paris suburb, to participate in a silent march in tribute to two police officers stabbed to death at their home. It is the first time that French Muslims showed some collective solidarity with non-Muslims against Islamic terrorism. Pressure from the media had been huge to make the demonstration into a show. There was, however, some criticism: MP Guénhaël Huet tweeted "sincerity or duplicity?". Many other critics observed the absence of women among the marchers, which was analyzed as a sign of the deepening of Islamist ideology among the French Muslims. When the marchers arrived in front of the police station to lay down flowers, no policemen came out to thank them or shake hands.
June 20. After three days of controversy on social media, it appeared that the policeman who refused to shake hands with President François Hollande at a memorial ceremony for the two police officers murdered by the Islamist, Larossi Abballa, was not a member of right-wing Front National party. According to Le Monde, the policeman just wanted to protest against the shrinking budget of the police.
June 21. The NGO "Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture" ("Action des chrétiens pour l'abolition de la torture") released a poll about the perception of torture by the French. The results were astounding:
36% said it is acceptable to use torture "in exceptional circumstances." The number was 25% in 2000 [Poll Amnesty/CSA. 2000].
54% of those polled found it "justifiable" to use electric shocks to torture a terrorist suspected of planting a bomb.
45% said they considered torture an efficient tool against terrorism.
18% said they thought they could torture a terrorist themselves. 40% of Front National supporters said they thought they could torture a terrorist themselves.
June 21. More than 1000 women (mostly Muslims) signed a petition demanding separate hours for women at the public swimming pool of Mantes la Jolie, a Paris suburb. The petition included a request for only female employees to be present during women's hours. Officials, in the name of secularism, refused the request.
June 21. The daily, Libération, published a report on the Turkish government's strategy to gain control of Islamic institutions in France.
June 21. A Muslim security guard operating in the "fan zone" of the UEFA Euro soccer tournament in Nice was seen praying while on duty. Police were called to expel him; bystanders were afraid he was a terrorist.
June 22. The investment company Mayhoola, affiliated with the royal family of Qatar, the al-Thanis, spent half-a-billion euros for a controlling interest in the French fashion company Balmain. The same day, the news magazine Marianne published a full survey about the real estate properties of the royal Qatari family in France: 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion USD) in villas, buildings, malls, etc.
June 22. A Muslim from La Chapelle-Basse-Mer (western France) was given a four month suspended prison sentence, a €300 fine, and ordered to pay €1000 in damages each to the two people he threatened to kill, as well as €300 for court costs. In December 2015, he drove his car into a schoolyard and threatened to kill the cook and deputy cook of the school, because his eight-year-old son had eaten pork at the school cafeteria. The boy was hungry and apparently did not want to wait for a substitute meal for vegetarians and Muslims.
June 23: At 3am, in the heart of Barbes, the Muslim quarter of Paris, two men on a motor-scooter opened fire on a group of young men walking in the street. No one was wounded. The police found two 9mm bullet casings on the scene.
June 24: In Toulon, a hundred women demonstrated in the street, all of them wearing shorts. They said they wanted to support Maude Vallet who had been attacked in a bus by five women; the attackers had said that by wearing shorts, she did not respect herself. Like Maude Vallet, the demonstrators refused to mention that all the attackers had been Muslims. Instead, the demonstrators repeated the traditional litany that "it has nothing to do with Islam".
June 24: In Portes-lès-Valence, an Islamist under surveillance by security services was convicted and imprisoned for the murder of his three-year-old stepdaughter. He had beaten the child to death. The mother was also charged for failing to report the abuse.
June 25: Can a female lawyer testify in court while wearing a veil? This controversy engulfed the bar association of Seine Saint Denis, a suburb of Paris. On June 24, at a students' moot court competition, a young woman appeared with a tuque, a traditional hat which no lawyers in France wear anymore. But, in a visible way, under the tuque, she was wearing a Muslim veil. The controversial question of whether this is now a hot topic. Many observers think that the tuque will be reintroduced in France by Islamist lawyers in the next few months.
June 26: Bernard Cazeneuve posthumously admitted Hervé Cornara to the Order of Légion d'Honneur. A year ago, Cornara, a businessman, was murdered and beheaded by his Muslim employee, Yassine Salhi, who claimed to act on behalf of the Islamic State. Salhi placed Cornara's severed head on display, alongside twin ISIS flags, at the gas factory near Lyon where they worked.
June 27: The press reported that two days earlier, 300 hundred migrants from Sudan, Eritrea and Afghanistan engaged in a mass brawl in the 18th district of Paris. The brawl apparently erupted because a woman was sexually harassed by a man from a different ethnic group. The police used tear gas grenades to stop the violence.
June 27: In Ales (southern France), Abdellah, a Moroccan, apparently had no money to pay for his meal at the Sushi bar where he had eaten, so he ran out of the restaurant with his girlfriend. When the police caught him, he began to shout:
"You pork-eaters! You sausage-eaters... We are going to kick France's ass. Long live the Kouachis [brothers who murdered the Charlie Hebdo journalists in January 2015]! I swear to God, I have a Kalashnikov..."
Abdellah was sentenced to two years in prison for "defending terrorism," and was ordered to pay the Sushi bar bill.
June 28: Azzeddine Taïbi, a communist, was elected mayor of Stains, a suburban city known for its Salafist population. On the same day, the Administrative Court of Montreuil rejected an appeal by the Seine-Saint-Denis Prefecture demanding the removal of a banner in support of Marwan Barghouti. Barghouti is currently serving five life sentences in an Israel prison for
"orchestrating three shooting attacks that killed 5 people: one attack in Jerusalem... in which Greek monk Tsibouktsakis Germanus was murdered... and one shooting and stabbing attack at the Sea Food Market restaurant in Tel Aviv (March 5, 2002). When arrested by Israel in 2002, Barghouti headed the Tanzim (Fatah terror faction)."
Barghouti's supporters try to paint him as the "Palestinian Mandela." So, today, the portrait of Barghouti is back covering "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" on the pediment of the Seine-Saint-Denis Hall.
June 29: The prosecutor's office in Paris opened in inquiry into death threats posted on social networks against the magazine, Charlie Hebdo. Some twenty "very threatening" messages, including the death threats, were posted on Charlie Hebdo's Facebook page for three or four days in mid-June, Le Parisien reported. Police are investigating.
June 30: The French government introduced amendments to the "Equality and Citizenship" bill, to fight against "prejudice" and make "diversity" (ethnic minorities) more visible on public television.
According to the latest "barometer of diversity," only 14% of people perceived as "non-white" (in the terminology) are present on the air. Erika Bareigts, secretary of state in charge of "real equality," said that "diversity is the reality of French society, and we must show it. This soothes the debate, and everybody needs it." She added: "The media do not show non-whites in positive or starring roles. That must change."
June 30: Two jihadists, back from Syria, where they joined the Islamic State, were sentenced to six-month suspended prison terms. The jihadists are 16 and 17 years old. They stayed only six months in Syria and said they left ISIS because of the "rotten ambiance" in their battalion, which was composed of French volunteers.
**Yves Mamou, based in France, worked for two decades as a journalist for Le Monde.
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Old Mideast Foes Unite Over Gas Deals and Fighting Militants
David Wainer/Jonathan Ferziger/Ahmed Feteha/Bloomberg/July 11/16
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-10/old-middle-east-foes-unite-over-gas-deals-and-fighting-militants
Theresa May, U.K. home secretary, reacts during a news conference in Birmingham, U.K., on Monday, July 11, 2016. May pledged to crack down on corporate irresponsibility if she succeeds David Cameron as prime minister, as chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne headed to Wall Street on Monday to shore up investor confidence. Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg
May to Succeed Cameron as Britain’s Prime Minister on Wednesday
MANAUS, BRAZIL - UNDATED: EXCLUSIVE Cumulus clouds over the rain forest in Manaus, Brazil taken from an aeroplane at 20,000 feet. Forming majestically these fluffy 10,000 foot long cumulus clouds form incredible white and stormy layers in the sky. Touching the void at 20,000 feet above the ground photographer, Rudiger Nehmzow's amazing pictures provide a rare glimpse of glorious 'cloudscapes'. Rudiger took his otherworldly pictures in Manaus, Brazil from a small fixed wing aeroplane which he used like a flying tripod to position himself in the perfect place. The daring photographer had to fix a harness over his chest and dangle out the open door of the plane in the knowledge that if anything went wrong it was a long fall to earth. Rudiger's target - the large heaped clouds called cumulus have a base at about 330 feet and a body that can extend tens of thousands of feet into the air. Rudiger was lucky enough to be sent 9000 miles from his home in Dusseldorf in Germany to Brazil - where the tropical rain forest regularly produce just the right kind of clouds. The Latin name "cumulus" actually means "heaped" in English - a term which refers to the vertical way in which these clouds form. They are a low to mid-level cloud which are strikingly puffy like pieces of floating cotton. They get progressively darker as they become ready to release rain.
When Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi turned a standard speech on electricity supplies into an unexpected appeal for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, one man who wasn’t surprised was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
QuickTake Two-State Solution
The televised address in May capped months of backstage diplomacy by a group including former British premier Tony Blair. With Netanyahu wary of a separate French-led proposal that could impose a solution to the Palestinian conflict, almost every step was coordinated with his veteran negotiator, Yitzhak Molcho, according to people familiar with the secret talks.
Nearly four decades after their peace accord changed the face of the Middle East, Israel and Egypt are slowly turning a cool relationship into an alliance. They have tightened security cooperation to unprecedented levels and have been laying the legal groundwork for a multi-billion dollar energy contract, as gas discoveries in the Mediterranean and the persistent threat from Islamist militants shift the political dynamics across the region.
“In this time of turmoil and instability all around the Middle East, it’s very important for reasonable countries to keep some kind of cooperation,” Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said in an interview in his office in Jerusalem.
In the latest sign of the warming relations, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry visited Israel on Sunday to discuss efforts to renew stalled Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking, the first public visit by an Egyptian foreign minister in nine years. Blair met Netanyahu on Monday to follow up on the Shoukry visit and help lay the groundwork for a summit with El-Sisi, according to an Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the diplomatic sensitivity.
“My visit to Israel today is a continuation of Egypt’s longstanding sense of responsibility towards peace for itself and all the peoples of the region, particularly the Palestinian-Israeli peoples,” Shoukry said, standing beside Netanyahu at a press conference. Netanyahu said it “illustrates the change that has taken place in Israeli-Egyptian ties, including President El-Sisi’s important call to advance peacemaking, with the Palestinians as well as Arab states.”
Arrangements are being made for Netanyahu to travel to Egypt by the end of the year for a meeting with El-Sisi, Channel 2 television said, without saying where it got the information. The aim would be to promote the Saudi-initiated regional approach to brokering an Arab-Israeli peace and preempt the French proposal for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which the Israeli leader opposes, Channel 2 said.
New Era?
In his speech at a new power plant in Assiut, 400 kilometers (250 miles) south of Cairo, El-Sisi said he saw “a great chance for a better future,” between Israel and the Palestinians. An ensuing statement by Netanyahu championing Egypt’s involvement was coordinated, the people familiar with the talks said, speaking on condition of anonymity. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said it was “complementary” to his country’s effort.
Almost four decades after their peace accord changed the face of the Middle East, Israel and Egypt are slowly turning a cool relationship into an alliance.
Almost four decades after their peace accord changed the face of the Middle East, Israel and Egypt are slowly turning a cool relationship into an alliance.
Returning as a key power broker in the region would help burnish Egypt’s international image as it struggles to revive its economy. Potential rewards would mitigate any increased risk of attack by militants because of closer ties to Israel. The affinity between El-Sisi, 61, and Netanyahu, 66, is also remarkable given that antipathy toward Israel still runs deep in Egypt.
The government in Cairo and civil society groups typically have sought to keep dealings with Israelis to a minimum, and official contact is frequently kept secret. Tawfik Okasha, a lawmaker, was attacked with a shoe in February by a colleague then expelled from parliament for meeting with Israel’s ambassador to Cairo.
Dozens of militant attacks by an Islamic State affiliate on Egyptian security personnel have allowed El-Sisi to pull closer to the Jewish state. Israel, also targeted by militants operating in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, has let him boost military operations along their shared border beyond what the 1979 treaty permits.
“There is definitely a high level of cooperation that could be unprecedented, especially in the field of combating terrorism,” said Mohamed Kamal, a former lawmaker and a political science professor at Cairo University. “Egypt will handle this issue in a rational way, based on national interest.”
Sharing Intelligence
El-Sisi has acted with a fervor his predecessors lacked against armed groups and weapons moving between Sinai and Gaza, destroying and flooding hundreds of cross-border tunnels. Israel has responded to El-Sisi with financial gestures and, according to the Israeli military’s deputy chief of staff, increased intelligence-sharing.
“The level of cooperation is something we’ve never experienced before,” Major-General Yair Golan said. “It’s not about love, it’s not about common values. I wouldn’t describe it as the relationship we have with the United States of America, but I think it’s a good starting point.”
A former senior Israel official said his country has conducted numerous drone attacks on militants in Sinai in recent years with Egypt’s blessing. He spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential military activity.
Energy Deals
Israel’s closeness to El-Sisi precedes his presidency. When he was defense minister, Israel lobbied the U.S. to release military aid to Cairo suspended over Egypt’s deadly crackdown on Islamists. They argued it was needed to address security threats in Sinai, the former senior Israeli official said.
Potential gas deals would take cooperation to another level. Israeli supplies would ease Egypt’s energy crunch until it can develop its own field, the largest in the Mediterranean.
After Israel and Turkey ended a six-year rift last month and said they would start talks on energy supplies, Netanyahu publicly sent a message of reassurance to El-Sisi. Israel’s Leviathan field “can supply Egypt, and that is something we are working to advance, as well as Turkey,” he said at a news conference in Rome last month.
Idle Egyptian liquefaction plants could be reactivated to convert the Israeli gas for export to Europe and other international markets. Israel may forgive as much as half of a $1.7 billion fine international arbiters ordered Egypt to pay it for an earlier, broken gas contract, two people familiar with the matter said in May.
Listen Up
For Egypt, there’s more at stake than energy supplies: assuming a leading role in peace talks is an opportunity after criticism that longtime Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak had allowed Egypt’s influence to wane, and El-Sisi had expected his words to resonate.
“I’ll talk on a subject that could be totally unexpected and it is not a simple one,” he said. “I hope everybody listening to me in Egypt, the Arab region, the Palestinians and the Israelis, will pay attention.”