LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

June 11/16

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.june11.16.htm

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Bible Quotations For Today

Forgive who sins to you not only seven times, seventy-seven times
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 18/21-35:"Then Peter came and said to him, ‘Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. ‘For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, "Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything."And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow-slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, "Pay what you owe."Then his fellow-slave fell down and pleaded with him, "Have patience with me, and I will pay you." But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow-slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, "You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.
Should you not have had mercy on your fellow-slave, as I had mercy on you?"And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he should pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.’

‘Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer,so he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Acts of the Apostles 08/26-40:"Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Get up and go towards the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch (yoonek) (castrated), a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go over to this chariot and join it.’ So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’He replied, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this: ‘Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer,so he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation?For his life is taken away from the earth.’The eunuch asked Philip, ‘About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?’Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?’ He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Question: "If I do not forgive others, does that mean my sins are not forgiven?
GotQuestions.org
Answer: Matthew 6 does not teach that our eternal destiny is based on our forgiving other people; however, it does teach that our relationship with God will be damaged if we refuse to pardon those who have offended us. The Bible is clear that God pardons sin by His grace based on Christ’s work on the cross alone, not on man’s actions. Our right standing before Him is established on one thing only—the finished work of Christ (John 3:16; 1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10). The penalty for the sin that is rightly ours is paid by Christ, and we obtain it by grace through faith, not by any righteous deeds of our own (Ephesians 2:8-9). No one will be able to stand before God demanding that his sins be forgotten simply because he has forgiven others. Only when we are born again and given a new life through God’s Spirit by faith in Jesus Christ are our sins forgiven. Therefore, Jesus is not referring to God’s initial act of forgiveness (reconciliation) that we experienced when we first believed the Gospel.
What He is referring to is the day-to-day cleansing we obtain when we confess our sins in order to restore fellowship with our heavenly Father—the fellowship which is interrupted by the daily tarnishing of sin that affects us all. This is not the wholesale cleansing from sin that comes with salvation by grace through faith, but is more like the foot-washing Jesus describes in John 13:10. The “whole body is clean,” He told the disciples, but their feet were dirty from their walking in the world. Forgiveness in this sense is what God threatens to withhold from Christians who refuse to forgive others.
In Matthew 6 Jesus is teaching disciples how to pray and in doing so outlines how we are restored into intimacy with God whenever we have displeased Him. In fact, Jesus instructs us to build into our prayers a request for God to forgive us in the same way that we have forgiven others who have harmed us (Matthew 6:12). If there are those we have not forgiven when we ourselves pray for forgiveness, then practically speaking we are asking God not to restore a right relationship with us after we sin. To emphasize the importance of restoring broken relationships with our brothers and sisters, Jesus states that asking for God’s forgiveness for one’s own sins, all the while withholding forgiveness from someone else, is not only bizarre but hypocritical. We cannot possibly walk with God in true fellowship if we refuse to forgive others.
To be sure, an unforgiving spirit is a serious sin and should be confessed to God. If we have unforgiveness in our hearts against someone else, then we are acting in a way that is not pleasing to God, making our prayers and a proper living relationship with Him difficult. God will not hear our prayers unless we also show ourselves ready to grant forgiveness. If we are harder than iron in this regard, Christ’s exhortation ought to soften us.
A second biblically plausible interpretation of Matthew 6:14-15 is that it is saying anyone who refuses to forgive others is demonstrating that he has not truly received Christ's forgiveness himself. Any sin committed against us, no matter how terrible, is trivial in comparison to our sins against God. If God has forgiven us of so much, how could we refuse to forgive others of so "little"? Matthew 6:14-15, according to this view, proclaims that anyone who harbors unforgiveness against others has not truly experienced God's forgiveness. Both interpretations strongly deny that salvation is dependent on our forgiving others. Whether Matthew 6:14-15 is speaking of "relational forgiveness," or whether it is a declaration that unforgiveness is the mark of an unbeliever, the core truth is the same. We should forgive others because God, through Christ, has forgiven us (Ephesians 4:32). It is inconceivable that someone who has truly experienced God's forgiveness could refuse to grant forgiveness to others.
Recommended Resources: The Gift of Forgiveness by Charles Stanley and Logos Bible Software.

Pope Francis's Tweet For Today
The tenderness of God is present in the lives of all those who attend the sick and understand their needs, with eyes full of love.
La tendresse de Dieu est présente chez ceux qui sont proches des malades et en comprennent les besoins, avec des yeux plein d’amour.
ينعكس حنان الله في حياة أشخاص كثيرين يتواجدون بالقرب من المرضى ويدركون احتياجاتهم، لأنهم ينظرون بأعين ملأى بالمحبة.

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on June 10-11/16

Lebanon: Teetering on the edge/Bruce Maddy-Weitzman/Jerusalem Post/June 10/16
The extraordinary Ghassan Tueni/Nayla Tueni/Al Arabiya/June 10/16
What happened to kidnapped Lebanese soldiers in Arsal/Jean Aziz/Al-Monitor/June 10/16
Iran: Is it a nation or a cause/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Al Arabiya/June 10/16
Hajj the Khomeini way/Mshari Al Thaydi/Al Arabiya/June 10/16
Brexit would leave EU less liberal, less Atlanticist/Paul Taylor/Al Arabiya/June 10/16
Islamophobia and ‘grey’ radicalism/Fahad Suleiman Shoqiran/Al Arabiya/June 10/16
Will Egypt's Copts get to build more churches/Rania Rabeaa Elabd/Al-Monitor/June 10/16

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on June 10-11/16

Alleged Ahrar al-Sham official arrested in Lebanon

Lebanese Army Arrests Suspects Over Terror Links and Undocumented Refugees
Sami Gemayel Says Confrontation Continues to Thwart Bargains at Country's Expense
Hariri Vows 'Internal Reevaluation', Slams 'Lying, Incitement' in Municipal Polls
Hariri Says Hizbullah Blocking Quorum for President Election 'at Iran's Request'
In Finland, Bassil Says Refugee Crisis an 'Existential Threat'
Abou Faour Refers Assaulter of Government Employee to Prosecution
Report: Franjieh Will not Draw Back from Presidential Race
Fatfat Confirms Mustaqbal to Hold 'Emergency General Conference'
The Time Has Come To Elect Aoun as President
Bou Saab discloses discovery of two cheating nets at official exams
Tashnaq: ties with FPM are very good
Bassil from Finland: huge displacement to Lebanon poses existential threat
Salam during Maqassed Association iftar: Maqassed is resilient in face of extremism
FAO panel discussion: Urgent measures to protect children rights
Lebanon: Teetering on the edge
The extraordinary Ghassan Tueni
What happened to kidnapped Lebanese soldiers in Arsal?
 

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 10-11/16

Police Shoot Man amid Domestic Disturbance at Dallas Airport
Arab-Kurd forces cut main ISIS supply route between Syria, Turkey
ISIS can’t pay fighters, says US treasury
Food aid enters Syria’s besieged Daraya
Israel to deny return of all Palestinian attackers’ bodies
Israel bars all Palestinians after Tel Aviv attack
US, Iraqi officials can’t confirm ISIS leader wounded
Militant Kurdish group TAK claims Istanbul bombing attack
Libya unity forces bombard ISIS in bastion Sirte
Parliament Research Center: Iran Banking System Is in “Crisis”
Street sign named after Iran regime’s Supreme Leader destroyed
Amnesty urges Iran regime to free Canadian academic, Dr. Hoodfar
Lord Maginnis: Need for essential changes in Mid-East policy
France Urges Calm in Saudi-U.N. Row on Blacklisting
Strike-hit France Vows a Smooth Euro 2016
Israeli Arabs: Attackers ‘don’t deserve air to breathe

Links From Jihad Watch Site for June 10-11/16
Christine Williams: I Was Challenged: Why Write About Jihadists and Muslim Migrant Crimes?
CNN apologizes for using the word “terrorists” regarding Tel Aviv jihad attack
Oklahoma City Muslim threatens malls: “Allah will take vengeance on the scumdogs of the western world”
Yet again: Muslims hack to death Hindu monastery worker in Bangladesh
Iran spends $1.7 billion in U.S. taxpayer funds to boost its military
UN chief removed Saudi Arabia from blacklist of human rights abusers after Saudis threatened to cut UN funding
France: Muslim staff at Paris airport sanctioned for having Qur’an in lockers and refusing to trim beards
Islamic State jihadis stealing blood from civilians
Reading the Qur’an during Ramadan 6: Juz La Yuhibbullah
Bangladesh police on jihad murderers: “people think they have done the right thing”
Michael Cutler Moment: Obama’s Refugees and the Tsunami of Deadly Diseases in America
Warning to the West: Jihad groups acquiring cyber capability to bring major cities to standstill
Oxford: Parents of Islamic State suspect (“Jihadi Jack”) remanded in custody for terrorism
Islamophobia Hotline could be coming to your community

Latest Lebanese Related News published on June 10-11/16

Alleged Ahrar al-Sham official arrested in Lebanon
Now Lebanon/June 10/16/BEIRUT – An alleged member of the powerful Syrian Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham has been arrested in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, the latest detention of a Syrian opponent of the Bashar al-Assad regime. Lebanon’s state National News Agency reported Thursday that the State Security service detained Mohammad Talaat Hussein Maarouf in Baalbek near the city’s Sinbad restaurant. The report said that the security agents apprehended Maarouf after conducting surveillance on the 29-year-old, who hails from the Syrian town of Zabadani situated near Lebanon’s border. Following an interrogation of Maarouf, State Security learned that the suspect was a media official in Ahrar al-Sham, the NNA added. State Security has not yet issued an official statement on the arrest, while Ahrar al-Sham has also stayed mum on the issue. Unlike the Nusra Front and ISIS, Ahrar al-Sham—which insists it does not conduct terror attacks against civilians—has no known operational presence in Lebanon. The Islamist group is one of the largest factions in Syria, where its fighters are active along almost all the country’s flashpoint fronts, most noticeably in the Idlib and Aleppo provinces. Lebanese security forces in past years have controversially detained a number of defected Syrian officers and activists. In mid-April 2016, a State Security patrol detained Lieutenant Colonel Hassan Khaled al-Haloush—a defected regime pilot—in the northeastern Jdaideh-Al-Fakiha area, which lies near the Syrian border. Last year in May, Lebanese army intelligence arrested Syrian army colonel Walid Ahmad Aydan in Labweh, another northeastern border town, without issuing an official explanation for his detention. ARA News cited corroborative human rights sources as saying that Aydan was residing legally in Lebanon and had been on the way to Beirut to visit family members when he was arrested. The sources told the Syrian outlet that all of the defected colonel’s papers were “in order and issued by Lebanon’s General Security.”Aydan’s arrest comes after Lebanese army intelligence in late March 2015 briefly detained Maan Abdul Salam, a leading Syrian dissident and intellectual who took refuge in Beirut following the outbreak of the war in his country. In October 2014, State Security in the southern town of Damour arrested a former officer on charges of “inciting against the Lebanese army” on Facebook. NOW's English news desk editor Albin Szakola (@AlbinSzakola) wrote this report.
 

Lebanese Army Arrests Suspects Over Terror Links and Undocumented Refugees
Naharnet/June 10/16/The Lebanese army arrested three individuals late on Thursday near the northeastern border town of Arsal over suspected links to extremists. The army arrested Syrian national Hussein Abdul Rahman Rahmoun in Wadi Hmeid, after an attempt to sneak through the outskirts into the town of Arsal. He is also suspected of having links to terror groups, said the army in a statement.It also arrested Lebanese nationals Ousama Sadallah Ammoun and his brother Iyad in the same area, over suspicions of having links to a terror group.The army clamped down on 21 Syrians in al-Masnaa area in Bekaa after an illegal attempt to enter into Lebanon's territories.Ten more undocumented Syrians were arrested in Akkar. Four cars in their possessions were confiscated for lacking the legal documents.

Sami Gemayel Says Confrontation Continues to Thwart Bargains at Country's Expense
Naharnet/June 10/16/Kataeb Party chief Sami Gemayel warned on Friday that the party will continue to confront any attempts to pass bargains that harm the interest of Lebanon and fail to benefit the Lebanese, LBCI reported. Gemayel said that the ministers of the party kicked off a “1000 mile journey at the cabinet,” asserting that the confrontation that began yesterday during a government session will continue to confront anyone who suggests harmful projects in the country. His comments came after he met with Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Beirut Elias Audeh. The Kataeb ministers walked out of a cabinet session on Thursday in protest at the government handling of the waste management file and the controversial file of the Janna dam project. After that, Gemayel hinted in a press conference that his party's ministers might resign or suspend their participation in cabinet sessions should their presence in the government cease to “serve the interest of the Lebanese.”Gemayel had expressed environmental concerns related to the controversial Janna dam project. The cabinet is divided against itself between parties supporting the establishment of the dam and others rejecting it citing environmental fears. The government also plans to set up seaside garbage landfills in the Costa Brava and Bourj Hammoud areas, which was rejected by Gemayel. Accusing the political class of seeking personal gains he concluded: “If the majority of the political class adopts the principle of theft for personal gains, they should know that some people refuse this logic.”

Hariri Vows 'Internal Reevaluation', Slams 'Lying, Incitement' in Municipal Polls
Naharnet/June 10/16/Former premier Saad Hariri pledged Thursday to conduct a “critical internal reevaluation” in the al-Mustaqbal movement in light of the results of last month's municipal polls, as he accused certain parties of resorting to “lying, incitement and the manipulation of people's sentiments” during the elections. “The polls represent an opportunity for a critical internal reevaluation whose outcome will be presented to the Lebanese in general and to my people, my loved ones, my comrades and all those who are loyal to the approach of political Harirism,” said Hariri at an iftar banquet he hosted at the Center House in honor of Lebanon's religious leaders. “During this holy month, I will make several revisions, I will say what my conscience obliges me to say, and I will shoulder my responsibilities towards al-Mustaqbal movement's supporters, towards the Lebanese and towards both allies and rivals,” the ex-PM added. Apparently referring to Mustaqbal minister-turned-electoral rival Ashraf Rifi, who has been accused of using a sectarian rhetoric to win Tripoli's municipal vote, Hariri added: “Politics in Lebanon has tried to give me lessons in lying, maneuvering, incitement and the manipulation of people's sentiments, but my upbringing taught me to be honest, frank and loyal, even if that comes at my expense.”“I will not pin the responsibility on anyone and I will not absolve myself and those with me of the responsibility. I'm in charge of drawing lessons from the polls' outcome, I'm at the top of al-Mustaqbal movement's political hierarchy, and I will digest the results no matter how hard they may be,” Hariri went on to say. Invoking the memory of his late father, slain ex-PM Rafik Hariri, al-Mustaqbal's leader stressed that “Rafik Hariri's school is the school of moderation, coexistence and national unity” that “puts Lebanon before any interest, person or party.” “It is the school of total parity between Christians and Muslims in Lebanon and it will remain so. The results of a municipal vote or media campaigns will not change our belief in this,” Hariri pledged. Giving an example about Beirut's municipal elections, the ex-PM noted that he “would have asked the municipal council to resign had parity been breached.”Rifi had confirmed last week that he would form a coalition with “forces seeking change” in any upcoming parliamentary elections in the northern city of Tripoli. His remarks came after a list he backed achieved a stunning victory in the city's municipal polls against a list backed by Hariri, ex-PM Najib Miqati, former ministers Mohammed Safadi and Faisal Karami, Jamaa Islamiya, al-Ahbash and the Arab Democratic Party. Rifi also announced last week that he was mulling the idea of starting a political movement. Addressing al-Mustaqbal, the minister called for “rectifying the course and endorsing policies that take the opinion of the Sunni community into consideration in order to avoid its descent towards extremism.”

Hariri Says Hizbullah Blocking Quorum for President Election 'at Iran's Request'
Naharnet/June 10/16/Al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri on Friday accused Iran of using its influence over Hizbullah to block the election of a new Lebanese president. “It is not a secret that Hizbullah has involved its military organization in a crazy war in Syria at the request of Iran to protect the Bashar Assad regime in the face of his people,” said Hariri at an iftar banquet he hosted at the Center House in honor of the Arab ambassadors accredited in Lebanon. “Hizbullah also boasts of its interference in a number of other Arab countries, from Yemen to Bahrain and Iraq, while preventing, also at Iran’s request, a quorum in the Lebanese parliament to elect a president since more than two years,” Hariri added. He warned that “this fact has not only cost Lebanon hundreds of dead and thousands of injured but also placed our country, against its will and for the first time since our independence, in a confrontation with Arab consensus.”“This led to the decrease of the vital Arab support to our State, complications for the interests of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese working in the Arab countries, and the refrain from the part of Arab tourists and investors to come to our country,” the ex-PM lamented. Describing the present situation as “abnormal and temporary,” Hariri stressed that the majority of Lebanese refuse “Iran’s interference in their affairs as well as in the affairs of any Arab country.”“They refuse, although the refusal of some is silent, to be used by Iran as wood in the Syrian fire or as tools for its itinerant discord throughout the Arab world,” he added. And pledging to continue to “sacrifice in order to protect our country from the fires of discord and preserve its stability,” Hariri also promised to work on “the restoration of our Arab relations, the return of our Arab brothers as tourists or investors to their people in Lebanon and Lebanon’s full return to Arabism, politically, economically, socially and culturally.” Al-Mustaqbal's leader also pointed out that Lebanon has “managed to avoid the fires of the surrounding wars thanks to the wisdom of the majority of its political components and the sacrifices of its army and security forces.”Lebanon has been without a president since Michel Suleiman's term expired in May 2014 and Hariri launched late in 2015 a proposal to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency. Hariri's move was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah, which is still insisting on the nomination of MP Michel Aoun, its main Christian ally and the head of the Change and Reform bloc. The parliamentary blocs of Hizbullah and Aoun and some of their allies have been boycotting the electoral process in parliament, stripping the sessions of the needed quorum. Aoun's supporters argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president given the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian political arena.

In Finland, Bassil Says Refugee Crisis an 'Existential Threat'
Naharnet/June 10/16/Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil warned Friday that the Syrian refugee crisis has started to pose an “existential threat” to Lebanon. “The magnitude of the heavy refugee presence in Lebanon represents an existential threat for our country,” Bassil cautioned after talks with Finland's Foreign Minister Timo Soini in Helsinki. “The latest arrests in Greece, Germany and France of terrorist cells consisted of individuals who entered the European Union as refugees are a blatant example of the correlation between migration and terrorism, which some traditional leaders are still refusing to acknowledge,” Bassil added. “This migration is not aimed at securing the welfare of displaced or migrant individuals. There is an attempt to use this influx of aggrieved humans to allow the infiltration of terrorism, undermine Europe's diversity and tolerance, and dismantle the humanitarian values on which the EU was built,” the FM cautioned. Turning to Lebanon, Bassil described it as “a fortress that is defending these values in the region while preserving this diversity and confronting terrorism and the refugee influx.”Five years into the Syria conflict, Lebanon hosts more than one million refugees from the war-torn country, according to the United Nations. At least two thirds of them live in extreme poverty, according to the U.N. With more than 1.1 million Syrians and 450,000 Palestinians registered as refugees, Lebanon is home to the world's highest refugee-to-resident ratio.

Abou Faour Refers Assaulter of Government Employee to Prosecution
Naharnet/June 10/16/Health Minister Wael Abou Faour referred a Lebanese citizen to the Public Prosecution after assaulting an employee at the ministry, the state-run National News Agency reported on Friday. “Abou Faour referred Afif Sharif Hammoud to the General Prosecution after assaulting a female employee in the department of hospitalization at the health ministry,” the ministry said in a statement. “He used abusive language and insults against the ministry staff and uttered profane words ,” it added. Abou Faour asked the Prosecutor to take the necessary measures against the man.

Report: Franjieh Will not Draw Back from Presidential Race
Naharnet/June 10/16/Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh will not draw back his nomination for the presidency as long as he still garners the support of the majority of lawmakers, the Kuwaiti al-Seyassah newspaper reported on Friday. “Franjieh is keeping his nomination. He will not withdraw in favor of anyone as long as the majority of MPs support him,” sources close to Franjieh told the daily. Reports emerged lately claiming that Franjieh might quit the presidential race in favor of his rival founder of the Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun. “Discussions with al-Mustaqbal Movement chief Saad Hariri regarding the presidential post are ongoing. The latter strongly adheres to the nomination of Franjieh,” the sources remarked. Hariri launched late in 2015 a proposal to nominate Franjieh for the presidency but his suggestion was rejected by the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. The Hizbullah-led March 8 camp, as well as March 14's Lebanese Forces, have argued that Aoun is more eligible than Franjieh to become president given the size of his parliamentary bloc and his influence in the Christian community. Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended on May 25, 2014 and the FPM, Hizbullah and some of their allies have been boycotting the electoral sessions. On the other hand, official sources of Mustaqbal assured that the result of the municipal and mayoral elections have not changed Hariri's stance about Franjieh, “he is more convinced now,” they said.

Fatfat Confirms Mustaqbal to Hold 'Emergency General Conference'
Naharnet/June 10/16/Al-Mustaqbal bloc MP Ahmed Fatfat on Friday confirmed reports that al-Mustaqbal Movement led by ex-PM Saad Hariri intends to hold a general conference for internal reevaluation in the wake of the latest political and electoral setbacks.“There are preparations to hold an emergency general conference for al-Mustaqbal movement, which in principle will be held between September and October,” Fatfat said in an interview with the Akhbar al-Yawm news agency. “In his speech yesterday, ex-PM Saad Hariri rearranged the priorities,” the lawmaker added. “The coming period requires a common reevaluation by all the members of al-Mustaqbal movement in order to take the necessary decisions at the organizational, administrative and political levels,” Fatfat noted, revealing that “the first step will be the reaffirmation of the principles.”On Thursday, Hariri pledged to conduct a “critical internal reevaluation” in al-Mustaqbal in light of the results of last month's municipal polls. “I will not pin the responsibility on anyone and I will not absolve myself and those with me of the responsibility. I'm in charge of drawing lessons from the polls' outcome, I'm at the top of al-Mustaqbal movement's political hierarchy, and I will digest the results no matter how hard they may be,” Hariri said. Apparently referring to Mustaqbal minister-turned-electoral rival Ashraf Rifi, who has been accused of using a sectarian rhetoric to win Tripoli's municipal vote, Hariri added: “Politics in Lebanon has tried to give me lessons in lying, maneuvering, incitement and the manipulation of people's sentiments, but my upbringing taught me to be honest, frank and loyal, even if that comes at my expense.” Rifi had confirmed last week that he would form a coalition with “forces seeking change” in any upcoming parliamentary elections in the northern city of Tripoli. His remarks came after a list he backed achieved a stunning victory in the city's municipal polls against a list backed by Hariri, ex-PM Najib Miqati, former ministers Mohammed Safadi and Faisal Karami, Jamaa Islamiya, al-Ahbash and the Arab Democratic Party. Rifi also announced last week that he was mulling the idea of starting a political movement. Addressing al-Mustaqbal, the minister called for “rectifying the course and endorsing policies that take the opinion of the Sunni community into consideration in order to avoid its descent towards extremism.”

The Time Has Come To Elect Aoun as President
Ahmad El-Assaad/June 09, 2016/There are no more excuses for delaying the presidential elections in Lebanon. The time has come for the political class to assume its responsibilities and begin, all components and players included, to seriously think about the fate of this country. Yes, to think about Lebanon’s fate alone, and none other. If said political class has one ounce of concern for our country and its well-being on any given level, then it must mobilize all of its energy to reinstate a chief for the republic. All politicians must cast their personal interests aside, and forget all narrow political considerations. They must opt for the only apparent solution to end the presidential crisis: elect General Michel Aoun as President. Time has proven that General Aoun, aside from being the best option – the least bad one, at a minimum – for the presidential crisis, he is probably the only option, given the circumstances and the current conditions Lebanon and the region are going through. It seems that the idea of nominating Aoun has breached the most opposing political circles, and there is a growing conviction that his nomination might be the way out of the bottle neck. There is no submission to foreign players, nor a victory of one party over the other, in electing General Aoun. Both presidential nominees are from the 8 March alliance, and both have been nominated by the 14 March alliance. The only difference is that Michel Aoun gets large Christian support, and after the Lebanese Forces nominated him, he confirmed the support of the Christian majority.
For the sake of this country and its people, and in order to preserve the grace of stability in Lebanon – which is perhaps the only thing left in a region ablaze with wars, conflicts, and political and security turmoil – obstinacy must be set aside, and approaching the presidential issue must be done with awareness, practicality and openness, in order to elect a President able to put constitutional institutions back on track.

Bou Saab discloses discovery of two cheating nets at official exams
Fri 10 Jun 2016/NNA - Minister of Education and Higher Learning, Elias Bou Saab, said on Friday during a press conference that two cheating networks at official exams were discovered. "The two networks are composed of operators, mediators, school and university students as well as the parents of the students, "added Bou Saab. "The operator takes $1000 from 9th grade students and $2500 to $3000 from high school seniors," explained Bou Saab, saying that these two networks work with professionalism. The Minister said that the security forces interrogated University students who did the exam instead of school students. "The names, addresses, and telephone numbers are now disclosed. Internal Security Forces Chief, Major General Ibrahim Basbous, asked its units in the regions to arrest those involved."Bou Saab said that some students received false diplomas last year that will be taken away from them. He finally praised the cooperation between the police, the army and the judicial authorities, which are working closely together to guarantee the security during official exams.

Tashnaq: ties with FPM are very good
Fri 10 Jun 2016/NNA - Tashnaq's media office denied on Friday in a statement the existence of disputes between said part and Free and Patriotic Movement (FPM)."These rumors aimed at striking ties with FPM. Relations with FPM are very good," the statement confirmed.

Bassil from Finland: huge displacement to Lebanon poses existential threat
Fri 10 Jun 2016/NNA - Foreign and Expatriates Minister, Gebran Bassil said on Friday "the heavy displacement to Lebanon forms an existential threat to it."He stressed that discussions have focused in particular on the fearsome exacerbation to the challenges that Lebanon is facing in light of the Syrian displacement crisis and the escalating international terrorism. "We have focused on the negative effects experienced by our countries due to the current massive immigration. We have offered means to address the waves of immigrants that if not tackled by the roots would destabilize security and stability," he confirmed. Bassil's remarks came during a press conference with his Finnish counterpart, Timo Sweeney. Bassil said that this visit was a chance to evaluate bilateral ties between both states. He also thanked the Finland contingent working in UNIFIL south Lebanon. "We have agreed to increase trade exchange between both countries as well as we have discussed the regional developments," he concluded.

Salam during Maqassed Association iftar: Maqassed is resilient in face of extremism
Fri 10 Jun 2016/NNA - Prime Minister, Tammam Salam, said that the Maqassed Philanthropic Association forms the bastion of coexistence, loving and openness, remaining resilient in the face of extremism and all concocted plots to undermine Islam and Muslims.
Premier Salam's fresh words came on Friday evening during an iftar banquet held by the Maqassed Philanthropic Association at the "Biel" Center in Beirut, attended by Mufti of the Republic, Sheikh Abdel Latif Derian, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri's Representative, MP Mohammed Qabbani, and scores of official, political, diplomatic and social dignitaries. "Undermining Islam and Mulsims is tantamount to undermining the nation and all Lebanon," Salam said, stressing that the Maqassed's message of loving and coexistence is currently in the custody of 'safe and sound' hands. Salam well-wished Maqassed and all working staff further success in their social, educational and national endeavors, hoping that their march would proceed with a steady pace and full reliance.

FAO panel discussion: Urgent measures to protect children rights
Fri 10 Jun 2016/NNA - In the occasion of World Day against Child Labour, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) organized on June 9th, a panel discussion on "Child Labour in Agriculture in Lebanon: Towards Comprehensive Support to the National Action Plan against Child Labour", at Crown Plaza Hotel in Hamra, Beirut. The panel discussion featured presentations and debates on the topic of Child labor in Agriculture and was composed of: Mrs. Nazha Shalita, Ministry of Labor (MoL), Mrs. Abir Abou alKhodoud, Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Mrs.Rita Karam, Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA) , Mrs. Sonia Khoury, Ministry of Education (MEHE), Cap. Bilal Rammal, General-Security, Mr. Carlos Bohorquez, UNICEF, Mrs. Hayat Osseyran, International Labor Organization (ILO), and Ms. Faten Adada, FAO.
In her opening remarks, Mrs. Solange Matta Saade, representing the FAO representative in Lebanon highlighted the theme of the occasion saying that "The focus of the 2016 World Day against Child Labour is on child labour and supply chains. With 168 million children still in child labour, all supply chains, from agriculture to manufacturing, services to construction, run the risk that child labour may be present," adding that "the FAO and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) are reaching out to agricultural professionals to raise awareness about the importance of child labour issues".
Social protection, and decent work policies for rural youth and adults, are the basic ingredients needed to end child labour in agriculture, according to Mrs. Faten Adada, Social Protection focal point at FAO Lebanon, "In the framework of supporting the livelihoods and improving the resilience of rural communities in Lebanon against crises, particularly the Syrian displaced crisis, FAO is intensifying efforts in order to ensure social protection through the implementation of programs designed to reduce poverty and strengthen labor markets".
The International Labor Organization's child labor consultant, Mrs. Hayat Osseiran, warned that "we must be extremely aware that the consecutive crises situations of war and displacement is taking us back in time when it comes to the implementation of Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (C182)", adding, "hazardous types of child labour is mainly seen amongst Syrian Refugees and urgent collective action is needed in this regards."
Mr. Carlos Bohorquez, Child Protection Specialist at UNICEF, stressed that attitudes and practices need to change in Lebanon, saying, "many young children are relied upon as bread winners in the household, andthe different stakeholders in the community must work together in changing the deeply rooted behavior and practices accepting child labour and in turn promote children to attend school - which should be the best place for children to 'work'."
"As poverty is the major cause of child labour, most of the school aged refugee children in Lebanon, especially in rural areas, are currently working in agriculture," stated Mrs. Sonia el Khoury, Head of the Project Management Unit, "We, as Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE), are facing a major problem in retaining refugee students in public schools due to many agricultural seasons, leading students to miss schools for several days and eventually lead them to high risk of failure which is one of the main causes for drop out," she said.
In her presentation Mrs. Nazha Shalita, director of the Child Labor Unit at the MOL, focused on the role of the Lebanese Government in Eliminating Child Labour and child labour legal framework, emphasizing that there is an urgent need to raise public awareness of child labour and various immediate measures that can be undertaken to preserve the inalienable rights of all children in Lebanon. Mrs. Rita Karam representing the Ministry of Social Affairs also showcased the strategies and the role implemented by the Higher Council for Children to protect children from all kind of abuse.
Speaking on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture, Mrs. Abou alKhoudoud said that the role of the ministry lies in raising awareness among the farmers and workers in the rural areas about the hazardous work that is damaging to the future wellbeing of their children; for instance, a child working in fields where pesticides have been applied etc …
On his part, Captain Bilal Rammal reiterated that the General-Security is keen to carry out all its duties and tasks as per the decree 8987 concerning the prohibition of employment of minors under the age of 18 in work that may harm their health, safety or morals.
The Lebanese Government represented by the Ministry of Labour and the National committee to combat child labour members is keen to recommend policies and plan actions that can be effective in protecting children from worst forms of child labour and consider agricultural and other projects that lead to minimal school dropout. Within the framework on integrating Social Protection into the agriculture sector, FAO in Lebanon and with the support of both Regional Initiatives on Small Scale Agriculture and Building Resilience for Food Security and Nutrition started its interventions on child labour in agriculture in 2015 in collaboration with Ministry of Agriculture and in partnership with ILO and UNICEF.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) launched the World Day Against Child Labour in 2002 to focus attention on the global extent of child labour and the action and efforts needed to eliminate it. Each year on 12thJune, the World Day brings together governments, employers and workers organizations, civil society, to highlight the plight of child labourers and what can be done to help them.

Lebanon: Teetering on the edge
Bruce Maddy-Weitzman/Jerusalem Post/June 10/16
AUDI ARABIA’S decision, in late February, to rescind its 3 to 4 billion dollar aid package for Lebanon’s armed forces marked the latest round in the ongoing Saudi-Iranian geopolitical and ideological battles that underpin much of the horrific conflicts roiling the Middle East and reshaping its contours. The action was a clear Saudi message to the fractured Lebanese elites, who preside over a dysfunctional political system – that Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, needed to be cut down to size, and forthwith.
How this was to be accomplished without tearing the country apart, given Hezbollah’s commanding position, militarily and politically, was anybody’s guess. And the specter of a large-scale spillover of ethnic and religious strife from Syria loomed large.
The year 1920 marked Lebanon’s inception as a distinct territorial entity within French-mandated Syria. Achieving independence in 1943, Lebanon constituted an experiment unique to the former Ottoman Arab lands. A “confessional democracy” was established in which power was divvied up among the multitude of ethno-religious groups, led by Maronite-Christian and Sunni-Muslim elites.
Central state institutions were left weak, and laissez-faire economics and a strong orientation toward France and the West ensured a degree of liberalism and dynamism unmatched in the region.
At the same time, it was agreed that Lebanon would have an “Arab face,” i.e. not adopt any policies that would be inimical to collective Arab, and particularly Syrian, interests. Unfortunately, this precarious republic has never been able to sufficiently insulate itself from conflicts and crises beyond its borders: the Arab-Israeli conflict, inter-Arab rivalries and, over the last 20 years, especially, the penetration of the Islamic Republic of Iran into the eastern Mediterranean. All of these developments interacted with, and exacerbated, internal fissures.
At bottom, the fragile power-sharing arrangements that had been worked out at the creation were based on freezing the demographic and socioeconomic profile of 1932, when Christian communities still collectively constituted a majority of the population.
Lower birth rates and higher outward migration rates resulted in Christians losing their numerical primacy. Palestinian (Sunni) refugees (100,000 in 1948, 300-400,000 by the mid-1970s) could not be accorded rights, owing to fears of upsetting the demographic balance. And, beginning in the late 1970s, Lebanon’s Shi’ites, now the largest single confessional group in the country, emerged from their downtrodden semi-feudal existence to demand their proper share of the pie.
As the Lebanese state fractured during a bloody civil war (1975-89) and overlapping rounds of Arab-Israeli violence, Hezbollah, supported by Iran and Syria, emerged as the central expression of Shi’ite power.
In summer 2006, the damage wrought to Lebanon by the Israel-Hezbollah war was blamed by many in Lebanon and the Sunni- Arab world on Iran. A decade later, the Sunni-Shi’ite/Saudi-Iranian divide has only deepened, with deleterious consequences for Lebanon.
The latest Saudi actions were sparked by the sacking of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, in January, following the Saudi execution of a dissident Shi’ite cleric. An ensuing Saudi-sponsored resolution against Iran in the Arab League was not endorsed by Lebanon’s foreign minister, enraging Riyadh, and leading to the aid suspension. On March 2, the Saudi-led Gulf states and a majority of Arab interior ministers branded Hezbollah a “terrorist organization,” and the Lebanese press speculated about a variety of harsh economic and political sanctions the Saudis might impose.
Making matters even more charged is the fact that Lebanon’s political system has not been this fractured in decades ‒ it has been without a president since May 2014, and the term of the current parliament, the body that selects the president, is about to expire.
Parliament itself has mostly been in recess, owing to a fundamental disagreement over its role in the absence of a president, and over the terms of a draft electoral law. Without a president, cabinet decisions must be unanimous, thus giving each of the 24 members, many of them aligned with Hezbollah, veto power over all decisions.
Lebanon currently hosts 1.3 million Syrian refugees, and more than 50 percent of its six million population (only four million of which are citizens) are in need of some kind assistance. The delivery of basic services – electricity, water, garbage collection – is severely deficient; an eight-month long garbage crisis, in which mountains of refuse accumulated, prompted unprecedented mass demonstrations by an enraged public under the “You Stink” banner.
Their taking to the streets highlighted the vibrancy and energies that still exist in Lebanon’s civil society. But no one has yet found the way to mesh communal and civic identities in a way that will enable Lebanon to survive and prosper in the face of the whirlwind of centrifugal forces within and beyond its borders. ■
The author is a Principal Research Fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Tel Aviv University

The extraordinary Ghassan Tueni
Nayla Tueni/Al Arabiya/June 10/16
It has been four years since Ghassan Tueni passed away. We remember him whenever we search for passion in life. He was distinguished in everything he did, taught and worked toward. He was passionate throughout his entire life. Tueni was not an ordinary journalist, as he contributed to the renaissance of Lebanese journalism. History will mark this achievement. His work was not limited to an-Nahar newspaper, as he gave Lebanese journalism glamor, and was one of the few to give it glory. Tueni was not an ordinary diplomat, as he helped Lebanon attain UN Security Council Resolution 425, which paved the way for Israel’s withdrawal from south Lebanon. He resisted Israeli and international pressures, achieving a great moral victory for Lebanon. He was not an ordinary politician, as he took to the streets to protest with teachers and students when he was education minister. He never felt he belonged to a category of politicians that is indifferent to people’s concerns, or that makes empty promises during electoral seasons. He felt their worries, wrote about them and defended them. He was not an ordinary publisher, as most publishers enter the publishing business to make money. Tueni carefully chose his headlines, and presented many of Dar an-Nahar’s works as a gift to his family and fans. He used to brag that he adopted new, unknown talents and published their first works. Although life was often unjust to him, his unwavering faith distinguished him, and his extensive knowledge, diplomacy and morals made him an extraordinary man
Passion
He did not feel it was a burden when Bishop Elias Audi tasked him with the responsibility of the committee for restoring St George’s Cathedral in Beirut. Tueni considered it a responsibility that expressed his faith, which remained strong despite the difficulties he went through. He was passionate about all the cathedral’s details, and was always happy to take his friends there to tell them about the restoration phases and urge them to donate. Tueni was also an active member of the national museum committee, unlike most of its members. He was involved in all details alongside former first lady Mona Hrawi, head of the committee, as he was passionate about heritage. He was the first journalist to dedicate a page to the environment and heritage in his daily. The page reported about archaeological discoveries in downtown Beirut, and lobbied against burying them or tampering with them.This is a little about him, but no matter how much is said, it will not be enough. Although life was often unjust to him, his unwavering faith distinguished him, and his extensive knowledge, diplomacy and morals made him an extraordinary man. May you rest in peace, grandfather. This article was first published in an-Nahar on Jun. 08, 2016.

What happened to kidnapped Lebanese soldiers in Arsal?
Jean Aziz/Al-Monitor/June 10/16
Arsal and its barren environs have for more than three years experienced a shaky and unstable security situation, having attracted militants affiliated with extremist and terrorist groups like the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra. These days, stability seems to be making a comeback in Arsal, where the Lebanese army has imposed full control. A number of events and dynamics have rendered the Islamic militants in this eastern border region incapable of waging major military operations and therefore no longer a security threat. The militants’ human and logistical capabilities have been exhausted by the serious blows their organizations have been dealt in Syria by the various forces they are fighting there, including the Syrian army, the Russian military, Hezbollah and an international coalition. A Lebanese security speaking to Al-Monitor on the condition of anonymity said that Lebanese authorities have documented information that a significant number of the militants who had been positioned in and around Arsal have moved to Syria to fight on several fronts there. The militant groups are also fighting among themselves in the Arsal area. Several clashes among militants affiliated with different groups had earlier led to battles of attrition, further weakening their capabilities in the region. The growing capabilities of the Lebanese security forces are another factor serving to weaken the militants. The security official confirmed this, attributing it primarily to assistance from the United States, which has included arms and military equipment and gear. “This has helped the Lebanese army to deal several heavy blows to the militants,” said the official.
When clashes first erupted in Arsal in August 2014, the residents there were sympathetic to the militants, because they opposed the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad. In addition, Arsal’s residents are predominantly Sunni Muslims, like the militants, which helps explain their initial sympathy. This situation has, however, gradually changed. There has been increasing hostility and animosity between the citizens of Arsal and the militants after more than three years of terror acts carried out by the latter in the town and its environs and especially because of the executions of a number of Arsal residents. The militant groups have also controlled the town’s surrounding lands, preventing locals from accessing agricultural lands and quarries, both sources of livelihood for many people in the town. These actions further deepened the psychological and physical division between residents and the militants. “This evolved to the advantage of the Lebanese security forces in their military and security war against the armed factions,” said the official. On April 28 the Lebanese army stormed the house of an IS official in Arsal, Nayef Shaalan Hadid, aka Abu al-Foz, who died in the ensuing clashes between the two sides.
“After this qualitative and decisive operation, all the armed extremists realized that they had little room to maneuverer inside the town, and that they are now susceptible to Lebanese army strikes,” said the source. This operation resulted in several outcomes. Lebanese authorities in Arsal were able to conduct municipal elections, taking place nationwide, in a calm and secure atmosphere on May 8. Officials also opened polling stations in Lebanese army posts on the outskirts of the town, further ensuring voters' safety and a smooth and calm process. Moreover, the winning electoral list was the one opposing Ali al-Hujairi, the incumbent mayor of the Arsal municipality, who was known to cooperate with the militants. Another important outcome was the militants' return to the negotiation table with Lebanese authorities for a possible deal whereby the militants withdraw from the Arsal area toward Syria. “Mediators in negotiations between the militants and Lebanese authorities resumed talks on this subject after the conclusion of the municipal elections,” said the security official. “They proposed that Lebanese officials coordinate with UN international agencies and the Syrian regime to implement arrangements allowing the militants to withdraw safely toward Raqqa in Syria.”It seems, however, the success of this proposal was not meant to be. As a precondition for contact with the militants, the Lebanese side demanded information on the fate of Lebanese soldiers kidnapped by IS and Jabhat al-Nusra after clashes between the two groups and the Lebanese army in Arsal on Aug. 2, 2014. The militants have yet to comment on the demand. The official noted, “The militants’ no-comment on this precondition may be a negative indication — that our soldiers are no longer alive and that the militants are hiding this fact to continue to use the issue as leverage against the Lebanese government. This is why negotiations were halted. One thing is certain: Arsal’s situation is better now, and the number of militants in the region is registering a steady decline.”
 

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 10-11/16

Police Shoot Man amid Domestic Disturbance at Dallas Airport
Associated Press/10 June/16/A police officer shot and injured a man who was involved in a domestic disturbance outside a baggage claim area at Dallas Love Field airport on Friday, authorities said. Police were responding to reports that the man had been throwing rocks at a vehicle outside an airport terminal in an apparent dispute with a woman, Dallas Assistance Chief of Police Randall Blankenbaker said at an afternoon news conference. Video posted by Instagram user @flashyfilms— and credited to Bryan Armstrong shows people scattering outside a baggage claim door as an officer in a yellow vest trains a gun toward a baggage claim entrance. At least eight gunshots can be heard as a man's voice repeatedly yells "stand down!" A woman can be heard screaming. Traveler Lucinda Fonseca told WFAA-TV that she and her husband were coming out of the baggage claim area when they saw police approaching the man throwing rocks and one of the officers drew a gun."The man was yelling at the cops, basically saying 'shoot me shoot me, I dare you,' something to that effect," Fonseca said. She heard gunfire while trying to reach a vehicle picking up the couple.
"I crouched down on the ground," she said. "I didn't know where the bullets were going."

Arab-Kurd forces cut main ISIS supply route between Syria, Turkey
AFP, Beirut Friday, 10 June 2016/A US-backed Arab-Kurdish alliance on Friday severed ISIS’s main supply route to Turkey after encircling a key extremist-held town in northern Syria, a monitor said.“The Syrian Democratic Forces cut off the last road from Manbij to the Turkish border on Friday morning,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.ISIS still controls territory along the Turkish border with secondary roads to the frontier but these are more dangerous and difficult to access, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

ISIS can’t pay fighters, says US treasury
AFP Friday, 10 June 2016/Efforts to choke off the finances of ISIS have left it unable to pay its fighters and spurred corruption within the group, a senior US official said Thursday.Daniel Glaser, the Treasury’s assistant secretary for terrorist financing, told Congress that a combination of bombing attacks on ISIS cash stores and oil shipments, locking it out of the banking system, and cutting off Iraq government cash flows to ISIS-controlled areas, has left the group struggling financially. “As a result of these efforts, ISIL is struggling to pay its fighters and we have seen a number of ISIL fighters leaving the battlefield as their pay and benefits have been cut and delayed,” he said, using the US’s preferred acronym for Islamic State. “When we see indications that ISIL cannot pay the salaries of its own fighters and is trying to make up for lost revenue elsewhere, we know we are hitting them where it hurts.... ISIL, like any terrorist organization, needs money to survive,” he said. In written testimony for a House of Representatives committee hearing on security threats, Glaser said the US government’s focused attack on the financial resources of Islamic State and other groups the US dubs terrorist have had significant impact.

Food aid enters Syria’s besieged Daraya
AFP, Damascus Friday, 10 June 2016/A food aid convoy on Thursday entered the Syrian town of Daraya, the first delivery since the start of the siege there by the Damascus regime in 2012, a Red Crescent official told AFP. “Nine lorries are currently being unloaded in Daraya. They are carrying food aid, including dry goods and flour, non-food aid as well as medical aid,” said Tamam Mehrez, operations director of the Syrian Red Crescent. The aid delivered would be sufficient for one month, Mehrez added, without specifying how many people would benefit. Earlier Thursday, the UN said Syria had given approval for humanitarian convoys to reach all of the country’s 19 besieged areas, including Daraya, by the end of the month. The UN envoy to the war-racked country, Staffan de Mistura, however, told reporters in Geneva that Syria had given such approvals in the past before ultimately blocking convoys from distributing life-saving supplies. He made the comments after the weekly meeting of the Syria humanitarian taskforce, co-chaired by the United States and Russia, which has for months been trying to boost aid supplies to millions of Syrians in need. That taskforce has faced pressure, including from France and Britain, to start air-dropping aid into besieged areas, with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s military continuing to block road convoys. De Mistura said the pressure placed on Damascus by the prospect of air drops had led to the road convoy approvals and voiced hope that a surge of aid deliveries in the coming weeks would make dangerous and costly air drops unnecessary. The last round of UN-brokered Syria talks ended in April without a breakthrough and with the government and opposition still deadlocked on the crucial question of Assad’s fate. Watch: UN says Syria ignored most of its requests to deliver aid.Meanwhile, the UN said that it was still awaiting approval from Syria's government to reach two other besieged areas, correcting information provided by Mistura. “The UN is able to deliver to 17 out of 19 besieged areas,” said Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN's humanitarian office (OCHA). Syria's government has so far withheld written approval for Al Wa’er in Homs and Zabadani in rural Damascus, the UN said.

Israel to deny return of all Palestinian attackers’ bodies
AFP, Jerusalem Thursday, 9 June 2016/Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Thursday ordered the bodies of Palestinians killed while carrying out attacks not be returned for burial, as Israel clamped down after a deadly shooting in Tel Aviv. A spokesman for Lieberman confirmed the order, his first major decision related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the hardliner took office on May 30. Israeli officials argue funerals for attackers often turn into rallies that promote further violence. Palestinians and rights groups say the measure, used in the past, amounts to collective punishment and feeds into anger over Israel's occupation of the West Bank. Muslim custom demands the dead be buried as soon as possible. Two Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a Tel Aviv cafe on Wednesday night, killing four Israelis and wounding five others. One of the attackers was arrested, while the other was wounded by gunfire and had undergone surgery, police said. Lieberman has in the past spoken of harsh measures against Palestinian "terrorists," though he vowed "responsible, reasonable policy" after being named defense minister.

Israel bars all Palestinians after Tel Aviv attack
AFP and Reuters, Jerusalem Friday, 10 June 2016/The Israeli army said Friday that it was temporarily barring all Palestinians from entering Israel, stepping up already tough restrictions announced after Palestinian gunmen shot dead four Israelis in Tel Aviv. “In accordance with government directives and the ongoing situation assessment, as of today crossing from the Gaza Strip and Judaea and Samaria (the West Bank) will be open to Palestinians only in medical and humanitarian cases,” a spokeswoman told AFP. Meanwhile, the US State Department said on Thursday that Israel should not punish innocent Palestinians after the Israeli military revoked the travel permits for 83,000 Palestinians. “We understand the Israeli government’s desire to protect its citizens ... and we strongly support that right, but we would hope that any measures it takes are designed to also take into consideration the impact on Palestinian citizens that are trying to go about their daily lives,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner told a news briefing.

US, Iraqi officials can’t confirm ISIS leader wounded
Reuters, Baghdad Friday, 10 June 2016/US and Iraqi officials fighting ISIS said on Friday they could not confirm a report by an Iraqi TV channel that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been wounded in an air strike in northern Iraq. A spokesman for the US-led coalition fighting the radical Islamist militants, Colonel Chris Garver, said in an email that he had seen the reports but had “nothing to confirm this at this time.”Kurdish and Arab security officials in northern Iraq said they also could not confirm the report.Al Sumaria TV cited a local source in the northern province of Nineveh saying that Baghdadi and other ISIS leaders were wounded on Thursday in a coalition air strike on one of the group’s command headquarters close to the Syrian border. The channel has good connections with Shiite politicians and Iraqi forces engaged in the battle against ISIS. There have been several reports in the past that Baghdadi, whose real name is Ibrahim al-Samarrai, was killed or wounded after proclaiming himself caliph of all Muslims two years ago. The ultra-hardline Sunni group is under increased pressure in both Iraq and Syria, and the territory under its control has shrunk significantly since 2014, limiting the potential for its leaders to move around or seek shelter. The US earlier this year announced an intensification of the war on ISIS with more air strikes and more American troops on the ground to advise and assist allied forces. The US-led coalition has regularly flown raids out of Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, in operations aimed at killing and capturing ISIS leaders. A Kurdish intelligence official and an Arab from the Baaj area west of Mosul said the US-led coalition had conducted such a raid there earlier this week. The coalition did not confirm this raid. Kurdish Peshmerga forces are positioned in an arc around the north and east of Mosul while the Iraqi army is trying to capture Fallujah, the group’s stronghold near Baghdad. The Iraqi army is also massing tanks and troops south of Mosul, in preparation for an offensive planned later this year to retake the largest city under the control of the militants. In Syria, Russian- and Iranian-backed Syrian government forces and US-backed Syrian opposition and Kurds are separately trying to advance on Raqqa, the group’s capital in Syria.

Militant Kurdish group TAK claims Istanbul bombing attack
AFP, Istanbul Friday, 10 June 2016/Militant Kurdish group the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) on Friday claimed a car bombing in the centre of Istanbul earlier this week that killed seven police and four civilians.The TAK -- seen as a splinter group of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) -- said the attack on Tuesday was revenge for operations by the Turkish army in the Kurdish-dominated southeast and reaffirmed a warning that foreign tourists should not visit Turkey for their own safety.

Libya unity forces bombard ISIS in bastion Sirte
AFP, Tripoli Friday, 10 June 2016/Forces loyal to Libya’s unity government bombarded ISIS group positions in Sirte with heavy artillery Friday, a day after thrusting into the militant stronghold on the Mediterranean coast. The loss of Sirte, the hometown of ousted dictator Muammar Qaddafi, would be a major blow to the militants at a time when they are under mounting pressure in Syria and Iraq. Forces aligned with the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) said on Friday they had targeted ISIS positions with artillery fire around a conference center where the militants had set up a command post. GNA forces are mostly made up of militias from western cities that have sided with the unity government of prime minister-designate Fayez al-Sarraj and the guards of oil installations that ISIS has repeatedly tried to seize. On Thursday a spokesman for the forces predicted Sirte could fall within days. “The operation will not last much longer. I think we’ll be able to announce the liberation of Sirte in two or three days,” said Mohamad Ghassri. On Thursday warplanes bombed militants positions in Sirte and the navy said it was in control of the waters off the city, located 450 kilometers (280 miles) east of Tripoli and held by ISIS since June 2015. ISIS has fed on the political and military divisions that have plagued Libya since the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed Qaddafi.European nations fear that the militants could use the city as a staging post for attacks on their soil. US military pleased by ‘progress’ The US military is pleased with developments in Libya, where government forces are battling to wrest control of the coastal city of Sirte from ISIS, an official said Thursday. “We certainly are encouraged by the progress we see those government forces making and we will continue to watch it very closely,” Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said. “The fact that they are now under pressure in Libya... we think is a good thing and suggests that the Government of National Accord and the forces supporting that government are making progress.”The US military only has a limited presence in Libya, where small teams of US special operations forces are working to gain intelligence. And US forces in February conducted an air strike on an extremist training camp near the city of Sabratha, killing dozens. “We haven’t made any additional decisions about US action at this point,” Cook said. “We are obviously watching it very closely... if there isn’t a need for the United States and other nations to get involved in Libya, that would be a welcome thing.”Authorities estimate ISIS has 5,000 fighters in Libya but its strength inside Sirte and the number of civilians living in the city are unavailable.

Parliament Research Center: Iran Banking System Is in “Crisis”
NCRI Iran News/ Friday, 10 June 2016/NCRI - The Iranian regime’s parliament research center has published a report which states that the status of the banking system in Iran is in crisis and that the banks are at risk of bankruptcy. On June 7, Fars News Agency, affiliated with the regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), reported that in comparison to fiscal figures in 2010, the debts of governmental and non-governmental sectors in the banking system have risen by a factor of 4.8 and 3.1, respectively, since the end of September 2015. The parliament research center also reported that "the disaster is getting awful” because 64 percent of all debts held by the banks are toxic assets. The report explains that if these debts are not collected, the total value of bad debts will reach 20 billion dollars. The total amount of capital held by the banks is only 25 billion dollars.The parliament research center emphasized that the banking system is in crisis and that the capital requirement of the banks is not enough to meet the monetary claims. According to the latest statistics published by the Central Bank of Iran, Hassan Rouhani's government owed debts of nearly 39 billion dollars to the banks and of about 9 billion dollars to the Central Bank. The head of the management and planning organization in Rouhani's government, Mohammad-Bagher Nobakht, has already announced that the government debt to banks is about 20 billion dollars. Meanwhile, bank officials have indicated that deferred bank payments reach to the amount of 42 billion dollars and 80 percent of this amount belongs to the bank debtors. The parliament research center also announced that from 1972 to 2011, the volume of banking activities have been nearly tripled by the non-bank financial institutions. According to this report, a large part of Iran’s monetary market does not follow regulations and monetary supervisions. Additionally, among 7,333 existing financial institutions, about 6,333 do not have legal authorization. The parliament research center further announced that six unauthorized financial intuitions have 43 billion dollars’ worth of liquid capital and that this is equal to six percent of the total authorized and unauthorized amount of finance in the banking system. This research center claims that the on-going activities of unauthorized financial institutions rely on the different unresponsive organs affiliated with the Central Bank of Iran. The Central Bank had previously announced that 20 percent of liquidity in the country is in the hands of these financial institutions. At the same time, some of these predatory institutions such as Mizaan and Samen-Alhojaj have looted people's properties and their depositors have protested in front of governmental agencies many times. On June 2, 2015, the Mizaan financial institution was disbanded with a million account-holders and over a billion dollars in capital. Initially, Mizaan had used the logo of the regime's judiciary. A former member of the reactionary parliament board, Mohammad Dehghan, stated that these institutes rely on some judges to cover up their misdeeds and some of their branches are also within the judicial administrations.

Street sign named after Iran regime’s Supreme Leader destroyed
NCRI Iran News/Friday, 10 June 2016/NCRI - Young people in Isfahan, central Iran, have on several occasions toppled and destroyed the sign for a street named after the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, according to local reports. In some cases, the replacement sign was destroyed virtually as soon as the municipality installed it in place of the one that was previously destroyed. The latest reports indicate that the municipality has ceased to install replacements and has instead left the most recently toppled sign on the ground.

Amnesty urges Iran regime to free Canadian academic, Dr. Hoodfar
NCRI Iran News/ Friday, 10 June 2016/Amnesty International is calling on Iran's regime to release a Montreal-based university professor who has been in prison since Monday, The Canadian Press reported. Alex Neve, secretary general of Amnesty International Canada, described Homa Hoodfar as a prisoner of conscience. "The arrest of respected and accomplished scholar, Dr. Homa Hoodfar, is the latest attempt by the Iranian authorities at targeting individuals, including academics, for the peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and association," Neve said in a statement Thursday. "It is deeply troubling that someone whose research focuses on addressing women's inequality can find herself arbitrarily arrested and held, possibly in solitary confinement, without access to a lawyer and her family." Hoodfar, a professor of anthropology at Concordia University, was arrested Monday after being interrogated by authorities, according to her niece, Amanda Ghahremani. Ghahremani told The Canadian Press on Wednesday the 65-year-old is in the notorious Evin prison after conducting academic research on women in the country.She said her aunt had not been allowed to contact her lawyer or family and that the nature of the charges against her was unclear. Amnesty also called on Ottawa to take all possible diplomatic measures to ensure her immediate release and safe return to Canada.Omar Alghabra, the parliamentary secretary for Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion, said the Canadian government is taking the case "very seriously.""We're very concerned about the well-being of Dr. Hoodfar and we want to do everything we can to get her out of there as soon as possible," he said Thursday.

Lord Maginnis: Need for essential changes in Mid-East policy
NCRI Iran News/Friday, 10 June 2016/This summer promises to be highly eventful; full of politically significant events that will help to shape the future of global security and international relations, writes Lord Maginnis of Drumglass. In the U.S. in July, the Republican and Democratic National Conventions will lead into the peak of a very hotly contested presidential campaign season. Earlier that same month, another event will take place across the Atlantic, which should have considerable impact on how the next American President and his colleagues, both at home and abroad, formulate and exercise their Middle Eastern policy, Lord Maginnis wrote in The Huffington Post on Friday. "On July 9th, some 100,000 people are expected to gather in Paris for a convention and demonstration of global importance. The majority of participants will be Iranian expatriates who will be joined by top dignitaries and politicians from their various adoptive homes, including the U.S. and the European Union. They will represent a broad spectrum of political persuasions, but will all endorse the view that the Iranian regime, through its regional meddling and support of Islamic terrorism, is the root cause of many of the most pressing issues currently facing Europe and the world as a whole," he wrote."The gathering as a whole will serve to repudiate the current false narrative that is the foundation for mistakes in current Western policy toward Iran’s Islamic Republic. Across Europe and the U.S., public opinion is being told that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is the head of a 'moderate' faction of Iranian politics, which is leading the country down a path of progress and international acceptability. This 'change' is supposed to save us from the dangers of a nuclear armed Iran, to soothe regional conflicts fuelled by extremism, improve rights for Iranians within their own country and, of course, help Western companies to profit from newly reopened Iranian markets."
"We have had time to observe this narrative, gauge its validity and respond accordingly but reality clearly informs that the Iranian government’s actions have shown all these hopes and promises to be both sad and tragic wishful thinking under-pinned by treachery.""At home, Rouhani has presided over 2,400 executions, making Iran the world’s biggest executioner, with those executed being disproportionately religious and ethnic minorities, as well as political dissidents and human rights defenders. While Rouhani uses Western-oriented social media to encourage 'the narrative of moderation', Iranians themselves are barred from using those same platforms of communication. Meanwhile, any deviation from the regime’s traditional hard-line, reactionary ideology is harshly punished, as when 35 students who attended a gender-mixed graduation party in May receive 99 lashes each as punishment. While Iran’s leaders often 'talk the talk' regarding reform and moderation, their actions within the country portray an entirely different story.""Abroad too, Iranian actions have made claims of moderation ring hollow. Over 10,000 members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Qud’s Force are either directly or indirectly involved in spreading violence and terror across the region, supporting Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Assad regime in Syria, and countless Shi’ite militias in Iraq and Houthi Rebels in Yemen. There has been little change in Iran’s foreign intrusions; if anything, regional terror campaigns and destabilising intervention in internal affairs of regional countries have increased under Rouhani.""Weapons caches and operatives were even discovered in Bahrain and Kuwait, two countries where little Iranian influence was recognised prior to Rouhani’s ascendency to the presidency.""And what has become of Iran’s nuclear weapons programme? We really do not know. Since the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action did not establish a truly rigorous inspections regime, we need to largely rely on the regime’s cooperation. And with a long history of nuclear deception, that’s worrying."Lord Maginnis added that the mullahs' president Hassan Rouhani himself was at one time in charge of negotiating with the West over the nuclear issue, and he "openly bragged" on state television about misleading international inspectors. In addition, Iran’s development of ballistic missiles has continued unabated, Lord Maginnis wrote."We are already facing consequences from all of this, and it makes Iran policy crucially important in the months ahead. Many of the refugees coming to Europe, as well as many of Europe’s worst terror attacks have been an indirect consequence of Iran’s regional actions. It was Iranian policies of sectarianism and brutality in Syria and Iraq that created a vacuum for ISIS and that continue to fuel that most barbaric of organisations.""This has spawned both an increase in attacks in Europe as well as an unprecedented refugee crisis that extends across the continent. Here, strategically inept bureaucrats and fresh-faced politicians with little or no worldly experience embrace a policy of indifference in the face of an evil that infringes what are (or should I say 'used to be') Western values and moral consciousness and again run counter to the history lesson briefly learned from the Neville Chamberlain debacle of last century.""These threats and consequences are what bring together some 100,000 people in Paris this July. The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and its allies stand for more sensible policy and a 'Free Iran'. The coalition of Iranian opposition forces are led by a Muslim woman, Maryam Rajavi, who, for years, has strongly advocated and pressed for a tolerant interpretation of Islam as the antidote to Islamic extremism. Their message is clear, Iran has not moderated, and we cannot realistically expect to change Tehran’s policies by making deals and ignoring reality.""Though change may not come overnight, this conference in Paris is both timely and important - a potentially crucial pointer in the right direction towards resolving to one of the most difficult and dangerous foreign policy issues of our time, namely Iran.""It surely deserves greater strategic comprehension and attention from our Governments," Lord Maginnis added.
**Kenneth Maginnis is an independent member of the United Kingdom's House of Lords and a member of the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom (BPCIF), www.iran-freedom.org

France Urges Calm in Saudi-U.N. Row on Blacklisting
Naharnet /Agence France Presse/June 10/16/French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called Friday for calm to resolve an angry row between Saudi Arabia and the United Nations over the blacklisting of the Saudi-led coalition bombing Yemen. Ayrault said France could help defuse tensions following a U.N. decision to remove the coalition from a list of child rights violators. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday said he had decided to take the coalition off the list after Saudi Arabia and its allies threatened to cut off funding to U.N. aid programs. "We have to do everything to appease the situation," Ayrault told reporters at U.N. headquarters. "France is always there when it comes to safeguarding the UN's capacity to take action," he added. The United Nations blacklisted the coalition after concluding in a report released last week that it was responsible for 60 percent of the 785 deaths of children in Yemen last year. But in an embarrassing climbdown, the world body announced on Monday that the coalition would be scratched from the list of shame pending a joint review with the Saudi-led alliance. Ayrault steered clear of taking sides in the dispute, as did Britain's U.N. ambassador. British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said he welcomed "the fact that the secretary-general and Saudi Arabia have reached agreement on an analysis of the cases in the report."But he declined to comment further on the controversy. Saudi Arabi's U.N. ambassador Abdullah al-Mouallimi denies that there was pressure on Ban and declared that the decision to take the coalition off the list was "irreversible." In his remarks, Ban appealed for support from U.N. member-states to defend UN assessments such as the annual report on children in armed conflict, which includes the list of rights violators. Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters that "the secretariat should be more independent in drafting UN reports." U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in Washington that the United Nations should be able "to carry out its ability to report objectively on these kinds of issues without fear of reprisal."The United States has cut off aid to the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO after it recognized Palestine as a member and has in the past withheld dues owed to the United Nations over demands for reforms.

Strike-hit France Vows a Smooth Euro 2016
Associated Press/Naharnet/June 10/16/France vowed drastic measures to prevent strikes disrupting the smooth running of Euro 2016, as Europe's showcase football event kicks off on Friday also overshadowed by terror fears. Glum organizers said that weeks of industrial action, often accompanied by violent protests, had already dampened the party. "The image that is being given is not the one we wanted," chief organizer Jacques Lambert admitted just hours before hosts France face Romania in the Stade de France in Paris. The football extravaganza comes after months of seemingly endless woes in the country, which has been plagued by terror attacks, floods, political turmoil and strikes. As train drivers vowed to disrupt services to the stadium for the opening game, President Francois Hollande said he would take "all necessary measures" to ensure the championships go off without a hitch. "I will be paying close attention... and if decisions need to be made, they will be made," Hollande said."Public services will be provided... The whole of Europe will be watching."Transport Minister Alain Vidalies warned that rail workers could be ordered back to work if that was necessary to get fans to stadiums.
The cities of Paris and Marseille meanwhile scrambled to clear stinking piles of rubbish from pavements after unionists blockaded incineration plants and some bin men walked off the job. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo vowed to clean up all the rubbish from the streets as fans began to arrive for the month-long tournament. "It is already being collected today," Hidalgo told French TV. - First hooligan clashes -The country is also on edge over the prospect of another terror attack, with the championship coming just seven months after Islamic State jihadists killed 130 people in Paris. The first match takes place at the Stade de France in Paris where three jihadists blew themselves up at the start of the November 13 carnage, which also targeted a concert hall and cafes and restaurants. France remains a top target for the Islamic State group and warnings from the United States and Britain that the tournament could be a target have only added to the sense of nervousness. Up to 90,000 police and private security guards will protect players and supporters at the tournament. France's overstretched security forces also have to contend with the threat of hooliganism, which reared its ugly head already on Thursday night as around 250 England fans clashed with police outside a bar in the southern city of Marseille. Seven people were lightly injured in the clashes in the city, where England will face Russia on Saturday. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Wednesday 300 people had been barred from serving in the private security teams after vetting showed they had been radicalized. The massive security operation got its first real test on Thursday when French DJ David Guetta performed in the fan zone at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. Some 80,000 spectators had to pass through two checkpoints and stringent security searches.
- 'Remove the blockages' -In another headache for organizers, Air France pilots have called for a four-day strike from Saturday, when an estimated two million foreign fans will begin arriving in earnest. But Air France chief executive Frederic Gagey promised that more than 80 percent of flights would operate on Saturday. While striking workers have varying demands, they are united in protest against labor reforms which government forced through parliament without a vote, locking them in a power struggle with unions. Despite the potential negative impact of the strikes on the championships, the French government is refusing to budge on a law it says will help reduce unemployment. "Let us be clear, the government has no intention of withdrawing this law, or of unraveling it," Labor Minister Myriam El Khomri told Agence France Presse. She said she would meet powerful union leader Philippe Martinez, who is spearheading the industrial unrest, "in a minute if it would allow us to remove the blockages in this country".Despite the gloomy atmosphere, some hoped the tournament would provide a welcome respite from the woes that have dogged and divided France. An editorial in the Parisian newspaper said the opening match would provide "a breath of fresh air in a France which has struggled to breathe for months. "No, a football match will not erase days of strikes and weeks of tensions. But the prospect of a delightful little digression is enough to leave many of us smiling."

Israeli Arabs: Attackers ‘don’t deserve air to breathe’
Hassan Shaalan/Ynetnews/June 10/16 /A meeting of leading figures in Israel’s Arab community showcased strong condemnation of Sarona attack and calls for coexistence and peace. In a special meeting of leading figures from the Arab sector on Thursday evening, those assembled harshly condemned the murderous attacks at Tel Aviv’s Sarona market on Wednesday night in which four Israeli citizens were murdered by two terrorists from Yatta (south of Hebron).The meeting was held in Taibe in the center of the country, and the attendees were Arab mayors and Jewish tourists. The mayors condemned the Tel-Aviv attack and called for the continuation of good relations between Arabs and Jews, asking that the attacks would not damage the two sectors’ coexistence. Taibe Mayor Shua Mansour Masarwa said at the meeting, “Despite the hard days, we need to deal with the difficulties and to overcome (them). We condemn any act of killing innocent people on both sides. The occupation needs to end so that peace can survive and we will be able to live in peace.”
He also said, “(I) call to every moderate person in the country and say to them that it’s important for us to denounce and to overcome extremism and hate to continue our lives in the best way and without violence.” The mayor added that his city was always open to Jews and Arabs: “Here, we respect each other, and every Jewish or Arab visitor feels at home.” Nasreen Morcus from Sikkuy: The Association for the Advancement of Civic Equality came with the group of Jews. She said, “We condemn the attack and oppose associating the month of Ramadan with it. This month is one of spirituality and patience, and what happened in Tel Aviv does not represent Islam. The Sikkuy association is making every effort to promote coexistence in the country.”
Mohammed Jubara, a Taibe resident and vice principal of the Ibn Khaldun Elementary School, said that Jews visited the school on Thursday who had come to get to know the city up close. “The attack didn’t have a negative effect on the visit, and we carried on as planned. Attacks won’t ruin that. All of us want to live alongside Jews and continue the excellent visits.”
Nail Zoabi, principal of the Tamra Valley Elementary School and a social activist for co-existence and active citizenship, said that he was repulsed to hear about the attack: “I wondered if there was something more horrible than this—murdering people for no reason? An attack like this deserves to be condemned, but it’s not sufficient just to talk; we also have to act.“We, the citizens of Israel, have a duty to prevent the next attack. An attack on civilians is a red line that must never be crossed. From here, I send my sincere condolences to the families of the murdered, may God strengthen them, and wish a speedy and full recovery to the injured.”He added, “My hope is that the entire Arab leadership in Israel will rise and harshly condemn the attack. I can only hope that we won’t see more incidents like it.”
Imad, a resident of the Triangle (a central region of the country with a significant Israeli Arab population), said, “We, the Arab citizens, are part of the country of Israel, and we won’t accept acts of terrorism that destroy everything for us. This attack won’t contribute anything and will only complicate matters and put us in an extremely difficult position. In the end, it’s we, the Arabs, who pay the price for an act that we didn’t want, that was carried out by two people who, in my opinion, don’t deserve air to breathe.
Kfar Kassem resident Adel Badir said, “As citizens of the country, we strongly condemn any active attack against civilians, and we wish a speedy recovery to the injured. These incidents will not change the relations between the two peoples, and we will continue to live in peace.”He continued, “On both sides, there are people who carry out criminal acts, and it shouldn’t affect everyone. The Arab population has been hurt more than it hurts, and everybody wants to live a normal life. We are not a party to any conflict.”

Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on June 10-11/16

Iran: Is it a nation or a cause?
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Al Arabiya/June 10/16
Iran’s fortune shifted when the six world powers (P5+1: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States; plus Germany) and Iranian leaders initiated the nuclear negotiations, then signing the nuclear agreement, which led to the lifting of global sanctions. As a result, the Islamic Republic continues to be the recipient of significant geopolitical, strategic and economic opportunities and rewards from the global powers. Iranian leaders could, and still can, capitalize on these opportunities granted to them in two different ways.Respect or resentment? Simply put, Iranian leaders can use their new status on global stage, their enhanced legitimacy, and the additional revenues they are receiving to invest in enhancing the lives of its citizens, advance the nation’s technological advancements, avoid interfering in other countries’ affairs, avoid the application of provocative and incendiary speeches against other nations, refrain from intimidating other countries by their military power, and attempt to be a respected nation-state in the region and on the global arena similar to other countries such as South Korea and Japan. With the sanctions being lifted and the continuing implementation of the nuclear agreement, Iranian leaders believe that the trend has changed, they do not need to change their policies, and that they currently enjoy the upper hand in the Middle East
The second direction that the Iranian government can take is to use their elevated status, as well as chances and opportunities – offered by the nuclear agreement and sanctions relief – to project its military power, build more proxies in the region. It can choose to provoke other nations by its ballistic missile capabilities, issue confrontational, incendiary and irrational statements to antagonize other countries, continue to be an ideological and revolutionary state with a goal toward being respected as the regional superpower at any cost, impose and spread its Shiite Islam on other nations, proclaim itself as the vanguard of Islam and leader of the Musim world, and act as an ideological cause rather than a nation. In other words, Iran can choose to be respectfully recognized as a regional power without reliance on hard power, or it can impose its ideology and power on other nations and create resentment rather than reverence.
The revolutionary state
With the sanctions being lifted and the continuing implementation of the nuclear agreement, Iranian leaders believe that the trend has changed, they do not need to change their policies, and that they currently enjoy the upper hand in the Middle East.
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) felt that their objectives, prophecies, and goals came true. From their perspectives, they have been successful because of their long-time policies, so why should they alter the status quo?
Geopolitically and strategically speaking, the West is suddenly treating the Islamic Republic as an indispensable regional power. Iranian leaders observe how they are being respected on the Western and global diplomatic arenas. Tehran’s image has also being changed as the West and Iran are advertising the Islamic Republic to be a safe place for millions of tourists to visit. Considering that the Western powers seem to be giving too much credit to Iran’s military in fighting the West’s main enemy – the ISIS – European nations and the US have significantly shifted their foreign policy toward Iran so that they could tactically cooperate with Iran on Middle Eastern conflicts. But more fundamentally, what has given the Iranian leaders the encouragement to more forcefully, publicly, and provocatively reassert their regional preeminence and regional hegemonic ambitions is the global financial freedom. This has given some IRGC leaders the sense that they are the paramount power and an unstoppable force in the region. In closing, many politicians, scholars and policy analysts hoped that Iran would change its behavior after the nuclear agreement, and act as a constructive and modern nation-state.
Nevertheless, we should be cautious of conflating, intertwining, and confusing our hopes with scholarly analyses and the concrete reality on the ground. The Iranian government has decided to more forcefully continue acting as an ideological cause rather than a nation.

Hajj the Khomeini way
Mshari Al Thaydi/Al Arabiya/June 10/16
Hajj and umrah for Saudi Arabia remain outside political disputes with any Muslim party, regardless of what these conflicts are about. This is a Saudi principle. It is a special duty that the country bears before all Muslims. The kingdom has managed to remain loyal to this duty ever since it assumed it. One of the clearest examples of that is how it has dealt with Iran. Despite the annual headache that Tehran’s propaganda machine causes every hajj season, and despite the security threats that have targeted Makkah and Medina under the cover of Iranian hajj missions, Saudi authorities have not held innocent Iranian pilgrims accountable for the acts of Iranian officers and agents. In the past three decades, everyone saw how explosives and weapons were smuggled in the luggage of innocent elderly pilgrims. This in addition to the chaos and sabotage that Tehran has caused during hajj due to the heresy of performing the “repudiation of polytheist ceremony,” which has nothing to do with the hajj provisions in Shiite jurisprudence. Tehran’s political immorality lies in depriving the Iranian people of the chance to perform hajj, while alleging that Saudi Arabia prevented them from doing so. This Iranian behavior has nothing to do with jurisprudential duties. Tehran’s political immorality lies in depriving the Iranian people of the chance to perform hajj, while alleging that Saudi Arabia prevented them from doing so
Exploitation
Tehran’s exploitation of hajj aims to achieve certain goals. The first is to spread negative propaganda against Saudi Arabia, especially since Muslim countries condemned Iran during the recent Istanbul conference. Another goal, as a Saudi expert noted, is that Iranian authorities are stealing pilgrims’ money by claiming that hajj costs were not returned to them. This exploitation of hajj and other religious affairs is typical of Tehran. During a seminar for the Iranian opposition held a few days ago in Paris, Iranian cleric Ayatollah Jalal Ganjei said: “The mullahs’ regime has added to the hajj rituals a shameful phenomenon that it calls the repudiation of polytheist ceremony. Those who are acquainted with Shiite jurisprudence know that when it comes to hajj rituals, it’s not any different from what the rest of the Muslims do.” The disputes with Tehran, which have been ongoing for years, have not prevented Saudi Arabia from performing its duty of facilitating hajj for the entire Muslim people, including Iranians.
This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat on June 6, 2016.

Brexit would leave EU less liberal, less Atlanticist
Paul Taylor/Al Arabiya/June 10/16
A European Union without Britain would be financially poorer, less economically liberal and free-trading, less Atlanticist and less open to further enlargement. A British vote to leave the 28-nation EU in a referendum on June 23 would not only deal a severe blow to the union’s self-confidence and international standing, amputating it of its second biggest economy and one of its two main military powers. It would also blow a hole in the EU’s common budget and tilt the balance away from the open, competitive economy favored by the Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland and central European states, towards protectionism and heavier regulation. Even committed European federalists acknowledge that Britain has made major contributions in opening up the community’s internal market, promoting an outward-looking foreign policy and sharing a pragmatic, empirical administrative culture.“We would lose the intrinsic value of Great Britain – its global geopolitical vision, economic common sense and financial and legal know-how,” said Sylvie Goulard, a French member of the European Parliament from the centrist liberal ALDE group. Supporters of a more deeply integrated political union centered on the 19-nation euro currency area would have no cause for rejoicing, since eurosceptics elsewhere would be emboldened to press for their own renegotiations and referendums.
This article was first published in the Saudi Gazette on Jun. 09, 2016.
“The real risk is not (Britain) remaining in the EU, it is a leave vote, which could perpetuate the disintegration of the entire European Union,” said former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. A keen federalist, he represented the European Parliament in negotiations between Prime Minister David Cameron and other EU leaders in February that led to a deal exempting Britain from the EU’s treaty goal of “ever closer union”.
“Brexit would make the narrative of the EU about disintegration, not integration,” researchers at the London-based Centre for European Reform said in a report entitled: “Europe after Brexit: unleashed or undone?”Even committed European federalists acknowledge that Britain has made major contributions in opening up the community’s internal market, promoting an outward-looking foreign policy and sharing a pragmatic, empirical administrative culture. For one thing, much of the EU’s time and energy would be consumed for the next two years or longer by wrangling over the terms of withdrawal and the UK’s future relations with the bloc. Aside from that, the EU’s historic Franco-German axis seems too weak to agree on any major strengthening of the euro zone, at least until after elections in both countries in 2017. “I don’t think Europe can transform itself and make a bold leap forward in integration with the current cast of political characters. Perhaps with their successors,” Goulard said. Unpopular French President Francois Hollande is in the last year of his term, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel is constrained by domestic resistance to an influx of refugees and to any more risk-sharing with southern euro zone countries.
Power dynamics
The power dynamics of European leadership would change if Britain quit. Germany would lose a counterweight to French economic dirigisme. France would lose its main partner in supporting EU military missions in Africa and elsewhere. Europe might be less inclined to stand up to Russia, or to work as closely with the United States. The EU would remain divided into a majority of countries which share the euro, and a minority that have not yet joined or have voted to stay out. But those non-euro countries – Sweden, Denmark, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia – would have less clout without Britain’s presence as the main financial center outside the single currency area. Guntram Wolff, a German economist who heads the Bruegel economic think-tank in Brussels, said the Berlin establishment was in a funk, fearing that “we are left alone with all those Mediterranean spending countries with a preference for redistribution and we are going to pay for them and drift away from a liberal, pro-market, TTIP Europe. That’s the big angst.”Among the headaches for the EU would be how to make up for Britain’s contribution to the common European budget, most of which goes on subsidies to poorer regions and to farmers. The UK is the number three net contributor after Germany and France, paying in an average 9.23 billion euros a year more than it received from EU coffers in 2010-2014, according to the European Commission. It would continue to pay contributions for at least two years until it finally left. Britain’s EU friends would lose a powerful ally on issues such as upholding free and unfettered competition, curbing state aid to industry, resisting tax harmonization, and opposing barriers to trade with China and other emerging economies. A hub of EU-funded research and innovation would drift away. “I fear it would be a less open, liberal Europe without the Brits,” said a Swedish diplomat. “That would make it harder for us to win the economic arguments.” London was the biggest supporter of the EU’s eastward enlargement to take in 12 mostly former Communist states in 2004 and 2007 – at least partly in the belief that a wider EU would slow centralization. No country has fought harder for ambitious free trade pacts with the United States, Canada, Japan and other major economies. Without energetic British backing, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) under negotiation between Brussels and Washington is less likely to come to fruition. German and Austrian voters are reticent over data privacy and private arbitration courts, while the French are anxious over so-called “Frankenstein foods” – hormone-treated beef, chlorine-washed chicken and genetically modified crops.

Islamophobia and ‘grey’ radicalism
Fahad Suleiman Shoqiran/Al Arabiya/June 10/16
Theoretically, expecting civic concepts from radical elements is like expecting a rabbit to come out of a hat. Let us not forget that radical thinking has the ability to change shape and form to stay alive. Since radical organizations operate at various levels and resort to various kinds of violence, the rise of ISIS has pushed other militant groups to desert political pragmatism and have started revamping its message. Those organizations cannot reform their ranks while guarding “the imaginer of civism” which is the overarching concept of totalitarian parties. Olivier Roy describes it as “the catastrophic imaginer”, which you cannot eliminate by few civic words. On June 2, American journalist David Ignatius wrote an article entitled “The Islamic State feeds off Western Islamophobia.”He referred to a report by Lapis Communications, a Middle East-based consulting firm, which explains why Islamophobia helps jihadists: “Instead of undercutting recruiting, it pumps value into the brand. We are dealing primarily with the adolescent mindset.”If European countries bet on ‘grey’ Islamic movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood, they will be trying to integrate totalitarian parties for the sake of including them in the war on ISIS
He added: “Lapis cites statistics that 90 percent of jihadists today are under 25. These militant youths want to see things in black and white. The only antidote, argues Lapis, is “the grey” of social compromise and tolerance, of nuanced and considered thoughts.”However, using this approach to undercut the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) may bolster other dangerous groups that use deception to seem less radical.
Failed approach
During the Forum for Arab and International Relations in Doha in April, author Mohammad al-Arnaout summarized 26 papers on “Islamophobia between imagination and reality.”These papers solidified the idea that Islamophobia was caused by violent movements and bombings in London, Madrid, Paris, Brussels and elsewhere. Some at the forum defended the ‘grey solution’ that Ignatius referred to. The problem, however, is that radicalism of whatever shade opposes reality, rejects altruism and monopolizes the public space. If European countries bet on ‘grey’ Islamic movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood, they will be trying to integrate totalitarian parties for the sake of including them in the war on ISIS.
This is the peak of failure. Terrorism is like a tree – one cannot rely on the branches to kill the trunk. Islamophobia is the product of terrorism.
This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat on Jun. 09, 2016.

Will Egypt's Copts get to build more churches?
Rania Rabeaa Elabd/Al-Monitor/June 10/16
The draft law on the construction of churches has renewed the crisis that has existed between the ruling regimes and the Copts in Egypt since the Ottoman era. Over the years, Egypt’s Christians have requested the state to promulgate a law governing the construction of houses of worship, regulating the building of mosques for Muslims and churches for Christians, in light of the challenges in obtaining permission to build new churches, despite the growing Christian population.
A law was issued on Oct. 17, 2001, governing only the construction of mosques, with no mention of the building of churches. In Egypt, a new church may only be built by virtue of a presidential decree, which is issued once a year or once every other year. The difficulties lie in the legislative structure of the state that does not have a mechanism for building churches. Hence, some Christians have turned — in secret — homes into churches.
Until the passing of the 2001 law, any citizen was allowed to build a mosque, even in his own home by the mere authorization of the Ministry of Religious Endowments. For centuries, the Copts have had no legal reference regulating the construction of churches; the only legal instrument they can rely on is a presidential decision whose issuance is subject to a lengthy procedure.During the reign of former President Hosni Mubarak, problems related to the construction of churches piled up in all provinces; licenses to build churches were not granted since the issuing authority feared a popular uproar by the Muslim community. In light of the state apparatus’ intransigence, numerous Christian communities in Egypt were forced to build unlicensed churches or perform religious rituals in buildings allocated for theatrical and community activities and sports events.
In this regard, Minister of State for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Magdi al-Agati told Al-Monitor that the ministry is finalizing a draft law — known in the media as the "unified houses of worship law" — governing the construction of churches, which will be referred to the parliament for approval in its first legislative four-month term ending at the end of September.
According to Article 235 of the Egyptian Constitution, “In its first legislative term following the effective date of this constitution, the parliament will issue a law to regulate the construction and renovation of churches, in a manner that guarantees the freedom to practice religious rituals for Christians.”
Before referring the draft law to the parliament, the ministry submitted its provisions to the three Christian communities in Egypt: the Evangelical, Catholic and Orthodox churches. Once finalized, the draft will be submitted to the Cabinet for approval and to the Legislation Department of the State Council, before being referred back to the parliament for its final promulgation.
Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark indicated in press statements in the Egyptian media on May 18 that the three churches had reached an agreement with the state on the legal provisions governing the construction of churches, after an exchange of observations, and that the draft law would be passed in the near future. The constitution of 2004 had excluded mosques from the obligation to issue a governing law, and this law took the name of “a law to regulate the construction and renovation of churches.” The constitution did not mention the need to promulgate a law governing the construction of mosques and contented itself with the law issued in 2001.
Ahmed Sajeeni, the vice chairman of the Wafd Party, told Al-Monitor, “I was hoping that the constitution provides for a unified law for places of worship,” criticizing the separation of the laws and the different rules.
According to the law governing the construction of mosques, the population density where the mosque is to be constructed is taken into account, with the distance between any two mosques being no less than 500 meters (0.3 mile). The land on which the mosque is to be built should not be subject to disputes or illegally owned and the parties in charge of the construction of the mosque will abide by the engineering drawings and maps provided free of charge by the Ministry of Religious Endowments, in line with the location, surface area — which shall not be less than 175 square meters (1,884 square feet) — and estimated construction cost. The law specifies that a floor must be built as part of the mosque for social, health, culture and development purposes.
The law also states that mosques shall only be built following the Ministry of Religious Endowments’ express approval, and that 50,000 Egyptian pounds (roughly $5,630) shall be deposited in an account allocated to the mosque. Moreover, mosques are not permitted to be built under residential buildings, which is currently happening in villages and towns.
The draft law that is made up of 14 articles on the construction of churches will be submitted to the parliament in the coming days. This draft law includes a special chapter on the definitions of the components of a church’s building, including the church’s nave, baptism hall and extensions such as a hall, a library and classrooms for Sunday school.
To facilitate application and approval procedures and stop attempts to build unlicensed places of worship, the draft law determines the licensing authorities and sets the licensing duration.
As per the draft law, a church can only be built if it is found to comply with construction requirements and is compliant with the legally prescribed height restrictions. A church should not encroach upon state properties or be built on land that is subject to the law on the protection of monuments (No. 117 of 1983) or be located outside the boundaries of urban spaces. The draft law further states that each province will have a place of registry where the application of church construction licenses can be requested with a special committee, formed by five different authorities. However, the multiplicity of the required authorities examining the applications will complicate the procedure.
The draft also includes a chapter identifying the methods of restoration and reconstruction, and provides for the regularization of the situation of existing churches, since it includes articles governing unlicensed churches in line with the Unified Building Law (No. 119 of 2008).
Paul Halim, a spokesman for the Orthodox Church, talked to Al-Monitor about the agreement between the three Christian Churches in Egypt and the finalizing of the draft law. He said that the discussions between church and government representatives had resulted in amendment proposals by the two parties that were taken into consideration. He refused to disclose these parties at this time.
Halim stressed that discussions — among the three churches and between the churches and representatives of the Ministry of Legal Affairs — will continue until the law reaches its final stage in the parliament.
Andrea Zaki, the vice president of the Anglican Communion, told Al-Monitor on the church’s position in regard to the draft law that the end of the discussions should be awaited. But ecclesial sources told Al-Monitor that the discussions had resulted in an unprecedented consensus on the issuance of this law, which is long overdue.
In an interview with Al-Monitor, Coptic activist Kamal Zakher said, "The fact that the law governs the construction of churches only is a good thing and is in the best interest of Egypt’s Copts.” He said that the Egyptian society is not a model society that would make it easy to pass a unified law for Muslim and Christian houses of worship. He explained that the issuance of a unified law for houses of worship could lead to sedition among state institutions and citizens, since protests by Muslims against state institutions — the presidency, the parliament or even Al-Azhar — could further increase sectarian strife in Egyptian society. According to Zakher, unrest and protests could be exploited by terror groups, for instance through social media.
He said that the conditions for building churches, which seemingly seem unfair, are all engineering conditions based on the proper application of urban planning, stressing the need to abide by the draft law (once in force), so as to preserve the general form of ecclesial structures and buildings.