LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS
BULLETIN
November 04/16
Compiled
& Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
The
Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.november04.16.htm
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Bible Quotations For Today
John came to you in
the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax-collectors
and the prostitutes believed him;
and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe
him".
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew
21/28-32/:"‘What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first
and said, "Son, go and work in the vineyard today." He answered,
"I will not"; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went
to the second and said the same; and he answered, "I go, sir"; but he
did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?’ They said, ‘The first.’
Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, the tax-collectors and the prostitutes
are going into the kingdom
of God ahead of you. For
John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but
the tax-collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it,
you did not change your minds and believe him".
"If I speak in the tongues of
mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging
cymbal
First Letter to the Corinthians 13/01-13/:"If I speak in the tongues
of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging
cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all
mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove
mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my
possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have
love, I gain nothing. Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or
boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not
irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the
truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies,
they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it
will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part;
but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a
child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child;
when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For
now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I
know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And
now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is
love."
Titles For
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources
published on November 03-04/16
Lebanon's New Leader: What Gen. Michel Aoun
Means for the Middle East/Jaime Loizzo/The National
Interest/November 03/2016
Lebanon after the elections, between dependency and independence/Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/November 03/16
Lebanon under General Michel Aoun – A Profile and a
Preliminary Assessment/Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah/Jerusalem
Centre For Public Affairs/November 031/16
Gaza: Christians continue to be forced to convert to Islam/Raymond
Ibrahim/November 03/16
Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury: Christianity
Is Threatened As Never Before In Middle East/Ruth Gledhill/Christian Today/November
03/16
Toronto: Muslim police chaplain says wife who refuses sex to husband has
committed “major sin”/Jihad Watch/November 03/16
Toronto Police chaplain speaks out after online comments on women’s ‘obedience’
draw concern”/Natalie Nanowski, CBC News, November
03/16
Documented: Obama's "Traditional Muslim Bias" against
Christians/Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone
Institute/November 03/16
Erdogan's Neo-Ottoman Plans/Burak
Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/November 03/16
America's "Arab Spring"/ Nonie Darwish/Gatestone
Institute/November 03/16
Is a Turkey-Iraq war likely/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/November 03/16
Iraq after the liberation of Mosul/Talmiz Ahmad/Al Arabiya/November 03/16
The ‘Jungle’ is closed, but the chaos of EU migration policy continues/Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/November 03/16
Western Leaders: Pressure Saudis to Give Christians Religious Rights/Hilal Khashan/The Hill/November
1, 2016
Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on on November 03-04/16
Hariri Named Lebanon's New Prime Minister by Majority of 112 Votes
Hariri to From National Unity Government, Emphasizes Openness to all Blocs
Hizbullah Refrains from Naming Hariri for
Premiership, Berri Says 'Time to Pay Back the Debt'
Hariri's Supporters Rally across Lebanon to Celebrate Nomination
UK Looks Forward to Working with Hariri on 'Economy, Security, Refugees'
Hizbullah Bloc Urges Preserving
'Army-People-Resistance Elements of Strength'
Hariri Visits ex-PMs, Says Govt. Formation to be
'Quick'
Hollande congratulates Hariri on new appointment
Rahi contacts Salam, thanks him for his wisdom and
patience
Hariri's Return to Power Illustrates Ability to Cope with Shifting Political
Sands
Hariri to Form Government, but Path Tough
Hariri to Central House felicitators: We hope that Aoun's
era is full of hope and the government will include all political factions
Representative of Khamenei: Aoun's
Election Thwarted Plan to Isolate Hizbullah
Geagea Says 'Iran, Vast Majority of Countries' Did
Not Want Aoun for President
Aoun Mulling Participation in Climate Change
Conference in Morocco Next Week
Jumblatt discusses developments with Russian
Ambassador
Lebanon's New Leader: What Gen. Michel Aoun Means for
the Middle East
Lebanon after the elections, between dependency and independence
Saad Hariri named Lebanon’s new prime minister
Lebanon under General Michel Aoun – A Profile and a
Preliminary Assessment
Lebanese Presidential Elections/Position Statement by the Lebanese Information
Center
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on on November 03-04/16
Gaza: Christians continue to be forced to convert to Islam
Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury: Christianity
Is Threatened As Never Before In Middle East
Popular Mobilization Units cutoff vital ISIS supply
route in Mosul
Baghdadi says no Mosul retreat in audio message
US talks to Turkey about role to recapture Raqqa
Aid agencies in Iraq on high alert as families flee Mosul offensive
12 Dead, 200 Hurt as Syria Rebels Renew Aleppo Attack before Russia Ceasefire
Syria's Kurds Say to 'Lead' Raqa Fight, Reject
Turkish Role
Syrian suspected of belonging to terrorist group held in Germany
Iran commander says US in ‘strong decline’
Iran court acquits defendants in Saudi mission attack case
Three Saudis sentenced to jail for plotting in Iran
UN envoy to reach Sana’a for another round of talks
Palestinian tries to stab soldier in West Bank, shot dead
Turkey slams Germany, accuses it of supporting terrorism
Neither Clinton, nor Trump popular in Arab world: poll
High Court Rule UK Parliament Must Have Vote on Brexit
Over 100 Dead in New Migrant Tragedy Off Libya, 2nd Wreck Feared
Links From Jihad Watch Site for on November 03-04/16
Karen
Armstrong, Vali Nasr hit West on Atlantic Council “Islamophobia” panel
Austria:
Muslim migrant arrested after breaking into hospital to sexually assault female
patient
Putin
hits Europe for letting Muslim migrants get away with crimes: “A society that
cannot defend its children has no future”
As
global jihad advances, Obama Pentagon mulls easing rules for obese, pot smokers
UK:
Muslim leader says Muslims have “right” to use Sharia
law in Britain
Robert
Spencer in FrontPage: Yes, ‘Jihad’ Means Warfare Against Unbelievers
Toronto:
Muslim police chaplain says wife who refuses sex to husband has committed
“major sin”
Met
presents Islam “cleansed of imperialism, brutality, absolutism, and
institutionalized inequality of non-Muslims”
Australia:
Muslim bookstore owner finances jihad in Syria; his “faith drove him” to do it
Force
and Fanaticism — Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia and Beyond
Gaza:
Christians continue to be forced to convert to Islam
Switzerland:
Police raid Islamic State-linked mosque, arrest imam who said Muslims should be
killed for not praying
Latest Lebanese Related News published on November 03-04/16
Hariri
Named Lebanon's
New Prime Minister by Majority of 112 Votes
Naharnet/November
03/16/Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri was
named as Lebanon's
new prime minister on Thursday, the office of President Michel Aoun announced. “After the necessary parliamentary
consultations... the president has entrusted Saad
Hariri with the formation of a government,” said a statement read by the
president's chief of staff Antoine Chouqair. The
binding parliamentary consultations with Aoun for the
designation of a new premier kicked off on Wednesday and continued until
Thursday at the presidential palace in Baabda. The
nomination comes days after Aoun was elected, with
Hariri's surprise support, ending a vacuum of more than two years. Hariri was
endorsed by 112 members of the 127-seat parliament, with only the Hizbullah movement, the Syrian Social National Party and
the Lebanese Baath party -- all supporters of Syria's government -- declining to
back him as prime minister. But his return was assured as part of the deal he
struck to throw his support behind former general Michel Aoun,
a Hizbullah ally. Hariri returns to the post of prime
minister five years after his last cabinet collapsed when his longtime rival Hizbullah and its
allies pulled their ministers from a unity government that had taken months to
form.
Hariri
to From National Unity Government, Emphasizes Openness
to all Blocs
Naharnet/November
03/16/Newly designated Prime Minister Saad Hariri
announced after his designation on Thursday that he will begin his national
duty with openness to all political blocs even those that abstained from naming
him, as he assured that he will form a national unity government. “President of
the Republic General Michel Aoun honored
me by asking me to form the government. I accepted, and would like to thank him
for his confidence and the confidence of the deputies who honored
me with this national assignment. I will be open to all parliamentary blocs,
including those who did not name me, in accordance with our constitution and
our democratic values,” said Hariri from Baabda Palace. “On this particular day, we must
underscore on the extraordinary effort exerted by Prime Minister Tammam Salam, in a difficult and sensitive phase, to
protect the country's unity, legitimacy, institutions, state, coexistence and
civil peace in our country,” he added. “I look forward to starting the
consultations to form a national unity government that overcomes political
divisions,” he went on to say. “It is a new term. I have great hope -in this
positive moment that ends the suffering of the country and its citizens that
lasted for two and a half years of vacancy and paralysis- to form a government
quickly, that will work on an electoral law that secures just representation and
oversees the completion of the parliamentary elections on schedule,” the PM
added. “It is a new term. I hope to form a government that keeps pace with the
new term and enables us all to join efforts to address the socio-economic,
economic, environmental, security and political crises suffered by the Lebanese
people.” Hariri concluded as saying: “We owe it to the Lebanese to start
working as soon as possible to protect our country from the flames burning
around it, to reinforce its immunity in the face of terrorism, to help it deal
with the difficulty of the refugees issue, to restore hope and confidence to
our young men and women in a better future, and restore the confidence of the
Arabs and the world in Lebanon, its message, institutions, economy and tourism
and investing in it.
It is a new term, and this is my
promise to the Lebanese”.Speaking to reporters at the
Center House in the evening, Hariri noted that Speaker Nabih
Berri is “showing cooperation” and President Michel Aoun “wants to make achievements,” calling on all parties
to “give the new tenure must a chance.”“We will
cooperate with everyone and we must depend on ourselves to resolve our issues
because no one is concerned with our problems,” he added. Hariri's key support
had contributed to the election of Aoun as Lebanon's
13th president on Monday, which ended around two and a half years of
presidential and political vacuum. Aoun also received
crucial support from Hizbullah and the Lebanese
Forces. Hariri's nomination and Aoun's election have
raised hopes that Lebanon
can begin tackling challenges including a stagnant economy, a moribund
political class and the influx of more than a million Syrian refugees. In a sign that
Hariri's task ahead might not be easy, Hizbullah's
MPs declined to endorse him for the prime minister post, even though his
nomination was all-but-assured. Hariri is likely to struggle with his
government's policy statement, which will have to make reference to Israel, as well as the war in Syria, both
potential flashpoints with Hizbullah. The process of forming a government could
take months, with horsetrading likely to revolve
around the distribution of key posts like the interior, defense
and energy ministries.
Hizbullah Refrains from Naming Hariri for Premiership, Berri Says 'Time to Pay Back the Debt'
November 03/16/Hizbullah's Loyalty
to the Resistance bloc did not name ex-PM Saad Hariri
for the premiership, while head of the Development and Liberation bloc Speaker Nabih Berri said it is time to
“pay back the debt” to Hariri as his bloc named him prime minister during the
binding parliamentary consultations on Thursday with newly elected President
General Michel Aoun. Speaking on behalf of the bloc,
MP Mohammed Raad said: “We did not name anyone for
the post of prime minister.” Independent MPs including Nicolas Fattoush, Robert Ghanem, Dory Chamoun, Ahmed Fatfat, Mohammed
al-Safadi, Serge Tor Sarkisian,
Emile Rahme said after their separate meetings with Aoun that they named al-Mustaqbal
Movement chief Saad Hariri for the post. Head of the
Liberals Party, Chamoun said: “It is normal that I
name my friend Hariri for the post. It is my duty to put myself at the disposal
of the President.”Mustaqbal MP Ahmed Fatfat who had asked to make the consultation alone away
from his Mustabqal bloc, said: “I have named Hariri
for the premiership, and I wish success for this era. The oath of office was excellent.”Asked about the reason that made him want to
make the consultation alone, he said: “I did not want to embarrass the bloc
with my previous stances.”The Development and
Liberation bloc of Speaker Nabih Berri,
Armenian MPs bloc and al-Jamaa al-Islamiya
bloc all have named Hariri.
“It is time that we return the
debt. We name Hariri for the post of premiership,” said Berri
speaking on behalf of the bloc. To a question by reporters whether the bloc
plans to cooperate in the future, Berri said: “If
there wer no intentions to cooperate we would not
have named Hariri.” The binding parliamentary consultations for the designation
of a new premier kicked off on Wednesday at the presidential palace in Baabda. By the end of Wednesday's consultations, Hariri had
received 86 votes out of 126 possible ones. On Monday, Aoun
was elected president of the republic. His election ended a presidential void
that lasted around two and a half years. His chances were largely boosted by a
key endorsement from Hariri in mid-October. Analysts have warned that Aoun's election will not be a "magic wand" for Lebanon, which has seen longstanding political
divisions exacerbated by the war in neighboring Syria and has
struggled to deal with an influx of more than a million Syrian refugees. In addition to
pledges of economic growth and security, Aoun said in
his oath of office that Lebanon must work to ensure Syrian refugees "can
return quickly" to their country.Aoun also
pledged to endorse an "independent foreign policy" and to protect
Lebanon from "the fires burning across the region."
Hariri's
Supporters Rally across Lebanon
to Celebrate Nomination
Naharnet/November
03/16/Supporters of al-Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri took to the streets across Lebanon after his
appointment as Prime Miniser-designate on Thursday,
waving Lebanese flags and huge sky-blue flags bearing his portrait, as
fireworks lit up the sky over the capital Beirut and several regions. Hariri's
stronghold in Beirut's
Tariq al-Jedideh district was witnessing huge popular
rallies and supporters were carrying Lebanese flags, Mustaqbal
flags and pictures of Hariri and his father, slain ex-PM Rafik
Hariri. Fireworks and celebratory gunfire accompanied the celebrations as
residents danced in the streets and distributed sweets to passersby. Dozens of
supporters also roamed Tariq al-Jedideh's streets on
motorcycles, carrying Mustaqbal flags. A central
celebration was scheduled for 8:30 pm at the district's al-Dana Square. In the
north, the city of Tripoli, Lebanon's second city, was witnessing motorized
rallies waiving pictures of Hariri and Mustaqbal
flags as celebratory fireworks was echoing across the city. Similar
celebrations were also being held in the northern region of Akkar,
the southern city of Sidon and the southern
border town of Shebaa.
Hariri's nomination and the election of Michel Aoun
as president after a two-year vacuum have raised hopes that Lebanon can
begin tackling challenges including a stagnant economy, a moribund political
class and the influx of more than a million Syrian refugees. It is also
something of a comeback for Hariri, a Western-backed Sunni politician who had
been left in the political cold in recent years. Experts have cautioned that he may be
hamstrung from the start because of ongoing divisions in the country's complex
political scene. But he sounded an optimistic, if solemn, tone on Thursday
after accepting his nomination. "It is a new term," Hariri told
journalists at the Baabda presidential palace. He
said he hoped "to form a government quickly, that will work on an
electoral law that secures just representation and oversees the completion of
the parliamentary elections on schedule." Hariri, 46, served as prime
minister under former president Michel Sleiman
between 2009 and 2011, heading a unity government that was brought down by Hizbullah and its allies. The toppling of Hariri's government
sparked days of violent protests across the country. The process of forming a
government could take months, with horsetrading
likely to revolve around the distribution of key posts like the interior, defense and energy ministries. Despite the uphill battle
ahead, Lebanese are hoping the breakthrough in their country's lengthy
political stalemate will revitalize the economy and solve problems like a trash
collection crisis.
UK Looks Forward to Working with Hariri on 'Economy,
Security, Refugees'
November 03/16/British Foreign
Secretary Boris Johnson on Thursday congratulated al-Mustaqbal
Movement leader Saad Hariri on his appointment as
Prime Minister-designate, hoping this will be followed by “the swift formation
of a Cabinet.”“The recent political progress in Lebanon
demonstrates what can be achieved by politicians working together in the
Lebanese national interest. I very much hope that Lebanese leaders will
continue in this spirit and seize this opportunity to strengthen state
institutions, pursue much needed reforms to boost the economy, and deliver the
future the Lebanese deserve,” Johnson said in a statement. He reiterated that
the UK is committed to
supporting “a sovereign, prosperous and secure Lebanon.” “We look forward to
working with Prime Minister Hariri on a number of essential issues including
strengthening the economy and security, promoting co-existence, and managing
the challenge of large numbers of refugees to the benefit of all,” Britain's top
diplomat said. He also lauded caretaker Prime Minister Tammam
Salam for “his work to guide the country through this testing period.” Hariri's
key support has contributed to the election of Free Patriotic Movement founder
Michel Aoun as Lebanon's 13th president, which
ended around two and a half years of presidential and political vacuum.
Hariri's nomination and Aoun's election have raised
hopes that Lebanon
can begin tackling challenges including a stagnant economy, a moribund
political class and the influx of more than a million Syrian refugees. In a
sign that Hariri's task ahead might not be easy, Hizbullah's
MPs declined to endorse him for the prime minister post on Thursday, even
though his nomination was all-but-assured. Hariri is likely to struggle with
his government's policy statement, which will have to make reference to Israel, as well as the war in Syria, both
potential flashpoints with Hizbullah. The process of
forming a government could take months, with horsetrading
likely to revolve around the distribution of key posts like the interior, defense and energy ministries.
Hizbullah Bloc Urges Preserving 'Army-People-Resistance
Elements of Strength'
November 03/16/Hizbullah's Loyalty
to Resistance parliamentary bloc called Thursday for preserving “the elements
of strength represented in the army, the people and the resistance” in order to
“continue the liberation of the rest of the occupied Lebanese land, protect the
country and preserve its national sovereignty.”The
bloc voiced its remarks in a statement issued after its weekly meeting and
hours after Saad Hariri was officially tasked with
forming a new government.
The so-called “army-people-resistance equation” had stirred controversy
during the drafting of the policy statement of Tammam
Salam's government and it might spark new controversy after the formation of
the new government. “The bloc renews its commitment and
keenness on the unity of all Lebanese and on adhering to the resistance and its
choice as well as on boosting the capabilities of the Lebanese army,” it added.
As for the election of Michel Aoun as president on
Monday, Loyalty to Resistance said “holding the presidential election was a
major victory for Lebanon
and for the will of accord among the Lebanese,” hoping it will be “the
beginning of a new era in Lebanon's
political history characterized by national resolve to practice real national sovereignty.”It also hoped the new presidential tenure will
carry insistence on “implementing the stipulations of the Document of National
Accord in a full manner and without any selectivity,” urging “real partnership
among all the components of the Lebanese society within the framework of a
state of law and institutions.”The bloc also called
for the formation of a “unifying national unity government” as soon as
possible, saying the government's priorities should be “the approval of a
modern electoral law that achieves fair and comprehensive representation,
boosting security and economic stability, and addressing citizens' living conditions.”Analysts have warned that Aoun's
election will not be a "magic wand" for Lebanon,
which has seen longstanding political divisions exacerbated by the war in neighboring Syria
and has struggled to deal with an influx of more than a million Syrian
refugees. In
addition to pledges of economic growth and security, Aoun
said in his oath of office that Lebanon
must work to ensure Syrian refugees "can return quickly" to their
country. Aoun also pledged to endorse an
"independent foreign policy" and to protect Lebanon from
"the fires burning across the region."
Hariri
Visits ex-PMs, Says Govt. Formation to be 'Quick'
Naharnet/November
03/16/Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri held
consultations with the country's former premiers on Thursday evening in line
with a long-standing Lebanese norm of visiting ex-PMs
in the wake of the designation of any new premier.
Hariri held his tour only hours
after he was formally tasked with forming a new government after he received a
sweeping majority of 116 votes in the binding parliamentary consultations. The
tour involved meetings with the ex-PMs Salim al-Hoss, Najib Miqati, Fouad
Saniora and Tammam Salam.“Several challenges are
awaiting us but I have confidence in President (Michel) Aoun
and I'm optimistic regarding the new tenure and God willing the government will
be quickly formed,” said Hariri after meeting Miqati.
Miqati for his part said Hariri's “mission is tough
and it is not a walk in the park.” “We talked about the need to turn the page
on the past, especially the issue of those held in connection with Tripoli's clashes,” he
added. And after
talks with Saniora, Hariri said that “everyone must
take part in the government.”"This government
has clear missions regarding the elections and the state budget and we will
cooperate with everyone," he added. Saniora for
his part described Hariri as “the right man for this stage,” noting that “he
has the will, resolve and determination to confront the challenges.” “We will
stand by him and by President Aoun,” Saniora added. Speaking after talks with Salam, Hariri
said: "No matter how much we talk about PM Salam, words can't do him
justice." "Loyalty and honesty are two rare traits and Salam
persevered and endured for the sake of Lebanon
during a dangerous and crucial period in Lebanon's history," he added.
Salam meanwhile said that "a new chapter has started and the country deserves
a young and wise leadership such as PM-designate Hariri." "I wish him
all success," he added.
Hariri's key support had contributed to the election of Aoun as Lebanon's
13th president on Monday, which ended around two and a half years of
presidential and political vacuum. Aoun also received
crucial support from Hizbullah and the Lebanese
Forces. Hariri's nomination and Aoun's election have
raised hopes that Lebanon
can begin tackling challenges including a stagnant economy, a moribund
political class and the influx of more than a million Syrian refugees. In a
sign that Hariri's task ahead might not be easy, Hizbullah's
MPs declined to endorse him for the prime minister post, even though his
nomination was all-but-assured. Hariri is likely to struggle with his
government's policy statement, which will have to make reference to Israel, as well as the war in Syria, both
potential flashpoints with Hizbullah. The process of
forming a government could take months, with horsetrading
likely to revolve around the distribution of key posts like the interior, defense and energy ministries.
Hollande congratulates Hariri on new appointment
Thu 03 Nov 2016/NNA - President of France, Francois Hollande,
telephoned on Thursday PM Designate, Saad Hariri, and
congratulated him on being tasked with forming a new Cabinet. Hollande wished Hariri the best of luck during his term.
Rahi contacts Salam, thanks him for his wisdom and
patience
Thu 03 Nov 2016/NNA - Maronite Patriarch,
Cardinal Beshara Rahi,
contacted by phone Caretaker PM, Tammam Salam, on
Thursday. Rahi thanked Salam for his "wisdom and
patience during his term in office."
Hariri's
Return to Power Illustrates Ability to Cope with Shifting Political Sands
Agence
France Presse/Naharnet/November 03/16/Lebanon's new prime minister Saad Hariri, the
son of former billionaire premier Rafik Hariri, is a
vociferous critic of Hizbullah and the Syrian regime
which he blames for his father's assassination. The 46-year-old was nominated
Thursday to form a cabinet by his one-time political adversary, President
Michel Aoun, who took office this week after
receiving the surprise support of his old foe. Hariri, who has already served
as prime minister once before, has a political career marked by his opposition
to the powerful Shiite movement Hizbullah, which is
allied with Aoun. The movement is a key backer of the
government in neighboring Syria, which Hariri accuses of
having planned his father's murder. He was a leading proponent of the departure
of Syrian forces from Lebanon
in 2005, after mass demonstrations following the assassination. Hariri, who now sports a beard along with
his trademark slicked-back locks, returns to the office in a bid to restore the
standing of Lebanon's
Sunni community and counterbalance Hizbullah's
influence. Born in Saudi
Arabia, where his father made his fortune,
he was running the family's Oger construction firm
when Rafik Hariri was assassinated in February 2005.
At his family's urging, he returned to Lebanon to enter politics, heading
an anti-Syrian bloc to victory in the 2005 legislative elections.
Confrontations with Hizbullah
In August 2007, he formed the al-Mustaqbal Movement party, a majority-Sunni bloc, which came
out ahead in the 2009 legislative elections, winning 33 of the parliament's 128
seats. In November that year, he became prime minister for the first time,
forming a unity government with Hizbullah and its
allies after marathon negotiations. But the government only lasted until January 2011, when Hizbullah and its allies pulled their ministers from the
cabinet, forcing its collapse. Tensions had already nearly boiled over in May
2008, when Hizbullah fighters seized parts of Beirut after pitched
battles with Mustaqbal Movement supporters. The
crisis raised fears of a new conflict in the country, still scarred by its 1975-1990 civil war. Hariri was also locked in a standoff with Hizbullah over funding for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which
is prosecuting his father's murder. The tribunal has implicated Hizbullah members in the assassination, but the group
dismisses the body as a U.S.-Israeli conspiracy. Hariri's differences with Hizbullah have only deepened with the war in neighboring Syria,
where the powerful Shiite group has dispatched fighters to bolster President Bashar Assad's government. Hariri by contrast has backed
the uprising against Assad, and led the calls for Syria
to withdraw its forces from Lebanon
-- 30 years after their arrival -- in 2005. Hizbullah is backed by Iran while Hariri enjoys the support of Tehran's regional rival Saudi Arabia.
Dwindling fortune, influence?
Hariri has Saudi citizenship and
has tirelessly praised the kingdom, to which he returned after the collapse of
his government, citing security concerns. His wife Lama Bashir-Azm, who
is of Syrian origin, and their three children have stayed in Saudi Arabia, even as Hariri began spending time
in Lebanon
again from 2014. In
June 2016, he announced his permanent return to Lebanon,
though he continues to spend periods in Saudi Arabia, where the Hariri
business empire has struggled of late. Hariri's influence with the Saudi royal family also
appears to have dwindled since the death of King Abdullah, and in Lebanon he has
faced criticism within his Sunni constituency for his lengthy absence and
failure to bolster the community. Resigned justice minister Ashraf
Rifi launched a major challenge to his position as
presumptive leader of Lebanon's
Sunnis in June 2016, running a rival list in municipal elections in the Sunni
stronghold of Tripoli. A business graduate from
Georgetown University
in Washington DC, Hariri was virtually unknown before his
arrival on the political scene after his father's death. A polyglot, he was nonetheless mocked for
his poor public speaking skills, and initially derided as a political naif.
But his decision to back former rival Aoun for
the presidency, ending a vacuum of more than two years, illustrated his comfort
with the shifting sands of Lebanon's
treacherous political landscape.
Hariri
to Form Government, but Path Tough
Naharnet/November
03/16/Former prime minister Saad Hariri was nominated
Thursday to form Lebanon's
next government but the process is likely to be hampered by deep differences
with Hizbullah. Hariri's nomination and the election
of a president after a vacuum of more than two years have raised hopes that Lebanon can
begin tackling challenges including a stagnant economy, a moribund political
class and the influx of over a million Syrian refugees. It is also something of
a comeback for Hariri, a Western-backed Sunni politician who had been left in
the political cold in recent years. Experts have cautioned that Hariri may be hamstrung from
the start because of ongoing divisions in the country's complex political
scene. Hariri is a fierce opponent of Hizbullah, and
has sharply criticized its role in bolstering Syria's government against an
uprising. But he was forced to throw his support behind their candidate for the
presidency, Michel Aoun, in order to secure his
return to power as prime minister. In a sign that the task ahead will not be easy, Hizbullah's MPs declined to endorse Hariri for the prime
minister's post, even though his nomination was all-but-assured. Analysts said Hariri, who has seen his
family fortune decline along with his influence in Lebanon's Sunni community, will
have little leverage in the formation of his cabinet.
"Hariri is in a tough
position," said Hilal Khashan,
head of the political science department at the American
University in Beirut. "Given the economic straits he
is experiencing and his declining popularity, he was determined to become prime
minister, and will therefore be obliged to make concessions to preserve his
interests," he told AFP.
Months of horsetrading
Hariri, 46, served as prime
minister under former president Michel Suleiman between 2009 and 2011, heading
a unity government that was brought down by Hizbullah
and its allies. In his new term, he is likely to struggle with his government's
policy statement, which will have to make reference to Israel, as well as the war in Syria, both
potential flashpoints with Hizbullah. Hizbullah has rejected attempts to disarm it, saying it
serves as the "resistance" against Israel,
with which Lebanon
technically remains at war. And it has also rejected criticism of its
involvement in the war in Syria,
saying its forces are protecting Lebanon by fighting extremists next
door. Hariri has
long opposed Hizbullah, members of which have been
accused by an international court of involvement in his father's 2005
assassination. He
also led calls for the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon, some
30 years after their arrival, following his father's murder. The process of
forming a government could take months, with horsetrading
likely to revolve around the distribution of key posts like the interior, defense and energy ministries. "Traditionally
the formation of government in Lebanon
takes a long time, up to 10 months sometimes," said Khashan.
"Today there are differences between the various political currents on the
issue of the key ministries," he added. Despite the uphill battle ahead,
Lebanese are hoping the breakthrough in their country's lengthy political
stalemate will revitalize the economy and solve problems like a trash
collection crisis. The country is also still reeling from the effects of the arrival
of more than a million Syrian refugees, who have tested the limited resources
of a nation with just four million citizens. Khashan
cautioned that Lebanon would
remain fragile, but central bank governor Riad Salameh sounded a note of optimism at a conference in Beirut on Thursday.
"The election of Michel Aoun should lead to the
normal activity of the constitutional institutions, thus increasing confidence
in economy," he said. "The formation of a government will help in
attracting foreign aid and mitigating the cost of the Syrian presence in Lebanon,
which we estimate at five percent of GDP," he added.
Hariri
to Central House felicitators: We hope that Aoun's
era is full of hope and the government will include all political factions
Thu 03 Nov 2016/NNA - Prime
Minister Designate, Saad Hariri, hoped that "the
era of President Michel Aoun will be an era full of
promise for all the Lebanese," pointing out that "the president wants
to accomplish many things during his term." Hariri told visitors and
delegations to the Central House on Thursday that he planned to form a
government that included all political parties. Numerous popular, economic, and
union delegations as well as political figures came to the Central House to
congratulate Hariri for being PM designate charged with forming a new Cabinet.
In response to reporters' questions, Hariri said, "I tell the Lebanese
that the term of President Michel Aoun will be, God
willing, an era full of promise for all the Lebanese, and I think it's a good
beginning... I say to the Lebanese do not lose hope; on the contrary, at some
point we lost hope but the solutions are always in our hands. We have proven
that we as Lebanese are able to devise solutions, and thankfully today we have
a President in the Presidential Palace and we are done with the vacuum."Hariri sounded hopeful that all factions would
cooperate and the government would form soon and elections would take place on
time. "I tell the Lebanese, be optimistic and God
is with us." "Situations change when brave initiatives are taken, and
I am full of hopeful that all political parties, including Speaker Nabih Berri who has been
cooperative, want to see the term of President Michel Aoun
a successful one from the get go."Hariri
addressed all supporters of Future Movement who were celebrating his
designation, that Future Movement was full of sacrifices. A proof of that was
when Martyr Rafik Hariri sacrificed his own life for
the country. "Our political sacrifice today is but a drop in the sea of Martyr
Rafik Hariri's sacrifices."The challenges were many, according to
Hariri, but he believed in Aoun's intention to be an
active president who could do a lot of good for the country. Addressing those
opposing current developments, the PM Designate asked them to give the new era
a chance. "We must be open to dialogue. Boycotting leads to division, which leads to paralysis. It was this paralysis that lead to
presidential vacuum and a near economic catastrophe. The only one who saved us
from that was the Central Bank Governor, Riyad Salameh." Hariri pointed out that there were many
Lebanese abroad that needed to come back home to aid their country."We
were able to save this country through agreement among political leaderships,
even with those whom we radically disagree with, like Hezbollah and others.
When it comes to Lebanon
and the Lebanese, we are capable of reaching consensus and taking the country
from one place to another."
Representative
of Khamenei: Aoun's
Election Thwarted Plan to Isolate Hizbullah
Agencies/Naharnet/November
03/16/The representative of the Supreme Leader to the Revolutionary Guards, Ali
Saeedi, said that the United
States, Saudi Arabia
and Britain had intended to
isolate Hizbullah but the party managed through its
leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's
ability to present itself to the society as a model and example for West Asia
and Lebanon. Saeedi
told Iran's International Tasnim News Agency that “the election of Aoun as president for Lebanon
has definitely limited Saudi
Arabia's influence in the country.”“The influence of foreigners mainly the United States, Saudi
Arabia and Britain intended to take out Hizbullah and turn it into an isolated political movement.
But Hizbullah managed through its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's ability
to present the party to the society as a model and example for West Asia and Lebanon. They
used many methods, notably trying not to give the president or the candidate of
Hizbullah enough votes,” said Saeedi. Noting the
presidential vacuum in Lebanon,
he said: “In the end they believed that they cannot settle problems without
taking Hizbullah's opinion, in particular that AMAL
and Hizbullah were partners in this issue. Despite
the fact that Mr Saad Hariri was a privilege for
them, but the main force that they were focusing on was the presidency which
has been approved on behest of Hizbullah and the
Resistance Front in Lebanon.
The reception given to Aoun indicates that a Saudi
conspiracy has failed to achieve what it had planned for.”
Geagea Says 'Iran,
Vast Majority of Countries' Did Not Want Aoun for
President
Naharnet/November
03/16/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Wednesday noted that “the vast majority of
countries,” including Iran, did not want Michel Aoun
to become president of Lebanon. “We took a
major risk and so far we have won the bet. Those who think and have doubts that
the General might stab us in the back are mistaken,” Geagea
reassured during an interview on MTV. “Claims that the president was 'made in Dahieh' or Iran
are not correct,” Geagea
said. “Had Hizbullah been serious in its support for Aoun, it would have sought his election the moment he
received the LF's support. We must not forget that Hizbullah tried back then to pin the blame for obstruction
on ex-PM (Saad) Hariri,” the LF leader noted. He
stressed that the election of Aoun was “made in Lebanon” and
that all previous presidential votes were “influenced by foreign factors.”“The vast majority of countries even Iran did not
want Aoun's election as president and Aoun and Minister Bassil know
this point,” he said. As for Aoun's oath of office
and Hizbullah's stance on it, Geagea
added: “We want a president and a premier who say that the army is the guardian
of the country's sovereignty and we don't want any party to monopolize this
issue.” “What I knew is that Hizbullah was not happy
with the oath of office because it was patriotic, pro-independence and
sovereign par excellence,” the LF leader noted. “If
(Hizbullah deputy chief) Sheikh Naim
Qassem considers the oath of office to be patriotic
and pro-independence par excellence, then when don't we propose endorsing it as
a ministerial policy statement since it enjoys everyone's support,” Geagea suggested. “Aoun's remarks on the preemptive
war on terror in the oath of office have nothing to do with the issue of Hizbullah's fighting in Syria,” he noted. Responding to those who criticized the
election of Aoun as president and the agreements that
accompanied it, Geagea said: “We did not surrender to
those who are bigger than Hizbullah, so why would we
surrender to Hizbullah today?”“The
days are ahead of us to see whose calculations were right and who was wrong and
I hope to hear apologies from those who realize that they were mistaken,” he
added. Aoun was elected president on Monday after
around two and a half years of presidential void. His presidential chances were
largely boosted in mid-October by a key endorsement from al-Mustaqbal
Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri, who is closed to Saudi Arabia. Aoun's nomination also received crucial support from
Iran-backed Hizbullah and the LF. Analysts have
warned that Aoun's election will not be a "magic
wand" for Lebanon,
which has seen longstanding political divisions exacerbated by the war in neighboring Syria
and has struggled to deal with an influx of more than a million Syrian
refugees. In addition to pledges of economic growth and security, Aoun said in his oath of office that Lebanon must
work to ensure Syrian refugees "can return quickly" to their country.
Aoun also pledged to endorse an "independent
foreign policy" and to protect Lebanon from "the fires
burning across the region."
Aoun Mulling Participation in Climate Change Conference in
Morocco
Next Week
Naharnet/November
03/16/Lebanon's Foreign Ministry began a series of contacts to prepare for the
first visit for the newly elected president General Michel Aoun
abroad, according to information obtained by Naharnet
on Thursday. Senior diplomatic sources in the Ministry revealed that the
President has asked authorities at the foreign and environment ministries of
detailed information on the work of Climate Change Conference to be held in the
Moroccan city of Marrakesh
next week. President Michel Aoun will take part in
the conference personally shall key countries participating in the meeting be
represented by their presidents. It is planned that he takes advantage of the
congregation to hold a series of meetings with heads of states in his first
appearance as president of Lebanon,
according to the information. Foreign sources pointed out that if the
participants at the conference did not include heads of key Arab and
international countries, the president will dismiss the idea of his visit to
the Moroccan capital. On Monday, Aoun was elected
president of the republic. His election ended a presidential void that lasted
around two and a half years.
Jumblatt discusses developments with Russian Ambassador
Thu 03 Nov 2016/NNA - Head of the
Democratic Gathering, MP Walid Jumblatt,
met at his Clemenceau residence with Ambassador of Russia, Alexander Zasypkin. Discussions focused on current developments.
Lebanon's New Leader: What Gen. Michel Aoun
Means for the Middle East
Jaime Loizzo/The National Interest/November 03/2016
Gen. Michel Aoun,
the former chief of the Lebanese Army, will be the next president of Lebanon,
bringing an end to more than two years of uncertainty regarding this position.
After 45 failed attempts to elect a new president, PMs
in the Lebanese parliament chose the Maronite
Christian and ally of Hezbollah to be the nation’s next leader. His election highlights the complicated
political and sectarian alliances within the country. In early February of this
year, Al Arabiya English published a graphic
depicting a simplified explication of where the election stood at the time
showing just how complicated relations can be within the country. Gen. Aoun’s election should bring some long needed stability to
a country that has had a very unsteady previous 29 months, but may have the
opposite effect on the region because of his alliance to Hezbollah.
In 1990, Aoun
who was the commander of the Lebanese army at the time waged war against the
Syrian army who occupied the country after the Lebanese Civil War. Now Aoun is aligned with Hezbollah and by proxy Syria and Iran. Syria
is one of two locations where Iran
and Saudi Arabia are
currently fighting their proxy war (The other being Yemen). Amidst the intensifying
situation between KSA and Iran Aoun’s election
signals the collapse of the Saudi-backed alliance in the Maronite
Christian community and the country at large that has attempted to eliminate
Hezbollah’s influence on the government since the assassination of Rafik al-Hariri in 2005. The country’s relationship with Saudi Arabia has been tumultuous in the past
year, as Saudi Arabia has
suspended over $3 billion worth of aid to Lebanon
and has expelled Lebanese migrant workers from the country, and with Aoun as the new president of Lebanon relations do not appear to
be on the mend.
Aoun’s
election also will lead to even greater tension with neighboring
Israel.
Aoun plans to liberate the parts of Mount
Hermon and Shebaa
Farms that are still occupied by Israeli forces. Israel and Hezbollah forces have
exchanged fire a number of times since the 2006 Lebanon War, and protests in Shebaa Farms as recent as August has sparked the deployment
of almost 500 Israeli troops to the area to include snipers and tanks.
So what does Aoun’s
election mean for a region already riddled with political turmoil and war? It
means Iran has gained
another ally in its regional proxy war against Saudi Arabia, and that Hezbollah is
only predicted to become a greater force in Lebanese politics. Aoun publicly supports the Assad regime in Syria, and may very well prolong the already
protracted war in Syria
creating hundreds of thousands of more refugees forced to flee to the neighboring counties of Jordan,
Turkey, and Lebanon,
countries whose infrastructure and economies are already buckling under the
pressure of the needs of refugees currently hosted there. Aoun
is a popular figure among the Lebanese people, who hope the end to the
political stalemate will mean investment into government programs and the
economy which has been deteriorating for a number of months. While the
presidency remained vacant over the past 29 month’s Lebanon has experienced attacks
from the totalitarian Islamic extremist group Daesh,
$4.5 billion worth of costs to host Syrian Refugees, and a decline in civil
services to include the highly reported trash crisis of 2015.
Aoun
will spend his six-year term as head of state attempting to turn around the
economy of Lebanon
and bring jobs back into the country. He will attempt to secure the boarders of
his nation, to include taking back the lands in the south occupied by Lebanon. He
will also support his ally’s in Hezbollah who fight in Syria in
support Bashar al-Assad and his government. The
administration of Gen. Aoun will most likely bring
more conflict than stability to the region, and unfortunately bring greater
political division within his own country, which has not seen parliamentary
elections since 2009, and requires a power sharing system of government based
on religion to operate.
**Jaime Loizzo
is a Senior Advisor at Banner Public affairs and received her Master’s in
Statecraft and National Security Affairs from the Institute of World Politics.
Lebanon
after the elections, between dependency and independence
Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/November
03/16
On Monday, we witnessed a
democratic process of elections, that also happened to
be surreal. You only see this in Lebanon. Christian leader Michel Aoun was elected president ending a more than two-year
vacuum. Lebanon
has a special democratic model that is governed by sects and that requires
settlements to overcome its crises. Distributing shares is present in every
vein of the state's body. During the elections which lasted for more than two
and a half hours, we witnessed comic incidents such as Speaker Nabih Berri’s statement that the
MPs’ performance resembled that of students in the famous Egyptian play “School of Rascals”. In addition to all that, an
extra vote - 128 instead of 127 - appeared twice in the ballots and forced MPs
to perform another round of elections. In another round, an MP voted for Myriam Klink, a controversial model and celebrity.
This is Lebanon with all its details,
obstructions and breakthroughs. The young generation in Lebanon has an urgent desire to change the
political hierarchy which was established after Lebanon gained its independence and
which is related to feudality and leadership.
Democracy in Lebanon is not
exactly a model in every sense of the word, but rather it’s an experiment in
which there is a political system that’s been customized according to the
measures of the different sects
Thirty-seven years ago, Waddah Sharara wrote an important
book entitled “The Roots of Sectarian Lebanon: The Rightwing Populist Line”. In
this book, he called for altering the state and changing its ruling sectarian
system.
He quoted Joseph Moghaizel as saying: “A category of rich men and feudalists
have emerged. They took over centers of command and governance seats in the
executive and legislative powers. This category understood independence as a
means towards absurd control and realized that the old frame of work suits its
interests so it strengthened it.”Democracy in Lebanon is not
exactly a model in every sense of the word, but rather it’s an experiment in
which there is a political system that’s been customized according to the
measures of the different sects. This is a reasonable democracy if we are to
recall the time of the civil war in Lebanon. While swearing the oath, Aoun pledged the independence of Lebanon’s foreign policy and the
sovereignty of the state. This is good talk but let us wait
and see.
**This article was first published
in Asharq al-Awsat on Nov.
02, 2016.
Saad Hariri named Lebanon’s new prime minister
AFP, Beirut
Thursday, 3 November 2016 /Leading Sunni political figure Saad
Hariri was named as Lebanon's
new prime minister on Thursday, the office of President Michel Aoun announced. "After the necessary parliamentary
consultations... the president has entrusted Saad
Hariri with the formation of a government," said a statement read by the
president's chief of staff Antoine Choukeir. The
nomination comes days after Aoun was elected, with
Hariri's surprise support, ending a vacuum of more than two years. Hariri was
endorsed by 110 members of the 127-seat parliament, with only the Shiite
Hezbollah movement, the Syrian Social National Party and the Lebanese Baath
party -- all supporters of Syria's
government -- declining to back him as prime minister. But his return was
assured as part of the deal he struck to throw his support behind former
general Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah ally.Hariri
returns to the post of prime minister five years after his last cabinet
collapsed when his longtime rival Hezbollah and its
allies pulled their ministers from a unity government that had taken months to
form.
Lebanon under General Michel Aoun –
A Profile and a Preliminary Assessment
Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah/Jerusalem Centre For Public
Affairs/November 031/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/11/03/col-ret-dr-jacques-neriahjerusalem-centre-for-public-affairs-lebanon-under-general-michel-aoun-a-profile-and-a-preliminary-assessment/
On Monday, October 31, 2016, the
Lebanese parliament, in its 46th meeting and after a vacant presidency since
May 2014, chose General Michel Aoun as president. He
is a Maronite Christian, the son of Mary and Naim Aoun, the milkman from Haret Hreik, the mixed Shiite-Maronite neighborhood adjacent to
the southern Beirut
neighborhood of Dahiya.
Aoun
will be Lebanon’s first
president whose family originates from the southern part of the country (a
village called Maknuniyah, 70 kilometers
south of Beirut), the heartland of the Shiite
community in Lebanon.
Aoun is the 13th Lebanese president since its
independence. He is the third oldest member of the Lebanese parliament and the
oldest president – born February 18, 1935, in “Greater Lebanon,” nine years
before Lebanon’s
independence. He is also the Arab world’s oldest politician; King Salman of Saudi
Arabia is almost 12 months younger, and the
Algerian Abdelaziz Bouteflika
is “only” 79!
He is also the fourth Lebanese
commander of the Army to become President. Fouad Chehab, Emile Lahoud, and Michel
Suleiman were his predecessors in the post.
Michel Aoun’s
election was possible only after resolving the political deadlock created by Hizbullah in 2014 when the Shiite militia’s members and
coalition in parliament refused to show up to the 45 previous sessions of
parliament. By its abstention, Hizbullah did not allow the quorum needed to elect a
president. Twenty-nine months of presidential vacancy thus comes to an end with
a president identified as the ultimate ally of Hizbullah
and, by projection, an ally of Iran.
Aoun Is
Not from the Maronite Elite
Unlike most of his predecessors, Aoun comes from a very poor family and very far from the Maronite social elite. His way to Lebanon’s elite was made through his military
career since he had no other way of climbing the Maronite
echelons in Lebanon.
Furthermore, his southern origin was always viewed with disdain by the
“northern” elite who expressed arrogance towards those from the south “with
their funny accent similar to the Shiites.” In a way, his Hizbullah-backed
election is but a reflection of the deep changes in Lebanese society whereas
the traditional “noble” families are pushed aside by field commanders as an alternative elite.
Aoun’s
father married his cousin Mary who had American citizenship. Her parents had
immigrated to the United States
in 1904 and lived in New Hampshire.
A few years later, the family came back to Lebanon, and in 1930 she met her
cousin Naim and married him a few months later.
Naim
then moved to Haret Hreik
and lived there very modestly, mainly living from selling milk to the neighborhood. Six children were born from this union: three
brothers and three sisters: Elias, Jeanette, Michel, Antoinette, Renee, and
Robert. Out of the six brothers and sisters, three are still living today: Michel,
Antoinette (who lives with her children in the United
States), and the youngest Renee who lives in Lebanon.
Michel Aoun
went to the “Frères” school in Beirut.
Being poor, he could not afford to study engineering at the university. So at
the age of 20, he entered the military academy (1955) and three years later
graduated as an artillery officer. Three years later (1961) he was promoted to
lieutenant; seven years later to captain, then major (1974), and finally
brigadier general (1984), the year he was given the command of the Lebanese
army.
Aoun was
called by the Lebanese president in 1988 to fill the position of the interim
prime minister because of a procedural impossibility to vote for a successor to
Amin Gemayel. In 1990, he
fled the presidential palace in Baabda, which was
under attack by Syrian troops, and found refuge at the French embassy. He was
whisked out of the country to France
where he stayed until 2005 when the Syrian Army retreated from Lebanon.
Aoun was welcomed back as a hero, and since then he
had set his goal to be Lebanon’s
next president after Michel Suleiman. In
2006, during the second Israeli campaign in Lebanon, Aoun
forged an alliance with Hizbullah which he kept and
nurtured until these very days.
At the age of 33 (1968), Michel Aoun married Nadia Salim el-Shami whose family comes from Zahleh
(the Christian bastion of the Bekaa Valley).
Three daughters were born to the couple: Mireille
married to Roy
el-Hachem, the chairman of OTV, a TV network which is
the mouthpiece of Aoun political current; Claudine
married to Shamel Roukoz, a
brigadier general in the Lebanese Army; and Chantal is married to the Minister
of Foreign Affairs, Jibran Basil.
It is too early to decipher the
reasons that led to the election of Aoun as Lebanon’s
13th president and especially the reasons behind the change of heart of former
Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who was close to the
royal house of Saud and leader of the opposition to the Hizbullah
political alliance. Hariri left his candidate Sleiman
Frangieh in the lurch by choosing Aoun,
an alternative adamantly anti-Saudi, backed by Hizbullah
(the very enemy of the Saudi regime), and the same organization that
assassinated his father, Rafik. It is possible that Aoun promised Hariri the job of prime minister.
Political Motives in Lebanon
Are Often a Mystery
But it is quite difficult to
understand the current anti-Saudi stance adopted by Hariri whose fortune and
destiny were so closely tied to the royal house of Saud. Rumors
circulating in the Arab world report of a vindictive approach by Hariri after
Saudi authorities penalized his companies in Saudi Arabia following a transcript
of a telephone conversation in which Saad Hariri was
heard bluntly criticizing the Saudi king. Apologies expressed afterwards did
not mend the fences, and the Saudi authorities decided to take their revenge on
Hariri’s economic empire in Saudi
Arabia.
In a typical Lebanese manner,
Michel Aoun has no dogmatic positions. His view is
mainly influenced by the Maronite struggle for
survival in the Middle East, by the tremors
generated by the radical Islamic tsunami aimed at the destruction of Christian
presence in the area.
When Aoun
was commander of the 8th Brigade and especially when he was in exile in Paris, he had constant and numerous encounters with
Israelis and discussed with them ways to ensure the presence of Christianity in
the Middle East and ways of cooperation with Israel. After his return to Lebanon, Aoun
understood that the future of the Christians in Lebanon
could no more be ensured by the United States,
France, or Israel. His understanding was that
only through cooperation with Hizbullah and its
Iranian patron could the Lebanese Christians guarantee their independent
survival in the Middle East.
Aoun’s
victory is by no means the defeat of the Christian, pro-Saudi, pro-Western
camp. It is too early to claim victory for Hizbullah
and Iran, especially in Lebanon
where alliances change constantly. Aoun’s election
has not solved Lebanon’s
problems. It has just permitted the initiation of a dialogue between rivals
with different goals and ambitions. Today, it seems that Hizbullah
has won the round. It remains to be seen how the poor child from Haret Hreik will navigate between
the different factions of the Lebanese labyrinth, how the system will react,
and how the regional powers, first and foremost the losers (Saudi Arabia and
Qatar) will find their way to assert their interests.
The
Lebanese Presidential Elections/Position Statement by the Lebanese Information
Center
November 1, 2016/Members of the
Lebanese diaspora, particularly those who have made
the United States their home, have always expressed their aspirations to see
their motherland secure, free, sovereign, and independent, particularly in
light of the internal challenges and external dangers it faces. In the wake of Lebanon’s election of Michel Aoun
as its new president on Monday, the Lebanese
Information Center
in Washington, D.C.,
in its quest to uphold Lebanon’s
status in the international community, states the following:
First: We congratulate the
Lebanese people on the election of a president after nearly two and a half
years and 45 failed parliamentary sessions. This achievement should be a source
of pride for Lebanon’s
citizens, already weathering volatile developments in a region ruled by
dictatorship, despotism, and extremism.
Second: This presidential election
constitutes for Lebanon
an opportunity to return to its tradition of proper democratic practices. For
the last quarter century, foreign powers - chiefly Syria,
through its military and political occupation of Lebanon - have dictated how state
institutions function and who is at their helm.
Third: After 29 months of a
presidential vacuum prolonged by the deliberate disabling of the constitutional
process, we cannot but call on the Lebanese Parliament to amend Article 49 of
the Constitution, to prevent the imposition of a two-thirds quorum for its
electoral sessions and thereby avoid any further wrongful interpretations of
the constitution by ill-intentioned politicians. Laws and constitutions are
meant to mobilize governments and legitimate authorities, not block the
democratic process. The intentional boycott of presidential elections by
members of parliament constituted unacceptable behavior
that warrants the impeachment of responsible MPs.
Fourth: The election of a
Christian head of state in the Middle East is a clear translation of Lebanon’s
ideals of true partnership and power-sharing among its various religious
communities. The presidency is the highest post for Christians in Lebanon, and its filling after months of vacuum gives them hope for
real representation in parliament and other government institutions in the
future.
Fifth: With the start of a new
presidential term in Lebanon,
we look to the president to maintain good relations with Lebanon’s global allies, and particularly the United States.
We expect him to respect Lebanon’s
international commitments and obligations, especially the implementation of UN
Security Council resolutions 1559 and 1701, for the sake of a free and
sovereign Lebanon.
Sixth: We emphasize to the new
president the importance of Lebanon's success in its fight against terrorism,
building on the tremendous success of Lebanese armed and security forces in
defeating extremist militias threatening Lebanon’s security, both from the
Syrian borders and from within Lebanon.
Seventh: Similarly, Lebanon’s
new president cannot ignore the danger posed by internal militias, Lebanese and
others, chiefly among them radical Shiite movement Hezbollah. Hezbollah has
intentionally developed into a state-above-the-state, hijacking national
decision-making processes, threatening peace, security and stability among
Lebanese communities, and executing Iran’s foreign agenda at the
expense of the Lebanese people.
Eighth: The rampant corruption
within the government is a rising menace, destroying the Lebanese citizen’s
faith in national institutions. We call on the new president and future
government to eradicate this plague, in order to build a truly functioning state
in the service of its citizens.
Ninth: The Lebanese
Information Center
in the US remains committed
to work through its organization, bolstered by its grassroots support and
longstanding relationships with the US
government, to build a free, sovereign and democratic Lebanon, for the good of the Lebanese people and
in the interests of the United
States of America.
Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous
Reports And News published on on November 03-04/16
Gaza: Christians continue to be forced to convert to Islam
Raymond Ibrahim/November 03/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/11/03/raymond-ibrahim-gaza-christians-continue-to-be-forced-to-convert-to-islam/
The plight of Christian living in Gaza under the
Palestinian authority continues to worsen. According to a new Arabic language
report, recent years have “witnessed a critical upsurge against the
Christians,” who only amount to approximately 2,500 people—surrounded by
approximately 1.5 million Muslims. Local authorities have abandoned the tiny
minority to Islamist elements who have “placed great and continuous pressure”
on the Christians.
“At times we hear of the bombing
of a Christian bookshop and assaults on churches and other Christian
institutions; other times we hear of the kidnapping of Christians and the
coercion of them to embrace the religion of Muhammad,” says the report.
In mid October, Christians in Gaza led a protest, calling
for the return of their kidnapped children and loved ones. They held up signs
saying “I am a Christian and boast of my cross.” Bishop Alexios
of the region “confirmed that the Christians who converted to Islam did so
under threats, coercion, compulsion, and force.” His church also submitted a
formal petition to the governor of the region, Ismail Haniyeh,
calling on him to investigate matters, but received no response.
Palestinian Muslim leaders say
that such Christians convert of their own free will and without pressure;
however, these same Muslim leaders refuse to let their Christian families meet
with or even learn the whereabouts of these recent converts, so they can
confirm if their conversions were committed freely or under duress.
The report adds that Gaza’s Christians are
calling on the Christian world to intervene. The bishop said that he is trying
to communicate all of this to the Vatican,
the United Nations, and the United
States.
Justin
Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury:
Christianity Is Threatened As Never Before In Middle East
Ruth Gledhill/Christian
Today/November 03/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/11/03/justin-welby-archbishop-of-canterbury-christianity-is-threatened-as-never-before-in-midd/
Christianity has never felt so threatened as it does now in its historic birthplace of
the Middle East, the Archbishop of Canterbury
has warned. Christians have recently been on the receiving end of persecution
both from militantly atheist and religiously intolerant regimes, Justin Welby said today. "It would not be over-stating
matters to say that Christianity is both the numerically largest faith and the
most persecuted. "The historic centre of the
Christian Church in the Middle East has never felt so threatened, but is also
under attack in countries as diverse as North
Korea and Eritrea,
where Christians are harassed, imprisoned, persecuted and killed."Sixty
eight years after the United Nations agreed the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, this situation is intolerable, he said.
"As faith communities we must
step up and hold governments to account. This is a challenge for us all
everywhere but none-more-so than in countries where faith communities have
serious power through numerical, political or civic strength."In
the UK,
he added, the Church of England is at the fore in advocating the rights of
Muslims to set up schools, madrassahs and mosques
across the country. "But the increasing integration of Muslim communities
within British society, in which we rejoice, is in stark contrast to the
increasing marginalisation of and outright hostility to Christian communities
within many parts of the world, not least in significant parts of the Middle East." The Archbishop of Canterbury also
condemned the definition of British values given by Ofsted, Britain's education inspectorate,
as a recipe for tyrrany.
Welby
was addressing the "Council of the Wise" in Abu Dhabi, where Christian worship is allowed
to flourish and grow, unlike other Muslim-majority Middle Eastern countries. The
council was debating integration and religious freedom.
Welby
said: "In the UK
we find British values, so called, defined by Ofsted
as belief in democracy, in the rule of law and in mutual respect of faiths, or
for those of no faith.
"This approach is good, but
entirely inadequate as a foundation for a healthy society. Democracy without
fundamental values around the value of the human being, and, I would say,
without the understanding of God's grace and love for the humanity God created,
is a recipe for majority tyranny." Sponsored Watch Your Favorite Christian Films, 24/7. Click Here To Start Your
Free Trial Today. The two-day event was organised by the Muslim Council of
Elders and included Christian leaders from the Anglican Communion. Welby described the world as "beset by a crisis of
confidence" in the rights it pledged to uphold in the aftermath of the
Second World War.
"The crisis is affecting all
faith groups, deepening nationalist tensions, and leaking across from the
approach to faith into the most acute challenges to international law, human
flourishing and stability."He said the crisis
had given "permission" for those in political campaigns to condemn
all Muslims, or other groups they dislike, and compared this to the pre-war
mood in Hitler's Nazi Germany. "The impact of such tyranny was seen in the
1930s, when the law enacted by democratically elected government began the
process of the holocaust.
"Six million Jewish
people were to be systematically slaughtered and millions more displaced in the
most brutal antithesis of religious freedom." In Christian tradition, he
said, it is understood that an evil society makes it very hard for individuals
within it to live well.
"This truth about the need
for a righteous society has led and still leads many churches to advocate law
as about morality, because bad morality leads to bad societies." He
warned: "There is a real danger of societies legislating against their
ideological opponents through fear and ending up compromising their own moral
and spiritual integrity by committing acts of evil against the very people they
thought they were protecting the rest of society from."
Dr. Edward Kessler,
founder-director of the Woolf Institute based in Cambridge,
told Christian Today: "Christianity has been part of the essential fabric
of the Middle East for two thousand years. Far
from being a Western import as some, now seem to suggest, Christian communities
have been intrinsic to the development of Arab culture and civilisation. "This
central role is why it is abhorrent to see Christianity and Christians under
assault across the Middle East. Specifically
this impact on people is shocking but also will mean Christianity will be lost
from its birthplace, destroying the richness of the tapestry of the Middle East. "The importance of interfaith dialogue
in the Middle East cannot be understated. It
is only through dialogue, knowledge and understanding built between faiths that
these issues can be overcome and the heritage of the Middle
East can be not only preserved but for diversity to continue to
flourish."
Popular
Mobilization Units cutoff vital ISIS supply route in Mosul
By Staff writer Al Arabiya EnglishThursday, 3
November 2016/Popular Mobilization Units declared control of a vital supply
route for ISIS which links the cities of Mosul
in Iraq and Raqqah in Syria,
Al Arabiya News Channel said Wednesday. The
Iranian-backed Shiite militias managed to cut the route between Mosul and Raqqa, ISIS main
stronghold in Syria.
Meanwhile, the United Nations warned against violations against the citizens of
Mosul after the
anticipated liberation of the city. The Security Council has also condemned the
use of civilians as human shields in Iraq. It called on all parties to
avoid harming civilians during the military operations in Mosul.
Baghdadi
says no Mosul
retreat in audio message
AFP, BaghdadThursday,
3 November 2016 /ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has
called on his fighters to resist as Iraqi forces were poised to enter the city
of Mosul. “Do
not retreat,” said a voice presented as belonging to the leader of ISIS in an audio message released early Thursday by the
ISIS-affiliated Al-Furqan media. “Holding your ground
with honor is a thousand times easier than retreating
in shame,” he said in the message, his first in more than a year. “To all the
people of Nineveh, especially the fighters, beware of any weakness in facing your enemy,”
Baghdadi said, referring to the northern Iraqi province of which Mosul is the capital. Rumors have abounded about the leader’s health and
movements but his whereabouts are unclear. ISIS control has been shrinking
steadily since last year and Iraqi forces earlier this week reached Mosul, the militants’ last major stronghold in Iraq. The
US-led coalition estimates there are 3,000 to 5,000 IS fighters inside the city
but the final outcome of the battle appears to be in little doubt. Tens of
thousands of Iraqi forces, backed by the US-led coalition and its warplanes,
launched a massive offensive on Mosul
on October 17.
US
talks to Turkey about role to recapture Raqqa
AgenciesThursday,
3 November 2016/US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter
said on Wednesday the plan to envelope Raqqa, ISIS’s main stronghold in Syria, would take place soon with
the forces available and that talks continued with Turkey on the role it could
play “further down the road.”“We intend to go there
soon with the force that is capable of doing that and enveloping the city of Raqqa ... the final seizure of Raqqa,
we continue to talk to Turkey about that and a possible role for Turkey in that
further down the road,” Carter said at a press conference. Meanwhile, Turkey said on Monday that it wants the
operation on Raqqa to start after Mosul and Euphrates Shield operations have
been completed. Iraqi security forces and Kurdish Peshmerga
fighters started the offensive on Mosul
on Oct. 17, with air and ground support from the US-led coalition against the
militant group. Also, a spokesman for a leading Shiite militia said its
fighters have gained control of a highway linking the ISIS group-held city of Mosul to the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto
capital of the militants’ self-proclaimed caliphate. The spokesman for the
Hezbollah Brigades, Jaafar al-Husseini,
said Wednesday that his troops are now cutting the main supply line to the
militants. (With Reuters, Associated Press)
Aid
agencies in Iraq on high
alert as families flee Mosul
offensive
By Magdalena Mis
Thomson Reuters Foundation, London/Wednesday, 3 November 2016 /Aid agencies
said on Wednesday families who have fled Mosul
and surrounding towns were starting to reach displacement camps away from the
fighting, as Iraqi forces press on with an offensive to retake ISIS’s last major stronghold in Iraq. The battle that started on
Oct. 17 with air and ground support from a US-led coalition is shaping up as
the largest in Iraq since
the US-led invasion of 2003.On Tuesday Iraqi forces battled ISIS fighters on
the eastern edge of Mosul
as the campaign entered a new phase of urban warfare. The United Nations has
said the Mosul offensive could trigger a
humanitarian crisis and a possible refugee exodus if the civilians inside in Mosul seek to escape,
with up to one million people fleeing in a worst-case scenario. “People are
starting to arrive now from the small towns around Mosul,” Joe Cropp of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies (IFRC), told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “We’ve been
aware that this has been coming up and the preparations have been going on for
two months,” he said in a phone interview from northern Iraq. IFRC said
many people were arriving with only the clothes they were wearing and those who
reached Khazer camp, east of Mosul, said they had to
walk through the night. “We were so worried the children would cry out during
the night and we would be discovered,” IFRC quoted one of the mothers as
saying. Thousands more people are expected to arrive in the coming days and
weeks as fighting around Mosul
intensifies, IFRC said. Throughout the country, some 10 million Iraqis are in
need of aid. “Local communities across the country are sharing the
responsibility, taking in millions of displaced people. But even with the
greatest will in the world they cannot accommodate a million more,” Gyula Kadar, IFRC operations manager, said in a statement.
The International Organization for Migration said nearly 21,000 people have
been displaced since the start of the campaign, excluding thousands of villagers
taken into Mosul
by retreating militants who used them as human shields. The UN said in October
a total of six camps had been built that can accommodate 50,000 people. Efforts
were underway to construct 11 more. Claire Mason, humanitarian policy and advocacy
adviser at Save the Children said for security reasons the charity was unable
to get too close to Mosul
and was readying mobile child protection teams to assist people scattered
outside the city. Betsy Baldwin, Iraq response director from the charity Tearfund,
said several hundred people arrived the previous night in one of the camps
where the charity was helping. Baldwin said
her organization had been on standby since summer, preparing tents, stoves and
winter clothes which it was planning to distribute this week. “We are just
hoping that we can safely access people in need, that the
civilians can move safely out of the conflict zones,” she told the
Thomson Reuters Foundation from Iraq.
International Rescue Committee said in a statement on Wednesday it had heard of
people inside Mosul
buying cloth to use as white flags when the army arrives.
12 Dead, 200 Hurt as Syria Rebels Renew Aleppo
Attack before Russia
Ceasefire
Agence
France Presse/Naharnet/November 03/16/Syrian rebels
renewed their bid to break a government siege of eastern Aleppo on Thursday,
shelling regime-held parts of the city hours before a brief Russian-declared
ceasefire was due to begin.
State media said at least 12
people had been killed in rebel rocket and gunfire on regime-controlled neighborhoods, after an assault that began with a double
car bomb attack. Rebels have been battling for nearly a week in a desperate bid
to break the three-month siege but have so far been unable to push through
government lines in western Aleppo.
The opposition forces on Thursday announced a new phase in their assault on
government forces in the city's western outskirts. "We have started the
second phase in our fight to break the siege with heavy artillery fire" on
several neighborhoods, rebel fighter Abu Hamza told AFP on the edges of Aleppo. Thick black smoke billowed out of the
Dahiyet al-Assad district, where rebels had lit tires
to try to shield themselves from warplanes circling above. The Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the "most intense
fighting" was on the edges of the Halab al-Jadida neighborhood. The clashes on Aleppo's
western outskirts could be heard in the city's eastern districts, an AFP
correspondent there said.No aid has reached eastern Aleppo city's more than
250,000 residents since early July, and there are reports of shortages and
price hikes.
Civilians killed
The Observatory said government
forces were carrying out air strikes in areas where clashes were underway, but
that the rebel-held neighborhoods in the east of the
city were largely quiet. Syrian state news agency SANA said at least 12 people had been killed
and more than 200 wounded in rebel fire on Thursday. The Observatory put the toll at 15 dead,
saying four children were among them, bringing to 69 the total number of
civilians killed in rebel fire since Friday, including 23 children. State media
also said eight people were being treated for suffocation after
"terrorists fired poisonous gases" at the village
of Minyan
west of Aleppo.
Once Syria's economic
powerhouse, Aleppo
has been divided since mid-2012 between government control in the west and
rebels in the east. A Russian-backed army offensive in September to recapture
the whole city killed hundreds of civilians and hit infrastructure including
the east's few remaining health facilities. It provoked international
recriminations, particularly against Russia, with the EU accusing it of
actions that "may amount to war crimes." Moscow
has rejected the criticism and in late October declared a unilateral three-day
ceasefire, during which it urged civilians and rebels to leave east Aleppo. But only a handful did, with Russia accusing
rebels of preventing people from leaving, and a U.N. plan to evacuate wounded
people was shelved over security concerns.
SDF to 'lead' Raqa
fight
Moscow
said Wednesday it would implement a new, 10-hour "humanitarian pause"
for Aleppo on
Friday, prompting the U.N. to warn that "humanitarian operations cannot be
contingent on political or military initiatives."The
pause was meant to "prevent senseless casualties", the chief of Russia's
General Staff Valery Gerasimov said. The Syrian army
said the pause would start at 9:00 am (0700 GMT) local time.
More than 300,000 have been killed
in Syria
since the conflict began in 2011 with anti-government protests that spiraled into a multi-front war involving regime, rebels,
Kurds and jihadists like IS. The Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces alliance
has been fighting to oust IS from areas across northern Syria with air
support from the U.S.-led coalition against the jihadist group. The alliance
said Thursday it would fight to recapture the IS stronghold of Raqa in a battle that could start in coming weeks.
"We will see a campaign led
by the Syrian Democratic Forces to liberate Raqa
city," SDF spokesman Talal Sello
said. "We are ready. We have the sufficient numbers for this campaign and
we will start it soon," Sello told AFP, without
specifying a timetable.
But he insisted that the fight
would not include Turkey,
which views the YPG as linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK),
considered by Ankara
as a "terrorist" group. "The topic of Turkey's participation was settled
with the (U.S.-led anti-IS) coalition definitively. No Turkish
participation," he said. Ankara in August began a military operation inside
northern Syria
targeting both IS and Kurdish fighters.
Syria's Kurds Say to 'Lead' Raqa
Fight, Reject Turkish Role
Agence
France Presse/Naharnet/November 03/16/A US-backed
alliance of Syrian Kurds and Arabs will lead the assault on the Islamic State
group's stronghold of Raqa, but rejects any Turkish
role, its spokesman said Thursday. "We will see a campaign led by the
Syrian Democratic Forces to liberate Raqa city,"
SDF spokesman Talal Sello
said. "The topic of Turkey's
participation was settled with the (US-led anti-IS) coalition definitively. No
Turkish participation," he said.
Syrian
suspected of belonging to terrorist group held in Germany
Reuters, Berlin
Thursday, 3 November 2016/German police have arrested a Syrian man in Berlin on suspicion of
being a member of a foreign terrorist organization, local police tweeted. The
man, who officers said had given his age as 27, had been living in Germany since
2015, police said.He was arrested in an apartment in
the Schoeneberg district and an investigation has
begun. German security services, fearing militant attacks, are on high alert.
In October, a Syrian refugee was arrested on suspicion of planning a major
attack in Berlin
after police discovered explosives in his apartment. Almost 900,000 migrants
arrived in Germany last year
and while many Germans initially welcomed them, security concerns have since
increased, especially after migrants carried out several violent attacks on
civilians over the summer, two of which were claimed by ISIS.
There have also been attacks on asylum seekers and their accommodation
facilities. On Tuesday suspected far-right extremists threatened asylum seekers
in the town of Bautzen.
Iran commander says US in ‘strong decline’
Tehran,
AFP/Thursday, 3 November 2016/A senior Iranian
military official welcomed Thursday what he said was the “strong decline” of
the United States, during
celebrations marking the start of the 1979 US embassy siege. “America is no longer number one and the first
power of the world,” deputy Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein
Salami told thousands gathered outside the former US
mission in Tehran.
“America’s
political will can no longer manage political and military development in...
the world of Islam. America's
political power has strongly declined.”Every year on
November 3-4, Iran
celebrates the 444-day siege of the embassy when more than 50 diplomats, staff
and spies were taken hostage by students demanding the extradition of the shah,
who had fled to America
after being deposed a few months earlier in the Islamic revolution.
Nuclear deal
The crisis severed US-Iranian
diplomatic ties for decades, but Tehran
last year clinched a deal with world powers to curb its controversial nuclear
program in exchange for an easing of economic sanctions. But the US remains Iran’s
main enemy, and Tehran and Washington
back opposing sides in several regional conflicts, including Syria and Yemen. “Our fight with the
Americans will continue” Salami said. He also warned the US not to criticize Iran’s ballistic missiles, calling
its system “the real center of our power (that) must be strengthened.”
Iran court acquits defendants in Saudi mission attack case
Tehran Jan. 2, 2016. (Reuters)/By Staff
writer Al Arabiya EnglishThursday,
3 November 2016/Iran’s judiciary acquitted more than 40 defendants charged over
the January attack on the Saudi mission in Tehran, according to news report. ‘ILNA’ or
the Iran
labor news agency announced that the Clerical and
Government Employees’ Courts cleared all 45 defendants - 20 members of Basij militia and 25 clerics – of the charges of storming
and ransacking the embassy. The defendants contended that police and internal
security forces did not prevent them from entering the embassy, confirming an
assertion made previously by the attack mastermind, the hard-line cleric Hassan
Kard Mayhn. Mayhn divulged in an open letter addressed to Iran
President Hassan Rowhani last August,
that police forces facilitated the attackers' access to the embassy.
ILNA quoted Mustafa Shabani, the defense lawyer as saying the
court sentenced some of the defendants to three to six months in jail on
charges of “disturbing public order.”Shabani added
the court verdict is subject to appeal. Iranian authorities arrested over 154
suspects following the Saudi mission attack, and all were released on bail in
March. The Saudi embassy in Tehran and its
consulate in Iran’s second
biggest city Mashhad were stormed and burned
on January 2.
Three
Saudis sentenced to jail for plotting in Iran
Asharq
Al-Awsat, Riyadh
Thursday, 3 November 2016/The Saudi Specialized Criminal Court issued sentences
against three Saudis who were involved in different cases, giving them varying
prison terms. The cases included the involvement of one of them in a deal with
wanted criminals, who he met in Iran,
to destabilize security in Saudi
Arabia. The second one received training in Iraq and supported ISIS
while the third showed support for Houthi militias
and questioned religious principles and the validity of the hadiths
of the Prophet and his companions. Two citizens received 10 years each for
having traveled to Iran,
where they met with a criminal, wanted for carrying out terrorist acts in the Eastern Province. The criminal, currently
detained, had instructed the two Saudis to undergo military training in an
effort to later act to destabilize the security of the Kingdom. The two
defendants also traveled to Iraq,
at the request of the said criminal, and joined training camps where they
learned how to assemble machine guns and pistols. They then returned to the
Kingdom, where they were apprehended. The court sentence starts from the date
of arrest; after being released, the two will be forbidden from traveling
abroad for another 10 years. Another verdict was issued against a Saudi
national who fell under the influence of terrorist organizations and wanted to
go to Syria to join ISIS. He was indicted based on online statements critical
of the state and its policies, as well as for consuming drugs. The court
sentenced him to 80 lashes for consumption of drugs and to seven years in
prison, counted from the date of his arrest. He will also be forbidden from
traveling abroad after his release from jail for another seven years. The
cellular phone that was in his possession at the time of his arrest was
confiscated. Moreover, a fourth verdict was pronounced against a Saudi citizen
who showed support for the Houthi militias,
questioned religious principles, and questioned and criticized the validity of
the hadiths of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and
his companions. He posted his abusive statements on different social media
accounts. In punishment, the court gave him six years in prison, starting from
the date of his arrest, fined him SR30, 000, closed his Twitter account and
banned him from ever using it again. The court also banned him from traveling
abroad for six years after his release from prison.
UN
envoy to reach Sana’a for another round of talks
Al Arabiya/Thursday,
3 November 2016/United Nations Special Envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould
Cheikh Ahmed, is expected to arrive in Sanaa on Thursday to meet with the rebels’ delegation as
part of a new a round of negotiations, Yemeni sources said. Ould
Cheikh visited Sanaa last
week to push negotiations forward and proposed a plan, which has since been
stalled. According to sources, discussions will be held on the reservations the
rebels’ delegation had voiced about the UN plan after they agreed on it in
principle and considered it as a foundation for discussions. They will also
discuss militias’ withdrawal from cities and forming of military committees.
Militias are demanding similar measures in areas controlled by the government.
Trip to Riyadh
Ould Cheikh will then head to Riyadh to meet with Yemeni President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi and the government delegation. A presidential source
said the delegation will receive the UN plan from Ould
Cheikh.
Other sources said there are
international efforts to save Ould Cheikh’s proposal to end the conflict in Yemen before US President Barack Obama’s term
ends. Meanwhile, western diplomatic sources said there is intensified
diplomatic activity in New York and Riyadh to resolve the
Yemeni crisis and revive the efforts of the UN settlement after Yemeni parties
rejected the Ould Cheikh
plan.
UNSC and ceasefire
Diplomatic efforts, particularly
those being carried out by the United States
and Britain,
are focused on trying to reach a draft that can be submitted to the UN Security
Council in order to agree on a ceasefire resolution in the upcoming days.
British envoy to the United Nations Matthew Rycroft said his country is
currently holding negotiations with the UN Security Council members about the
draft resolution and voiced hope that all members support it. G-18 ambassadors
are also said to be holding intensified talks to reach a political solution
that is internationally supported. However, the legitimate government in Yemen has
voiced reservations over the plan because it believes it is inconsistent with
UN Security Council Resolution 2216.
Palestinian
tries to stab soldier in West Bank, shot dead
Reuters, JerusalemThursday,
3 November 2016/Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian who tried to stab a
soldier near a settlement in the occupied West Bank
on Thursday, the military said. The soldier was attacked as he guarded a bus
stop near Ofra, the force said. “Responding to
threat, forces at the scene shot the assailant, resulting in his death,” it
added. Over the past year, Palestinians, many acting alone and often using
rudimentary weapons and cars, have killed at least 35 Israelis and two visiting
Americans in similar attacks. During the same period, at least 226 Palestinians
have died in violent incidents in the West Bank, East
Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Of those, Israel has identified 154 as
assailants, while others were killed during clashes and protests. Palestinians
have accused Israeli police and soldiers of using excessive force in many such
cases. Israel
has opened investigations of several incidents. Palestinian leaders say the
assailants are acting out of desperation over the collapse in 2014 of peace
talks and the expansion of Israeli settlements on occupied land that
Palestinians seek for an independent state.
Turkey slams Germany, accuses it of supporting terrorism
The Associated Press, Istanbul
Thursday, 3 November 2016/Turkey’s president has harshly criticized Germany,
accusing it of supporting terrorism and slamming comments suggesting Berlin may
not extradite suspects wanted by Turkey if it considers the case is politically
motivated. Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday attacked comments by German Justice
Minister Heiko Maas who said Berlin could refuse to extradite cases
related to the “so-called (post-coup) cleansing that is taking place.” He was
referring to Turkey’s
clampdown on the movement led by US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah
Gulen, accused by Turkey of masterminding July’s
failed coup attempt. Erdogan said: “we are watching Germany’s
stance and its subsequent policies with concern - no, with horror.”In
addition to demanding extradition of those abroad, Turkey has arrested close to 37,000
people and dismissed or suspended over 100,000 personnel from government jobs
in a purge to eradicate the network.
Neither
Clinton, nor
Trump popular in Arab world: poll
AFP, JeddahThursday,
3 November 2016/Almost half the population of the Middle East and North Africa
would abstain if given the right to vote in next week’s US presidential election, an
opinion poll revealed Thursday. But Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton came far
ahead of her Republican opponent Donald Trump as the preferred candidate to
lead the United States,
which plays a key role in the Arab world. Out of 3,017 people
polled across 18 countries, 47 percent “would snub both Clinton and Trump, if given chance to vote,”
according to the survey carried out by Saudi daily Arab News and British
pollster YouGov. Among those who would vote,
44 percent said they would opt for Clinton, while only nine percent said would
choose Trump, showed the results of the online survey conducted on October 14-21.
“There is little enthusiasm for either candidate but 78 percent believe Clinton would be better
for the Arab world if elected as president versus 22 percent for Trump,” said YouGov’s chief Stephan Shakespeare. On the conflict in Syria, 46 percent of respondents wanted Washington to put boots on the ground in the fight
against ISIS, while the remaining majority of
54 percent was against such a move. Meanwhile, 44 percent said the incoming US president should annul the nuclear deal with Iran. But asked
about border security in their own countries and
abortion, most of the participants appeared to share Trump’s tough stance.
Ninety percent said they did not mind extra border restrictions if they felt
their country’s security was under threat, while 89 percent said abortion is
never acceptable, except in extreme cases, like rape or life-threatening
situations.
High
Court Rule UK
Parliament Must Have Vote on Brexit
Agence
France Presse/Naharnet/November 03/16/The High Court
in London ruled Thursday that the British government alone cannot start the
process of leaving the European Union but requires the approval of parliament,
in a landmark judgment that could delay Brexit. Three
senior judges said Prime Minister Theresa May's government does not have the power
itself to trigger Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon
treaty, the formal notification of Britain's intention to leave the
bloc.
"We hold that the Secretary
of State does not have power under the Crown's prerogative to give notice
pursuant to Article 50... for the United Kingdom to withdraw from the
European Union," the judgement said. May's Downing
Street office said it was "disappointed" at the decision
and would appeal, with the case now expected to be heard in the Supreme Court
in early December. "The country voted to leave the European Union in a
referendum approved by Act of Parliament," a spokesman said.
"And the government is
determined to respect the result of the referendum. We will appeal this judgment."Most members of the House of Commons wanted Britain
to stay in the EU in the June referendum, and there is speculation they could
push for a softer break with the bloc or even try to prevent it altogether. The
pound rallied against the dollar and euro after the High Court ruling, jumping
above $1.24 after weeks of tumbling to multi-year low points against its main
rivals. May announced last month that she intends to trigger Article 50 by the
end of March, a move welcomed by EU leaders who are pressing for a swift
divorce to limit uncertainty over the future of Britain and the rest of the
bloc. But the timetable may be derailed by the case, which challenged her right
to use "historic prerogative powers" -- a type of executive privilege
-- to make that decision. Article 50 notification
begins a two-year countdown to withdrawal and lawmakers are now likely to
demand more information -- and more of a say -- on the government's negotiating
strategy before giving their approval.
- 'Public anger' -May previously
accused those behind the legal challenge of seeking to frustrate the Brexit process, saying: "They're trying to kill it by
delaying it."
But the claimants -- including an
investment fund manager, a hairdresser and an expatriate living in France -- argue that Britain was taken into the EU by
parliament, and only parliament can made the decision to leave. "I am
grateful to the court for the result, this is a victory for parliamentary
democracy," expat Grahame Pigney told reporters
outside court. Pigney, who has used crowdfunding to mount his "People's Challenge",
condemned the prime minister for her "unwarranted and irresponsible
attack" on the case.
"I now hope everyone will
respect the court decision," he said. But Nigel Farage,
the interim leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) who led the campaign for
Brexit, warned there would be public outrage if the
referendum result was not implemented."I worry
that a betrayal may be near at hand," he said.
"I now fear that every
attempt will be made to block or delay the triggering of Article 50. If this is
so, they have no idea of the level of public anger they will provoke."
During three days of hearings in
October, May conceded that parliament would likely have a vote on the final
deal negotiated with the bloc.The case was heard by
England's two top judges -- Lord Chief Justice John Thomas and Master of the
Rolls Terence Etherton -- and Philip Sales, an appeal
court judge.
Over
100 Dead in New Migrant Tragedy Off Libya, 2nd Wreck Feared
Agence
France Presse/Naharnet/November 03/16/At least 110
people are feared to have drowned off Libya when a migrant boat capsized, and
more may have died in another stricken vessel, the U.N.'s refugee agency said
Thursday, citing survivor testimonies. "A vessel with
around 140 people on board overturned Wednesday just a few hours after setting
off from Libya,
throwing everyone into the water. Only 29 people survived," UNHCR
spokesperson Carlotta Sami told AFP. The Norwegian vessel Siem
Pilot was first on the scene, around 20 nautical miles off Libya, and rescued
the survivors -- all of whom were in poor condition after spending hours in the
water -- and recovered 12 bodies. Those pulled to safety were transferred to
the island of Lampedusa by
the Italian coast guard. In what could
be a second incident, which could not be immediately confirmed by the coast
guard, two women told the U.N. agency they believed they were the only
survivors in an disaster in which some 125 people
drowned. "They told us they were on a faulty dinghy which began to sank as soon as they set sail. They were the only
survivors," Sami said.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) quoted the same
survivors, putting the death toll for both wrecks at 240 people. "Not
enough has been done so far to avoid these tragedies," said Flavio di Giacomo,
IOM spokesman in Italy. The Italian coast
guard said it had no information on the second reported rescue on Wednesday or
the saving of two women. One of the 29 survivors had suffered severe burns
after sitting in fuel and was transferred by helicopter to hospital in Palermo along with an other who suffered from epilepsy. Over 4,000 migrants
have died or are missing feared drowned after attempting the perilous Mediterranean crossing this year.
Migrants overboard
The rescue situation is often
chaotic, with people confused, sick or exhausted after periods in crisis-hit Libya unable to
specify how many people were on board their dinghies at the outset or what
vessel pulled them from the water. At least two rescue missions were underway
off Libya
on Thursday, with close to 180 people pulled to safety according to an AFP
photographer aboard the Topaz Responder, run by the Malta-based MOAS (Migrant
Offshore Aid Station). "Before dawn, we saw a migrant dinghy, lit up by
the Responder's search light," photographer Andreas Solaro
said, adding that 31 people, 28 men and three women, one of them elderly, were
rescued. In the second rescue, 147 people from Eritrea,
Ghana, Sudan, Mali
and Sierra Leone
were pulled to safety, including 20 women, though only after some had fallen into
the sea. "The (Responder) crew was shouting at them to sit down and stay
calm while the lifejackets were handed out but they were getting agitated, and
around 10 of them fell overboard, some without lifejackets on," Solaro said.
All were pulled to safety. October marked a
record monthly high in the number of migrants arriving in Italy in recent years -- some 27,000 people --
and the departures have showed no sign of slowing, despite worsening weather in
the Mediterranean. Amnesty International
warned Thursday the pressure placed on Italy
by Europe to cope alone with the worst
migration crisis since World War II had led to "unlawful expulsions and
ill-treatment which in some cases may amount to torture." The report was
bluntly rejected by Italy's
chief of police, who denied the use of violent methods in the force's handling
of migrants.
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis& editorials from miscellaneous
sources published on November 03-04/16
Toronto: Muslim police chaplain says wife who refuses sex to
husband has committed “major sin”
Jihad Watch/November 3,
2016/Christine Williams
A newly-appointed chaplain for Toronto police is
speaking out after coming under fire from the police union for comments made
about marriage and women’s duties to their husbands.
Here are “the relevant slides from
Sheikh Musleh’s lecture followed by his comments”,
courtesy CiJNews:
Duties of the Wife
The wife’s duties towards her
husband may be greater than the husband’s duties towards his wife, as Allah
says: And they (women) have rights (over their husbands as regards living
expenses) similar (to those of their husbands) over them (as regards obedience
and respect) to what is reasonable, but men have a degree
(of responsibility) over them” [Al-Baqarah 2:228]
• Keep in mind — there is no
obedience for the husband in disobedience of Allah
“A halal
relationship with her husband”:
• The wife should make herself available to
her husband, after marriage has taken place and he has given the mahr [dowry]
• She should not withhold this right from her
husband without a valid excuse, e.g. sickness, obligatory fasting etc
• If she refuses without a valid reason then
she has committed a major sin
Ask her husband permission before leaving the
home
• She should take care to seek permission from
her husband before going out of the home that he has provided her
Some of Sheikh Musleh’s
additional comments as part of the duties of a wife toward her husband:
even if it doesn’t feel right, or
you’re just not in that emotional relationship you know it’s not the right
manner, you’re not feeling that at that particular time, still try to make it
happen, still try to force yourself even if you have to do that.”
Yet Canada and the West (particularly
those under a Multicultural Act) continue to pretend that a clash of cultures
does not exist. It is one thing to welcome immigrants of all backgrounds into
Western democracies. It is another thing to allow the people of such cultures
to undermine our societies and award them influential community roles.
Khan takes the usual position of
someone who has been “busted” in the public forum: he explains away his
obviously genuinely held beliefs as being “inappropriate if used out of
context.” That is a common defense that insults the
intelligence of those who know how to read.
musleh-khan
Toronto Police chaplain speaks out after online comments on
women’s ‘obedience’ draw concern”
Natalie Nanowski,
CBC News, November 03/16
A newly-appointed chaplain for Toronto police is speaking
out after coming under fire from the police union for comments made about
marriage and women’s duties to their husbands.
Musleh
Khan says he appreciates the criticism of his choice of words after a 2013
webinar surfaced.
Titled The Heart
of the Home: the Rights and Responsibilities of a Wife, the webinar is intended
for Muslim couples. In it, Khan states that a woman must be “obedient”
to her husband.
In the almost hour-long seminar,
Khan is heard saying that a woman must make herself available and “not withhold
this right from her husband without a valid excuse,” such as sickness or
obligatory fasting. The video is posted on the YouTube page for Pure Matrimony,
a dating site that brands itself for “practicing single Muslims.”
“Upon deliberating on the
definition of ‘obedience’ as being, ‘To yield to explicit instructions or
orders from an authority figure,’ I agree that the term was inappropriate if
used out of context,” Khan said in a statement Tuesday.
Words ‘inappropriate if used out
of context,’ chaplain says
“I realise how someone unfamiliar
with this nuance can misunderstand my imprecise translation to mean something
different to my intended meaning, and the meaning that I know my audience at
the time understood clearly,” he added, explaining that the Arabic word often
translated as “obedience” in fact denotes loyalty, devotion and love.
In the webinar, Khan breaks down
five duties of a wife and then goes on to describe the different rights of a
wife. Some Islamic scholars even believe that if a woman “refuses without a
valid reason then she has committed a major sin,” Khan says in the video.
“Even some scholars went as far as
saying that even if it doesn’t feel right, or you’re just not in that emotional
relationship you know it’s not the right manner, you’re not feeling that at
that particular time, still try to make it happen, still try to force yourself
even if you have to do that,” Khan said.
This list and the explanations
behind it have the Toronto Police Association, the union that represents the
city’s police officers and the Canadian Council of Muslim Women worried.
Earlier Monday, the association raised questions about how the police service
vets its chaplains.
Mike McCormack, president of the
association, said he’s taken a look at the webinar and has received many calls
and emails from concerned members.
‘It’s difficult enough having these comments
out there in 2016’
“The comments that are attributed
to this individual are not what the Toronto Police services or the Toronto
Police Association is all about,” McCormack told CBC News.
About 20 minutes into the video Khan explains
that a woman should ask her husband’s permission before leaving the home
because the man is “the main decision maker of the home.”
“I think it’s appalling,” Alia Hogben, the executive director of the Canadian Council of
Muslim Women, told CBC News. “We’ve been fighting for Muslim women’s rights and
something like this really sets us back.”
“If his personal opinions are
going to interfere with the work he does as a chaplain, that’s pretty damaging
for not only the police in Toronto
but for the women he might counsel.”
What’s more, Hogben
says, Khan’s comments reinforce a stereotype that anti-women views are
intrinsic to Islam.
“It is not the Muslim view. Some
people, as in any other religion or any other religious communities, think
women should be quiet and all the rest of it but that is not the general view
within Islam.”
Chaplain underwent ‘thorough
background check,’ police say
McCormack agrees, saying comments
like these aren’t appropriate for the police service to be associated with.
“We’re dealing with victims of
domestic violence, where it is very traumatic for those victims and asking
those victims to come forward,” he said.
“It’s difficult enough having
these comments out there in 2016 in a country and in a city that doesn’t
support this type of position.”….
Documented:
Obama's "Traditional Muslim Bias" against Christians
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/November 03/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/11/03/raymond-ibrahimgatestone-institute-documented-obamas-traditional-muslim-bias-against-christians/
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9244/obama-bias-against-christians
Those Arabs from nations with
large Christian populations or with Christian names failed the Obama team's
"religious tests."
The Obama government's bias against
Mideast Christians closely resembles the traditional bias Christian minorities
experience at the hands of Muslim governments.
When inviting scores of Muslim
representatives, the State Department has been called out at least twice for
denying visas to solitary Christian representatives.
When a few persecuted Iraqi
Christians crossed the border into the U.S., they were thrown in prison
for months and then sent back to the countries persecuting them, possibly to be
enslaved, raped, or murdered.
When the Nigerian government waged
an offensive against Boko Haram
-- another Islamic group that regularly slaughters and rapes Christians and
burn their churches -- and killed some of its terrorists, John Kerry fumed and
called for the "human rights" of the jihadis.
It is against Islamic law to side
with "infidels" against Muslims.
Almost a year ago, U.S. President
Barack Hussein Obama called the suggestion that the U.S. give preference to Christian
refugees over Muslim refugees "shameful." "That's not American.
That's not who we are. We don't have religious tests to our compassion,"
he added loftily.
Now, WikiLeaks
has released a 2008 email which discusses who should fill top staff positions
should Obama win the presidency: it clearly proves that the Obama administration
has long used "religious tests" -- but to discriminate against
Christians in favor of Muslims
The email was sent from former
New York Solicitor General Preeta D. Bansal to Michael Froman, a
classmate of Obama's at Harvard and a member of the 12-person advisory board
for the Obama campaign's transition team. The key passage reads:
In the candidates for top jobs, I
excluded those with some Arab American background but who are not Muslim (e.g.,
George Mitchell). Many Lebanese Americans, for example, are Christian. In the
last list (of outside boards/commissions), most who are listed appear to be
Muslim American, except that a handful (where noted) may be Arab American but
of uncertain religion (esp. Christian).
In other words, those Arabs from
nations with large Christian populations or with Christian names failed the
Obama team's "religious tests."
The discrimination is not limited
just to top or prestigious jobs. Even in life and
death situations, the Obama administration massively favors
Muslims over Christians. Despite the U.S. government's acknowledgement that
ISIS is committing genocide against Christians in Syria -- meaning that
Christians, not Sunni Muslims, are being targeted for torture, slavery and
death due solely to their religious identity -- statistics repeatedly show that
the Obama administration has taken in a vastly disproportionate number of Sunni
Muslims into the U.S.
When war erupted in Syria in 2011,
approximately 75% of the population was Sunni Muslim and 10% Christian. If the U.S. were to admit Christian refugees in
proportion to their population in Syria,
about 1,260 Christians would by now have been resettled in the U.S. -- when in
fact only 68 were. Sunni Muslims are only 75% percent of Syria's population but 99% of those received by
the U.S.
Even the 1951 Refugee Convention
lists five criteria that qualify applicants for refugee status: persecution for
reasons of religion, race, nationality, political opinion or membership of a
particular social group. Christians very clearly fit one of the criteria --
religious persecution -- whereas most of the Sunni Muslims entering America do not.
This discrepancy is no secret.
Most recently, in an FOIA lawsuit filed by a federal appellate court against
the Department of Homeland Security, Judge Daniel Manion
wrote about his
"concern
about the apparent lack of Syrian Christians as a part of immigrants from that
country.... Perhaps 10 percent of the population of Syria
is Christian, and yet less than one-half of one percent of Syrian refugees admitted
to the United States
this year are Christian.... To date, there has not
been a good explanation for this perplexing discrepancy."
Far from being an aberration, the WikiLeaks revelation is simply the latest indicator that
the Obama administration favors Muslims over
Christians:
When inviting scores of Muslim
representatives, the State Department has been called out at least twice for
denying visas to solitary Christian representatives.
When a few persecuted Iraqi
Christians crossed the border into the U.S., they were thrown in prison
for several months and then sent back to the countries persecuting them,
possibly to be enslaved, raped, or murdered.
When the Nigerian government waged
a strong offensive against Boko Haram
-- another Islamic group that regularly slaughters and rapes Christians and
burn their churches -- and killed some of its terrorists, John Kerry fumed and
called for the "human rights" of the jihadis.
When Egypt's
persecuted Coptic Christians planned on joining Egypt's
anti-Muslim Brotherhood revolution back in 2013, the U.S. said no.
When persecuted
Iraqi and Syrian Christians asked for arms to join the opposition fighting ISIS, D.C.
refused.
When the UN Security Council held
a meeting to discuss the genocide against Christians and other minorities,
although "many high level delegations from UN member states addressed the
Security Council meeting, some at the Foreign Minister level, the United States
failed to send ... a high ranking member of the State Department."
When a few persecuted Iraqi
Christians crossed the border into the U.S., they were thrown in prison
for several months and then sent back to the countries persecuting them,
possibly to be enslaved, raped, or murdered. Pictured above:
Members of California's
Iraqi Christian community and their supporters protest the months-long
detention of Iraqi Christian asylum-seekers at the Otay
Mesa detention center. (Image source Al Jazeera
video screenshot)
Perhaps the most significant
aspect of all this is that the Obama government's bias against Mideast
Christians closely resembles the traditional bias Christian minorities
experience at the hands of Muslim governments. There are active and passive
persecutors of Christians in the Muslim world. Muslim criminals, mobs, and
terrorists actively persecute Christians, while Muslim governments passively
enable them: when Muslims kidnap, rape, or kill Christians and destroy their
churches, Muslim authorities rarely if ever do anything about it (it is against
Islamic law to side with "infidels" against Muslims). Christian
minorities in nations such as Egypt
and Pakistan
know this well. Muslim governments seldom if ever hire Christians to positions
of authority (Islamic law bans the intentional placement of an
"infidel" over a Muslim).
From preferring Muslims over
Christians for positions of authority, to preferring Muslim refugees over
Christian minorities - who are currently experiencing genocide -- the Obama
government's bias against Christian "infidels" and favor for Muslims is identical to the behavior
of Muslim governments.
To use the president's words, it
is the Obama administration's own policies that are "shameful," that
are "not American," and that do not represent "who we are."
Raymond Ibrahim is the author of Crucified
Again: Exposing Islam's New War on Christians (published by Regnery
with Gatestone Institute, April 2013).
© 2016 Gatestone
Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily
reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone
Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of
its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written
consent of Gatestone Institute.
Erdogan's Neo-Ottoman Plans
Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/November 03/16
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9254/erdogan-irredentism
"Let us see how your Islamist
friend [Erdogan] behaves after crushing the secular
establishment." — The author to a friend, 2004.
To insist on the borders Turkey accepted
in the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne "is the greatest injustice to be done to
the country and to the nation." — Turkey's President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
October 19, 2016.
Erdogan's
newfound claims seem to refer not only to wish to regain hegemony to the west (Greece) but also about the south (Syria) and the southeast (Iraq). Turkey evidently wishes to be part of an Iraqi-
and Kurdish-led offensive against Mosul,
controlled since 2014 by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Sipping his ouzo at a café in Athens on a warm
afternoon in 2004, a Greek diplomat friend smiled and said:
"You are wrong about Erdogan. He will reform Turkey's democratic culture, align
it with the European Union, strengthen its ties with NATO and pursue a
pro-peace policy in this part of the world. Meanwhile he will crush the secular
army establishment and Turkey
will no longer be a threat to any of its neighbors."
I said: "Let us see how your
Islamist friend [Erdogan] behaves after crushing the
secular establishment."
Twelve years later, I still enjoy
our peaceful ouzo sessions with the same Greek friend. But things do not look
equally peaceful between Turkey
and its neighbors, including Greece.
Speaking at a public rally on
October 22, President Erdogan said that "We did
not accept our borders voluntarily." He went on to say, "At the time
[when the current borders were drawn] we may have agreed to it but the real
mistake is to surrender to that sacrifice." What does all that mean?
On October 19, Erdogan
spoke of Turkey being constrained
by foreign powers who "aim to make us forget our Ottoman and Seldjuk history," when Turkey's
forefathers held territory stretching across Central Asia and the Middle East. His words came at a time when pro-government
media was publishing maps depicting Ottoman borders encompassing an area that
included Iraq's second
largest city, Mosul,
a former Ottoman province.
On the same day, he said:
"[In 1914] Our
territories were as large as 2.5 million square kilometers,
and after nine years at the time of the Lausanne Treaty it diminished to
780,000 square kilometres.... To insist on [the 1923 borders] is the greatest
injustice to be done to the country and to the nation. While everything is
changing in today's world, we cannot see to preserving our status of 1923 as a
success."
Erdogan's
newfound claims seem to refer not only to wish to regain hegemony to the west (Greece) but also about the south (Syria) and the southeast (Iraq). Turkey evidently wishes to be part of an Iraqi-
and Kurdish-led offensive against Mosul,
controlled since 2014 by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Turkey, it appears, would like to be part of the
operation primarily to make sure that post-ISIS Mosul is "Sunni enough" and not
Shiite.
In Syria,
Turkey
is targeting Kurds with the help of its allies, the semi-jihadist Islamists
under the umbrella force of the Free Syrian Army (FSA). The Turkish military
launched its land incursion into Syria on August 24 and has been
controlling the area ever since, supporting from behind various Sunni Islamist
factions under the SFA. On October 20, one day after Erdogan
spoke of the "injustice of the 1923 borders," the Turkish military
said its warplanes bombed U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters in northern Syria.
These bombings took place as Kurdish
fighters were advancing against ISIS militants near Afrin, a city about 40 kilometers northwest of Aleppo. Turkey
said its attacks killed 160 to 200 Kurdish fighters, but a predominantly
Kurdish political party in Turkey,
the HDN, said 14 people, including four civilians, were killed.
The move not only exposed the
allied campaign against ISIS to unforeseen operational risks but also could
create military tensions between Turkey
and Syria, the latter
supported by Iran and Russia. The
Syrian government quickly warned that further Turkish planes in Syrian airspace
will be "brought down by all means available."
On October 22, local sources
informed the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that the Turkish shelling was
still continuing on areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces. On that
day alone Turkish forces launched more than 200 tank and artillery shells and
missiles.
Erdogan's
pro-Ottoman revisionism may appeal to tens of millions of Turks' newfound
pride, to their yearning for their forefathers' glorious past, and may even
come in the form of more votes for the already popular president. But this
irredentist sentiment, especially if further supported by military hardware,
will only make a turbulent region even more turbulent -- including Turkish
territory.
In 2013, The Economist published
on its cover a photomontage of Ottoman Sultan Selim
III and Turkey's
then Prime Minister (now President) Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to illustrate Erdogan's growing autocratic tendencies (left). In 2015, Erdogan himself posed in his palace with the costumed
"16 warriors" that guard him, who are meant to represent the 16
polities in Turkic history, including the Mughal
empire, Timurid empire and Ottoman empire (right).
**Burak Bekdil, based in Ankara,
is a Turkish columnist for the Hürriyet Daily and a
Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
© 2016 Gatestone
Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily
reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone
Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of
its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written
consent of Gatestone Institute.
America's "Arab Spring"
Nonie Darwish/Gatestone
Institute/November 03/16
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9245/america-arab-spring
President Obama appears to have
been told that if all these secular dictators could be brought down, a
magnificent Arab Spring would blossom. This was, it seems, precisely the goal of
the Muslim Brotherhood: to get America's help to topple the dictatorships --
then mostly military and secular -- but then to replace them with themselves,
Islamists.
After Egypt
took down the Muslim Brotherhood, the goal of establishing the Islamic Caliphate
in Egypt simply moved to Syria, the only
Arab nation where a secular Muslim leader had survived the Arab Spring.
Promoting Islam also seems to have
been a major factor in Obama's equation for America. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton followed suit, hosting several closed-door conferences on
"Defamation of Religion," to suppress free speech and internationally
criminalize any criticism of Islam with fines and prison. She would rather
blame terrorism on free speech than on the violent tenets of Islam.
This escalating subversion should
be reason enough for all Western democratic countries permanently to part company with the United Nations. Its history of
corruption is neither new nor surprising, or that it is run anti-democratic
"club of dictators" whose interests are opposite to ours.
The goals of U.S. President Barack
Obama in the Middle East ended the rule of
most of the "secular" Arab leaders in the area. His views may have
come, partly at least, from propaganda on why Muslim people supposedly lacked
freedom there. Obama appears to have been told that if all these secular
dictators could be brought down, a magnificent Arab Spring would blossom.
This was, it seems, precisely the
goal of the Muslim Brotherhood: to get America's help to topple the dictatorships
-- then mostly military and secular -- but then to replace them with
themselves, Islamists.
The goals of the Muslim
Brotherhood happened to be in tune with Obama's goals in the Middle
East. Obama's first major presidential speech took place in Cairo before a large
number of Islamic sheikhs and members of the Muslim Brotherhood. They were
empowered and given legitimacy by Obama. A scorned Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak did not attend; thus, with the blessing of the United States, the Muslim Brotherhood's rise to
power in Egypt
was begun.
Obama's first major presidential
speech, on June 4, 2009, took place in Cairo
before a large number of Islamic sheikhs and members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
They were empowered and given legitimacy by Obama. A scorned Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak did not attend; thus, with the blessing of the United States, the Muslim Brotherhood's rise to
power in Egypt
was begun. (Image source: White House)
Today, ordinary Egyptians link the
ascendancy of the Muslim Brotherhood directly to the Obama administration. Cairo was about to become
the capital of the new Islamic Caliphate if Egyptians had not, after a year,
come out in the millions to stop it.
The Obama administration did not
appear happy with the counter-revolution, and the rise
to power of Egypt's
current president, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and
began doing everything it could to thwart it.
Egypt was back to square one: a
military dictatorship that it had once convinced the West was the cause of its
oppression.
America's "Arab Spring"
adventure -- to topple secular dictators to bring about democracies -- did not
exactly work as planned. Bringing freedom and democracy to the Middle East failed miserably, but the tyranny of the
Caliphate, which had been the goal of the Muslim Brotherhood in the first
place, was building. After Egypt
took down the Muslim Brotherhood, the goal of establishing the Islamic
Caliphate in Egypt simply
moved to Syria,
the only Arab nation where a secular Muslim leader had survived the Arab Spring.
Promoting Islam also seems to have
been a major factor in Obama's equation for America. Before Obama started to
implement his promise to "change America
as we know it," he first had to change the Middle
East as they knew it. Many of the changes over which he presided
were in harmony with the goals of the Muslim Brotherhood. Its motto is:
"Allah is our objective; the Prophet is our leader; the Quran is our law;
Jihad is our way; dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope."
But while the Muslim brotherhood
has been made illegal in Egypt,
the Obama administration still refuses to label the Muslim Brotherhood a
terrorist organization. Under Obama, Islam became untouchable, not open to any
kind of criticism. He even claimed that "Islam has been woven into the
fabric of our country since its founding."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
followed suit, and hosted several closed-door conferences in Washington
and London on
"Defamation of Religion," to suppress free speech and internationally
criminalize any criticism of Islam with fines and prison.
Even in a recent debate, Clinton stated,
"Islam was always part of American history -- even since the Revolutionary
War."
She would rather blame terrorism
on free speech than on the violent tenets of Islam.
Only a person from the Middle East
could understand the immense value of such a gift to the goals of Islamic
jihadists in America.
It is unfortunate that many
Americans apparently still do not know that Islamists rewrite history in order
to claim that any land they wish to conquer was originally Islamic or founded
by Muslims -- even though historically Islam did not exist until seventh
century, hundreds of years after Judaism and Christianity.
Today, Muslims have re-written
their history books to claim that Muslims originally built the ancient Jewish
Biblical sites, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) has bowed to the wishes of Qatar
and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) -- a bloc of 56 Islamic
nations plus "Palestine"
-- to back up this fiction. UNESCO recently passed resolutions obscenely
declaring ancient Jewish Biblical monuments -- such as Hebron's
Cave of the Patriarchs, Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem
and Jerusalem's Temple Mount,
home of the great ancient Jewish Temples -- Islamic sites.
Which country will be next? This
escalating subversion should be reason enough for all Western democratic
countries permanently to part company with the United
Nations. Its history of corruption is neither new nor surprising, or that it is
run anti-democratic "club of dictators" whose interests are opposite
to ours.
Jihadists today are stating that
they also have a claim over Italy,
Greece, and Spain -- and now America. Obama and Hillary Clinton
actually just solidified such claims for future Muslim history books about who
actually built America.
Americans have a choice: they can
either keep on empowering Islam, and helping extremist Muslims infiltrate into
the American system -- even as there is a resolution in the House of Representatives
to shut down all criticism of Islam -- or they can end the gamble of the
current administration, which seems bent on changing America forever by
allowing the worldwide empowerment of Islam. They can continue the Islamist
"Arab Spring" revolution to change "America as we know it" or
preserve the freedoms of the American republic.
It has recently become clear
through WikiLeaks that the American system is indeed
rigged and that Washington DC has turned into a swamp; or more
accurately an "Arab Spring" swamp.
Egypt, on a much smaller scale, had
to face such a choice in 2012-13, between life under the values of the Muslim
Brotherhood or a life under a sliver of hope for a
democracy, which Islam, under its laws, can never allow.
Both Egyptians and the West sorely
need to understand that Islamic law, sharia, does not
permit anything other than an Islamic government under the rule of Islamic law.
Consequently, only military force can stand against sharia
tyranny. The Muslim Brotherhood had proven once again that the only way out of
Islamic theocracies is through military dictatorships.
A head-on collision over the
future of America
is underway. Many Americans still do not understand the magnitude of what is at
stake, but many Islamists do: they are lying in wait, hoping to return to their
budding Caliphate.
Nonie Darwish,
a Middle East Expert, is the author of Wholly Different: Why I Chose Biblical
Values over Islamic Values."
© 2016 Gatestone
Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily
reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone
Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of
its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written
consent of Gatestone Institute.
Is
a Turkey-Iraq war likely?
Abdulrahman
al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/November
03/16
The political situation between Turkey and Iraq is at its worst. Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reiterated that his forces will strongly
participate in liberating Mosul from ISIS. Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar
al-Abadi responded by warning against provoking a
confrontation if Turkey
participated in the battle. Disputes go beyond the city of Mosul and reflect the struggle and threats
facing the region. Iraqi media outlets picture the Turkish role in Mosul as a sectarian one,
opposed to the Shiites. This is an incorrect depiction that exploits the
statements of Arab journalists who interpret Turkish statements based on their
own whims. Truth be told, Turkish military has never indulged in sectarian activities.
The Turkish army has not engaged in a single battle against the Shiite or the Alawaites. It did not fight against the Assad forces or
Iranian or Russian forces or Hezbollah. All the battles which Turkish forces
have fought have been against ISIS, the Kurdish-Turkish separatists and the
Kurdish-Syrians allied with the latter. All these are Sunnis and not Shiites.
It fought them because they represent a threat to Turkey’s unity and stability.
Therefore, Turkish military
operations have nothing to do with sectarian conflicts like Iraqi leaders claim
or like Arabs, who naively think that Turkey is willing to engage in
sectarian conflicts. Turkey
is itself a multicultural and multiethnic country.
I believe, the Turks are now
paying the price of their mistakes when, during the beginning of the Syrian
uprising when they avoided intervening in areas close to their borders. They
did not specify the areas which they believe harm their national security and
which they will defend by force.
For example, the Aleppo governorate represents their
geographic and historical expansion. As a result, Iran
exerted its influence inside Syria
and is bargaining with the West and Arabs over it.
Ankara
wants to fight ISIS in Mosul
and to prevent the fighting from targeting the Turkmen and others. However, Iran is leading the military and political
confrontation in Mosul and also against Turkey. As for
the Iraqi government, we all know it’s helpless.
Despite the threats against its
interests, I don’t think the Turkish leadership has the desire for a
confrontation even though its army is much stronger than Iran’s and Iraq’s and is also better equipped
Filling the vacuum
The Iranians have succeeded at
filling the vacuum during the years after US
President Barack Obama withdrew forces from Iraq. They formed sectarian
militias, which challenge the government. They called them Popular Mobilization
and worked to weaken the central authority like they did in Lebanon. These
militias are now preparing to cross over to Syria as well. The Turks have tried
diplomatic channels and sent a delegation to Baghdad. The Iraqis responded and sent an
envoy to Ankara.
However, these efforts did not succeed.
So will the Turks defend the
people of these areas through their forces which are present in the
surroundings? Will they confront the Popular Mobilization forces which are
heading to occupy Tal Afar? Will they do something if the Popular Mobilization
forces crossed toward the Syrian city of Hasakah as there’s been
preliminary information about that?
The Iranians are acting quickly as
they race against time before the American elections are over and they want to
benefit from the slogan of “fighting terrorism”. They want to expand and launch
multiple wars to tighten control over strategic border crossings between Syria, Iraq and oil-rich zones. However,
despite the threats against its interests, I don’t think the Turkish leadership
has the desire for a confrontation even though its army is much stronger than Iran’s and Iraq’s and is also better equipped.
Iranian forces and their militias, which they brought from Afghanistan, Pakistan,
Iraq and Lebanon, are heading toward Turkish borders and
are pursuing Syrian opposition forces which support Turkey. They have also encouraged
establishing a buffer zone for the Kurds and this is tantamount to a scarecrow
to Ankara’s
government. At the same time, the Turks are paying the price on the economic
and security levels as they host more than two million Syrian refugees and face
an Iranian-Russian scheme to transfer battles to their territory with the
support of Turkish-Kurdish separatists.
The Iran factor
The Iraqis who openly support Tehran say if Turkey
dares defy them in Mosul, they will work on
fragmenting Turkey
itself. The situation indeed is very difficult. The Turks will be once again be proven wrong if they think the war will end at the Ba’shiqah camp in Iraq where their forces are
present. That’s not the case at all. Iranians want to control the centers of
political command in Baghdad and Damascus and oil-rich areas in Mosul
and the Syrian city of Deir
az-Zour and to restrain Turkey on the regional level.
Despite all this, I rule it out
that threats between the Iraqi and Turkish commands will lead their two armies
to a clash. These threats aim to besiege the Turks through intimidation to
force them out so Iran can
expand its influence over Nineveh, the
surrounding governorates, the trade routes, south Syria and other passages. Turkey is in a
difficult position which requires from it to form an opposing camp that proves
its credibility on the ground.
*This article was first published Asharq al-Awsat on Nov. 03, 2016.
Iraq
after the liberation of Mosul
Talmiz
Ahmad/Al Arabiya/November 03/16
As Iraqi forces hammer away at the
gates of Mosul and the fall of this “capital” of
ISIS in Iraq
becomes imminent, a number of political and economic uncertainties will suffuse
the Iraqi state and challenge the capacities of its leaders.
Iraq has been in the throes of
violence for over 35 years in which its physical infrastructure and state
institutions have been destroyed by foreign invasion and war, its population
has been reduced to penury, and the integrity of the state has been
experiencing repeated blows from forces of sectarianism, separatism and
militancy. Old fault-lines have been re-opened and made to bleed afresh. Its
tribulations have also encouraged its neighbors to
interfere in its domestic affairs by backing one side or the other in the
country’s internecine conflicts.
All these divisions are apparent
in the ongoing battle to liberate Mosul.
The Iraqi national forces trained in counter-terrorism are backed by motley
groups representing Shiite militia, Sunni tribal elements, some Sunni militia
from the Ninewah province, and Kurdish peshmerga. These are being supported by advisers from Iran
and US and NATO special forces and air power. At the
same time, Turkey has about
2,000 troops massed at Mosul’s
northwest border, ostensibly to train the Sunni militia and the Kurds of the Barzani faction.
However, the remarks of President Erdogan and his senior ministers suggest that Turkey may
have the larger agenda of safeguarding the interests of its Turkoman
allies in Mosul and generally protecting the Sunnis from harm, even as the
president has recalled that Mosul and Kirkuk, indeed the whole Ninewah province, were “part of our [Turkey’s] soul”,
raising concerns in Baghdad that Turkey might seek to recapture its territory
lost to the British after the World War I.
The immediate aftermath of Mosul’s liberation will determine whether Iraq affirms
its ruinous sectarian divide or emerges as a pluralistic state that
accommodates its Sunni population and gives it a place of dignity in the
political and economic order
The immediate aftermath
The immediate aftermath of Mosul’s liberation will determine whether Iraq affirms
its ruinous sectarian divide or emerges as a pluralistic state that
accommodates its Sunni population and gives it a place of dignity in the
political and economic order. This will largely depend on the government’s ability
to control the Shiite militia, the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), which has
acquired a reputation for blood-thirsty vengeance on Sunni populations in
“liberated” towns for the earlier barbaric violence of ISIS
on the Shiite.
It will also reveal whether the
Kurds will be happy to be part of this eclectic system or will assert their
demand for independence. This could plunge the region into conflict for several
years to come, possibly bringing in Turkey
and Iran
as players in crushing these aspirations with military force.
A united and pluralistic Iraq
at peace with itself will provide its prime minister Haidar al-Abadi the opportunity
to undertake initiatives for the revival of his country’s economy and improve
the wretched lives of its citizens.
The challenges are daunting.
Besides the severely damaged infrastructure and an economic order near
collapse, the country that depends on oil for 90 percent of its revenues has
been most adversely affected by the precipitate fall in oil prices, the capture
of some of its northern oil fields by ISIS and recent damage to them by
retreating ISIS forces, and disputes with the Kurdish Regional Government [KRG]
on the sharing of revenues from the Kirkuk fields that are operated by the
central government but exported through the Kurdish-controlled Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline.
The oil factor
But, some positive signs are
apparent. Oil prices seem to have bottomed out and are expected to range around
$ 50/ barrel in this this year and the next. Again, Iraq’s
production has reached the record level of 4.7 million barrels per day.
Finally, in September this year, the Iraqi government and the KRG have
concluded a revenue-sharing agreement on the Kirkuk fields which will boost production and
exports.
With assured oil revenues, Prime
Minister Abadi’s economic reform agenda will need to
be comprehensive and ambitious. Given that the government employs 20 percent of
the national labor force that accounts for 70 percent
of the national budget, he will need to begin by trimming the bureaucracy,
stamping out its corruption and making it more productive. Here, he enjoys the
full support of influential religious leaders such as Ayatollah Sistani and Muqtada Sadr.
The rest of the effort will have
to be in areas, such as: developing the country’s physical infrastructure,
focusing on education and training, repairing and upgrading state-owned
corporate institutions, reviving the banking and insurance systems, and
promoting the entrepreneurial spirit by encouraging small and medium enterprises.
The liberation of Mosul will provide the Iraqi people with an
historic opportunity to repair the extensive harm done to them and their
country and re-emerge as a successful and self-confident nation. We will know
very soon how effectively they rise to this challenge.
**Talmiz
Ahmad is the former Indian Ambassador to Saudi
Arabia, Oman
and the UAE.
The
‘Jungle’ is closed, but the chaos of EU migration policy continues
Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/November
03/16
Demolishing the infamous refugee
camp in Calais, known as the “Jungle”, closes a chapter in the mistreatment of
migrants in Europe with no signs that a more humane one is about to open. Every
single historic period is defined by one or two major issues that reflect and
leave deep marks on an entire era. Migration, no doubt, is the one that
consumes the political, economic and intellectual energy of Europe
in the early part of the 21st century. It divides societies and has long term
repercussions on attitudes to human rights, adhering to domestic and international
law, international cooperation and the ability to form effective policies in
face of great challenges.
The international community as a
whole failed quite badly in all of these challenges, leaving Europe’s
migration policy broken and marred with nationalism and racism. Calais exposed the best
and the worst in us as people and as societies. On the verge of its demolition
last week the biggest shantytown in Europe hosted around 6000 people, mainly
from Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan and Eretria.
The anti-migration movement in France called to repatriate them back to their
home countries, while their UK
counterparts resisted any of them crossing the British channel, regardless of
what fate was awaiting them. On the other hand, there were enormous expressions
of kindness and support from individuals and NGOs. They ensured that almost
everyone was fed, clothed, sheltered, enjoyed adequate hygiene, as much as
possible, and that kids had access to education. Yet, this unofficial refugee
camp was never an answer to the plight of the people who resided there.
Considering the conditions that
the inhabitants of this makeshift camp had to endure, one can hardly shed too
many tears about its demise. Nevertheless, what is in store for the evacuees is
of great concern, especially for unaccompanied minors.
The manner in which we deal with
refugees, the least privileged in our world, also tests our sincerity in
adhering to international law and commitment to international conventions
No fault of theirs
For now, the former occupants of
the “Jungle” are in French “reception centers”, waiting to hear who will be the
lucky ones to be granted refugee or asylum seeker status, and who has the
dangerous misfortune of being forced to return to their home countries. The demolition
of the “Jungle” in Calais may remove the blemish of keeping human beings,
especially very vulnerable ones, in dreadful conditions, as if it were their
fault that they needed to flee from the dangers of war, conflict, political
persecution, and yes, sometimes just in search of opportunity to escape extreme
poverty.
Nevertheless, it does not remove
the stain of not finding an adequate solution for those removed from the camp,
and even worse not forging a comprehensive European policy towards migration, in
particular for those whose lives are in danger.
It would be irresponsible and
counterproductive to dismiss the fears and concerns expressed by many ordinary
citizens across the continent vis-à-vis migration, even if on most occasions,
anger towards migrants is misplaced and instead governments’ policies are to
blame.
Population movement results, in
some cases, in pressure on infrastructure and services, tensions between local
and newly arrived communities and in the short term increases competition over jobs.
In the longer run economic migration will be Europe’s
salvation. Figures show that as a result of an ageing population, EU countries
will move from having about four people of working age for every person over
the age of 65 years, to two working-age people by 2060.
Proactive planning
Instead of vilifying economic
migrants and cynically exploiting deep-seated xenophobic tendencies among some
segments of the European population, it is time for a pro-active planning that
projects the economic needs of Europe and how
they correspond with proper migration policies. This can also feed into
addressing the plight of refugees and asylum seekers that are reaching our
shores. Instead of seeing them as competitors and a threat to the European way
of life, they could alternatively be treated as potential contributors to
economic and social life. Especially if one takes into account their relatively
small numbers in terms of the EU population. Most refugees flee to neighbouring
countries and remain in their region of origin.
Turkey
is the host country of more than 2.5 million refugees and Lebanon with
its small population of 4 million is the host of 1.1 million refugees. Both of
these are countries with a much lower GDP per capita and less advanced
infrastructure than most European countries. There is no escape from admitting
that our attitude to the less fortunate, reflects on
the quality of our societies. The manner in which we deal with refugees, the
least privileged in our world, also tests our sincerity in adhering to
international law and commitment to international conventions.
Article 14(1) of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights guarantees the right to seek and enjoy asylum in
other countries, and the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951,
established the principle of not forcing refugees or asylum seekers to return
to a country in which they are likely to be subjected to persecution.
Among those evacuated from the
“Jungle”, there were many unaccompanied children under the age of 15, who are
the most vulnerable, especially girls. Around 1,000 of them are left in the
demolished Calais
camp. Many of them have the right to asylum in EU countries, where they have
relatives, but no one bothered to inform them about their rights, or in many
cases the bureaucracy is deliberately slow and grinding.
Surely, it is our obligation as
individuals and societies to protect these kids from being exploited by
criminals and extremists – for their sake as much as ours. Only an approach
free of bias and prejudice will equip us with much needed wisdom to look after
refugees with humanity, which will also serve the wellbeing and prosperity of
our own societies.
Western
Leaders: Pressure Saudis to Give Christians Religious Rights
Hilal Khashan/The Hill/November 1, 2016
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/11/03/hilal-khashanthe-hillwestern-leaders-pressure-saudis-to-give-christians-religious-rights/
http://www.meforum.org/6345/modernization-without-religious-tolerance-in-saudi-arabia
Originally published under the
title "'Modernization' without Religious Tolerance in Saudi Arabia."
Prince Mohammed met with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in Silicon Valley last June. Three months earlier, Saudi
Grand Mufti Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah declared that it's "necessary to
destroy all the churches of the region."
Bloomberg recently listed Saudi
Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman 42nd on its
list of 50 Most Influential movers and shakers in finance. An Oct. 15 New York
Times profile called him the "most dynamic royal" in Saudi Arabia,
"a man who is trying to overturn tradition." Unfortunately, he's not
trying hard enough.
Prince Mohammed, 31, is the public
face behind Saudi Vision 2030, a 15-year plan of regulatory, budget, and policy
reforms unveiled in April. It is designed to build a "prosperous and
sustainable economic future" for the kingdom by reducing dependence on oil
exports and implementing a privatization program that will supposedly create a
sovereign wealth fund of more than $2 trillion, the world's
largest.
Acutely aware of its growing need
for Western capital investment and technology, the kingdom has shown small
signs of reducing its horrendous violations of political and civil liberties,
such as granting women limited suffrage, and improving government transparency.
The Saudis are today even willing acknowledge the role their kingdom played in
creating Al-Qaeda and other Islamist currents. "We did not own up to it
after 9/11 because we feared you would abandon or treat us as the enemy,"
one senior Saudi official told Politico. "And we were in denial."
But there is one area where no
reform appears to be in the offing. As the kingdom embarks on a revolutionary
project to reduce its dependence on oil and increase direct foreign investment,
it does not seem to appreciate the importance of religious tolerance in a
society trying to open its economy to the world.
The Saudis don't seem to
appreciate the importance of religious tolerance in a modern society.
In recent weeks, the Saudi
authorities deported 27 Lebanese Christians for the crime of conducting
non-Islamic prayers, the kingdom's religious police ordered a clothing outlet
to cover the U.K. flag on the logo of British International School uniforms
because it displays the Christian cross, and a video surfaced of a leading
Saudi cleric calling on God to grant mujahideen
(jihadists) in Syria and Iraq "victory over the godless Rafidah (Shia Muslims) ... the
treacherous Jews, and over the spiteful Christians" in a sermon at the
Grand Mosque in Mecca.
As William McCants
of the Brookings Institution recently told Politifact,
"official Saudi textbooks teach that Christians are seeking to destroy the
religion and must be hated as a consequence." Despite the fact that 1.5 to
2 million Christians, mostly Filipino and other southeast Asian expatriates,
live and work in the kingdom, Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world
that does not allow the building of churches or even the open practice of
Christian religious rites. Most expatriates live in loneliness away from their
families and loved ones. Restrictions on their freedom to
worship compounds this isolation.
The Saudis can take advantage of
poor Christian workers (and those of other faiths) because their remittance
dependent governments lack negotiating leverage.
There is a lot the West can do to
pressure Riyadh
to extend full religious rights to Christians.
While there is little that labor-intensive Asian societies can do to pressure Riyadh to extend full
religious rights to Christian workers, there is a lot that the West can do. So
long as the Saudis depend on Western capital investment and advanced
technology, the United
States is uniquely positioned to press for
greater religious freedoms for Christians and other non-Muslims.
While it may be unrealistic to
expect this from the White House, the U.S. Congress has shown greater
willingness to challenge Saudi
Arabia as of late. The Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), which would strip
away the "sovereign immunity" of foreign governments against
terrorism lawsuits, has passed both houses of Congress, with the Senate
overriding President Obama's veto last month. Another bipartisan bill was
introduced earlier this month to block the recently-proposed sale of Abrams
tanks and other military equipment to the kingdom until its human rights record
improves.
It's time for the United States
and other Western governments to tell the Saudis that business-as-usual
relations cannot continue unless their kingdom puts in place the building
blocks of religious tolerance and pluralism. Saudi officials may bitterly
object, but those who are fighting for real reform inside the kingdom need this
ultimatum to win out over hardliners.
*Hilal
Khashan is a professor of political science at the
American University of Beirut and a fellow at the Middle East Forum. For more
on this topic, see his article in the Summer 2016
issue of Middle East Quarterly.