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Bible Quotations For Today
‘My teaching is not mine but his who sent me.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 07/11-18: "The Jews were looking for him at the festival and saying, ‘Where is he?’ And there was considerable complaining about him among the crowds. While some were saying, ‘He is a good man’, others were saying, ‘No, he is deceiving the crowd. ’Yet no one would speak openly about him for fear of the Jews. About the middle of the festival Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach. The Jews were astonished at it, saying, ‘How does this man have such learning, when he has never been taught?’ Then Jesus answered them, ‘My teaching is not mine but his who sent me. Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own. Those who speak on their own seek their own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and there is nothing false in him."

God gave them a sluggish spirit, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day
Letter to the Romans 11/01-12: "I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? ‘Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.’ But what is the divine reply to him? ‘I have kept for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’ So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.
But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace. What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, as it is written, ‘God gave them a sluggish spirit, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.’And David says, ‘Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling-block and a retribution for them; let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and keep their backs for ever bent.’ So I ask, have they stumbled so as to fall? By no means! But through their stumbling salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. Now if their stumbling means riches for the world, and if their defeat means riches for Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 14-15/15
I Asked Almighty God, He Said: No !! (An Imaginary Conversation With God)/Elias Bejjani/December 15/15
Turkey misfires in Iraq/Week in Review/Al-Monitor/December 14/15
Will Russia's economic restrictions on Turkey backfire/Mehmet Cetingulec/Al-Monitor/December 14/15
Dangers of relying on Iran’s Revolutionary Guard in war on ISIS/Raghida Dergham/Al Arabiya/December 14/15
Tunisia’s noble success, where many have failed/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/December 14/15
Where is the Islamic State’s oil going/Ana Maria Luca/Now Lebanon/December 14/15
In Light Of Jordanians Joining Terrorist Organizations, Calls In Jordan To Reform Curricula/By: Z. Harel/MEMRI/December 14/15
One Christian Slaughtered Every Five Minutes/Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/December 14/15

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin for Lebanese Related News published on December 14-15/15
I Asked Almighty God, He Said: No !! (An Imaginary Conversation With God)
Hannibal Gadhafi Reveals Info on Sadr to Judge as Arrest Warrant Issued
Report: Syria Requests Lebanese Authorities to Release Hannibal Gadhafi
Shehayyeb: Trash Crisis Will Be Resolved Soon
Report: U.S. Seeking Election of President in Lebanon as Soon as Possible
Franjieh Set for Television Appearance Thursday
Civil Defense Volunteers Stage Sit-in, Demand Full-Employment
Salam: If Paralysis Persists, Cabinet Could Become Caretaker
Report: Hariri Informs Franjieh his Nomination Not Part of Political Maneuver
Lebanese Army Dismantles Israeli Spy Device in South
Lebanese Army Commander, General Jean Kahwaji receives delegation of U.S. DIRI
Israeli bulldozer builds road in Shebaa
Ibrahim meets Iraqi Ambassador
One arrested in Wadi Khaled over suspected belonging to terrorist group
Moqbel, Finnish Ambassador discuss current situation
Azzi welcomes U.S. refugee official
Ambassadors of Mercosur member States meet Hakim
Tunisian Chargé d'Affairs visits Zeaiter
Hajj Hassan tackles bilateral relations with Egyptian Ambassador

I Asked Almighty God, He Said: No !! (An Imaginary Conversation With God)
By: Elias Bejjani*
December 15/15
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2015/12/14/9098/
I asked Almighty God to kill my pride, He said: No, I do not have to do so, you should tame it yourself because I do not have mercy on the wicked and proud.. “For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up,” says Yahweh of Armies, “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. (Malachi 4/1-2).
I asked Almighty God for a cure to my physically challenged son, He said: No, his spirit is what matters and his spirit is perfect. Meanwhile, his body is inevitably mortal. “For dust you are and to dust you will return”. (Genesis 3:19)
I asked Almighty God to grant me patience, He said: No, patience comes from tribulations. Patience is not granted but earned.
I asked Almighty God if the greater love is loving ourselves. He said No, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (John 15/13)
I asked Almighty God to grant me happiness, He said: No, I shower you with blessing and graces while happiness is to be made by you.
I asked Almighty God to spare me pain, He said: No, pain keeps you away from earthly concerns and brings you closer to me.
I asked Almighty God to make my soul grow and thrive. He said: No, your soul’s growth and prosperity is your own responsibility, but I will pull you towards Me so you might abundantly bear fruits.
I asked Almighty God to make me rich and powerful and at the same time solidify my faith. He said: No, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money”. (Matthew 6:24).
I asked Almighty God to help me lay earthly treasures. He said No, “Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 06/19-22)
I asked Almighty God to help me take acts of revenge against those who harmed me badly. He said: No, “Do not take revenge, but leave room for My wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” (Romans 12:19)
I asked Almighty God to allow me hate those who hate me. He said: No,” Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. (Luke 6:28).
I asked Almighty God to spare me from temptation. He said: No, “Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and He Himself tempts no one. But each one is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and the sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death. (James 01/13-15)
I asked Almighty God if He forgives those who are evil and cause others to stumble. He said: No, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him that a huge millstone should be hung around his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18/06)
I asked Almighty God to love me, He said: Yes I do, I have sacrificed My only begotten son so you can live forever, if you believe in Me.

Hannibal Gadhafi Reveals Info on Sadr to Judge as Arrest Warrant Issued
Naharnet/December 14/15/The Lebanese judiciary issued Monday an arrest warrant for Hannibal Moammar Gadhafi, who was handed over Friday to Lebanese authorities after a brief abduction in Lebanon at the hands of an armed group. “Examining Magistrate Zaher Hamadeh has issued an arrest warrant for Hannibal Gadhafi on charges of withholding information linked to the case of Imam Moussa al-Sadr,” state-run National News Agency reported. Hamadeh issued the warrant after interrogating Hannibal throughout the day at the Justice Palace. A lawsuit was also filed against Gadhafi on Monday by the lawyer of Imam al-Sadr's family. According to LBCI television, Hannibal "confessed that the Libyan regime was involved in the abduction of Imam al-Sadr, naming the person who impersonated the imam and traveled to Rome" in 1978. He noted that "the sources of his information were his brother Seif al-Islam and intelligence official Al-Mutassem Billah," LBCI added. Al-Jadeed TV meanwhile quoted Hannibal as telling Judge Hamadeh that al-Sadr "was detained in a house in (Libya's) Tripoli" and that "he had never left for Rome." "My father blamed (former Libyan premier) Abdul Salam Jalloud in the case of al-Sadr's disappearance," he told the judge, according to al-Jadeed. The TV network said Hannibal told Hamadeh that his brother Mutassem, who was killed during Libya's uprising, "had information about Imam al-Sadr." "The man who impersonated the imam and wore his clothes to travel to Rome is a well-known figure who currently lives in an Arab country," Hannibal added, according to al-Jadeed. Gadhafi's lawyer Shadi Hussein, speaking to AFP outside the courtroom, said the Libyan businessman was charged because "the crime is still ongoing, since those kidnapped" remain missing. "And because the charged man is one of the sons of the main accused in this case, Moammar Gadhafi," Hussein added. According to an AFP journalist at the scene, Gadhafi had two black eyes and was limping. His medium-length hair was slicked back, and he was allowed to speak to his Lebanese wife Aline Skaff by phone for a few minutes, although her location was not disclosed. The 40-year-old son of slain Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi appeared in a video on Friday in which he announced that he had been kidnapped in Lebanon. In the video, Hannibal described his captors as "loyal to the cause of Imam Moussa al-Sadr," the founder of Lebanon's AMAL Movement who disappeared while on a trip to Libya in 1978. He said anyone who has information about al-Sadr should come forward. State-run National News Agency said Gadhafi was abducted Thursday “after being lured from Syria into a town near Baalbek” and that his captors had demanded "information about Imam Moussa al-Sadr and his two companions." Later on Friday, the agency said Hannibal was “handed over to the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch after his captors left him on the Baalbek-Homs international highway near the northern Bekaa town of al-Jamaliyeh.” Hannibal is married to Lebanese lingerie model Aline Skaff. Photographs obtained by Agence France-Presse in Libya had revealed how Hannibal and his wife were living a high-flying party lifestyle during his father's iron-fisted rule.The lavish lifestyles of Gadhafi's family and entourage helped fuel the anger in Libya that sparked the protests that led eventually to the former strongman's ouster. Hannibal was among a group of family members -- including Gadhafi's wife Safiya, son Mohammed and daughter Aisha -- who escaped to neighboring Algeria after the fall of the Libyan capital Tripoli. On August 25, 1978, al-Sadr and two companions -- Sheikh Mohammed Yaaqoub and journalist Abbas Badreddine -- departed for Libya to meet with government officials. The visit was paid upon the invitation of then Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi – Hannibal's father. The three were seen lastly on August 31. They were never heard from again. The Lebanese judiciary indicted Moammar Gadhafi in 2008 over al-Sadr's disappearance, although Libya had consistently denied responsibility, claiming that the imam and his companions had left Libya for Italy.

Report: Syria Requests Lebanese Authorities to Release Hannibal Gadhafi
Naharnet/December 14/15/Damascus has reportedly demanded that Lebanese authorities release from custody Hannibal Gadhafi, the son of late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, reported the Kuwaiti daily al-Anba on Monday.
Lebanese authorities received the request to release Hannibal, who was kidnapped in Syria by a Syrian gang at the behest of Lebanese powers, said Lebanese sources to the daily. They predicted that Hannibal will be released soon after he gives his testimony in the disappearance of Imam Moussa al-Sadr.
He was briefly abducted last week in the eastern Bekaa region after being lured from a town in Syria to Lebanon. He said that his captors demanded "information about Imam Moussa al-Sadr and his two companions." Later on Friday, he was “handed over to the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch after his captors left him on the Baalbek-Homs international highway near the northern Bekaa town of al-Jamaliyeh.”Former MP Hassan Yaaqoub, the son of Sheikh Mohammed Yaaqoub who disappeared while accompanying al-Sadr, denied any ties to the kidnap operation. Hannibal is married to Lebanese lingerie model Aline Skaff. Sadr, the founder of Lebanon's AMAL Movement, disappeared while on a trip to Libya in 1978. Security sources told al-Mustaqbal daily on Monday that investigations with Hannibal have not revealed any new lead in Sadr's disappearance. He is set to give his testimony later on Monday.

Shehayyeb: Trash Crisis Will Be Resolved Soon
Naharnet/December 14/15/Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb vowed on Monday that the the garbage disposal crisis that has been plaguing Lebanon since July will be resolved soon. He announced after holding talks with Prime Minister Tammam Salam: “We discussed the means to fund the export of the trash and the file will be resolved soon.” He made his remarks after meeting also with the committee tasked with following up on the issue. “We are closely following the matter of exporting the waste,” stressed the minister. “We will hold the necessary consultations in the next 48 hours and hope to hold a cabinet session on Wednesday afternoon,” Shehayyeb said. Lebanon has been suffering from a trash disposal crisis since the closure of the Naameh landfill in July. Officials failed to find an alternative to the dumpsite that was tackling Beirut and Mount Lebanon's trash, resulting in the pile up of the waste in the streets throughout the country.

Report: U.S. Seeking Election of President in Lebanon as Soon as Possible
Naharnet/December 14/15/The United States is eager to see the election of a new president in Lebanon, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Monday. Diplomatic sources told the daily: “Washington seeks the election of a head of state as soon as possible.”“This does not mean that it wants the election of just any president through any political settlement,” they clarified. The new president should enjoy national consensus and wide Christian support, they explained. The United States' main concern however is Lebanon's security and financial stability, stressed the sources. “Any presidential proposal that would harm these two factors would be rejected,” they warned. “A president who would jeopardize Lebanon's stability should not be proposed,” they continued. “Washington does not however have a candidate it would like to promote or have a veto against any potential nominee,” said the sources. Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014 when the term of Michel Suleiman ended without the election of successor. Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over a compromise candidate have thwarted the polls. Recent efforts to end the vacuum saw Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh emerge as a presidential candidate as part of a greater settlement that would revitalize the political scene in the country. The initiative, launched by Mustaqbal Movement MP Saad Hariri, has however been met with the reservations of the Lebanese Forces, Kataeb Party, and the Free Patriotic Movement.

Franjieh Set for Television Appearance Thursday
Naharnet/December 14/15/Head of the Marada Movement MP Suleiman Franjieh is expected to make televised appearance on Thursday to tackle the latest political developments, especially those concerned with ending the vacuum in the presidency. He will make the appearance on a talk show interview during which he will “reveal the details of the presidential proposal” aimed at ending the deadlock in the country, reported As Safir newspaper on Monday. Recent efforts to end the vacuum saw Franjieh emerge as a presidential candidate as part of a greater settlement that would revitalize the political scene in the country. The initiative, launched by Mustaqbal Movement MP Saad Hariri, has however been met with the reservations of the Lebanese Forces, Kataeb Party, and the Free Patriotic Movement. Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014 when the term of Michel Suleiman ended without the election of successor. Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over a compromise candidate have thwarted the polls.

Civil Defense Volunteers Stage Sit-in, Demand Full-Employment
Naharnet/December 14/15/Civil Defense volunteers warned on Monday that they will escalate measures if a decision to fully-employ them was not approved during the parliament's session this week. “If a decision on our full-employment was not approved on Wednesday, we are going to take some surprising measures,” the volunteers said in a press conference they held in Martyrs Square. The volunteers have been holding a sit-in the Downtown Beirut since Saturday. “The sit-in will continue until our cause is approved,” they stressed declaring an open strike until their demands are met. “We have long waited for a solution to our cause. We will not block roads or set tires on fire, but we are going to take our rights,” they stated. In 2014, a meeting at the Interior Ministry led to consensus over the full-employment of Civil Defense volunteers after several protests were held in different areas across the country. The volunteers demanded that parliament pass a law on the affairs of the Directorate General of Civil Defense, which would turn them into full-time employees after long years of service during which many of their colleagues were killed while performing rescue operations. The parliament will meet on Wednesday with the aim of electing a president.

Salam: If Paralysis Persists, Cabinet Could Become Caretaker
Naharnet/December 14/15/Prime Minister Tammam Salam warned that the government could become a caretaker in light of the current paralysis that the cabinet and the country is witnessing, An Nahar daily reported on Monday. “We may go there in reality, and I have already said that there is no need for a cabinet that does not convene and produce,” Salam told the daily in an interview highlighting the four-month paralysis of the cabinet. On the stalled presidential settlement that suggested the nomination of Marada leader MP Suleiman Franjieh for the post of president, Salam said: “Nothing so far indicates that it stopped. The presidency requires consensus between the various powers until the election becomes possible.” A Paris meeting last month between Franjieh and al-Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri had triggered intense speculation that a presidential settlement was in the making. Replying to a question if the PM believes that Franjieh is a consensual president, Salam said: “When Hariri, who is of the March 14 camp, suggests Franjieh, who is of the March 8 for the post of president, that makes him consensual.” Lebanon is suffering from a political crisis that erupted following the end of President Michel Suleiman's term in May 2014. The government assumed the responsibilities of the head of state in his absence but sharp differences have stopped it short of taking important decisions. On the possibility that the PM could call the cabinet to session soon, Salam pointed to the trash management crisis and said: “I will not call for a session until all the factors of the trash file are complete. I am not ready to call for a meeting before this file is permanently closed. “We cannot address any other matter no matter how important it is before removing the waste from the streets,” he said, adding that major progress has been made to export the trash but refused to give further details. Since the closure in July of the Naameh landfill that receives the waste of Beirut and Mount Lebanon, Lebanon has been suffering from a trash management crisis that left its streets drowning with waste. On the controversial oil decrees file, the PM said: “I am ready to call for a session if I sensed agreement on the subject. The trash and oil are two important issues. If an agreement was reached, it would be a big achievement for the cabinet.”

Report: Hariri Informs Franjieh his Nomination Not Part of Political Maneuver
Naharnet/December 14/15/Head of the Mustaqbal Movement MP Saad Hariri informed Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh of his commitment to his nomination as president during the telephone call they held over the weekend, reported As Safir newspaper on Monday. Hariri assured Franjieh that “his initiative to nominate him as president will continue and that it is not part of a political maneuver,” widely informed sources told As Safir. “The initiative will continue even if it has slowed down,” they explained. Hariri is determined to go ahead with his initiative and has urged its supporters to remain patient to overcome the obstacles facing it, added the daily. It explained that he is banking on gaining their support over time seeing as no one has named an alternative nominee to Franjieh. Hariri had also contacted Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea over the weekend to address the latest developments linked to ending the presidential vacuum. Recent efforts to end the vacuum saw Franjieh emerge as a presidential candidate as part of a greater settlement that would revitalize the political scene in the country. The initiative, launched by Hariri, has however been met with the reservations of the Lebanese Forces, Kataeb Party, and the Free Patriotic Movement. The move also sparked tensions between Hariri and Geagea seeing as the latter is a presidential candidate and an ally of the Mustaqbal Movement in the March 14 coalition. Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014 when the term of Michel Suleiman ended without the election of successor. Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over a compromise candidate have thwarted the polls.

Lebanese Army Dismantles Israeli Spy Device in South
Naharnet/December 14/15/An Israeli spy device was discovered on Sunday in southern Lebanon, state-run National News Agency reported. It said the “the Lebanese army's Engineering Regiment has dismantled an Israeli espionage device in the vicinity of the town of Toulin in the Marjeyoun district.” This would be the second such device to be discovered in the Marjeyoun area this month. Two people were lightly wounded on December 1 as Israel blew up a spy device planted on the Marjeyoun Plain road, NNA reported at the time.
Several similar devices were discovered in the South in recent years, some of them booby-trapped. In September 2014, Hizbullah military expert Hussein Haidar was killed as an Israeli drone remotely detonated a spy device he was dismantling in the southern coastal town of Adloun.

Lebanese Army Commander, General Jean Kahwaji receives delegation of U.S. DIRI
Mon 14 Dec 2015/NNA - Lebanese Army Commander, General Jean Kahwaji, met in Yarzeh on Monday with a visiting delegation from the United States Department of Defense's Defense Institution Reform Initiative (DIRI). Talks between both sides reportedly touched on the best means to bolster cooperation, as well as to beef-up the capacities of the Lebanese Army institution.

Israeli bulldozer builds road in Shebaa
Mon 14 Dec 2015/Agencies- A bulldozer belonging to the Israeli army is building a road in Shebaa farms, near the Israeli radar, National News Agency correspondent reported on Monday.

Ibrahim meets Iraqi Ambassador
Mon 14 Dec 2015/NNA - General Security Chief, General Abbas Ibrahim, on Monday met with Iraqi Ambassador to Lebanon, Ali al-Ameri, over the current general situation, and the means of coordination between the embassy and the agency.

One arrested in Wadi Khaled over suspected belonging to terrorist group
Mon 14 Dec 2015/NNA - A General Security patrol today arrested Kh.M. in Wadi Khaled, over suspicions of belonging to a terrorist organization, National News Agency correspondent reported on Monday.

Moqbel, Finnish Ambassador discuss current situation
Mon 14 Dec 2015/NNA - Minister of National Defense, Samir Moqbel, on Monday met at his office in the Ministry with Finnish Ambassador to Lebanon, Matti Lassila, over the current situation and the role of the UNIFIL, where Finnish peacekeepers have been since 1982. The Ambassador conveyed to Moqbel the wish of the Finnish and Estonian Ministers of Defense to visit Lebanon to back the Lebanese army, especially in its battle against terrorism. "I was honored to meet with Minister Moqbel to confirm Finland's support for the unity of Lebanon and to praise the special cooperation relations with the Lebanese military and government," Lassila told reporters following the meeting.

Azzi welcomes U.S. refugee official
Mon 14 Dec 2015/NNA - Minister of Labor, Sejaan Azzi, on Monday welcomed at is office in the Ministry U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, Simon Henshaw, and the accompanying delegation, in presence of U.S. Chargé d'Affaires, Richard Jones. Talks reportedly touched on the current situation in Lebanon, in addition to the dossier of Syrian refugees. "The U.S. has offered to Lebanon nearly USD one billion during the past four years in the field of support in helping Syrian refugees, and we discussed with the Minister this continuous support," the visiting diplomat told reporters following the meeting. "We can cooperate with Lebanon to find a solution, facilitate matters, and create a positive climate towards the Syrian refugees," he said. "Our commitment is strong and we have vowed to offer help to refugees nationwide," he added. Denying having broached the president election during the meeting, the U.S. official underlined that he was only interested in the humanitarian work. "The U.S. government will continue supporting Lebanon as much as possible," he concluded. For his part, Azzi indicated that the U.S. official voiced keenness on Lebanon's security and stability.

Ambassadors of Mercosur member States meet Hakim
Mon 14 Dec 2015/NNA - Minister of Economy and Trade, Alain Hakim, held on Monday a meeting with ambassadors of the Mercosur countries: Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Uruguay. Discussions focused on issues to be resolved in order to implement the agreement signed between Lebanon and the Mercosur member States. Minister Hakim assured that the agreement with Mercosur's five associate members required serious and careful monitoring. "The problem is not commercial but social," he said. "We want to end this. We need to reach a solution early 2016. The agreement is very important as it strengthens commercial exchange between Lebanon and these countries," he finally said.

Tunisian Chargé d'Affairs visits Zeaiter
Mon 14 Dec 2015/NNA - Public Works and Transportation Minister, Ghazi Zeaiter, received on Monday, Tunisian charge d'affaires, Karim Boudali, within the context of visits conducted with Lebanese officials. Discussions focused on current developments, especially the situation in Lebanon, Tunisia and in the region. The pair stressed "the importance of strengthening the historical bilateral relations between both countries."

Hajj Hassan tackles bilateral relations with Egyptian Ambassador
Mon 14 Dec 2015/NNA - Minister of Industry, Dr. Hussein Hajj Hassan, met on Monday afternoon with Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon, Dr. Mohammad Badreddine Zayed. Talks between the pair reportedly touched on the best means to boost relations, especially at the economic level.

U.N. Condemns 'Unacceptable' Attacks on Civilians around Damascus
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 14/15/The United Nations aid chief on Monday condemned attacks on civilians in and near the Syrian capital as "unacceptable," a day after more than 50 were killed. "Such indiscriminate attacks are unacceptable," Stephen O'Brien said in a press conference concluding a three-day visit to Syria. More than 50 civilians were killed on Sunday in air strikes and rocket fire on an opposition stronghold east of Damascus and in rebel fire on the capital. "This is a tragic reminder of the urgency of finding a political solution and securing a nationwide ceasefire," O'Brien said. During his visit, O'Brien met with residents of Waer, a neighborhood in the central city of Homs where rebels and the regime recently entered a U.N.-administered ceasefire. He also met Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and other senior officials. O'Brien said the U.N. had been able to deliver lifesaving aid to the district for the first time since January.According to O'Brien, nearly three-quarters of Syria's six million internally displaced people have no access to drinking water, and two million children are out of school. "This situation is unacceptable. A blot on our collective conscience," O'Brien said.

Teacher Attacked in Paris Suburb by Man Citing IS 'Warning'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 14/15/A teacher in a Paris suburb was attacked Monday by a man wielding a box cutter and scissors who cited the Islamic State jihadist group, sources in the police and prosecutor's office said. The assault comes after the Islamic State in November urged its followers to kill teachers in the French education system for teaching secularism and being "in open war against the Muslim family". The 45-year-old man was stabbed in the side and throat while preparing for his class at a school in Aubervilliers, northeast of Paris, but his life was not in danger, a police source said.
The attacker was dressed in overalls and a balaclava and arrived without a weapon but grabbed what appeared to be a box cutter that was lying in the classroom as well as a pair of scissors. According to local prosecutors the man shouted: "This is Daesh. This is a warning." Daesh is another name for IS. The brief exchange was reported by a witness working inside the school. The attacker fled after stabbing the teacher and the probe has been taken over by anti-terrorist investigators. The Islamic State's French-language magazine Dar-al-Islam called in its November edition for its followers to kill teachers in the French education system, describing them as "enemies of Allah". "This education, in the case of France in particular, is a means of propoganda used to impose the corrupt way of thought established by the Judeo-masonry," it said. "Muslims must know the French education system is built against religion and Islam as the only religion of truth cannot cohabit with this fanatic secularism." While the motivations of the attacker were not yet clear, the assault comes as France remains on high alert a month after a wave of shootings and suicide bombings at Paris nightspots killed 130 people and left 350 injured. The November 13 massacre was the second major attack on French soil in less than a year after 17 people were killed when jihadists targeted the Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Jewish supermarket in January. Last month's attacks saw France impose a three-month state of emergency, and led to a Europe-wide manhunt for suspects who may have been involved. Security has also been boosted at schools. Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said the terrorist threat was "real and permanent (and) all public places deserve protection, particularly schools". "We will continue to reinforce security measures at schools in a context where schools feel threatened," she said. In March 2012 jihadist Mohamed Merah killed three children and a teacher outside a Jewish school in an attack which also saw him kill three soldiers.

Some Turkish Troops Pull Out from Camp Outside Iraq's Mosul
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 14/15/ Turkey withdrew troops Monday from a north Iraq camp, a lawmaker and witnesses said, after a deployment which Baghdad said went ahead without its permission and that sparked a diplomatic row. It was not immediately clear how many soldiers were removed from the camp, where Ankara sent troops and tanks on a deployment last week it said was routine and necessary to protect Turkish trainers working with Iraqi forces battling the Islamic State jihadist group. Baghdad has sharply criticized the deployment, terming it an "incursion" that violated the country's sovereignty, repeatedly demanding the forces be withdrawn and complaining to the United Nations Security Council. "The Turkish army withdrew from Camp Zilkan at dawn today, and according to our information, only the trainers remain to train Hashad al-Watani forces," MP Salem al-Shabaki said, referring to anti-IS forces and the site where they were being trained. "Witnesses confirmed that they saw the Turkish army withdrawing from Camp Zilkan... toward the Turkish border," Shabaki said. Turkey's state-run Anatolia news agency quoted military sources as saying that "some of the Turkish troops stationed in Bashiqa have transited to the north as part of a new arrangement." But did not specify if they were moving farther north into Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, the government of which has strong relations with Ankara, or leaving altogether. Anatolia said the troops were carried in a convoy of 10-12 military vehicles but did not give further details on numbers. Witnesses in Dohuk province in Iraqi Kurdistan reported seeing Turkish military equipment being moved on transport trucks towards the border. "I saw these vehicles... which were carrying heavy weapons with Turkish flags on them," one witness said on condition of anonymity, but it was unclear if it was a partial or complete withdrawal. "About six o'clock this morning, I saw transport trucks carrying tanks and armored vehicles with Turkish flags on them going toward the Ibrahim Khalil crossing" leading from Iraq to Turkey, another witness said. A senior Turkish official said last week that between 150 and 300 soldiers and 20 tanks were deployed to protect Turkish military trainers at a camp near Mosul, the main IS hub in Iraq. But the deployment outraged the federal Iraqi government, which repeatedly demanded that Ankara withdraw the forces. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu last week sent two of the most powerful men in Turkish foreign policy -- foreign ministry under-secretary Feridun Sinirlioglu and intelligence chief Hakan Fidan -- to Baghdad in a bid to settle the tensions. Davutoglu said subsequently an agreement had been reached on a "reorganization" of the Turkish troops. But it was never made clear what form this would take.

IS Executes Two for 'Witchcraft', 'Spying' in Libya
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 14/15/The Islamic State jihadist group has executed a woman for "witchcraft" and a man accused of spying in its Libyan stronghold, news agencies close to the country's rival authorities said Monday. IS beheaded the Moroccan woman in a public square and shot dead a Palestinian man for alleged spying in the coastal city of Sirte, said the agency close to the internationally recognised government. The jihadists also chopped off a Libyan's hand for stealing, witnesses told it and a rival Tripoli-based news agency. Libya has had rival administrations since August 2014, when an Islamist-backed militia alliance overran Tripoli, forcing the government to take refuge in the east. IS has exploited chaos and insecurity in Libya since the 2011 fall of Moamer Kadhafi to extend its influence in the North African country. The group claimed control of Sirte, Kadhafi's hometown some 430 kilometres (260 miles) east of the capital, in June. The group is trying to spread toward Ajdabiya, a city controlled by loyalist forces and located between Sirte and Benghazi in an area where most of the country's oil and gas terminals are located. According to a U.N. report issued in December, IS has between 2,000 and 3,000 fighters in Libya, including 1,500 in Sirte. But the jihadists face "strong resistance from the population as well as difficulties in building and maintaining local alliances", the report said.

Merkel wants to ‘drastically reduce’ refugee arrivals
Reuters, Karlsruhe – GermanyMonday, 14 December 2015/German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she wanted to “drastically decrease” the number of refugees coming to Germany, signaling a compromise to critics of her open-door policy from within her conservatives on the eve of a party congress.
Merkel has resisted pressure from allies within her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to put a cap on the number of refugees entering Germany, which is expected to top 1 million this year. “At the same time we took on board the concerns of the people, who are worried about the future, and this means we want to reduce, we want to drastically decrease the number of people coming to us,” Merkel told broadcaster ARD. Merkel, whose popularity has fallen over her handling of the refugee crisis, said the word “limit” did not feature in the CDU’s main resolution which will be debated at the two-day party congress starting on Monday in the southern city of Karlsruhe. The chancellor added there was broad support in the CDU for her strategy to reduce the numbers. This included working with Turkey to fight traffickers, improving the situation at Syrian refugee camps in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, and strengthening control of the European Union’s outer borders. Merkel’s conservative critics want her to get the number of arrivals down before three state elections in March and say her hopes of running for a fourth term in 2017 would be in danger. Her strategy also includes finding a solution to the migration crisis on the EU level, where she is meeting resistance from member states opposed to a quota system to distribute refugees. Her critics say her decision in late August to allow Syrian asylum seekers to remain in Germany regardless which EU country they had first entered had accelerated the influx of migrants.

Two Swedes sentenced to life for ‘terror crimes’ in Syria
AFP, Stockholm Monday, 14 December 2015/A Swedish court on Monday sentenced two men to life in prison for "terror crimes" in connection with two murders committed in Syria in 2013, the court announced. Hassan al-Mandlawi, 32, and Al-Amin Sultan, 30, both Swedish nationals, were in the court in southwestern Goteborg for the sentencing over their role in the April 2013 decapitation of two people in Syria's second city of Aleppo.

Egypt Says Still No Proof 'Terrorist' Attack Downed Russia Plane
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 14/Egypt said Monday it still has no evidence to back up Moscow's analysis that a "terrorist" attack had downed a Russian passenger plane at the end of October in the Sinai. The jihadist Islamic State group said it smuggled a bomb on board that blew up the Russian jet on October 31, killing all 224 people on board. On November 17, Moscow said an investigation had found that the plane which took off from the Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh was brought down by a bomb on board, a view shared by aviation experts. "The technical committee has not received to date any indication of the presence of illicit meddling or a terrorist action," said Ayman el-Mokkadem, the Egyptian head of a probe into the crash. "The committee continues its work concerning the technical investigation," he said in a statement released by the civil aviation ministry. The A-321 airliner operated by Russia's Metrojet and bound for Saint Petersburg broke up mid-air over the Sinai, minutes after take-off. The wreckage fell several kilometers (miles) across North Sinai -- the bastion of the Egyptian branch of the Islamic State. Days after the crash, Moscow halted all Russian flights to and from Egypt. Britain too has suspended air links with Sharm el-Sheikh. "I can only recall the conclusion of our experts and our special services that indicates it was really a terrorist act," Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said, reacting to Mokkadem's remarks. On November 17, Russia's President Vladimir Putin announced that Russian investigators had found evidence of a bomb on board, and vowed to punish the attackers. "We will search for them anywhere they might hide. We will find them in any part of the world and punish them," he said. The same day, Russian security chief Alexander Bortnikov said the passenger jet was brought down by a bomb with a force equivalent to one kilogram (two pounds) of TNT. "We can say unequivocally that this was a terrorist attack," he said. "Investigation carried out on all objects (personal belongings of passengers, baggage and parts of the aircraft) showed traces of foreign-made explosives," Bortnikov said at the time. From the start Egypt has said there was no evidence that it was a bomb that brought the plane down, wary of the impact on its tourism sector, a cornerstone of its economy already hit by years of political turmoil. Cairo also denies there was any laxity when it came to checking passengers or baggage at its airports. Soon after the crash London and Moscow repatriated tens of thousands of its citizens who were holidaying in Sharm el-Sheikh. Millions of tourists, mostly Britons and Russians, flock to Sharm el-Sheikh round the year attracted by its pristine beaches, warm weather and diving sites. Based on information gathered by their intelligence services, Washington and London say it was likely a bomb had caused the crash. But Egyptian media outlets dismissed such reports as part of a Western "conspiracy" aimed at harming the country's tourism sector.

Saudi Commander, UAE Officer Killed in Yemen Fighting
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 14/A top Saudi commander and an Emirati officer were killed in Yemen Monday during Arab coalition operations against Iran-backed rebels, the Riyadh-led alliance said. Saudi Colonel Abdullah al-Sahyan and Emirati officer Sultan al-Kitbi were killed at dawn on Monday "while they were carrying out their duties in supervising operations to liberate Taez" province in Yemen's southwest, the official SPA news agency said. A Yemeni officer told Agence France Presse that both officers were killed when rebels fired a rocket at a coastal road in the strategic province, which overlooks the Bab al-Mandab Strait between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The rebels claimed in a statement on their sabanews.net website that they have fired a Tochka missile against "a command centre run by the enemy" in the Bab al-Mandab area. The rebels claimed the attack caused "many losses in lives and military equipment," including Apache helicopters, among the Saudi-led coalition ranks. AFP could not immediately confirm these claims from other sources. The coalition has been battling Iran-backed rebels in Yemen since March, and has provided loyalist forces with troops and equipment as well as carrying out air strikes on insurgent positions. Sahyan on Saturday met Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi who awarded him with a medal of courage, according to Yemen's official sabanew.net. He was identified as commander of the Saudi forces in provisional capital Aden, where Hadi is based. The United Arab Emirates, playing a key role in the Saudi-led coalition, confirmed the death of its officer without specifying his rank. In early September, a similar rebel missile strike on a coalition base in Yemen's eastern Marib province killed 67 coalition soldiers, most of them Emiratis. So far at least 80 people, mostly soldiers and border guards, have been killed in Saudi Arabia because of the Yemen conflict. The UAE says it has lost almost 70 soldiers so far. Several Bahraini troops and one Qatari soldier have been killed as part of the coalition operations. In Yemen itself, the United Nations says more than 5,800 people have been killed, about half of them civilians, and more than 27,000 wounded since March.

U.S. Calls First Saudi Poll Open to Women 'Historic Milestone'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 14/The United States on Sunday welcomed Saudi Arabia's first ever election open to female voters and candidates, calling it a historic milestone. At least 14 women won municipal council seats in Saturday's poll, far exceeding expectations in the ultra-conservative kingdom. "The participation of women represents an important step forward in Saudi Arabia toward a more inclusive electoral process that will ensure all citizens are represented in a government accountable to all Saudi citizens," State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. "As we have long said, the inclusion of all citizens in voting and governance is critical to the prosperity, stability, and peace of all nations, and we welcome this historic milestone."More than 900 women were among the 6,440 candidates standing for seats on 284 councils. However, they had to overcome a number of obstacles to participate. Female candidates could not meet face-to-face with male voters during campaigning, while neither men nor women could publish their pictures. Women voters said registration was hindered by factors including bureaucratic obstacles and a lack of transportation. As a result, women accounted for less than 10 percent of registered voters. Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy with some of the world's tightest restrictions on women, including a ban on driving. It was the last country to allow only men to vote, and polling stations were segregated.

Turkey misfires in Iraq
Week in Review/Al-Monitor/December 14/15
Turkey’s not-so-hidden agenda
Turkey’s military deployment in Bashiqa, near Mosul, Iraq, on Dec. 3, provoked another self-imposed crisis for the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
This column reported two weeks ago that Turkey was more isolated than ever following its shooting down of a Russian fighter jet on Nov. 24. But once in a hole, it seems, Erdogan cannot stop digging. The military deployment of 400 troops and 25 tanks to a Turkish training camp for Iraqi and Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces in Bashiqa to battle the Islamic State (IS) was considered by Baghdad as beyond the scope of "training." Semih Idiz suggests that Turkey’s deployment was a likely attempt by Erdogan “to establish a Sunni sphere of influence in and around Mosul.” Metin Gurcan adds that in addition to seeking to “be among the key actors to decide on the future of Mosul,” Turkey is seeking to balance Iranian influence and “is particularly uneasy with the PKK [Kurdistan Workers Party] gains in Iraq and Syria. Turkey wants to militarily dominate the Shengal region, which has been a bridge between the PKK and the Kurdish nationalist Democratic Union Party [PYD] in Syria, to cripple that link.”
The Turkish action elicited a formal protest from the Iraqi government and provoked a wave of denunciations and demonstrations led by Iraq’s Shiite political parties and militias, including a condemnation from Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Iraq’s most influential Shiite cleric. Fehim Tastekin reports that “among Iraqi political circles, Turkey’s policies are held responsible for the fall of Mosul and empowerment of IS.”
Erdogan termed Iraq’s complaint to the United Nations “not a sincere step,” adding that Turkey does not have the “luxury” to wait for the Iraqi central government on threats to Turkish national security.
Russia immediately and formally jumped to Iraq’s defense against what it termed Turkey’s “illegal intrusion” into Iraqi territory, accelerating the free fall in Ankara-Moscow ties over their policies in Syria. Kadri Gursel explains that Russia is succeeding in isolating Turkey. “As a prerequisite for the Russian intervention to achieve its goals, Moscow seems to have decided that Ankara should be deterred by any means necessary from maintaining its current Syria policy, and shaped its game plan around this political objective. Russia thus used crisis engineering to drag Turkey into a confrontation, which, at the end of the day, would be detrimental to Turkey,” writes Gursel.
The time may be coming for Turkey to make a choice between its "surface policy" of support for the global coalition against IS, and its “hidden policy" of taking out Assad, breaking the PKK and PYD, and promoting a fundamentalist Sunni Islam that matches the orientation of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). This "hidden policy," however, is hard to hide, and is more like an open secret. The miscalculations with regard to Russia and Iraq are increasingly alarming, with potentially devastating consequences. Such moves might, for example, push Russia and Iran to encourage direct or indirect actions where these Turkish forces start taking casualties. The Iraqi protests against Turkey could foreshadow a Hezbollah-type Iraqi resistance movement, extremely well armed and trained, merged somehow with the ever-ready forces linked to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Turkey has already drawn first blood with Russia. Meanwhile, Turkey makes its way to the agenda of the UN Security Council, not only for its recent actions in Iraq, but also for its possible violations of Security Council resolutions dealing with foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria. Gursel reminds us of what is now an open secret: “Without Turkish soil being available for the indiscriminate use of jihadists since 2011, the conditions that gave rise to IS would have not taken hold in northern Syria, and IS would have not grown strong enough to become a major security threat for the whole world.”
There are reports that Turkey may be seeking to defuse the crisis by placing the training camp under the authority of the anti-IS coalition and seeking deeper cooperation with Iraq on border security and intelligence cooperation. If so, all to the good, as this column has been calling for such cooperation since January 2014. The burden, of course, is on Erdogan to finally step back from his not-so-hidden disastrous and sectarian approach to the region, and join the global coalition against IS without the caveats and feints that have characterized Turkish policy to date.
Turkey’s Kurds express "simmering anger" against state
Turkey’s intervention in Iraq comes in the context of an escalation in its war against the PKK. Irfan Aktan writes that the killing of Kurdish human rights lawyer Tahir Elci on Nov. 28, in the context of a massive government campaign targeting the PKK, “has stoked not only fear but also a simmering anger against the state in the region.”
Aktan writes, “The toll from the clashes since July is indeed dramatic, though it varies according to sources. At least 14 districts have seen around-the-clock curfews, including Diyarbakir’s Sur district where Elci was gunned down. According to daily reports by the Turkish Human Rights Foundation, at least 67 civilians and members of the PKK’s youth branches have been killed in places under curfew. The Human Rights Association, for its part, tallies 63 summary executions, 43 unsolved killings as well as 10 civilians, 105 members of the security forces and 104 PKK militants killed in armed clashes in the southeast in the first nine months of the year. According to pro-government media, 925 people, mostly PKK members, were killed between July 22 and Oct. 14. Some 3,600 people were detained in security operations, including 864 who were put behind bars to await trial. The pro-government media do not shy away from revealing that the death toll includes 169 civilians, among them seven children.”
Aktan concludes, “Given that government officials keep pledging an unrelenting security crackdown in the southeast, ‘democratic Turkey’ remains an unrealistic prospect for Turkey’s Kurds in the near future. Whether they come to see independence as a more realistic option in light of developments in Iraqi Kurdistan and Rojava (the term Kurds use to refer to western Kurdistan in Syria) will again depend on how the AKP government and the state treat them.”
Is Iraq facing a "long ethnic war"?
Mohammed Salih writes, “The escalation of the conflict between Turkish security forces and the PKK has put the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq in a tough position, adding another potential element of instability to the difficult circumstances it is already grappling with. The Iraqi Kurds are faced with the threat posed by IS along a frontier of over 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) and are gripped with a serious economic crisis. The spillover of the PKK-Turkish conflict into Iraqi Kurdish territory presents another major challenge for the KRG.”
Barzani’s alignment with Turkey is unpopular with most Iraqi Kurds, who support the PKK and the Syrian PYD. It should not be surprising that there is little "grass-roots" support for Turkey in Iraqi Kurdistan. This all occurs in the midst of a political and economic crisis in Iraqi Kurdistan, including declining oil prices and no trust or traction in dealings with Baghdad. Denise Natali wrote in September, “As the financial crisis deepens, corruption continues, political legitimacy is ignored and calls for decentralization go unheeded, the KRG may have an administrative breakup, even in de-facto form.”
Ethnic tensions seem to be approaching a full boil across Iraq. Mohammed A. Salih, reporting from Sinjar, Iraq, explains how “competing interests and agendas present a major challenge to the future stability of the Yazidi-dominated region.”
“Although senior Iraqi-Kurdish political and military leaders alleged the ground leg of the offensive was solely carried out by the peshmerga forces, the PKK, its allies and some smaller Yazidi groups such as the Ezidkhan Protection Force (HPE), played a significant role in forcing IS out of Sinjar,” he writes.
Salih explains, "When IS attacked Sinjar in 2014, peshmerga forces abandoned their positions leading to widespread atrocities against the religious minority by the jihadist organization. That disaster created a rift between certain segments of the Yazidi community and the KDP [Kurdistan Democratic Party], led by Massoud Barzani, whose tenure as the president of the Kurdistan region is currently disputed by some Kurdish factions that say his term has expired. The KDP had tried to mend fences with the Yazidi community ever since, by assigning a more prominent role and authority to figures such as Qasim [Shesho]. There are still around a dozen Yazidi districts and villages south of Sinjar in IS hands, but conflicting visions between Kurdish and Yazidi groups as to how to administer post-IS Sinjar are well underway. During a victory press conference on Nov. 13 near the town of Sinjar, Barzani promised to exert efforts to turn Sinjar into a province inside Iraqi Kurdistan's territory.”
Adnan Abu Zeed reports on clashes between peshmerga and Arab and Turkmen forces in the multi-ethnic city of Tuz Khormato, still nominally under the control of the central government in what is known as the "disputed territories" in Iraq. The animosity in the disputed areas has spread to the Iraqi capital. Abu Zeed writes that “attacks were conducted Nov. 29 in Baghdad against the Kurds, as armed groups affiliated with Shiite factions coerced Kurdish families from their houses and asked them to travel toward the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, in the north of Iraq. The Kurds strongly condemned the action, which was followed by meetings between both sides in Baghdad mediated by Iran and parties within the Iraqi government. The result was a relative calm in Tuz Khormato.”
Abu Zeed speculates that distrust of Iraqi Kurds is rising and that “the Kurdish [KRG peshmerga] forces’ control of the disputed areas could spark a long ethnic war, most notably over Kirkuk, after IS is forced out of the Iraqi territory. Based on that, some people might be skeptical of the KRG's claim that it intends to end the fighting against IS. Some, in fact, suspect just the opposite: that the KRG is seeking to extend the fighting, to consolidate the Kurdish presence in the disputed areas, including Tuz Khormato.”
Meanwhile, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a bill to directly arm the Iraqi Kurdish forces, requiring the United States to only "consult" with Baghdad. The legislation was slammed by the Iraqi Embassy in Washington as “unwise and unnecessary,” adding in a statement that the bill promotes “artificial divisions among Iraqis [that] can only distract from the struggle against our common enemy,” as reported by Julian Pecquet.
Russia rejects "terrorists" in Syrian opposition
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Dec. 12, that it “cannot agree with an attempt made by the group that gathered in Riyadh to monopolise the right to speak on behalf of the entire Syrian opposition.”
Russia rejects “terrorists of all stripes” participating in the Syrian political process. The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is tasked, per the Vienna declarations, with considering which Syrian armed groups are "terrorists" and therefore excluded from the negotiations. Russia considers Ahrar al-Sham and Jaish al-Fatah as worthy of consideration as potential terrorist entities. Moscow’s position is that UN Syria envoy Staffa de Mistura, not Saudi Arabia, should convene the Syrian parties, as stipulated in the Vienna accords.
This column has registered concerns for nearly two years about a trend toward the mainstreaming of Salafi groups, including Ahrar al-Sham.
Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the head of Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, condemned the Riyadh meeting, declaring it a “plot” that must be “foiled.” A question is whether those groups that collaborate with Jabhat al-Nusra “on the ground,” such as Jaish al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham, will cut their Jabhat al-Nusra ties, or succumb to Jabhat al-Nusra’s pressure to resist political negotiations, or perhaps split themselves into factions. There is also the possibility that the Saudi initiative could lead to an open war between IS and Jabhat al-Nusra on the one hand, and the other factions that participated in the Saudi meeting on the other.

Will Russia's economic restrictions on Turkey backfire?
Mehmet Cetingulec/Al-Monitor/December 14/15
Turkey’s downing of a Russian jet in November tanked the phenomenally growing economic relations between the two countries.
Following the incident, Russia announced economic sanctions banning imports from Turkey of fresh fruit, vegetables, poultry, salt and cloves beginning Jan. 1.
Russia’s reactions have not been confined to economic sanctions. Almost immediately, Turkish businessmen visiting Russia were detained, restrictions were imposed on Turkish workers and visa-free visits to Russia will end Jan. 1. Russia officially called on its citizens not to go to Turkey, canceled charter flights, excluded Turkish companies from tenders and terminated military cooperation between the two countries.
Apparently these serious measures were not enough to soothe the Russian administration’s anger.
"Those who committed this treachery will get the punishment they deserve," Russian air force Cmdr. Viktor Bondarev said at the funeral of the Russian pilot killed over Turkey.
A few days later Putin declared, "We will not forget the shooting down of our plane. Turkey will regret what it did.” Although many felt that a military threat lurked behind his words, Putin stressed that Russia is not considering military options against Turkey.
Besides military options, Russia’s strongest card against Turkey is natural gas. Russia had started the Turkish Stream pipeline project to deliver natural gas to Europe via Ukraine. The project was designed to move more than 60 billion cubic meters of gas annually via four pipes to meet the gas demands of Europe and Turkey. It was to make Turkey a major player in the energy market.
Negotiations over the project have halted, though there has been no official declaration yet that it is scrapped. Nevertheless, Turkey, which consumes 50 billion cubic meters of gas annually, is preparing to deal with the demise of the project. It also recognizes the possibility that Russia could interrupt its annual delivery of 26 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey with excuses of maintenance and breakdowns. Turkey’s natural gas storage capacity is the lowest in Europe, and it needs a regular influx of gas.
It is of vital importance for Turkey to find alternative sources for its natural gas needs.
On Dec. 2, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Qatar and signed a long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) purchase agreement. In a similar effort, Turkey's government-owned BOTAS Petroleum Pipeline Corporation announced it will soon ask for bids for a new natural gas pipeline from northern Iraq.
On Dec. 3, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu went to Azerbaijan to discuss expediting construction of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), which is to supply 16 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey and Europe annually starting in 2018.
Speaking on Haberturk TV, Davutoglu assessed the possibility of reductions in natural gas imports, saying, “I don’t think Russia will take such an action. We have mutual rights and obligations based on international legality. This is not about buying personal attire."
"But we have to be prepared for the worst possibility. That is why I have instructed the Energy Ministry to work on alternatives,” he said, adding that the ministry will study the possibility of increasing the amount of natural gas and LNG bought from Iran and Azerbaijan, among other options.
Asked about Russia’s embargo on Turkish fruits and vegetables, Davutoglu said, “Turkey has no problem finding markets in the world. We can sell them elsewhere. Our first decision will be to recover the fruits and vegetables stuck in Russian customs to prevent their perishing.”
Can Turkey make use of the natural gas reserves discovered by Egypt and Israel? Former BOTAS CEO Gokhan Yardim told Al-Monitor, “We don’t have good relations with Egypt. [Crossing] Turkey is the most economical way of carrying Israeli gas to Europe. They were discussing it with four or five of our private companies, but they stopped. Israel has now overcome its legal problems with a law signed by [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu. I think the process can move forward.
"The improvement of relations between the two countries is important also for progress on this project. Although the Russian leadership appears to have lost its senses, I don’t think it will go as far as annulling natural gas accords. If that happens, already-negative views about Russian gas in Europe will get worse," he added.
Yardim said the option that could be implemented most quickly is northern Iraq's natural gas. “We are told that the gas flow can start in 2016 or 2017 at the latest. In 2020, this pipeline will be carrying 20 billion cubic meters of gas, half of which would be sent on to Europe,” he said.
Antalya is the Turkish province that exports the most fruits and vegetables to Russia. It also attracts the most Russian tourists and real estate buyers and hosts the most Russian-Turkish marriages.
Cetin Osman Budak, an opposition Republican People's Party deputy from Antalya, researched the costs to Turkey of shooting down the Russian jet. He explained what might happen if relations are totally severed:
“Our exports to Russia total $6 billion. We make about $6 billion from 4.5 million Russian tourists. In 2014, they spent about $8.5 billion for personal apparel purchases, which they then sell in Russia. Our contractors are doing $2.3 billion worth of work in Russia. When you add all these, our loss will be far above $20 billion. Antalya was doing most of the fresh fruit and vegetable exports to Russia. Exports have stopped. The produce is either on trees or in storage. Hotels have cut their prices by half. There will be unemployment in tourism, agriculture and textiles. This is a disaster situation.”
But the deputy prime minister in charge of the economy, Mehmet Simsek, is not so pessimistic. Simsek said even in the worst-case scenario, Turkey’s loss would peak at $9 billion.
Looking at the trade volume between the two countries, Turkey exported $6 billion in goods last year, while Russia sold to Turkey a total of $25.3 billion worth of goods, including $16 billion worth of natural gas.
Turkey is now monitoring Russia's moves. If relations don’t improve through diplomacy, Turkey can initiate countermoves. Erdogan's assertion that it was Turkey that suspended the Turkish Stream project could predict moves to follow.
True, Russia buys $6 billion in goods from Turkey, but it also sells to Turkey $9 billion of goods, apart from natural gas.
If Turkey extends its search for alternative sources to the commodities it used to buy from Russia, the already-troubled Russian economy could suffer at least as much as the Turkish.
But the crisis has a silver lining: It has shown Turkey the gross strategic mistake of becoming so dependent on Russia.

Dangers of relying on Iran’s Revolutionary Guard in war on ISIS
Raghida Dergham/Al Arabiya/December 14/15
If the major world powers, especially the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, do not admit to their role in creating the ISIS phenomenon, their promise to fight this group cannot be taken seriously. If these countries continue to be in denial about what it will really take to eliminate ISIS, in terms of its regional alliances, recruitment capacity, and mobilization of Sunni Arabs, then Shia Arabs will find themselves as bait in a trap. The effort to tackle ISIS will thus remain purely Machiavellian and historically shortsighted, and will increase the risk of retaliation against these countries as ISIS grows and metastasizes.
Terror recently struck in California after Paris, and could strike soon in London, Moscow, or even Beijing and Washington if the five permanent Security Council members do not stop burying their heads in the sand and pretend they are innocent of the sin of creating ISIS and similar organizations. No one is innocent of the creation of jihadist groups and using them as tools for various agendas. Many Arab countries are also responsible - together with Iran, Turkey, Israel, Pakistan and others - for the creation of terror groups, beginning with al-Qaeda born out of the international partnership that fostered Islamic fundamentalism in the fight against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
The U.S. role
No one is innocent of the creation of jihadist groups and using them as tools for various agendas. And all sides are fully aware of what it would take to defeat ISIS and its ilk. The problem is that all major players, regionally and internationally, are comfortable as long as the war is being fought away from their cities – over “there”, in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Yemen. The problem is that all players seem uninterested in developing timetables and practical strategies with specific goals for varying reasons.Some admission of error is useful here to avoid worse outcomes. However, I address today specifically the U.S. role, given the intensifying debate that seems to ignore the background and implications of successive U.S. entanglements.
Trump’s infinite arrogance
The Donald Trump phenomenon is astonishing, not least because of his infinite arrogance and his unnatural popularity. Trump, despite repeatedly crossing the line and engaging in blunt incitement, continues to lead Republican presidential nomination polls. His popularity stems mainly from the resentment felt by broad segments of the American people towards the political establishment, beginning with Democratic President Barack Obama and presumed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, who has been accused alongside the Bush family of trying to create a “political dynasty”. Yet the fear among Americans of a repetition of the 9/11 attacks is the main issue that Trump seems to be exploiting to mobilize U.S. public opinion and rally it behind him against “Islamic terrorism”.
San Bernardino
The terrorist attack by a Muslim couple in San Bernardino was the first major terror attack on U.S. soil since al-Qaeda attacked New York and Washington 14 years ago. Donald Trump saw this as an opportunity not to be missed, and called for a full ban on the entry of Muslims to the United States. Before he made this call, the billionaire, despite having longstanding financial ties to Arab and Muslim business people, had also incited against Muslims by claiming many in New Jersey celebrated when 9/11 struck. Regardless of whether this ambitious man is a dangerous clown, a gifted actor, or a serious presidential candidate, the fact that a large segment of Republicans enthusiastically supports him is proof of the naivety and denial of many Americans. History did not start with Trump, and time will eventually tell how dangerous the roles played by the U.S. were in creating Islamic fundamentalism and inciting Sunni-Shia strife from the late 1970s to the present day.
The Carter, Reagan years
The peaceful President and Nobel Prize-laureate Jimmy Carter served one term in the White House, from 1977 to 1981. Under his tenure, the Iranian revolution of 1979 took place giving birth to the Islamic Republic ruled by Shia mullahs led by Ayatollah Khomeini, who toppled the Shah of Iran. During Carter’s presidency, Afghanistan was also invaded by the Soviet Union. Republican President Ronald Reagan then launched several demarches towards Tehran, most notably through the so-called Contra-Iran deal/scandal. But most prominently, Reagan mobilized and trained jihadists using the CIA, in collaboration with Pakistan and various Arab countries against “atheist communism”, ultimately leading to the collapse of the Soviet Union after its defeat in Afghanistan. But after the jihadists completed their mission, Washington abandoned them – even though they had thought they were allies of the United States. And thus al-Qaeda was born. Under Reagan (1981-1989), the Iraq-Iran war raged and escalated, with the U.S. supporting the late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The U.S. deliberately inflamed a sectarian conflict between the Sunni-led regime in Iraq and the Shia-led regime in Iran. Officially, Washington backed Iraq while unofficially courting the mullahs in Tehran.
From Bush to Clinton
Then under George Bush (1989-1993), the second Gulf War erupted when Saddam invaded Kuwait – some say with a nudge from the U.S. ambassador on the eve of his adventure in 1990. Under the Democratic President Bill Clinton (1993-2000), Washington officially turned against its former ally and continued to woo Iran. President George W. Bush entered the White House in 2001 and left in 2009, after waging two wars, which he said were in retaliation for 9/11. But instead of focusing on al-Qaeda, the Bush administration decided to get rid of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein in Iraq on grounds that turned out to be falsified. What George W. Bush did in Iraq and Afghanistan amounted to getting rid of the enemies of the mullahs in Tehran – and giving them Iraq on a platter of gold. Thus Washington compensated Tehran for its actions during the Iraq-Iran war, this time playing the Shia card as opposed to the Sunni card it played in favor of Saddam Hussein. Yet one of the most far-reaching things Bush did was to dismantle the Iraqi army under the pretext of de-Baathification. This unleashed Shia retaliation against the Sunni-led tyranny of Saddam Hussein. This led to the formation of the nucleus of what later became ISIS, and Saddam’s henchmen are probably part of the senior leadership of the radical Sunni group.
Barack Obama’s turn
The Democrat Barack Obama continued the Republican George W. Bush started in terms of the détente with Iran. They both turned a blind eye to the fact that the mullah-led regime was the first theocracy in the region. Barack Obama turned a blind eye to all Iranian violations in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon. He then recognized the legitimacy of the mullahs’ regime, recognized Iran’s right to nuclear enrichment, and pledged not to intervene in Iranian internal affairs under any circumstances, as well as acknowledging a regional role for the mullahs beyond the borders of their state. All this certainly inflamed Sunni-Shia strife, especially since Iran is fighting alongside Bashar al-Assad in Syria and supporting Shia militias in Iraq. The purpose of this background is to recall the history of U.S. administrations in the Middle East and with Muslims in general, and not to exonerate Muslims or Arabs from the terror attacks of 9/11 and the terror of al-Qaeda and ISIS. The purpose is to warn against papering-over history and denying U.S. responsibility in creating Sunni and Shia fundamentalism and terrorism.
Sunni Arabs’ role
The continuous fueling of Sunni-Shia strife will backfire on Iranian and Arab Shias, no matter how much Iran and its allies seem reassured by the partnership with the U.S.. For one thing, it will lead to more Sunni terrorism against the U.S.-Russian-Iranian alliance. It follows that defeating ISIS requires rallying Sunni Arabs against it. However, this is impossible for Arab leaders to achieve, as long as the Sunnis feel that their marginalization in their countries is backed by the U.S., and that they are secondary to the de-facto alliances between Washington and Tehran, and Moscow and Tehran. No victory can be achieved by allying with the Shia militias and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps. No victory can be achieved against Sunni terrorism without Sunni Arabs. U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter seemed very weak as he faced the interrogation Senate committee chaired by Senator John McCain. His answers were superficial and vague, even as he offered U.S. support in the Battle of Ramadi to the Iraqi government. Carter challenged the Gulf states, the official U.S. allies in the international coalition, by saying that Iran is militarily present on the ground, and while they were not. That was a recognition that U.S. policy is not, as was thought, random. It’s well thought out, which is dangerous. The problem is that Washington is fully aware of the urgent need for the Sunni element in the partnership against ISIS, but chooses not to do what is needed to convince the necessary partners to join that partnership.
What Washington needs to think about it is to stop propping up the Islamic Republic of Iran to assume a leadership position in the Arab Middle East. By doing so, the U.S. is implicating Iranian and Arab Shias inadvertently, if not deliberately. It is paving the way for terrorism to come to the U.S., no matter how unlikely this may seem today. Iran is an ancient country with a historic and permanent place in the Middle East map and status. The problem is that Iran is a theocracy being encouraged by the East and the West, which are blessing the exportation of its model to the Arab countries while considering it an alternative partner to the truly indispensable partner if defeating ISIS is indeed a serious goal. Some acknowledgment of the facts is necessary, and the time has come to refrain from papering over history no matter how comfortable this may be.

Tunisia’s noble success, where many have failed
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/December 14/15
The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet in October. It was awarded to people who worked to prevent their country from falling into the abyss due to the winds of change during the Arab Spring. What the people of Tunisia accomplished speaks for itself, Nobel Prize aside. Taking a look at what’s happening in neighboring countries, like Libya, for example, is enough to tell you that. Tunisia has walked the same path as Libya but it did not collapse into the abyss. The road is long and a Nobel award in itself does not produce results.The country is currently stable thanks to the agreement of the Tunisian brothers who – despite not being able to agree on anything before – decided to sit and work together in what marked a defining moment. So thank you to Tunisia’s politicians, parties, intellectuals, institutions, organizations and syndicates for producing the reconciliation, and accepting the minimum of their wishes so they can all be partners in the country. Tunisia and its people became admirable because it’s the only Arab country to walk the path of change with the least amount of chaos and relapses. This is in addition to the fact that Tunisia set the first sparks of the Arab Spring.
Long road to reconciliation
The head of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee considers Tunisia a country that serves as an example. But the road is long and a Nobel award in itself does not produce results. Yielding results requires a determination to continue the country’s reconciliatory project, a commitment to respecting the constitution, and the acceptance of election results. It is a task that requires patience and continuous sacrifice. Tunisia is a country that does not have a lot of economic resources. A terrorist attack or an explosion is thus enough to sabotage sources of livelihood. It is however not enough to harm the social and political fabric, which is the only safety net. Political groups that reject the project of a modern Tunisia attempted to resort to violence but failed to sabotage the new regime. The Nobel Prize here represents a global recognition of what the Tunisian people did to confront chaos, choose reconciliation and unite against terrorism.
But why has Tunisia succeeded while the rest of the Arab Spring countries have not? What makes Tunisia’s Islamists, liberals and leftists finally able to agree on a formula for co-existence, and on basic principles to resort to in parliament and when implementing the constitution? The question I’m asking those whom justify chaos, and like to blame others, is this: Why have the other countries which passed through what Tunisia passed through in 2011 failed?

Where is the Islamic State’s oil going?
Ana Maria Luca/Now Lebanon/December 14/15
Moscow says it’s Ankara that is in business with the Islamic State, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s son himself buying cheap oil from the jihadists and selling it on the black market. Washington says that it’s the Syrian regime that technically depends on the oil pumped by ISIS. US Treasury Department official Adam Szubin said militants were selling as much as $40 million of oil a month at the installations which is then trucked across the battlefields of the Syrian civil war and sometimes further. How the Islamic State extracts Syrian oil and sells it on the black market to fund its jihadist endeavors is no Russian secret. Studiesreleased early this year show that more six months after the Islamic State took over Mosul the jihadists had control of almost all the Syrian oil fields and were making money by selling crude in Iraq, Turkey and Syria.
How important is the oil?
It’s difficult to get precise numbers and percentages from a war zone like Syria, analysts say, but most researchers agree that most of ISIS’s revenue comes from taxation and from the oil it is selling from Deir Ezzor. Over half of the Islamic State’s funding comes from taxation of economic activity and basic services in areas under its control, according to a recent report released by the IHS Inc. intelligence company. The document also states that the monthly revenue of the group totals $80 million. Its business model is largely focused on intermediaries: the militants don’t sell or buy directly; they prefer to take a cut of the trader/smuggler’s profit. Usually this figure is 20% of all services in the territory it controls: electricity, mobile phone networks, internet access, retail, industry and agriculture. Around 43% of its income comes from oil trade. Jihad Yazigi, editor-in-chief of economic magazine Syria Report, told NOW that the Islamic State relies on intermediaries even when it comes to oil. “They extract the oil and sell it to traders who distribute it mostly inside Syria, both regime-controlled and opposition-controlled territory,” he said. “The Syrian regime doesn’t buy directly from the Islamic State, so technically one cannot say that there is a direct agreement in terms of oil.”
ISIS controls most of the oil fields formerly operated by Shell and Total in Deir Ezzor. Prior to the uprising, when production was at its peak, the Syrian regime produced 200,000 barrels a day, mostly for domestic economy needs. ISIS is able to extract between 40,000 and 50,000, Yazigi said. The militants do not transport and sell oil as the Russian officials have suggested with aerial footage of trucks crossing the border into Turkey. Most of the oil fields controlled by ISIS were in the portfolio of Al-Furat Petroleum Company, an affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell. The oil in these fields is low in sulfur and can be easily processed in makeshift refineries in ISIS-controlled territory. Part of this oil is also used to secure local tribal support. “[ISIS] allows Bedouins in Deir Ezzor Province to tap wells, such as the Bar al Milh, Al-Kharata, Amra, Okash, Wadi Jureib, Safeeh, Fahda and other extraction assets near Jebel Bushra. At least nine major tribes have benefited from similar regional-friendly schemes, including Iraqi ones, such as the influential Jabour tribe. As a rule of thumb, a large trailer carrying 30,000 liters of crude can make $4,000 profit in just one journey lasting a few days. The result of this policy is soaring support for the caliphate,” reports show.
Internal use
According to experts, ISIS militants sell the oil they extract directly at the oil field to intermediaries who in turn take it to various markets in Syria — in both government and rebel-controlled areas — Iraq and Turkey. “ISIS also does not seem to have any direct agreement in terms of oil with either the regime or the Turks,” Yazigi said. “It’s the traders who transport the oil to different places. Most of the oil is traded within Syria. A very small quantity is going to Iraq or to Turkey.” Yazigi also says, though, that the gas trade is a different matter. “You can’t put the gas in tankers — you need a pipeline to transport it. In a way, the government itself admitted that it is buying gas from ISIS. The minister of oil recently said that the increased electricity blackouts in Damascus are due to the shortage in production at the Coneco gas plant, which is under ISIS’s control. They said it was because the ‘terrorists destroyed it;’ but, of course it’s the coalition that bombed. It is an admission that they are buying gas from this plant which is controlled by ISIS.” Moreover, Yazigi says the minister also insisted that his ministry’s priority is to ensure the safety of the pipeline that brings oil from the northeastern fields controlled by the Kurds to the Homs refinery. These oil fields are not under ISIS’s control, but the pipeline crosses ISIS territory remains operational only with some form of ISIS approval. Yazigi says this is an indication that there is a form of agreement between the Syrian regime and the Islamic State.
What the airstrikes have accomplished
According to Yazigi, US-led coalition strikes over the past two weeks have damaged the militants’ refining capabilities and the infrastructure used to transport crude across Syria. One problem the coalition is facing is that while striking the oil wells directly could curb ISIS extraction, doing so might also cause permanent damage. According to energy experts, Syria’s oil accounted for just 0.5% of global production in 2010, at its peak. Samer Abboud, associate professor of historical and political studies at Arcadia University, says that this is the main reason the international community did not really foresee the importance of these oil reserves and the impact they would have if taken over by a group like ISIS. Most chanceries panicked in June 2014 when ISIS took Mosul and was marching towards Kirkuk, because Kirkuk hosts the largest oil reserve in the world. “I think the quantity of oil that Syria has is exaggerated,” Abboud said. “The only way to really make money is to take cuts from everybody else that deals with oil. They don’t have the capacity to refine it — they have to collect the money from all sorts of intermediaries. All this talk about a nefarious collusion between countries and groups — between the regime in ISIS; between Turkey and ISIS… It looks like that, but it’s not like they’re sitting in a control room deciding, ‘you get this, I get that.’ It’s happening but it’s very organic, based on what’s happening in the war, and I don’t think that it’s all purposeful. The ISIS main points of contact with the Syrian oil are to control its extraction and tax it on the way out.” And the taxes the Islamic State collects, he says, are difficult to target.
Ana Maria Luca tweets @aml1609.

In Light Of Jordanians Joining Terrorist Organizations, Calls In Jordan To Reform Curricula
By: Z. Harel*/MEMRI
Reform in the Muslim World
December 14, 2015 Inquiry & Analysis Series Report No.1211
Introduction
An issue that concerns Jordanian society lately is the phenomenon of young Jordanians joining the terrorist organizations that are fighting in Syria and Iraq, especially the Islamic State (ISIS). In October, it was reported that the son of Jordanian MP Mazen Al-Dhalaein had carried out a suicide bombing in Syria after leaving medical school and joining ISIS.[1] In November, the media reported on two further cases: a young woman in her twenties who tried to join the organization but was caught by the authorities in Turkey and returned to Jordan,[2] and a young Jordanian who joined ISIS and later defected and came back home.[3] According to unofficial statistics, about 4,000 young Jordanians have so far joined the armed organizations in Syria and Iraq, a figure that places Jordan second only to Tunisia in the number of citizens who have joined these organizations.[4]
As a result, in the recent year, Jordanian op-eds, especially in the independent daily Al-Ghad, have dealt extensively with the possible roots of the phenomenon, asking what makes young Jordanians susceptible to extremist ideology, and stressing in particular the role of the Jordanian education system in this. Articles called to reform the education system and the curricula, arguing that the curricula repress all freedom of thought and creativity, and, even worse, promote extremism and hatred toward the other.
Recently, following the November 13, 2015 terror attack in Paris, criticism in the Jordanian press became even more forceful, with many articles stressing that the struggle against terrorism cannot be waged on the security level alone, but must also involve educational reform. The articles advocated purging the school curricula of ideas that aggrandize death, promote extremism and accuse others of heresy.
In light of the unprecedented level of criticism, the Jordanian ministry of education was forced to respond. It did not deny that the curricula were flawed and clarified that it is currently in the process of amending and reforming them.
The following are translated excerpts from some of the critical articles and from responses by the education ministry and its spokesmen.
From article on Jordanian website titled “The Jordanian Curricula: Do They Contribute to Creating an Extremist Generation?” (Raseef22.com, July 15, 2015)
Former Jordanian Culture Minister: Curricula Must Be Purged Of Ideas That Glorify Death
In an article he published on November 15, 2015, Jordan’s former minister of culture, Sabri Rbeihat, called on Arab society to recognize that terrorism begins with a culture that celebrates death and despises life, and to review the educational and cultural infrastructure in the Arab world in order to understand what drives young people into the arms of the terrorist organizations. He wrote: “Many researchers and analysts are preoccupied with identifying the perpetrators of the attack – their names, their plans, how long the planning took, what elements assisted them, or who failed in their duty to prevent what happened. Many politicians ignore the fact that the problem today lies in the emergence of a new culture that hates life, celebrates death, and attacks and quickly eliminates anything symbolizing liberty, life, and happiness.
“[All] terrorist attacks – those in the past, the Paris attack…, and also all future attacksare preceded by a preparatory stage that includes recruitment, training, and education and sows motivation in the hearts of the perpetrators, provides justification, and gives them skills and tactical abilities to carry out [the attacks].
“The questions we must first and foremost ask ourselves and our societies are: What drives young people to join these organizations? What pretexts do the sheikhs and guides [of these groups] use to uproot mercy and humanity from their hearts? What ideology do they use to justify killing, intimidation, and destruction? And what justifications do they use to make expressions of life and joy the main targets of terrorism, murder, and destruction?
“A definition of terrorism and terrorists as military targets to be bombed by jets and cannon is limited; adhering to [this definition] will not accomplish the goal. [Conversely,] persecuting young people who expressed themselves one way or another, and putting them on trial, is not enough to uproot the motivation [to carry out terrorist attacks] – and could even increase it.
“We must all take a close look at our educational, administrative, political, and cultural reality, in an attempt to track the causes of marginalization and exclusion; we must channel reform programs toward increasing inclusion and providing opportunities, towards overcoming discrimination, towards institutionalizing accountability, and towards purging curricula of ideas that denigrate life, aggrandize death, and accuse others of heresy.”[5]
Jordanian Educator: Our Education Incites To Hatred And Violence; We Must Declare An Educational And Cultural State Of Emergency
In an article titled “What will become of you, Oh education” in the independent daily Al-Ghad, Jordanian writer and educator Zuleikha Abu Risha slammed the education system in the country for repressing creative thinking, accusing others of heresy, and inciting to hatred, violence and murder, and rebuked the education ministry for dragging its feet in reforming the curricula and textbooks. She wrote: “I have been writing in newspapers for nearly half a century, and I have been involved in education for nearly 30 years, and I still follow it, one way or another. I can attest that [never] in Jordan’s history has the educational and cultural community awakened, discussed, analyzed, condemned, convened, and demanded to change the pathetic curricula and the even more pathetic textbooks as it has in recent months.
“A look at social media, daily newspapers, opinion columns, and statements by expert analysts [should] cause any official who has [so far] shut his ears to [wake up and] hear the blaring warning bell and declare a cultural and educational state of emergency. The fire is at our doorstep; terrorism surrounds us and knocks at our door… The poisoned Islamist tree, planted in the 1960s, has borne fruit – in the form of an educational system that opposes creativity and asking questions, sanctifies the past, does not deviate from its [rigid] path, detests logic and anything new or innovative, levels accusations of heresy, and incites to hatred, violence, and killing – to the point where students have become robots who recite prayers to keep themselves from harm, instead of investing efforts in finding solutions. [According to this approach,] the solution is found in the words of the illiterate preacher, the politically-motivated teacher, and the principal who deals with [questions of] what is religiously allowed and forbidden.”
“The mosques whose imams and preachers curse the Christians, accuse of heresy anyone who congratulates [Christians] on their holidays, and are glad when any of them are killed in Arab or Western countries – [these mosques] have remained the same for half a century and longer. Facebook is full of [people who] congratulate [each other] and gloat over those killed in what they call ‘the raid on Paris.’ There is hatred towards the Shi’ites, and the positions of Iran and Hizbullah are attributed to the entire Shi’ite sect. Mourning tents are erected for ISIS murderers and suicide bombers where people applaud and honor them. Islamic billboards hung along the roads and on electricity poles preach not a single noble quality or constructive value. Government hospitals are so full of Islamic posters and symbols that one feels as though one is in a Muslim Brotherhood mosque rather than a hospital. Private schools teach children to pray day and night, before [teaching them] to use their brains and challenge their thinking. Girls are taught that, in their brothers’ absence, their voices, their bodies and their very presence are a form of shameful nudity. Hatred for other religions is perceived as a foundation of the Islamic faith. The concepts of homeland, nation and citizenship are uprooted and the concepts of faith and the Islamic ummah are inculcated in their stead. The Arab national identity is expunged in favor of a despicable and phony religious identity [based on] the culturally-depleted Islam. [Given all this,] why is the education ministry delaying in declaring a state of emergency? [Why isn't it] calling upon the educational community to fulfill its duty in restoring the cracked educational edifice, before some brainwashed and conscience-less ISIS member comes along and blows it up with everyone in it?! Allow us not to lose hope, even though hope has apparently already died of the thousands of diseases that afflict it.”[6]
‘Al-Dustour’ Columnist: We Need An Educational Vaccine Against The Virus Of Extremism
In a November 16, 2015 article, Khairi Mansour, a columnist for Al-Dustour, compared extremism to a virus and expressed hope that the education system might inoculate students against it. He wrote: “Had the world realized that the virus of extremism is resistant to the conditions of all eras, it would have invented an educational vaccination for it… The antidote for extremism, violence, and the culture of neglect and mutual exclusion is, first and foremost, educational ideas that are instilled in the soul and mind through curricula, education at home, and methods for teaching little children.
“After all this bloodshed, from Asia to Africa through America and Europe, we are entitled to ask where the education against extremism is, and in which books and on what satellite channels [it appears]. Books rife with incitement fill the sidewalks and kiosks, and some satellite channels have become war rooms filled to the brim with inciters of hatred, vengeance, and resistance to all forms of coexistence among people from different cultures and ideologies.
“May the experts and scientists preaching civil peace discover an educational vaccination that does not leave a mark on the arm but that instead spreads throughout the mind and the blood, as a defense against the poison of extremism.”[7]
‘Al-Rai’ Columnist: The Security Approach To Combating Terror Is No Longer Relevant; Investment In Education Is Needed
Roman Haddad, a regular columnist for the government daily Al-Rai, wrote on November 15, 2015: “The terrorist attacks that took place over the past two weeks in the region and the world, starting with the bombing of the Russian airliner over Sinai in Egypt, and ending with the series of bloody attacks on Friday night in Paris – which could even spread to other locations around the globe – clearly indicate that the security approach [to combating] terrorism is no longer relevant. Countries are investing fortunes in traditional security measures while their investment in social and ideological security are still far from the desired levels…
“In Jordan, King ‘Abdallah II has repeatedly spoken of an ideological war against the extremism rampant in the region, stressing the importance of this war in drying up the sources of potential recruits for terrorist organizations… The ministry of education and the universities have a very important [role to play] in these struggles through the official curricula and through the function of the teacher and his impact on the methods of dealing with the minds of our children and youth. [There is need to] strengthen the students by giving them knowledge about concepts such as ‘state,’ ‘society,’ and ‘constitutional institutions’, developing tools of thought and instilling a sense of belonging in our students…
“It is vital to strengthen the students, because it is young people who have become pawns for the terrorist organizations to toy with by distorting the religious texts in the name of their so-called jihad.”[8]
Independent Daily ‘Al-Ghad’ Leading Yearlong Calls To Change School Curricula
As said, the debate regarding extremism in school curricula, and the calls for educational reform, have intensified recently, but this debate has been ongoing, especially in the press, for about a year. Especially prominent in this context is the independent daily Al-Ghad, which dealt extensively with education and published many articles and columns – by both regular columnists and educators – stressing the need to change school curricula. The following are excerpts from some Al-Ghad articles published in the past year:
‘Al-Ghad’ Editor-In-Chief: Children Come Home From School With Ideas That Shock Their Parents
On December 14, 2014, Al-Ghad editor-in-chief Jumana Ghunaimat published an article titled “Close The Jordanian Branch Of ISIS!,” in which she wrote: “A fifth-grade pupil in a government school in ‘Amman came home with new knowledge based on accusing the members of other monotheistic faiths of heresy, which shocked his father. The father did his best to convince his son [to think] differently from what he had been taught by his teacher, who tries to sow ideas in the minds of our young children that lead to non-acceptance of the other and to challenging the principle of coexistence rooted in Jordanian society.
“Another story comes from Wadi Arabah, where a gym teacher also fulfills the role of a preacher – [instilling] not positive messages but rather the opposite. Instead of using her time to release the students’ energy, she tries to fill their young minds with worrisome ideas.
“What takes place in our schools is grave because it leads to a change in the authentic [character] of society, which is based on tolerance, peace, moderation, and the middle way. This change – if not dealt with – could afflict us with a harsh reality for which we will all pay the price…
“The education ministry, which has noticed this situation, began tracking the distortions and trying to deal with them, first by directing attention [to the problem] and sending official letters forbidding teachers to deviate from the curriculum. The ministry is also taking additional steps to limit the spread of certain streams, which spread their ideas to our children. For example, it has begun amending the curricula in Islamic education and Arabic language studies in grades 1 through 3, focusing on one main purpose, namely teaching them to read and write, after it became known that some 130,000 of them are illiterate. Furthermore, it has begun formulating curricula meant to reinforce basic values in our children, especially values of respecting and accepting the other…
“Our schools spread extremism, as do our universities. Sometimes, a child or youth returns from school or university with horrid ideas that shock even his parents. This price, which is paid by all, is the result of religious thought taking over the curricula for decades, placing future generations in peril. Complaints against the curricula are old. They are already being dealt with, and we hope [the efforts] will achieve the necessary result so that our sons will have curricula that encourage creative thought in place of rote learning. Since this problem has grown ever more widespread and complex, the solution seems to be too difficult, but we must [nevertheless] start so as not to leave future generations hostages to a narrow group of people who swallow our children and use them as tools in the hands of extremist streams… Using education above all, we will thwart the extremism that infiltrates our [society] to a dangerous degree. Since the war on terror is our war, we will best deal with it internally, starting with our schools.”[9]
‘Al-Ghad’ Publishes Study By Educational Expert: ISIS-Like Ideology In The Curricula
On June 30, 2015, as part of its investigation of school curricula, Al-Ghad published a lengthy study by educational expert Dr. Dhuqan ‘Ubaidat titled “ISISism In Curricula and Textbooks” that outlines the many problems of Jordanian curricula, specifically their extremist content. Dr. ‘Ubaidat said that the purpose of the study was to expose common trends and values in curricula and textbooks, such as extremism and disrespect for and non-recognition of the other. He examined all Arabic language, Islamic education, and civics textbooks, as well as the high-school textbook on culture, presenting numerous citations from specific pages in the textbooks.
As part of his conclusions, ‘Ubaidat claimed that the curricula do not enable free, critical, or creative thought, and that religious culture is highly dominant in the textbooks, not just those for Islamic education but for other subjects as well. He also said that “ISIS-like thought” – which he characterizes as “a lack of critical or creative thinking; a lack of beauty, truth, goodness and optimism, and a lack of emotion, love, poetry, and music” – is very is widespread in civics, Arabic language, and Islamic education textbooks. For example, one textbook “attacks science, claiming that it drives a person away from religion and faith.” He also cited textbooks that attack philosophy and “present the positions of famous and esteemed philosophers such as [Immanuel] Kant and Rene Descartes as foolish.”
He also claimed that jihad studies continue throughout the schooling years, and that Islamic education textbooks portray jihad as an individual duty (fard ‘ayn), and state that “it is forbidden for anyone to interfere with jihad unless they have a real reason to do so” and that “Allah promises that the jihad fighter will either return home or reach Paradise.” He added that textbooks state that a woman “should be obedient to the man… She must not leave the home without permission… and the man is allowed to scold her.”
In addition, he pointed to a certain textbook, which the education ministry claims includes chapters on the Jordanian state and its institutions as well as on human development, and democracy, communications, etc. – but in fact none of these topics appear in it.[10]
‘Al-Ghad’ Article: The Curricula Is Monopolized By Islamists, But We Have A Right To Participate In Outlining Our Children’s Future
On July 5, 2015, several days after the study was published, the Islamic Action Front – the political arm of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood – issued a statement regarding the growing public debate about Islamic content in school curricula, while condemning “the secular campaign that does injustice to the curricula and is funded by foreign money in an attempt to uproot the values of Islam from Jordanian society under the pretext of combating extremism and terrorism.”[11]
In response to this statement, journalist Majed Toba published an article on July 5 stating: “The Islamic Action Front party did not stay silent for long after the recent publication of several respectable scientific studies and articles on the curricula and their serious flaws, which contribute to the emergence of ideological and political extremism and to human and cultural closemindedness…
“The Islamic Action Front party spoke in its statement of an effort to ‘secularize the curricula’… and accused the respectable studies and opinions of trying to distance Islamic cultural values from the curricula under the pretext of combating extremism and terrorism. The main question to the party is: Do we agree on the definition of the cultural values of Islam? And do you agree with the definition of Islam’s cultural values as understood by ISIS, [Jabhat] Al-Nusra, or Al-Qaeda, which have revived the notions of taking slaves, of dhimma, and of levelling the jizya [poll tax] on fellow citizens, fellow Arabs and fellow human beings?…
“The [existing] curricula and textbooks are the result of the Islamic stream and its conservative allies taking over the education and culture ministry since the 1970s and excluding all representatives of other streams from planning educational activity and formulating curricula. Excluding the Islamists from the political map is unacceptable, [but it is] just as unacceptable for the Islamic stream to exclude other political and ideological streams. The problem with the curricula… is that their preparation did not involve true social, ideological, and political inclusion, and remained monopolized by a single stream. Therefore, it is only predictable that this stream is now defending this monopoly vehemently, but it is also our right to demand partnership in planning the future of our children and of society.”[12]
Emblem of the Jordanian Ministry of Education
The Jordanian Education Ministry Responds: A Curriculum Reform Is Underway
Given the unprecedented criticism voiced in numerous Jordanian press articles over the past year, and more forcefully since last November’s terror attacks in Paris, the education ministry was compelled to respond. It rejected some of the criticism directed against it, but also claimed that it was currently engaged in identifying flaws in the curriculum and correcting them. For example, on July 7, 2015, the Jordanian education ministry’s curriculum and textbook department published in Al-Ghad a response Dr. ‘Ubaidat’s study. It claimed that the study “lacked objectivity” because it cherry-picked terms from the textbooks and took them out of context. The department called upon Dr. ‘Ubaidat to visit its offices and present his claims to it. The department also noted that it was currently engaged in a project to develop the curricula, which would conclude within two years. It clarified: “[We] have begun reformulating the social sciences curricula in conformity with the principles of the constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression and political pluralism… On this basis, the committees for formulating and supervising [the curricula] were instructed to focus, in the framework of the new curricula, on concepts of good citizenship; tolerance, unity and equality in society and equality of rights and duties among citizens; respect for the opinion of others, and pluralism.” The department noted further that the civics textbooks for grades 8 and 10 already incorporate study units that discuss these values.[13]
On December 10, 2015, Dr. Fayez Al-Rabi’, chairman of the education ministry’s committee for curriculum development in civics and national education, who also writes for Al-Rai, responded to the criticism in an article of his own. He too emphasized that the ministry was engaged in amending the curricula: “We in Jordan mean to undertake a new and comprehensive examination of all the curricula, including in the humanities: Islamic education, history, civics and national education, Arabic, arts, geography, etc. Let me note that removing all the flaws from the curricula does not mean renouncing our values and our tolerant faith; on the contrary, it is necessary to focus on positive values and principles that will address the roots of ideological and religious extremism, and to fortify these values so as to provide an alternative to the negative ideas and tendencies that have no connection with the essence of [the Muslim] religion and its tolerant values…”
Al-Rabi’ listed subjects to be added to the civics curriculum for the various grade-levels, and changes to be made in other humanistic subjects. He also argued that it is not enough to reform the curricula in Jordan, calling on the education ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries to convene and form an experts committee to examine the curricula in all the member states and submit recommendations on the topic.[14]
*Z. Harel is a research fellow at MEMRI.
Endnotes:
[1] Raialyoum.com, October 2, 2015.
[2] Al-Ghad (Jordan), November 5, 2015.
[3] Al-Rai (Jordan), November 11, 2015.
[4] This statistic appeared in a November 18, 2015 article by columnist Ramadan Al-Rawashdeh in the government daily Al-Rai.
[5] Al-Ghad (Jordan), November 15, 2015.
[6] Al-Ghad (Jordan), November 17, 2015.
[7] Al-Dustour (Jordan), November 16, 2015.
[8] Al-Rai (Jordan), November 15, 2015.
[9] Al-Ghad (Jordan), December 14, 2014.
[10] Al-Ghad (Jordan), June 30, 2015.
[11] Jabha.info, July 5, 2015.
[12] Al-Ghad (Jordan), July 5, 2015.
[13] Al-Ghad (Jordan) July 7, 2015.
[14] Al-Rai (Jordan) December 10, 2015.

One Christian Slaughtered Every Five Minutes
Muslim Persecution of Christians: September, 14/2015
by Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute
“I do not understand why the world does not raise its voice against such acts of brutality.” — Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregory III.
The White House said it was preparing to accuse the Islamic State of genocide against religious minorities, recognizing various groups, such as the Yazidis, as victims. However, Christians are apparently not going to be included.
An NGO report states that one Christian is slaughtered every five minutes in Iraq, and that, “Islamic State Militants in Iraq are using Christian churches as torture chambers where they force Christians to either convert to Islam or die.”
When Pope Francis stood before the world at the UN, his energy was, once again, spent on defending the environment. In his nearly 50-minute speech, only once did Francis make reference to persecuted Christians — and their sufferings were merged in the same sentence with the supposedly equal sufferings of “members of the majority religion,” that is, Sunni Muslims. Sunnis are not being slaughtered, beheaded, and raped for their faith; are not having their mosques bombed and burned; are not being jailed or killed for apostasy, blasphemy, or proselytization.
“What is happening in Lebanon is an attempt to replace the people with [Muslim] Syrians and Palestinians.” — Gebran Bassil, Foreign Minister of Lebanon.
Throughout September, as more Christians were slaughtered and persecuted for their religion — not just by the Islamic State but by “everyday” Muslims from all around the world — increasing numbers of people and organizations called for action. Meanwhile, those best placed to respond — chief among them U.S. President Barack Obama and Pope Francis — did nothing.
“Why, we ask the western world, why not raise one’s voice over so much ferocity and injustice?” asked Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the head of the Italian Bishops Conference.
Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregory III said: “I do not understand why the world does not raise its voice against such acts of brutality.”
As one report put it: “Human rights activists see it. Foreign leaders see it. And more than 80 members of the U.S. Congress see it. Together, they are pressuring the leader of the free world [President Obama] to declare there is a Christian genocide going on in the Middle East.”
In response, the White House said it was preparing to release a statement accusing the Islamic State of committing genocide against religious minorities, naming and recognizing various groups, such as the Yazidis, as victims. However, Christians are apparently not going to be included as victims, as Obama officials argue that Christians “do not appear to meet the high bar set out in the genocide treaty.”
Meanwhile, Father Behnam Benoka, an Iraqi priest, explained in a detailed letter to Pope Francis the horrors Mideast Christians are experiencing. To his joy, the pope called the Middle Eastern priest and told him that “I will never leave you.” As Benoka put it, “He called me. He told me certainly, sure I am with you, I will don’t forget you… I will make all possible to help you.”
However, later in September, when Pope Francis stood before the world at the United Nations, his energy was, once again, spent on defending the environment. In his entire speech, which lasted nearly 50 minutes, only once did Francis make reference to persecuted Christians — and even then they did not receive special attention but, in the same breath, their sufferings were merged in the same sentence with the supposedly equal sufferings of “members of the majority religion,” that is, Sunni Muslims (the only group not to be attacked by the Islamic State, a Sunni organization):
I must renew my repeated appeals regarding to the painful situation of the entire Middle East, North Africa and other African countries, where Christians, together with other cultural or ethnic groups, and even members of the majority religion who have no desire to be caught up in hatred and folly, have been forced to witness the destruction of their places of worship, their cultural and religious heritage, their houses and property, and have faced the alternative either of fleeing or of paying for their adhesion to good and to peace by their own lives, or by enslavement.
Yet, as the following roundup from September shows, “members of the majority religion” –Sunnis — are not being slaughtered, beheaded, and raped for their faith; are not having their mosques bombed and burned; are not being jailed or killed for apostasy, blasphemy, or proselytization.
Savagery and Slaughter
Uganda: Three Muslim men beat and raped a 19-year-old Christian woman. The young student was returning home from St. Mary’s Teachers College in Bukedea when she was ambushed by three masked men. “I tried to scream, but one blocked my mouth and another slapped me as they forcefully dragged me off the footpath,” said the victim. “I heard one of them telling the others that I should be killed because my parents deserted Islam. But another said, ‘But we are not sure whether this girl is a Christian.’” Instead of killing her, they raped and beat her so severely that she is still receiving hospital treatment for her injuries.
United States: Freddy Akoa, a 49-year-old Christian healthcare worker in Portland, Maine, was savagely beaten to death in his own home by three Muslims. Found next to Akoa’s body was his blood-splattered Bible. The slain had cuts and bruises all over his body and a fatal head trauma. Internally, he suffered 22 rib fractures and a lacerated liver. The police affidavit stated that Akoa “had been beaten and kicked in the head, and bashed in the head with a piece of furniture in an assault that continued relentlessly for hours.” Akoa was apparently throwing a party before or during the attack. The three assailants were all Muslim refugees of Somali origin. In recent times, both in America and Europe, several “refugees” have turned out to be Islamic terrorists, some with direct ties to ISIS. (A faction of Al Shabaab, Somalia’s premiere jihadi organization, recently pledged allegiance to ISIS.)
Syria: A Christian from the Qaryatain village in the province of Homs was executed by the Islamic State for refusing to obey the dhimmi [second-class, "tolerated"] conditions imposed on Christian villagers. ISIS also killed a Christian priest, chopped his body into pieces, and sent the pieces back to his family in a box. Earlier ISIS had kidnapped the priest and demanded a ransom of $120,000 from his family, which finally managed to raise the ransom money after two months. But after paying it, ISIS reneged on their word and brutally killed the Catholic priest anyway.
Pakistan: The Muslim family of a woman who converted to Christianity and married a Christian murdered her husband and wounded the young woman. Aleem Masih, 28, married Nadia, 23, last year after she put her faith in Christ. The couple then fled their village as the woman’s family sought “to avenge the shame their daughter had brought upon them by recanting Islam and marrying a Christian,” said a lawyer involved in the case. Eventually Nadia’s father, Muhammad Din Meo, and his henchmen managed to abduct the couple and took them to a nearby farm. “The Muslim men first brutally tortured the couple with fists and kicks and then thrice shot Aleem Masih — one bullet hit him in his ankle, the second in the ribs while the third targeted his face,” the attorney said. “Nadia was shot in the abdomen.” The Muslim relatives left believing they had killed the couple. “The attackers returned to their village and publicly proclaimed that they had avenged their humiliation and restored the pride of the Muslims by killing the couple in cold blood.” Police, however, found Nadia still breathing when they arrived at the farm. “She was shifted to the General Hospital in Lahore, where she is fighting for her life after a major operation in which two bullets were removed from her abdomen.” A large number of Muslims were gathered at the hospital when the critically wounded woman arrived. “The mob, some of them armed with weapons, was shouting furious anti-Christian slogans…. They were also praising Azhar for restoring the pride of the Muslim Ummah [community] and saying that he had earned his place in paradise for killing an infidel.”
Philippines: Islamic terrorists from the jihadi group Abu Sayyaf were suspected in the bombing of a passenger bus in the predominantly Christian city of Zamboanga on September 18 that killed a 14-year-old girl and wounded 33 others. Intelligence sources had warned that Abu Sayyaf would be targeting cities and communities with heavy Christian populations. Only 20% of Zamboanga is Muslim, and the rest almost entirely Christian (mostly Catholic).
Egypt: The mother of a Coptic priest was robbed and killed in Fekria city in Minya.
Muslim Attacks on Christian Churches
United States: On Sunday, September 13, 40-year-old Rasheed Abdul Aziz was arrested for threatening the Corinth Missionary Baptist Church in Bullard, Texas. The Muslim-American had a gun and was dressed for combat — complete with camouflage helmet, camouflage pants, tactical vest and boots — when he entered the church around 1 p.m. According to Pastor John Johnson, Aziz said that Allah had told him to “slay infidels” and that “people are going to die today.” The pastor added, “I believe that his intent was when he came to our church was to actually kill somebody.”
Tanzania: During the course of one week, six Christian churches were burned down. On September 23, three churches were set ablaze: The Living Waters International Church, Buyekera Pentecostal Assemblies of God, and Evangelical Assemblies of God Tanzania Church. Three days later, on September 26, another three churches were also set ablaze: The Evangelical Lutheran Church, Kitundu Roman Catholic Church, and Katoro Pentecostal Assemblies of God Church. According to a local source, “The people woke up on 27th Sep to find their sanctuaries burnt down… The scenarios are the same; unknown people broke in, piled things onto the altar, poured petrol over it and set it alight. They fled before anyone could respond and so remain unknown.” The east African nation is mostly comprised of Christians and Muslims, though the ratio is disputed.
Bethlehem: Muslims set fire to the St. Charbel Monastery. Sobhy Makhoul, the chancellor of the Maronite Patriarchate in Jerusalem, said, “It was an act of arson, not a fire caused by an electrical problem [as local authorities had claimed], an act of sectarian vandalism by radical Muslims.” The fire caused no casualties or injuries — fortunately the building was unoccupied and under renovation — but the damage is evident, and the local Christian community evidently feared further violence. The Maronite leader added that, “The attack is… anti-Christian, like many other incidents across the Middle East. Extremist groups operate in the area, including some Hamas cells.”
Iraq: A report that discusses how one Christian is slaughtered every five minutes in Iraq, adds that, “Islamic State Militants in Iraq are using Christian churches as torture chambers where they force Christians to either convert to Islam or die.”
Syria: Within days of capturing the city of Qaryatain, the Islamic State destroyed an ancient Catholic monastery and threw away the remains of a revered saint. The Sunni terror group then gave an ultimatum to the Christians in Qaryatain to either pay jizya (extortion money), convert to Islam, or leave.
Islamic State jihadists in the midst of destroying the ancient Mar Elian monastery in Qaryatain, Syria.
Yemen: A day after a Catholic church in Aden was vandalized, another group of unidentified assailants set the Christian building “in flames,” in the words of a witness. Of the 22 churches that operated in Aden before 1967, when the city was a British colony, only a few remain open, used rarely by foreign workers and African refugees. The now-torched St. Joseph Church was one of those few.
Indonesia: On Sunday, September 27, the GKI Yasmin Church in Bogor held its 100th open-air service since 2008, when local Muslims had begun complaining that the church existed. Even though the church was fully registered, the authorities obligingly closed it. In December 2010, the Indonesian Supreme Court ordered the church to be reopened, but the mayor of Bogor refused to comply and kept it sealed off. Since then, the congregation has been holding Sunday services at the homes of members, and occasionally on the street, to the usual jeers and attacks by Muslim mobs.
Muslim Attacks on Christian Freedom
(Apostasy, Blasphemy, and Proselytization)
Uganda: A 36-year-old mother of eight requested prayer after area Muslims forced her to return to Islam, or lose her children and be killed. Although Madina remained Christian after her husband abandoned her a decade ago for her apostasy from Islam, she returned to Islam in September: “The relatives of my husband threatened to kill me and take away the children if I refused to go back to Islam. They said, ‘We are not going to lose our children to Christianity. We better kill you and get back the children.’… I have nowhere to go with my children, so I have decided to return to Islam to save the children and myself. I know Issa [Jesus] will remember me one day.”
United Kingdom: A Pakistani man, his wife, and their six children are suffering “an appalling ordeal at the hands of neighbours who regard them as blasphemers.” Their “crime” is converting to Christianity— more than 20 years ago. Despite being “prisoners in their own home after being attacked in the street, having their car windscreens repeatedly smashed and eggs thrown at their windows” the Christian family said that both police and the Anglican church have failed to provide any meaningful support and are “reluctant to treat the problem as a religious hate crime.” Nissar Hussain, the father, said, “Our lives have been sabotaged and this shouldn’t happen in the United Kingdom. We live in a free democratic society and what they are doing to us is abhorrent.”
Turkey: Since August 27, as many as 15 churches received death threats for “denying Allah.” Even so, “Threats are not anything new for the Protestant community who live in this country and want to raise their children here,” said church leaders. As former Muslims, many of the congregation, apostates from Islam, were threatened with beheading. The messages accuse the Christians of having “chosen the path that denies Allah” and “dragged others into believing as you do… As heretics you have increased your number with ignorant followers.” One of the messages depicted the Islamic State flag along with the words: “Perverted infidels, the time that we will strike your necks is soon. May Allah receive the glory and the praise.”
Pakistan: Police arrested a Christian brick kiln worker, Pervaiz Masih, in the Kasur District of Punjab province, after a Muslim business rival falsely accused him of insulting the prophet of Islam, Muhammad. Pervaiz, a father of four, including a seven-month-old boy, fled his home after Muhammad Kahlid filed a report, which said that he had made derogatory remarks about Muhammad during a dispute. Police detained four of Pervaiz’s relatives; then officers dragged his wife into the streets and ripped off her clothing as they tried to get information about her husband’s whereabouts. Police also beat local Christians and raided Christian homes for information in Pervaiz’s town. Pervaiz eventually handed himself over to police in order that his relatives be released.
Ethiopia: A group of 15 young Christians were attacked and arrested for engaging in evangelism in eastern Ethiopia. Separately, six Christian leaders were found guilty of inciting public disturbance, destroying public trust in government officials, and spreading hatred. The six men, members of a church administrative committee, had written a letter to their national church leadership on March 11 describing the persecution they endured as Christians living in the Muslim-majority Silte zone. They complained of discrimination in employment opportunities, unfair dismissal from jobs, harsh job performance feedback, burned church buildings, physical attacks and death threats. The letter was leaked to local media and widely disseminated, prompting their arrest and conviction.
Dhimmitude
Germany: According to a report, “Many Christian refugees from Syria, Iraq or Kurdistan are being intimidated and attacked by Muslim refugees. In several refugee centers set up by the local authorities, Sharia law is being imposed and Christians — which are a minority — are the victims of bullying.” Gottfried Martens, pastor of a south Berlin church, said that “very religious Muslims are spreading the following idea throughout the refugee centers: Sharia law rules wherever we are.” Martens expressed especial concern for Muslims who convert to Christianity — apostates who, according to Islamic law, can be killed: “There is a 100% chance that these people will be attacked.”
Lebanon: Christians are being overrun by Muslim refugees from Syria and Iraq, and are in danger of losing their place in their country, said Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil: “What is happening in Lebanon is an attempt to replace the people with [Muslim] Syrians and Palestinians.” Because Lebanon’s Christian population is, and has historically been, a minority, Bassil said their rights are being threatened because “some are attempting to impose Muslims over Christians” (a situation also occurring in the U.S.) In an earlier interview, Bassil said that the Mideast Christian community as a whole has been eroded “in large chunks”: “In Iraq, it happened over 20 years, and we saw that 90 percent of the Christians have left Iraq. In Syria, we don’t have actual numbers because of the chaos. We cannot tell. We know that there has been a lot of internal and external immigration and displacement…. But definitely churches have been destroyed and people have left already.”
United Kingdom: An Iranian, Noureden Mallaky-Soodmand, 41, was supposed to have been deported to Iran after he was arrested for hurling threats and brandishing knives on the streets of London. However, he was not deported, apparently because the Iranian Embassy was closed. He was, instead, re-housed 250 miles away in Stockton-on-Tees. Earlier, on April 2, holding a curved knife, he had run amok, screaming: “I’m a Muslim and I’ll chop your f***ing head, mother f***ers…. I’m Isis and my people will cut off your balls, Christians…. I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you all. I’m going to chop your head off and f*** you up.”
Egyptian Dhimmitude
Muslim attacks on Christians erupted in two separate villages in Samalout, north of the Minya governorate. One attack apparently took place in “revenge” for the construction of a small church. In one village, five Copts were injured; In another village, Muslims packed into a number of cars attacked a Christian wedding ceremony. Three Copts were injured; throughout the area, young Christian girls were sexually harassed.
Separately, a group of Muslims in the village of al-Oula, near Alexandria, attacked Christian homes and a church on September 20, after police attempted to return land stolen by a Muslim to its rightful Christian owner. When the police arrived to implement the order, they were attacked and fled. “After the security forces fled,” said a church leader, “a large crowd surrounded [the] church and hurled stones at it. Then they attacked four homes owned by Christians.” At least two Christians were seriously injured, one had his spine fractured. “The El Houty family [Muslim family that stole Christian land] used microphones in the local mosque and in nearby villages to call out for the Muslims from everywhere around the village saying that the police have come to take the lands and give it to the Christians.”
A Coptic Christian female student, Mariam, who was discriminated against, made headlines in major Egyptian media and created a scandal. Known as “Student Zero,” she was described by former teachers as a “brilliant student,” planning on becoming a doctor. She had scored 97% in her first two years and was expecting similar results in her final year — only to find that she had failed: her final grade was zero. She insisted on seeing the results for herself but was denied. When the issue made headlines, the results were shown to her. She and others — including handwriting experts — said that the handwriting on the test shown to her was not hers.
Pakistani Dhimmitude
A Christian family was almost burned alive during a “land grab” attempt of their home by Muslims. Because Boota Masih, 38, and his wife and family refused to abandon their home and property to some Muslims, they were violently beaten. The Muslims next sprayed petrol over the house to set fire to it, and locked Boota and his family in a room. The Masihs managed to escape by breaking through a window. Despite the presence of eyewitnesses, the local police were reluctant to register a formal complaint, and instead, according to the lawyers, arrested Masih on spurious charges.
Most degrading jobs continue to be reserved for Christians and other minorities. The latest example comes from the announcement of vacancies from the Punjab Institute of Cardiology Lahore. In the list, all jobs are open to all applicants — except for “sanitary worker” positions, such as toilet cleaners: only non-Muslim applicants are eligible. According to labor lawyers, “this is a form of direct oppression, racism and bigotry against the nation’s religious minorities,” primarily Christians, Hindus, and non-Sunni Muslims.
About this Series
While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of Christians is expanding. “Muslim Persecution of Christians” was developed to collate some — by no means all — of the instances of persecution that surface each month.
It documents what the mainstream media often fails to report.
It posits that such persecution is not random but systematic, and takes place in all languages, ethnicities and locations.
Raymond Ibrahim is author of Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War in Christians (published by Regnery in cooperation with Gatestone Institute, April 2013).
Previous reports
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July, 2015
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December, 2014
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April, 2014
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February, 2014
January, 2014
December, 2013
November, 2013
October, 2013
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August, 2013
June, 2013
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March, 2013
February, 2013
January, 2013
December, 2012
November, 2012
October, 2012
September, 2012
August, 2012
July, 2012
June, 2012
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April, 2012
March, 2012
February, 2012
January, 2012
December, 2011
November, 2011
October, 2011
September, 2011
August, 2011
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