Middle East Press on: Israel, Prison, Hezbollah, Lebanon, War: New Age Islam's Selection, 4 December 2024
By New Age Islam Edit Desk
4 December 2024
Investigations Into Senior Police, Israel Prison Service Officers Reflect Rot In Security Institutions
The Hezbollah Threat: Weakened, But Not Gone
Despite A Wary Ceasefire With Hezbollah, Israel Has Much To Celebrate
In Lebanon, People With Disabilities Isolated, Abandoned By War
Israel Was Born And Depends On Ethnic Cleansing
2024: The Year Of Setbacks For Iran And Its Axis
Lebanon Faces Threats To Its Existence
Israel’s Selective Justice Encouraging Lawbreaking Settlers
------
Investigations Into Senior Police, Israel Prison Service Officers Reflect Rot In Security Institutions
By Jpost Editorial
December 4, 2024
The flurry of information on investigations of senior police and Israel Prison Service (IPS) officers who are closely associated with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit) is still unfolding, but the stench of rot is already wafting in the air, and is a reminder of the chasm that lies between the promise and integrity of public service, and what’s really going on.
So far, three senior officers have been hauled in for questioning, including IPS Chief Commissioner Kobi Yaakobi, late on Monday. Considered close to the minister, the Police Investigative Department (PID), which has been leading the probe, questioned him for hours.
According to reports, he was investigated over breach of trust, obstruction of investigation, and potentially trying to influence police appointments. He was released under restrictive conditions. Allegedly, he tried to influence the upcoming appointment of a police officer, a commander who was also detained as part of the investigation.
The second is Police Commander Avishai Moalem, who is in charge of the West Bank District. The suspicion is that Yaakobi was involved in Moalem’s appointment. Moalem is also considered close to Ben-Gvir and is suspected of bribery, breach of trust, and misuse of police resources.
The third is a police superintendent in the Judea and Samaria District who is suspected of bribery and breach of trust. On Tuesday, two more police officers were questioned, and others were called to give open testimony.
Since assuming his position as national security minister, Ben-Gvir has appointed many officers who now form the police’s command structure. Others who were not promoted have resigned, openly criticizing the minister for allegedly filling the leadership ranks with those loyal to him.
So far, a senior police officer close to Commissioner Daniel Levi and a senior commander – who works closely with Ben-Gvir – provided open testimonies. More are expected to follow.
The heart of the investigation
At the heart of the investigation is Moalem and the alleged bribery in exchange for a promotion. It also comes at a time when nationalistically-motivated crimes in Judea and Samaria, or the West Bank, have increased and have been on the rise since Ben-Gvir took up his position.
This paints a vivid picture of corruption in one of Israel’s most important ministries and public authority bodies. At best, it is concerning, and at worst, it is a symptom of the continuous erosion of the integrity of public service.
Were the police and prison systems perfect before? No. But since Ben-Gvir became minister, relentless developments have affected everyone.
The people in charge should work to improve the prison system and police force, and that should be their only goal. Anything else is a peripheral issue, distracting from the goal that is the foundation for these figures being in these positions in the first place. Anything less than that is a betrayal of public trust.
And let’s not forget who Ben-Gvir is; not the extremist positions or incendiary statements, but what he’s done since becoming national security minister. Crime in the Arab sector, one of the harshest and most complicated issues to deal with, has soared.
Public spats led to the premature ousting of former police chief Kobi Shabtai in May, and the swapping of Tel Aviv District police commanders because, reportedly, Ben-Gvir felt the hostage protests weren’t being handled with enough force. What some of the families have experienced while protesting on the streets since then has been, indeed, much more forceful.
There is work that needs to be done in these organizations. The IPS had struggled for a while to bounce back after the Gilboa Prison escape and the discovery of the Pimping Affair, while the police were understaffed and weary, they continue to be so.
These problems, that reflect weak authority and distortion of purpose, take precedence over everything and are what Ben-Gvir was appointed to do and what police and IPS officers are committed to do. It is time to do it, and it’s about two years too late.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-831868
---
The Hezbollah Threat: Weakened, But Not Gone
By Zina Rakhamilova
December 4, 2024
‘Why doesn’t Israel just finish the job?” This is the question everyone has been asking since Israel announced its agreement to a US-brokered ceasefire with Lebanon after 416 days of cross-border fighting.
Israel has reduced Hezbollah’s fighting capabilities to such an extent that many don’t understand why it would agree to stop when the terror group has been reduced to a pile of rubble.
The current agreement serves as a framework for a long-term ceasefire in which the Lebanese army and the government of Lebanon (along with UNIFIL) will be the only armed groups south of the Litani River. This effectively establishes a buffer zone to inhibit Hezbollah and other armed groups from attacking Israel.
Any rational observer knows that Israel cannot trust Hezbollah or any international body to control Hezbollah’s actions. Indeed, Lebanon has been unsuccessful in binding Hezbollah to its will. So, what is the rationale behind this agreement, and why does Israel believe this is the right move for its security?
Israel’s primary goal
The reason is simple: Israel’s primary goal was to neutralize Hezbollah as a strategic threat, which it has largely accomplished. Demanding that Israel “finish the job” by fully eradicating the terror group would require Israel to take over Lebanon – an outcome Israel does not desire.
The most serious threat Israel faced was the possibility of a border breach and mass infiltration by Hezbollah. The terror group had the capability to amass up to 15,000 fighters near the border, ready to breach it in a surprise attack similar to what Hamas did on October 7.
Reports have indicated that Hezbollah planned to overrun northern kibbutzim and kidnap Israeli hostages, which could have resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians. According to Israel, this threat has been entirely eliminated, and with proper surveillance, Hezbollah will have no opportunity to rebuild this capability.
Israel estimates it has degraded Hezbollah by 80%. Even if accurate, this still means Hezbollah remains three times stronger than Hamas. Hezbollah was believed to possess approximately 100,000 short-range rockets capable of overwhelming northern Israel’s defenses. However, Israel believes most of these rockets – and the personnel trained to operate them – have been neutralized.
Hezbollah’s arsenal also included around 20,000 long-range missiles and drones, the majority of which have reportedly been destroyed. Despite these setbacks, Hezbollah still possesses thousands of drones and tens of thousands of rockets, including precision-guided missiles capable of reaching any location in Israel. This agreement cannot, therefore, be seen as a conclusive end to the terror group’s threat.
Many understand that even if Israel were to take control of Lebanon to eradicate Hezbollah – which would also require destroying their bases in northern Lebanon – it would not address the real problem: Hezbollah’s financiers in Tehran. Hezbollah’s primary raison d’être is to serve as a deterrent for the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Even now, the Israel Defense Forces report that Hezbollah is attempting to smuggle weapons into Lebanon via civilian border crossings with Syria. Several Israeli strikes in Lebanon have targeted threats that violated the ceasefire agreement.
As many know, about 60,000 Israelis from northern communities have been evacuated for over 420 days, living as refugees in their own country. Many have lost businesses and livelihoods. Some communities have been heavily damaged by Hezbollah rocket fire, and large cities like Kiryat Shmona have been reduced to desolate ghost towns.
One of Israel’s key war aims in the North was to safely return residents to their homes without the constant fear of rocket bombardments, which have killed so many in these communities.
Whether this ceasefire accomplishes that aim remains a significant question. It will take time for northern residents to regain trust in the government and the army’s ability to keep them safe.
Assessing whether this ceasefire deal is a good outcome for Israel is complicated. As it stands, it cannot be viewed as a permanent arrangement but rather as a tactical pause in a long and ongoing struggle.
Israel’s decision to agree to the ceasefire with Hezbollah is rooted in a complex balance of pragmatism and necessity. While it has successfully neutralized significant elements of Hezbollah’s infrastructure and strategic capabilities, the underlying threats remain unresolved.
Ultimately, the question isn’t just whether Israel should “finish the job” with Hezbollah but whether the international community will finally recognize the danger posed by Iran’s proxies and take meaningful steps to address the violence and threat that the Islamic Republic poses. Israel cannot – and should not – carry this burden alone.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-831866
-----
Despite A Wary Ceasefire With Hezbollah, Israel Has Much To Celebrate
By Gil Troy
December 4, 2024
As Israel’s wary ceasefire with Hezbollah continues, there is only one path to success. Israel must break its pattern of indulgence, allowing diplomatic agreements to die amid a thousand infractions, as each little attack seems not worth triggering international opprobrium. And the US must support Israel aggressively, bullying the international community into allowing Israel to punish any violations, no matter how minor.
It happened during Oslo. It happened after America promised that the Gaza Disengagement would include a zero-tolerance policy for any violence from anywhere in the Strip. And it happened after the 2006 Hezbollah War. UN Security Council 1701 supposedly guaranteed peace in Southern Lebanon, with no armed forces other than the Lebanese Army rearming. Yet the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, Hezbollah, chipped away at the agreements, and Israel kept indulging them – until disaster struck.
This time, after Hamas invaded on October 7 – then Hezbollah joined and then the Houthis and other Iranian proxies bombed from afar, until Iran, finally and predictably, unleashed two unprecedented missile attacks – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the IDF, the Americans, and the ever-feckless international community should have wised up.
The ceasefire will only last if Israel’s 80,000 northern evacuees can return home and rebuild, while Hezbollah terrorists avoid Southern Lebanon, knowing they’ll be crushed if they dare return.
Trigger warning: Yes, my language is aggressive and my position is militant. But it’s remarkable that after fourteen months of war, not enough people realize that strength brings peace and weakness brings war, especially against jihadists.
Things to celebrate
Meanwhile, let’s celebrate our heroic soldiers and resilient reservists, Israel’s unbelievable intelligence community, the IDF high command, and Netanyahu’s resolute leadership, both North and South.
I am a Fitzgeraldian Zionist – as in F. Scott. I can hold two conflicting thoughts in my head. I can blame our military and political leaders for their October 7 failures, while encouraging them to take this victory lap.
True, for years they allowed Hezbollah to amass 150,000 rockets and a formidable fighting force. But, unlike with Hamas on October 7, Israel’s leaders took that threat seriously enough to play their A-game: crushing Hezbollah while humiliating the terrorist group’s evil patrons in Iran.
REMEMBER SEPTEMBER 16? Hezbollah terrified us – in ways Hamas never did, even on October 7. We kept hearing that their fighters were professional, their missiles plentiful, Tel Aviv’s towers were vulnerable, and weeks-long electrical outages were possible.
Then boom – actually beep! With that first booming beeper, Israel changed everything. And no, my delicate friends warning that violence begets more violence, you’re wrong. These attacks were as surgical as it gets in warfare against jihadi maniacs who cower behind civilians. Besides, considering the many terrorist trigger fingers destroyed, that clever move reduced levels of violence worldwide – now and in the future, especially considering the new junior jihadis who cannot be spawned.
Systematically since then, Israel has degraded Hezbollah and demeaned its Iranian paymasters. Even The New York Times proclaimed on November 27: “A Battered and Diminished Hezbollah Accepts a Cease-Fire.” Since then, with president-elect Donald Trump planning “maximum pressure” on Iran, with Syria’s Bashar Assad teetering, and with their favorite terrorists defeated, Iran’s mullahs are retreating.
The ceasefire “indicates the degree to which Iran is concerned and worried about its new vulnerability and the incoming Trump administration,” Paul Salem, a Lebanon expert at the Middle East Institute told the Times.
While thanking President Joe Biden and the Americans for the munitions and intelligence they provided generously, Israelis need to teach Biden’s successors what “taking the win” looks like. When Biden told Israel to “take the win” – meaning accept simply resisting Iran’s April 13 attack – he confused effective but momentary defense with the intimidating deterrence Israel needs to survive in its unforgiving neighborhood.
While many Americans acknowledge Israel’s impressive victory over Hezbollah, I haven’t heard any of them regret their advice to slow down, avoid conflict, and try to appease Hezbollah. Similarly, as reservists in Gaza report that Hamas is reeling, having seen the IDF overrun Rafah with limited civilian casualties, few Americans admitted they were wrong for constantly trying to restrain Israel.
Such stubbornness amuses me as an Israeli, because we won anyway. But it terrifies me as an American historian. The unwillingness of people in power – and the worldwide popcorn gallery – to acknowledge mistakes prevents them from learning from them.
Where does Israel stand?
HERE, THEN, is where we stand, as of this moment.
• Israel must keep pressure on Lebanon, and prevent Hezbollah from rearming and from flooding Southern Lebanon – ever again.
• Israel and the US must keep pressure on Iran, and evaluate what pressure points would weaken the regime from within – while assessing when it’s time to attack its nuclear project from without.
• And, learning from its successes, Israel must keep the pressure on Hamas in Gaza, hunting down terrorists while, in the spirit of the ceasefire,
• Starting to shift – creating incentives for Hamas to free the hostages, which also means accounting for every last one, while allowing others from the Arab world to step in and start governing.
This way, Israel can ever so slowly start withdrawing and start lightening its grip, while controlling the Philadelphi corridor to protect smuggling, keeping the Netzarim crisscross corridor until stability is achieved, and never allow any Gazans to live within a kilometer of any Israeli villages ever again, or approach the border gate with impunity – as they did for years, step by step wearing down the zero-tolerance for infractions policy Israel needs on its borders to survive. Never again is there – now.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-831876
----
In Lebanon, People With Disabilities Isolated, Abandoned By War
By Thomson Reuters Foundation
December 3, 2024
As bombs rained down on Beirut’s southern suburbs, Ali Hussaini faced a heart-wrenching challenge: how to explain what was happening to his two partially deaf daughters.
“They would ask me what is going on. Why are we running away?” Hussaini said.
“When the bombs hit, I would try to move them away from the sound, but when they saw their siblings who can hear run towards us […] they would be puzzled,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Unable to hear the bombs falling, the girls only understood the scale of the war when they saw the destroyed buildings in the Mreijeh neighbourhood where they live in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Hussaini’s daughters lost most of their hearing when they contracted meningitis at birth. They had been using hearing aids until two years ago when Hussaini found he could no longer afford to pay for them, despite working two jobs as a taxi driver and a manual labourer.
The family of seven fled their home as Israel intensified its bombing campaign from late September. At first, they camped on the street before finding a place in a shelter.
But there was some good news amidst the devastation.
One of the people running the shelter offered to help the girls get the implants they need, which will last for one year.
After that Hussaini, who says he has never received support from the government, does not know what he will do.
More than 900,000 people in Lebanon are classified as living with disabilities, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
People living with disabilities face “a systemic lack of provisions for rights, resources and services, and experience widespread marginalisation, exclusion and violence at home and outside”, the UNDP said.
Things only got worse during the recent conflict that was ignited by the Gaza war last year and eased off with the agreement of a ceasefire between Israel and the armed group, Hezbollah, last week.
“Persons with disabilities have been gravely affected by these dynamics, living in inadequate housing, lacking essential services and access to livelihoods and often, during displacement, are left behind,” said French independent aid group, Handicap International, in an October report.
In November, Lebanon’s Ministry of Social Affairs announced it was allocating funds from the budget to provide a one-off cash transfer of $100 to people with disabilities.
Disability Action
Experts have said the government’s emergency response has not included people with disabilities and, in October, humanitarian professionals and advocates who work with people with disabilities formed an emergency taskforce.
“In the chaos of emergencies, it is devastating to witness how persons with disabilities are often overlooked, their needs pushed aside when they are most vulnerable,” Cheryl Moawad, an equity and inclusion specialist with the Italian Avsi Foundation, that focuses on vulnerable communities, said in a written statement to the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“But amid the heartbreak, there’s a powerful light -community-based initiatives that rise to the challenge, uniting with NGOs and ministries to create networks of support.”
Haya el-Rawi, a member of the taskforce, said some people with disabilities lost caregivers, who were either killed or displaced. Others were unable to communicate after they lost access to the internet, she said.
“It all comes down to accessibility,” she said. “Not just physical accessibility, but also informational, so a person can be able to communicate.”
Rawi said the conflict also spotlighted the intersection between gender and disability, with reports of women with disabilities facing sexual harassment in shelters.
Ibrahim Abdallah, a visually impaired disability expert and member of the taskforce, said some people with disabilities were turned away from shelters because they did not have a guardian who could assume responsibility for them.
“Some people are physically handicapped […] but are independent and live away from their parents; (the shelters) turned them away and told them you cannot come alone,” he said.
Relative peace but no hope
Shorouk Chamas, whose 10-year-old daughter and four-year-old son both have cerebral palsy, had to flee her home in Beirut’s suburb of Ouzai. Both her children are paralysed and her son is mute.
But she considers herself lucky because organisers at the host community she fled to welcomed her children.
She also had support from her extended family: nine members of the family stayed in a single room in a school that was converted into a shelter in the mountain region of Hamana.
“Had I not had my family with me, my siblings and mother helping me out, I would have killed myself,” she said.
Chamas has a Personal Disability Card that should entitle her to benefits for both children from the government and aid groups, but she said she never received anything from the state.
When the government issued its one-off $100 transfer, her children missed out because the cards had not been renewed.
Now she has renewed the card and hopes to receive support, but even though she has returned to her home, she still feels stuck in limbo.
She cannot afford to send her children to specialist private schools and she said scholarships and free places at state schools were only available to people who pay bribes or have personal connections to call on.
The struggles of people with disabilities during the war reflect the neglect they were facing even before the bombs started falling, Abdallah said.
“We have to have a sustainable plan that merges people with disabilities into all aspects of life,” he added. “Merging people with disabilities (into society) is much cheaper than making specialised programmes for disabilities.”
For Rawi, an opportunity now exists to use the post-war reconstruction to improve accessibility for people with disabilities across Lebanon.
“We need at least the basics,” she said. “The minimums like ramps, wide sidewalks with barriers […] this is a big chance for accessibility in reconstruction.”
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241203-in-lebanon-people-with-disabilities-isolated-abandoned-by-war/
-----
Israel Was Born And Depends On Ethnic Cleansing
By Ramona Wadi
December 3, 2024
His admission about Israel’s ethnic cleansing in Gaza was a shard of truth from former Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon, albeit dissociated from what created Israel in the first place. In an interview with Israel’s Democrat TV, Ya’alon told the interviewer: “There’s no Beit Lahia. There’s no Bein Hanoun. They’re currently operating in Jabalia, and essentially, they’re clearing the area of Arabs.”
The 1948 Nakba was the first Zionist ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Israel thrives upon ethnic cleansing, so Ya’alon’s statement merely pointed out the truth of Israel’s settler-colonial practice of replacing the indigenous population with Jewish settlers. However, while the genocide in Gaza needs to remain in focus, there cannot be any distinction between the Israel that was created by the Zionist terrorist groups’ ethnic cleansing in 1948, and Israel’s current ethnic cleansing of Gaza.
We have a former Israeli minister calling out ethnic cleansing in Gaza, while most of the international community is still fixated on Israel’s purported right to defend itself and refusing to use the word genocide. Indeed, there is a growing consensus on, at the very least, stalling the implementation of the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. What exactly are world leaders trying to achieve?
It is perhaps more reassuring to forget that the 1947 Partition Plan, which the UN now hypocritically marks as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, as the first concrete complicity in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their country. Or that Israeli leaders repeatedly called for the eviction, dispossession and murder of Palestinians. “We must do everything to ensure they [the Palestinian refugees] never do return,” wrote David Ben Gurion in 1948. What is happening in Gaza now, if not a more militarised version of the 1948 Nakba? And it’s a normalised genocide.
In 1988, then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir warned Palestinians who were planning a protest in the occupied West Bank against the visit of US Secretary of State George P Shultz, ”Anybody who wants to damage this fortress and other fortresses we are establishing will have his head smashed against the boulders and walls.” He added, “’We say to them from the heights of this mountain and from the perspective of thousands of years of history that they are like grasshoppers compared to us.”
The world, however, has only internalised and promoted Israel’s fabricated security narrative. And even when complicity is being taken too far, the international community feels more beholden to its original travesty and what Israel reaped from it, than it is about stopping genocide in Gaza.
When Israel decided upon ethnic cleansing, it made no excuse for its plans. And why would it, when the international community stepped in to defend Israel’s actions instead of quashing the settler-colonial project before it was allowed to take root by uprooting the indigenous population?
With regard to Ya’alon’s declaration, which was reported by major mainstream media outlets such as CNN, what will it take for the international community to actually register the fact that even within Israel, there are some prominent individuals, clearly not blameless in Israel’s Zionist history, who admit that there is and has been ethnic cleansing in Palestine?
To use an ill-worded phrase when it comes to human rights, Israel is being portrayed as having taken a step too far by its own former leaders, but the international community is still committed to seeing the colonisation process through to its completion.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241203-israel-was-born-and-depends-on-ethnic-cleansing/
----
2024: The Year Of Setbacks For Iran And Its Axis
December 3, 2024
History will record that the year 2024 was a critical year with all its phases, developments and wars, inflicting severe harm to the project and status of Iran, its axis and its allies more than any year before it.
Israel’s aggression continued in its war of extermination on Gaza. The number of martyrs and victims of its brutal war on Gaza at the beginning of this year reached about 20,000 when the International Court of Justice issued its report on Israel committing what amounted to war crimes. This followed the Republic of South Africa filing a lawsuit accusing Israel of committing the war crime of genocide against civilians in Gaza. Due to the continuation of the genocidal war, the number of victims today has gone over 45,000 and the number of wounded is over 100,000, in addition to all the residents of Gaza becoming displaced, refugees, bleeding and hungry, to the point that the World Food Programme is talking about a famine crisis spreading throughout Gaza – especially in the north, and about the rise in food prices!
The most extremist government in the history of the Occupation in more than three-quarters of a century dared to expand the scope of its aggression and its rabid war by bombing the Iranian consulate in Damascus on 1 April, violating the sovereignty of two countries and killing leaders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Iran responded for the first time in its history with a missile and drone attack on Israel directly. The US, UK, France and Jordan contributed to confronting the Iranian missiles and drones, in an Iranian effort to impose fear to deter Israel from attacking Iran in its allies’ sites, especially in Syria.
Israel’s long arm reached out and struck Al-Hudaydah in Yemen to send a message to Iran and its allies about its ability to take revenge, after the Houthis bombed Tel Aviv and Eilat with missiles and ballistic drones.
However, the harshest blow was expanding the scope of the war and launching a war on Lebanon by targeting Hezbollah, the strongest arm and the jewel in the Iranian crown among Iran’s allies in the region. During two months of an annihilation war that targeted civilians from southern Lebanon to the southern suburbs of Beirut, and even Beirut itself, in a manner that exceeded Israel’s aggression on Lebanon in the summer of 2006, it assassinated several Hezbollah leaders, including Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, and his potential successor Hashem Safieddine, as well as the leaders of the Radwan Brigade – the elite military leadership brigade and the founding members of Hezbollah. The Occupation also worked on creating strife between Hezbollah and its environment, including and the Sunni and Christian components of Lebanese society.
Israel also attacked Iran by assassinating Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas political bureau in Tehran, and, after that, assassinating Yahya Sinwar and the leaders of Hamas in Gaza! Iran then took revenge on Israel after the assassination of Haniyeh and Nasrallah to reassure its allies and deter Israel. Today, Iran is still preparing for a retaliatory response to Israel’s latest aggression to restore the balance of fear.
Netanyahu stressed in his speech on the 60-day truce with Hezbollah in Lebanon the reasons for stopping the war, albeit temporarily: Israel has achieved accomplishments on the seven fronts it is fighting against Iran and its proxies – and to achieve three main goals: Focusing on the Iranian threat, reactivate the armed forces and unify their ranks, separating the Gaza front from the Lebanon front, and isolating the Hamas movement.
Not even a day had passed since the truce in the war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, and since Netanyahu warned and threatened Bashar Al-Assad against “playing with fire” before the Syrian armed opposition forces, led by Al-Nusra Front and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), launched a surprise military operation by sweeping the western and southern countryside of Aleppo, and the opposition forces entered the city of Aleppo and imposed almost complete control over the city and dozens of cities and villages in the countryside of Aleppo and the strategic city of Saraqib, as well as cutting off supply lines. The Syrian army forces and Iranian factions and militias then surrendered and fled, leaving their equipment, bases, tanks and vehicles without resistance.
This is after dealing a harsh blow to Hezbollah’s military and political capabilities and limiting its capabilities, along with striking the Houthis twice in Yemen and threatening to target the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, in a clear Israeli effort, with the support of the US, to separate the arenas, and leave Hamas to face the Zionist war of extermination alone by separating and isolating the arenas that support Hamas.
The liberation of Aleppo by the Syrian opposition is a major setback for the regime, Iran and its militias, as Aleppo is the economic and industrial capital of Syria and will strengthen the opposition’s power by linking Aleppo to Idlib, its stronghold.
This completely changes the scene and strengthens the role and position of the armed opposition, raising hopes of weakening the Syrian regime and as well as repeating the setbacks of Iran and its proxies.
The Syrian Foreign Minister accused the attack on Aleppo of serving the goals of the Israeli project and its sponsors, while the Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, denounced the attacks by the Syrian opposition. He accused “America and Israel of planning the Syrian opposition’s attacks after Israel’s defeat in Lebanon and Palestine”.
Analysts loyal to the Syrian regime accused Turkiye of being involved in the opposition’s attack on regime forces, while Turkiye described the clashes in Aleppo as an unwanted escalation that threatens civilians.
Russia described the opposition’s escalation and clashes in northern Syria as an attack on Syrian sovereignty and demanded the restoration of the Syrian state and the imposition of its sovereignty over Syrian territory.
It is clear that Iran and its axis have suffered painful setbacks to weaken its influence and harm its expansionist project, the latest of which was the weakening of the grip of the Assad regime. With it, the influence and power of Iran and its proxies in the region weaken and decline. This also means Russia’s strategy and role in the Middle East are confused. However, reality means that the future of Iran’s project and its axis will remain foggy, awaiting Trump.
Moreover, Russia’s influence is targeted in the Middle East, despite its support for the Syrian regime, in response to Russia’s progress in Ukraine, so that Syria can remain a bargaining chip that strengthens Russia’s influence in the region. Meanwhile, Turkiye to weaken Assad’s influence and force him to negotiate over the Kurds.
Along the way, Netanyahu hopes that all of this will form a new Middle East, but there are difficulties that still stand in the way.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241203-2024-the-year-of-setbacks-for-iran-and-its-axis/
----
Lebanon Faces Threats To Its Existence
Eyad Abu Shakra
December 03, 2024
The latest speech made by new Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem was extremely important for several reasons, in terms of both its timing and content.
Broadcast on Saturday, it was Qassem’s first speech since the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, which was brokered by the US and France, with Washington playing the leading role.
It was natural, indeed necessary, for the party to address its “sectarian” community, the broader national community and the regional community, given that its “unity of the arenas” was among the pretexts for this war.
Given the significant losses sustained by Hezbollah, many Lebanese keenly sought to find signs that a different approach would be taken by its leadership or that it would undertake a serious assessment and draw lessons for the future.
It was clear that the new secretary-general wanted his speech to serve two goals: to speak to the popular base and announce positions and commitments relating to both domestic and international actors. The sharp contrast between the segments of the speech addressed to these different audiences was stark, but it was to be expected after a costly military gamble that Qassem implicitly acknowledged and that the political and military commentators affiliated with the party and its base openly admitted.
Boosting morale after a real catastrophe struck dozens of cities, towns and villages from the far south of Lebanon to the far north (including the southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahiyeh, which is Hezbollah’s nerve center and where decisions are made) was undoubtedly a core objective of the speech.
Another major priority was reaffirming the principles that the party’s literature has emphasized for decades, for which sacrifices were made and slogans and narratives woven together and recited by party members, sometimes without any skepticism or even thinking.
To ensure that the speech served these major functions, the secretary-general emphasized that “a major victory greater than that of July 2006” had been achieved. “We won because we prevented the enemy from destroying Hezbollah; we won because we prevented it from ending the resistance or weakening it to a point where it couldn’t act,” he added.
He also highlighted three elements. Firstly, the length of the “Israeli assault” (implying that Israel could not decide the conflict quickly) and the party’s resilience in the face of this ferocious battle. Secondly, the American and Western support for Israel. Thirdly, the losses that Israel has sustained over the past year as a result of the party’s strikes, including the displacement of hundreds of thousands from northern Israel, while stressing that the resistance’s endurance left Israel without any other options.
Regarding the second half of this segment, the narrative of principles, the key points were: reiterating Hezbollah’s commitment to its special relationship with the Iranian leadership and its regional allies; and continuing support for Palestine, albeit “in different ways.”
He also emphasized that the ceasefire agreement is not “a new treaty,” or “an agreement requiring the signature of foreign countries.” Instead, it is a set of “measures” regarding the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which “the party had already agreed to.” The agreement “did not violate Lebanon’s sovereignty, and we agreed to it with our heads held high and insisting on our right to defend ourselves.”
All of the above is understandable. It is meant to keep the party and its base content, but other Lebanese communities have different opinions. The most amusing reflection of this disagreement was the viral clip of Lebanese Forces MP Ghayath Yazbeck’s bewildered body language as he stood behind Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah as he made an “absurd” statement about the party’s “victory” and its continued commitment to the “trinity of the army, the people and the resistance.”
One television broadcaster popular with Yazbeck’s community did not miss the opportunity to unpack Fadlallah’s claims with a report on the war through figures. The report addressed the realities of the territories controlled by both Israeli and Hezbollah forces, the extent of the destruction and the number of dead, wounded, prisoners, displaced and missing, including political and military leaders.
Despite this, I believe the Lebanese should turn the page on the experiences and pains of the past year and look forward to the future.
Returning to the discourse of treason accusations will not resolve political disputes and obstinate denial cannot build a nation. Attempts to monopolize solutions, just like attempts to monopolize patriotism, are the most effective way to accelerate political, economic, security and institutional collapse.
The “60-day period” that ended the bloodshed and stopped the destruction machine might not work miracles, but it offers an opportunity to pause and reflect, to bury the victims, rebuild what was destroyed and catch our breath.
Lighting a candle is a thousand times better than cursing the darkness. A good start might be to respect the terms of the ceasefire agreement until Jan. 9, the date of the proposed parliamentary election of a consensus president who can at least maintain the symbolic existence of the state.
In a region like the Middle East, where victories and defeats are like betrayal or a point of view, mistakes are very costly.
Our world is currently without a compass. Established democracies are reeling under the blows of racist populism and ruthless greed. Human values, even in the most advanced societies, are on the verge of being sidelined and disappearing in the face of the terrifying, rampant force of technology.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2581672
-----
Israel’s Selective Justice Encouraging Lawbreaking Settlers
Yossi Mekelberg
December 03, 2024
The appointment of Israel Katz as Israeli defence minister last month, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had dismissed Yoav Gallant for questioning him, was greeted in Israel with something between astonishment and ridicule.
One Israeli commentator remarked that “Katz has zero defence credentials, zero credibility with the military top brass and zero experience in managing such a huge and complex system.” For Netanyahu, in this most paranoid phase of his political life, these are exactly the credentials, or lack of them, that he was looking for. Someone who is no real threat to him, who is full of self-importance and whose ego exceeds his talents, meaning he will not dare to challenge the decisions coming from the prime minister’s office as long as he carries this coveted title.
Yet, already in his very short time in the most powerful government department, Katz has proven his ability to cause damage by taking a most controversial decision: to no longer use administrative detention — detention without trial — against settlers in the West Bank.
In principle, Katz should have been applauded for abolishing administrative detentions. After all, international law allows a state to use administrative detention only in emergencies and only if a fair hearing can be provided, in which the detainee can challenge the allegations against them. But here comes the twist in the tail: Katz thinks the Israeli security forces should refrain from applying this objectionable practice as a matter of law and principle, but only where Israelis are concerned, not Palestinians.
In a week when arrest warrants were issued against Netanyahu and Gallant for war crimes and Israel’s reputation for upholding human rights and international law is at an all-time low, what on earth prompted Katz to provide further credibility to those who level against Israel the charge that it is imposing a system of apartheid, at least in the Occupied Territories, if not beyond?
A look at the numbers of those whom Israel holds in administrative detention without trial reveals a staggeringly discriminatory situation. At the beginning of November, out of 3,451 suspects being detained without trial, only eight were Israelis, while the rest were Palestinian.
Addressing the rise and rise of settler terrorism in recent months and years should be a priority and should have been the case for a long time. Since the sixth and most far-right Netanyahu government came to power in December 2022, those who engage in these abhorrent activities know they can rely on the protection of their representatives in government.
For the security forces, administrative arrests are “efficient” and reduce the risk of revealing sources, but for any democracy it means the slippery slope of undermining a person’s basic right to adequate legal representation and a fair trial. From the ratio of settlers to Palestinians on the receiving end of this measure, it becomes clear how reluctant the Shin Bet is to administratively detain settlers, while being indiscriminate with the practice when it comes to Palestinians. If there is strong enough evidence, suspects should be charged and, if not, their freedom must be sacrosanct, except for very extreme cases and without ethnic, religious or gender discrimination.
The Shin Bet, which has the unenviable task of averting terrorism carried out by both sides, objects to Katz’s move because of a fear it will make its job more difficult. But the unacceptable number of Palestinian administrative detainees highlights that it has become a tool — one that is too easy to use — that allows suspects to be deprived of their freedom for a very long time without the need to go through the legal process. We should also be concerned about how many innocent Palestinians are now incarcerated, yet would not have been had they been able to have their day in court.
What makes this decision even more objectionable is that the government is sending a clear message to the violent elements among the settlers that their terrorist acts will be dealt with softly-softly, with no sense of urgency or duty of care toward the Palestinian population of the West Bank that the Israeli government has responsibility for as the occupying force.
Considering the track record of all Israeli governments since 1967, but especially the current one, which has become a puppet of the settler movement and its representatives in government, we should no longer be surprised that discriminatory policies and legislation — and above all the indifference shown toward settler violence — have reached a new level. Yet, we can still be appalled, protest and demand that it stops.
But let’s face it: the settler movement will never be satisfied until the West Bank is annexed. And it will probably seek the transfer of Palestinians to neighbouring countries. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said last week that Israel should occupy Gaza and “encourage” half of the Strip’s 2.2 million Palestinians to emigrate within two years — a statement that did not receive the international condemnation it deserved, although it should shock any decent human being.
Furthermore, with this chilling statement, Smotrich gave us a clear idea of what this senior Cabinet member must think about also “encouraging” Palestinians to leave the West Bank. Netanyahu actively supports, or at least turns a blind eye to, this fast-deteriorating situation, as long as it helps his narcissistic drive to survive in power.
The settlers, especially those who believe in and practice Israeli supremacy, have long been aware of Netanyahu’s weaknesses and hence ceased to respect the law and the authorities.
Only last week, security forces arrested eight Israeli settlers in Hebron for taunting Palestinian locals walking near the Ibrahimi Mosque, using vulgar language and gestures. On the same day, several settlers also became suspected of involvement in an attempted assault on the head of Central Command, Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, and several other officers who were touring the city. They hurled insults at them regarding administrative orders, called them traitors and enemies of Israel and blocked their way.
By now, the pandering of Israeli society to the settlers, which amounts to at least tacit empowerment of them, has damaged the country’s democracy, its international reputation and, above all, the chances of ever reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinians based on a two-state solution. When the government offers preferential treatment to its own lawbreakers, it only encourages them. It is not administrative detention that is needed but effective law enforcement, as well as soul-searching on the part of all Israelis concerning how such a pathological political phenomenon has been allowed to emerge without restraint.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2581671
----
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/middle-east-press/israel-prison-hezbollah-lebanon-war/d/133918
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism