Middle East Press on Jamal Khashoggi, Netanyahu, Nasrallah and Trump-Biden Debate: New Age Islam's Selection, 3 October 2020
By New Age Islam Edit
Bureau
3 October
2020
• Jamal Khashoggi, the Human
By Hassan Al Kontar
• Anti-Netanyahu Groups Stage ‘Neighbourhood
Protests’
By Rina Bassist
• Netanyahu and Nasrallah At A Standoff
By Ben Caspit
• Ashrawi Needs Help Getting Palestinians’
Message Across
By Ray Hanania
• Trump-Biden Debate: Why US Public Doesn't
Want To Have Another
By Kiliç Bugra Kanat
------
Jamal Khashoggi, the Human
By Hassan Al Kontar
2 Oct 2020
Jamal
Khashoggi
-----
On the
anniversary of Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, many will reminisce again about him as
a journalist and a public figure, a dissident and a victim of a ghastly crime.
But on the day of his death, I remember him as Jamal, the human being.
My first
contact with him came during my own moment in the media spotlight in 2018.
Perhaps you saw the headlines in April of that year: “Syrian refugee stuck in
Malaysia airport”.
How did I
get into there?
My
misfortune began in 2011, when war broke out in my country. At that time, I was
working in the UAE and decided to stay away from the war. I did not join the
fight, simply because I didn’t believe in it, I refused to be a part of a
killing machine, to kill my own brothers and destroy my own house.
Soon,
however, I lost my work permit and became illegal. Despite my best efforts to
lay low, I was detained in October 2017 and deported to Malaysia, as it was one
of a few countries giving Syrians visas on arrival.
There I
could neither apply for asylum nor obtain a work permit. So after spending a
few months there, I decided to leave. I tried to travel to Ecuador and Cambodia
but was refused entry and sent back to Malaysia, where I was also not allowed
in.
That is how
I got stuck at the airport in Kuala Lumpur for months.
My story
first appeared in the Arabic-language media. I found the public response
disheartening. Reading even a handful of comments on social media was enough to
make me want to avoid the glare of the media altogether even if it was the only
thing stopping the immigration authorities from sweeping me under the rug
altogether, and sending me into detention, or worse – back to Syria, where I
would face detention or death.
Those few
who paid attention to my story were bullying me online, questioning what I was
saying, accusing me of being a coward, a traitor and an extremist, and
altogether showing no sympathy for my situation. To the rest of the world,
which had grown tired of the Syrian tragedy by then, I was yet another faceless
Syrian refugee, rendered homeless by the war.
But there
was one person, one journalist, who saw me as a human being and felt my pain.
He gave me the strength I needed to push forward. His name was Jamal Khashoggi.
We first
made contact on what was just another ordinary morning for me, watching the
aeroplanes, and listening to the garbled flight announcements, checking my
cheap mobile phone every once and a while for an update. The phone was a
lifeline, and a temperamental one, as it turned on and off whenever it wanted,
and my fear was it would die completely, and leave me cut-off from the outside
world.
That
morning, I noticed some unusual activity on my Twitter account: there was a
surge in comments about my case. As it turned out, Jamal had just followed me
and shared one of my posts on Twitter.
This was a
big deal for me. While much of the world came to know Jamal through his grisly
death, in the Arab world, his name had been well known for years.
We knew him
first as a consultant for the Saudi monarchy, a man with plenty of power and
luxury at his fingertips. Then as he grew unsatisfied with his role as a
supporter of such authority, he became an outspoken, at times controversial
commentator, who started to say “no” in his own way, using his pen.
It was this
well-known figure who decided to bring attention – sympathetic attention – to
my misfortune when so many others had treated me with indifference or
hostility. This was not in response to any outreach on my side. He did it
himself, voluntarily, simply out of compassion.
I
immediately reached out to him to thank him for his kindness, and for providing
a voice for those who lacked one. A day later, he sent a short message in
reply, saying: “Hassan, your last tweet was wonderful, in which you combined
your personal suffering with that of millions of Arab youth. I suggest that
after every message you post, you talk a little bit about yourself and the
developments of your situation, to add a word about how you ended up at the
airport. Tell us about revolution, your hope for freedom, the Arab Spring, the
need for justice, employment. Tell us about a generation that lacks education.
Tell us, why we need peace in the Arab world!”
He added,
“I am trying to help you with an American friend here but now I can’t promise
anything. Hang on. Every day the number of people caring and praying for you
will increase.”
He did not
lie to me: he did what he could. As we both knew, it was almost impossible for
someone like me to travel to the US, since Syrians were a target of US
President Donald Trump’s travel ban, as they still are.
Then things
turned dark, very suddenly. On October 1, I was arrested at the airport and put
in detention, which would nearly result in my deportation to Syria. The next
day, on October 2, the worst befell Jamal – he was assassinated at the Saudi
consulate in Istanbul.
Removed
from the world, I only learned of this tragedy 25 days later. My Canadian
lawyer managed to hire a Malaysian lawyer to check in on me. At the end of the
hourlong visit, I asked him, “What is going on in the outside world? Any news?
Anything about Syria?”
He replied,
“You know. The world is busy with the murder of the Saudi journalist.”
“Which
journalist. Who?”
“Jamal
Khashoggi.”
My body
went cold. I broke into a sweat, and my gaze darted around the room as I tried
to avoid eye contact with the lawyer. In that silence, the only sound I heard
was my heavy breathing and heartbeat.
The lawyer,
seeing my reaction, refused to provide any more details. Before he left, he
said, “I’m sorry. I thought you knew. I regret telling you.”
When I
returned to my overcrowded cell, I felt lost. I could not eat or sleep.
Jamal was
not a relative or a friend. We had only exchanged those few messages on
Twitter. But he gave me hope – the most valuable thing to have when every day
you dread being stuck in limbo forever, or worse still being deported to your
death.
There have
been precious few people like Jamal – people who have known power, who have
wielded it, but have chosen to give it up, speak up and uplift the powerless
and the voiceless. His death was a loss not just to his family, friends and his
country, but also to the whole region, where greed for power has left many of
us destitute and despaired.
Eventually
Canada accepted my asylum application. The Malaysian authorities escorted me
from the jail directly to the airport and put me on a flight to Canada.
Today, in the
safety of my new home, I remember Jamal, the human, and I wish there would be
more people like him in the Middle East and the rest of the world.
Rest in
peace, Jamal. The truth will not die, justice will prevail, one day.
----
Hasan Al Kontar is a refugee activist who now
lives in Vancouver, Canada.
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2020/10/2/jamal-khashoggi-the-human/
----
Anti-Netanyahu Groups Stage ‘Neighbourhood
Protests’
By Rina Bassist
Oct 2, 2020
Benjamin Netanyahu wants Israel's parliament to protect him from prosecution © Oliver Weiken/dpa
------
About 1,000
demonstrations took place the night of Oct. 1 across Israel. At Tel Aviv’s
HaBima Square there were around 3,000 demonstrators who protested against Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; the other gatherings were much smaller. Unlike the
local demonstrations, the rather large Tel Aviv protest was dubbed a
spontaneous demonstration with no specific groups claiming responsibility for
organizing it.
These
protests were held as the Knesset approved government emergency measures
banning Israelis from traveling over 1 kilometre (0.6 mile) from their homes to
attend a protest, and limiting outdoor gatherings to a maximum of 20 people per
group. Israel entered a nationwide lockdown on the eve of the Jewish New Year
on Sept. 18, but the continued rise in coronavirus cases has prompt greater
restrictions on movement and gathering.
The Black
Flags movement has been calling on Netanyahu since March to resign over his
indictment for bribery, fraud and breach of trust, and over his failure to curb
the spread of the pandemic. For several months now the movement has staged
weekly Saturday night demonstrations outside Netanyahu’s official residence on
Balfour Street in Jerusalem. In the past few weeks, the movement has accused
the prime minister of attempting to stop these rallies against him by means of
undemocratic legislation whereby the prime minister pretended that such
measures were necessary to halt the spread of the virus. Netanyahu has rejected
these accusations, saying the measures were indeed necessary to combat the
pandemic.
On Sept.
25, after the government decided to reinforce restrictions on demonstrations,
several anti-Netanyahu groups announced that they would change their plans for
demonstrations scheduled for the next day and follow social distancing
regulations so that the government would have no reason to ban the protests.
Many people, instead of attending rallies, chose to join protest convoys on the
road leading to Jerusalem and in other places. Hundreds of vehicles took part.
After the
Knesset adopted anti-demonstration measures Sept. 30, the Black Flags movement
published a map of Israel, with hundreds of spots where small demonstrations
could take place — main intersections, public squares, etc. The map offers
Israelis demonstration spots that should correspond to the 1 kilometre
restriction. The movement said it would continue to organize local rallies on
Thursday and Saturday nights. They are hoping for some 2,000 “neighbourhood
protests” Oct. 3.
The
anti-Netanyahu group Crime Minister announced a march, to start Oct. 8, from
the north of Israel to the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem. It was
dubbed “the great submarine rally,’’ although it was unclear how this event
would unfold with the new regulations in place. Most anti-Netanyahu groups said
they would obey the new regulations and operate in a legal manner.
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/10/israel-benjamin-netanyahu-crime-minister-black-flags-rally.html
-----
Netanyahu and Nasrallah at a Standoff
By Ben Caspit
Oct 2, 2020
The ongoing
duel between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hezbollah Secretary-General
Hassan Nasrallah is beginning to repeat itself. Netanyahu gave his latest
Hezbollah-related performance in his annual address to the UN General Assembly
on Sept. 29, videotaped several days earlier in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu
presented his viewers with what he described as a storage depot of Hezbollah
missiles in the heart of Beirut’s Janah neighbourhood, saying it was located
next to a gas company warehouse and a service station. Netanyahu’s meticulously
prepared PowerPoint was convincing. It included skilfully presented photos
purported to be the entrance to the missile site next to the entrance of the
gas warehouse, as well as a personal appeal to the residents of Lebanon
explaining how Hezbollah and its Iranian patrons were endangering their
well-being.
Netanyahu
masterfully leveraged the horrific explosion at the Beirut port the previous
month as only he knows how. The point was to pit Hezbollah and the residents of
Lebanon against each other, to deepen the gap between supporters and opponents
of the Shiite organization and to warn residents of the beleaguered state and
its capital city that Nasrallah continues to drag them into an abyss. Israeli
intelligence is closely monitoring the deterioration in Lebanon and the
population’s growing despair. Few in Jerusalem are shedding a tear over the
predicament of Israel’s northern neighbor. All Israel is doing is helping the
Lebanese arrive at the correct conclusion, as it sees it: Nasrallah is to blame
for all their country’s troubles.
Nasrallah
did not disappoint in responding to Netanyahu just minutes later, calling the
prime minister a liar, denying outright all his claims and saying that
Hezbollah would not store missiles near gas canisters. “We know where to store
missiles,” he added. He then invited media representatives to tour the
warehouse to which Netanyahu had pointed. The tour of the site was conducted an
hour later, but did not resolve the dispute or clarify the situation. Netanyahu
and Nasrallah found themselves facing off with their fingers on the trigger and
harsh domestic crises roiling around them.
By the way,
a similar standoff occurred exactly two years ago, with the only difference
being that Netanyahu delivered his September 2018 speech to the General
Assembly in person. The speech was similar, as was the information he presented
of a missile depot near Beirut’s international airport, and Nasrallah was also
quick to respond. This week, the information that Netanyahu presented was
slightly more precise, including close-ups of the entrance door to the
purported site.
Hezbollah’s
standing in Lebanon in those days was also somewhat different, with its
problems less pronounced and the Beirut port intact. These days, Nasrallah is
fighting for his organization’s legitimacy in Lebanon, with the explosion that
literally and figuratively rocked the state setting off a social media storm
that has not abated and a significant number of Lebanese losing their fear of
Hezbollah’s mythical power. Netanyahu is also in far more dire straits than he
was two years ago. His trial on charges of corruption has begun, the economy is
tanking under the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the disease is raging and
Israelis are blaming Netanyahu for the embarrassing fact that their startup
nation is leading the world in terms of new COVID-19 deaths per capita.
Nonetheless,
despite the vague sense of deja vu generated by this week’s scuffle, it should
not be taken lightly. Two years ago, following Netanyahu’s General Assembly
address, an article on this site speculated that Israel might be weighing a
preemptive strike on Hezbollah’s missile infrastructure in Lebanon. Netanyahu
hinted at such an option at the time, as he did once again this week.
On the one
hand, Israel has never landed a preemptive strike against any of its enemies’
conventional arms buildup. However, Israel argues that Hezbollah has an
significant arsenal of missiles and is trying to adapt some of them for
precision strikes. Acquisition of accurate strike capabilities against Israeli
infrastructure, military airfields and other strategic targets would be a
dramatic game changer that Israel cannot afford.
What is
more, Israel has avoided making a preemptive strike so far, fearing the
destruction Hezbollah could wreak in retaliation on the Israeli heartland.
These days, the health and economic crisis are wreaking havoc on the heartland
without Nasrallah. With unemployment surging and most of the economy under
lockdown, Israel is on a warlike footing in any case. In other words, at this
precise point in time Israel has nothing to lose from a preemptive strike. Such
a surprise attack would enable it to destroy a significant part of Hezbollah’s
weapons and missile systems, a result Israel would be unable to achieve if it
lost the element of surprise once a war broke out.
This
analysis notwithstanding, there does not appear to be any need at this stage to
prepare the shelters or flee. Netanyahu is under heavy personal siege and
dragging Israel into all-out war would be tantamount to political suicide under
these circumstances. Israel would also have a hard time mobilizing international
cooperation or support for a move that could set the entire Middle East on
fire. In addition, the prospects that a preemptive strike on Nasrallah would
completely destroy Hezbollah’s rocket and missiles capability are nil. Unlike
past destruction of two Arab nuclear reactors (in Iraq and Syria), a
synchronized raid on hundreds of missile and rocket sites is a complex endeavor
with uncertain prospects of success.
Taken
together, all these considerations preclude a realistic option of a preemptive
strike. Neither Nasrallah nor Netanyahu are up to anything but a clash of
words, given their circumstances. Having said all of the above, the usual
caveat is in order: We are in the Middle East. Anything, at any place, at any
time, is possible.
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/10/israel-hezbollah-iran-lebanon-benjamin-netanyahu-nasrallah.html
-----
Ashrawi
Needs Help Getting Palestinians’ Message Across
By Ray Hanania
October 02,
2020
It is a
fact that the Arab community does not understand the importance of strategic
communications, which could strengthen its efforts to overcome powerful
adversaries like Israel. I learned at an early age about the importance of
public relations, the impact of perception on US policies, and how spin can
decide an election.
While
serving in the US Air Force during the Vietnam War, I watched a debate on
American television during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. The debate was between an
Arab and an Israeli. The Israeli looked American, dressed American, sounded
American and not only spoke English fluently, but he spoke “baseball English,”
meaning his nuances reflected the everyday American vernacular. In contrast,
the Arab spokesman had a strong accent and did not even shave, sporting what
looked like five days of beard growth, which may be common in the Middle East
but not in America. He blamed the US for the Arabs’ troubles. He was very
emotional while the Israeli was calm and reasoned. I recognized right away that
the Israeli was identifying with the American audience while the Arab was
coming across like a stranger.
When I
completed my military service, I switched my college major to journalism — an
unusual choice for an Arab American in the 1970s. When I was only 23 years old,
I was asked to serve as spokesman for the Arab American Congress for Palestine,
which represented Palestinians in the American heartland. So, in 1976, I found
myself on a national TV program debating with Israel’s foreign minister and
most eloquent spokesperson, Abba Eban.
Eban dominated
the debate when we spoke about politics, with the help of the moderator, who
was a big supporter of Israel. They did not support a two-state solution back
then, they just wanted the Palestinians to go away. I realized that Americans
were conditioned by years of media and propaganda spin to support Israel and
believe its distorted historical narrative. The common pro-Israel distortions
were creatively crafted. They included several deeply embedded slogans and
themes, such as: “A people without a land (the Jews) in a land (Palestine)
without a people;” the Israelis “made a desert bloom;” and the notorious “the
Palestinians don’t exist.”
Knowing the
fundamentals of public relations spin, I exploited a deep crack that I saw in
the pro-Israel propaganda. After all, I was a veteran who had served in the
Vietnam War. I spoke about that and the fact my Uncle Moses and my father
George, both born in Jerusalem, also served in the US military, defending
America from the Nazis during the Second World War. My English was flawless and
had a Chicago accent, making Eban, with his haughty British accent, sound
foreign.
And then I
hit him where it hurt. “Maybe the audience should know that your real name is
Aubrey Solomon and you were born in South Africa,” I began, to the shock of
both Eban and the biased host. I was looking into the TV camera and at the
hundreds of thousands of Americans who were watching. I was speaking to them. I
allowed my face to reflect pain and my eyes to widen, near to tears, and said:
“Why is it that my father, a Christian Palestinian who was born in Jerusalem
and whose family lived in Jerusalem until Israel forced us out, cannot live in
the city where he was born, but Mr. Eban, Aubrey Solomon, who was born in South
Africa, can live in Jerusalem? That’s not fair and I wonder how Christian
Americans feel about one of their own not being allowed to live in the holy
city of their birth?”
Eban’s
demeanour tightened and his hands grabbed the arms of the chair. The host
became angry. “Well, as foreign minister, Mr. Hanania, I will see to it that
you can go back to Jerusalem,” Eban said. I responded: “What about the other 3
million Ray Hananias who are in the same situation?”
I made the
debate personal and connected with the TV audience, which I knew would be
mostly Christian and also admiring of my military service. The response was
overwhelming, with many Americans later questioning Israel’s claims and seeing
Palestinians not as “terrorists” or “anti-Semites,” but people with a reasoned
counterclaim that exposed Israel’s lies. The reaction showed me that, if we
present a reasoned and smart argument via a person the audience identifies
with, we can change the trajectory of the false pro-Israel narrative.
I bring all
this up because, on Saturday, I joined a video conference call featuring Hanan
Ashrawi, Palestine’s most eloquent spokesperson, during an event organized by
ArabAmerica.com, an Arab American activists’ network. I asked Ashrawi why we
don’t have a formal public relations strategy, which she agreed we needed. She
also acknowledged that, too often, it comes down to personal politics and
ambition, meaning PR is pushed aside.
I believe
Ashrawi is the Eban of Palestinian advocacy in that she is eloquent, smart,
knowledgeable and courageously effective. However, unlike Eban, Ashrawi did not
change her name and she was born in Palestine.
Why don’t
the Arabs give Ashrawi the budget she needs to implement an effective PR
strategy to win over the hearts and minds of the American people — an audience
whose views most influence the fate of Palestinian rights? Are we poor? Or are
we as Arabs not that smart?
----
Ray Hanania is an award-winning former Chicago
City Hall political reporter and columnist.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1743356
-----
Trump-Biden Debate: Why US Public Doesn't Want
To Have Another
By Kiliç Bugra Kanat
October 03,
2020
Trump-Biden
debate
------
Last week
in this column, I wrote about how important the debate between two presidential
candidates can be, not only for the United States election but also for the
country's standing around the world.
Besides
being one of the critical junctures of the long U.S. election campaign process,
the debates are also a presentation of the presidential candidates to the
world.
Because of
this, millions around the world either watch or follow the debates. On Tuesday
the first of these debates took place in Cleveland between President Donald
Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. It was something more than anyone
could have expected from a presidential debate.
Election
observers, U.S. politics historians and veteran journalists all agree on one
thing about
Tuesday's
debate: It was the worst debate ever to have taken place between two
presidential candidates since the beginning of televised debates in 1960.
Throughout
the last 60 years of the debates, “unpresidential moments” were frequently
mentioned, including George H. Bush checking his watch and Al Gore sighing
during the debates. What the Americans witnessed on Tuesday was nowhere near
the “presidential” standards set by previous presidential debates.
In addition
to the constant interruptions and accusations, the viewers watched extremely
“unpresidential moments” of yelling and in some instances insulting each other
during the so-called conversation.
Although
everybody was expecting Trump to be “too hot” during the debate, not many
people were expecting Biden to call the sitting president “a clown,” “liar” and
“Putin’s puppy.”
Personal
attacks, including the allegations that Trump made in regards to Biden’s son
Hunter Biden, were prevalent during the 90 minutes. It seemed that during a
majority of the debate the candidates preferred to attack each other’s records
to make the other lose their nerves instead of responding to the questions
asked. The moderator Chris Wallace was given the hardest job of keeping the
debate in order, which he also failed to do.
Throughout
the debate, the candidates failed to provide convincing responses to the
pressing issues in the U.S. today. Most of the questions in regard to current
challenges of U.S. society and economics, including the response to the
COVID-19 crisis, the road map to end the economic crisis and the way to handle
the health care issue remained unanswered.
Trump
failed to condemn white supremacists, and his response to that specific
question made headlines the following day. Biden also avoided direct questions
about Antifa and other groups on the left. Both candidates avoided alienating
the more radical segments of their voting base.
The polls
in the aftermath of the debate demonstrated mixed results. For some Biden was
more successful than Trump. But a large part of this perception was due to the
low expectations from Biden mostly because of Trump's campaign’s constant
attacks on Biden’s health. This low expectation became the biggest challenge
for Trump.
The polls
revealed that the debates did not change the minds of the small number of
undecided voters. It may even discourage them to go vote in the elections. In
the aftermath of the debate, there was a hashtag campaign calling for a
cancellation of upcoming debates.
Originally
the next debate – which was to focus on issues of foreign and national security
policies – was planned for Oct. 15. However, following the news that Trump
tested positive for COVID-19, there are too many unknowns about whether there
will be a debate, and if so, what the format will be given the risks of the
pandemic. Maybe it is best for the U.S. not to have another such terrible
debate.
https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/columns/trump-biden-debate-why-us-public-doesnt-want-to-have-another
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