Middle East Press On: War, Freedom, Expression, Europe, Palestinian: New Age Islam's Selection, 15 April 2025
By New Age Islam Edit Desk
15 April 2025
The Netanyahu-Trump Meeting: Success or Embarrassing Failure?
A War Between Israel and Turkey Can Be Prevented with Azerbaijan's Help
Killing Palestinian Children Rises to an Industrial Level
‘No Freedom of Expression in Europe’: Varoufakis Blasts Crackdown On Pro-Palestine Activism
With Trump Calling the Tune, Will Netanyahu Face the Music?
Access Denied: How Israel Is Avoiding Scrutiny of Its Actions
Lebanon Looks Back, But Is April 13 Best Forgotten?
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The Netanyahu-Trump Meeting: Success or Embarrassing Failure?
By Susan Hattis Rolef
April 15, 2025
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with US President Donald Trump on April 7 was described in Israel both as an embarrassing failure and a brilliant success, depending on the identity of the commentator, and his/her prior expectations.
According to media reports, Netanyahu’s impromptu April 6 trip from Budapest – where he was on an official visit – to Washington, reportedly on a spur-of-the-moment invitation by Trump, was designed primarily to deal with the effect on Israel of Trump’s declared worldwide trade war. But it also dealt with the issue of Iran’s nuclear capability, the continuing war in the Gaza Strip, and the hostage issue.
Against this background of expectations, what actually transpired in the Trump-Netanyahu talks, followed by a meeting with the American and Israeli media, suggested that from an Israeli perspective, the event was a total failure.
First of all, Trump refused to back off from the 17% tariff he had imposed on Israeli exports to the US, adding a comment that Israel should not complain but be grateful for $4 billion of military aid it receives annually from the US.
Regarding Iran’s nuclear plans, Trump announced that the US was about to open direct talks with the Iranian government on the following Saturday, April 12. Trump added that if the talks would fail, Iran “will be in great danger” – implying that there would be an attack on Iran, but adding that Israel would “be the leader” in such an attack.
As is well known, Netanyahu has always been against negotiations and agreements with Iran about its nuclear activities, preferring the use of force to destroy Iran’s nuclear ambitions. It was Netanyahu who had convinced Trump, during his first term as president, to back out of the agreement signed by president Barack Obama with Iran.
Netanyahu apparently heard about the new talks with Iran just before he and Trump met the media. However, this did not prevent his glum facial expression, while Trump gleefully informed the press of the prospective talks.
On the one hand, Trump used the hostage issue to give Netanyahu what seemed like a backhanded compliment, suggesting that the latter is doing his utmost to release the hostages, and ought to be appreciated for this in Israel “because he’s been a great leader.” (In fact, most Israelis do not believe that Netanyahu is doing his utmost on this issue.)
On the other hand, what the president said about Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared as a careless blow below the belt. Trump commented that he likes Erdogan, and that Erdogan likes him, even though Erdogan had declared in a mosque in Istanbul the previous week that “I wish that destruction and ruin will befall Israel and Zionism, following what it is doing in Palestine.”
In addition, Erdogan repeatedly refers to Israel as a “terrorist state” that threatens “the stability of the region,” with special reference to Lebanon and Syria, while acting in a “barbaric manner” against civilians in Gaza.
Regarding the tensions between Turkey and Israel, Trump merely stated that if Netanyahu has a problem with Turkey, he should turn to him, and that he thinks he will be able to solve it, “as long as you [i.e., Netanyahu] are reasonable”.
Netanyahu's spin
AS HE boarded his plane back to Israel, Netanyahu put a positive spin on his visit, which he described as “very warm and friendly.”
Although he had been surprised by Trump’s announcement about the talks with Iran, he emphasized that they both agree that Iran should be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons, and that if the talks should fail, the military option should be adopted.
Netanyahu expressed gratitude for Trump’s statement that he (Bibi) was working hard to bring the hostages back home. He added that they had spoken about finding target states willing to absorb large numbers of Gazans “because that is what should happen.” Netanyahu also spoke positively of Trump’s offer to help with his relations with Erdogan.
Regarding trade relations between Israel and the US, Netanyahu added that he had told Trump that Israel would reduce the US trade deficit with Israel to zero, and that Trump had expressed gratitude for this. “This is the least we can do for the US and its president, who does so much for us,” Netanyahu said.
According to Israeli figures, in 2024 Israel imported goods and services worth $15.8 billion ($9.1 billion of goods, and $6.7 billion of services), and exported $37.2 billion worth ($14.3 billion of goods and $22.9 billion of services) – a positive trade balance of $21.4 billion in Israel’s favor.
Even if Israel were to pay for all the weapons it receives from the US for free through military aid, its positive trade balance with the US would still be vast.
It is clear that Netanyahu was trying to please Trump and avoid a semblance of what had happened to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his visit to the White House on February 28. Zelensky refused to accept Trump’s disrespectful and patronizing conduct toward him and was expelled from the White House.
However, Netanyahu’s sucking up to Trump on this issue was truly embarrassing, especially since Trump’s declaration of a trade war on all (now being delayed by nine months) doesn’t make any economic sense, and Netanyahu’s “concession” doesn’t make any sense either.
In fact, government officials in Israel responsible for Israel’s trade with the US have no clue how Israel’s trade gap with the US can be abolished without damaging Israel’s economic interests.
In an article on the highlights of the Trump-Netanyahu meeting, Alex Traiman, CEO and Jerusalem bureau chief of the right-wing Jewish News Syndicate, mentioned that Trump had spoken again of his plan to move one million Palestinians or more out of the Gaza Strip to other countries.
According to Trainman, this would shift “the entire balance of power within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, turning Palestinians from a demographic threat between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea into an ethnic minority.”
Traiman added that Trump had also criticized Ariel Sharon’s 2005 disengagement plan from the Gaza Strip. “I don’t understand why Israel ever gave it up,” Trump had stated. “Israel owned it… They took oceanfront property, and they gave it to people for peace. How did that work out? Not good,” adding that Netanyahu would never have approved such a plan.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-850125
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A War Between Israel and Turkey Can Be Prevented with Azerbaijan's Help
By Roman Gurevich
April 15, 2025
At the prestigious international forum taking place at ADA University – the diplomatic academy under Azerbaijan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry – President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan voiced his concern over growing tensions between Israel and Turkey.
He emphasized that Azerbaijan has long been a close friend of both nations and is doing everything within its power to reduce tensions and encourage reconciliation.
Unfortunately, Israel is now facing a new wave of strain in its relations with Turkey. This is particularly alarming given Turkey’s expanded military and political presence in Syria, effectively making it Israel’s northern neighbor.
It is no secret that following Turkey’s increased involvement in Syria, professional-level contacts have been established between the security services of Israel and Turkey to coordinate actions on the ground.
Notably, military installations in Syria that posed a threat to Israel were targeted by Israeli airstrikes prior to being occupied by Turkish forces. Among them was the T4 airbase, which Turkish Air Force units are expected to utilize in the near future.
This level of coordination underscores the mutual understanding that neither party seeks a direct confrontation.
Yet, the situation remains dangerously volatile. Irresponsible and inflammatory rhetoric continues to fuel existing tensions and could ultimately ignite a conflict.
As is often the case, reckless statements made by political firebrands end up creating crises that must be resolved by seasoned professionals.
“Azerbaijan is doing everything in its power to prevent the escalation of this conflict,” President Aliyev remarked. And we know very well just how much Azerbaijan can accomplish. It was largely thanks to Baku’s efforts in 2016 that a serious diplomatic rupture between Israel and Turkey was resolved. The subsequent warming of relations lasted for several years. Now, however, those relations are, once again, under acute strain.
In today’s highly combustible climate – marked by deep mistrust and heightened emotion – it is essential to identify islands of mutual understanding and shared interest. Rational, professional diplomacy is critical.
How would it be beneficial for such a conflict?
It is difficult to see who, apart from Iran, would stand to benefit from a war between Israel and Turkey. With its regional influence significantly weakened, Iran would view such a conflict as a geopolitical windfall.
A destabilized Syria – riddled with chaos and extremism and lacking strong governance – would serve Tehran’s interests, especially given its eroding presence there. Neither Israel nor Turkey wants to see the return of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to Syria. In this light, ensuring Syria’s stability may represent a rare point of convergence for both countries.
Both Israeli and Turkish sources confirmed that direct technical talks were underway between the two nations to prevent any military collision in Syria. The first such meeting between high-level representatives took place on April 9 in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.
Why Baku? Because Azerbaijan is uniquely positioned as the only country that enjoys deep, trust-based relationships with both Israel and Turkey. President Aliyev is widely respected and trusted by both nations’ leaderships, placing Azerbaijan in a powerful mediating role with genuine potential to prevent further escalation.
We want, and strive, to live in peace with our neighbours. That is why Azerbaijan’s peace-making stance is so crucial in the current crisis. This is a conflict that threatens not only the stability of the region but could also unleash unpredictable consequences.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-850124
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Killing Palestinian Children Rises to an Industrial Level
By Dr Daud Abdullah
April 14, 2025
Of all the many crimes for which Israel has gained notoriety, the killing of Palestinian children ranks among the most heinous. Time has not erased the memories of the long list of innocents killed in the most ghoulish manner. They include the 2000 killing of 12-year-old Muhammad Al-Durra cowering in his father’s arms, and the 2024 killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab who pleaded for help while surrounded by the bodies of her slain relatives in a bullet-ridden car. They are just a small tip of the iceberg.
Since the beginning of this year, 2025, Israel’s occupation army has taken its sadistic campaign to an industrial level. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) confirmed that at least one child in Gaza was killed every hour. Throughout the last year and a half, an average of 30 children were killed every day. Most recent estimates show that Israel has killed at least 17,400 children, of these 15,600 have been identified. Added to these are the many thousands who remain buried under the rubble of their destroyed homes, schools and shelters. After resuming its aggression in March 2025, more than 300 children have been killed in Gaza according to UNICEF.
More than anything else, these figures underscore a premeditated policy of extermination carried out by Israel against the most vulnerable segment of Gaza’s population. Official records indicate that children make up more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population. The present generation have never experienced freedom; all they have ever known was subjugation and intermittent wars by a military occupation.
On the whole, life before October 7 was no bed of roses for Palestinians. For those in Gaza, it was always hellish and brutal. Seventeen years of blockade had left their youth with no other option but to resist and act in ways that would awaken the conscience of the world from its self-induced slumber. October 7 was, therefore, the inevitable consequence of years of deprivation. Notwithstanding, Israel’s Western backers all feigned surprise with the launch of Operation Al Aqsa Flood although they were warned time and again that the situation could not continue.
As early as 2003, Avraham Burg – a former speaker of Israel’s Knesset [1999-2003] and former chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel – warned: “Israel, having ceased to care about the children of the Palestinians, should not be surprised when they come washed in hatred and blow themselves up in the centres of Israeli escapism.”
More thoughtfully he addedL “We could kill a thousand ringleaders a day and nothing will be solved, because the leaders come up from below – from the wells of hatred and anger, from the “infrastructures” of injustice and moral corruption.”
Surely, Benyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s incumbent prime minister, would have heard or read these words. He was minister of finance at the time and had just completed his first premiership in 1999. No other politician has dominated the Israeli political landscape for as long as Netanyahu. His entire career was dedicated to the achievement of Jewish supremacy and the total suppression of Palestinian rights.
Everything comes to an end and Netanyahu’s tyranny is now approaching its end, not in a blaze of glory but in a morass of ignominy and disgrace. Wanted abroad as an indicted war criminal, he is, likewise, dragged through his domestic courts charged for everything from fraud to bribery and breach of trust. Whether he is convicted in the Hague or at home, he is likely to serve a long time behind bars.
Perhaps the only saving grace for the Israeli prime minister is to fulfil his promise of absolute victory in Gaza, even if it involves the collective punishment of its civilian population and continued slaughter of its children. Culpability for these crimes will not, however, disappear with the passage of time. All those who planned, aided and abetted in the execution of these crimes will also have their day of reckoning.
And spare a thought for the survivors of the Gaza genocide. Surely, they will not be sending roses to the occupier or singing its praises. Like those who passed before them, they will continue to resist the occupation that enabled its soldiers to compete and profit from the killing of Palestinian children.
As for the self-righteous leaders of the “Free World” who regularly queue up to condemn the killing of Ukrainian children, they must ask themselves did you not see or hear about the massacre of Palestinian children in their occupied land. Where were you?
“It is this depraved hypocrisy,” which according to Yitzhak Frankenthal, an Israeli father, that pushes the Palestinians to resist the occupation. It is “our double standard that allows us to boast the highest military ethics, while the same military slays innocent children.”
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250414-killing-palestinian-children-rises-to-an-industrial-level/
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‘No Freedom of Expression in Europe’: Varoufakis Blasts Crackdown On Pro-Palestine Activism
April 14, 2025
The repression of Palestine solidarity in Europe has exposed the erosion of fundamental democratic rights across the continent, according to Yanis Varoufakis, a former Greek finance minister and vocal critic of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
“There is no freedom of expression in Europe,” Varoufakis told Anadolu in an interview, arguing that citizens are being punished not for violent acts, but for refusing to support Israel’s harrowing crimes against Palestinians.
Last year, German authorities imposed an entry ban on Varoufakis and barred him from engaging in any political activity in the country, after police forcibly shut down a Palestine Congress event in Berlin, where he was scheduled to speak.
More recently, Germany issued deportation orders to three EU citizens and one American in March for participating in pro-Palestine protests, giving them six weeks to leave the country.
“When the German state violates all its own principles and rules in order to defend the right of the Zionist apartheid state to eradicate Palestinian life in Palestine, then you know that there’s no democracy,” said Varoufakis.
For him, standing with Palestine is not only a matter of solidarity, but a litmus test for Europe’s democratic values.
“Democracy has become a sham and we need to protest for Palestine in order to save our own democratic rights in Europe.”
Defending Palestinians ‘a duty for all’
Drawing a stark comparison, Varoufakis said that just as people had a moral duty in the 1930s to defend Jews from the Nazis, today the same obligation applies in defending Palestinians from the actions of the Israeli state.
“If this was in 1938, we would all have one duty: to go out in defence of Jews, defending them from the Nazis. Today, we have one duty – to defend the Palestinians from the Israeli apartheid state and the genocide,” he said.
“That’s what the West has been doing all over the world,” he said.
“When the British arrived in Australia, they looked at this magnificent continent with 6 million natives, and they called it ‘a land without people for a people without a land.’”
Drawing connections to apartheid South Africa and the genocide of Aboriginal people in Australia, Varoufakis argued that the current situation in Gaza is a continuation of a broader European legacy of white settler ideology.
“Europe is guilty of white settler ideology, which is always the ideology of extermination, of genocide,” he said.
According to Varoufakis, Europe’s current support for Israel marks a shift in the continent’s historic prejudices. While Europe was once responsible for anti-Semitic pogroms and, ultimately, the Holocaust, he believes the focus of racialized fear and hostility has now shifted.
“Europe is responsible for anti-Semitism, for the pogroms against the Jews, for the Holocaust … We have a responsibility as Europe for what happened to the Jewish people,” he said.
“Then, after the Holocaust, you had this transformation and, suddenly, the enemy was no longer the Jew, it was the Palestinian, it was the Muslim. Now, we – both Europe and Europeans – have to extricate ourselves from that very sorry history.”
Yet, despite the official alignment with Israeli policy prevalent in Europe, Varoufakis believes most Europeans oppose their governments’ positions.
“I believe the majority of Europeans are not in concert with their governments … The majority are supporting the Palestinian cause,” he added.
However, he emphasized that these citizens are still up against governments that “do not have at heart the interest of their own people.”
These “same regimes in Europe” also have no qualms in ignoring the “great demand from across Europe, from across the world, from the Global South and the majority of the Global North, to end the Palestinian genocide,” he added.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250414-no-freedom-of-expression-in-europe-varoufakis-blasts-crackdown-on-pro-palestine-activism/
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With Trump Calling the Tune, Will Netanyahu Face the Music?
Dr. Ramzy Baroud
April 14, 2025
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent visit to Washington was no ordinary trip. The consensus among Israeli analysts, barring a few remaining loyalists, is that Netanyahu was not invited but, rather, summoned by US President Donald Trump.
All the evidence supports this assertion. Netanyahu rarely travels to the US without extensive Israeli media fanfare, leveraging his touted relationships with various US administrations as a “hasbara” opportunity to reinforce his image as Israel’s strongman.
This time, there was no room for such campaigns. Netanyahu was informed of Trump’s summons while on an official trip to Hungary. There, the Israeli leader was received by Hungarian President Viktor Orban with exaggerated diplomatic accolades, signaling defiance against international condemnation of Netanyahu as an accused war criminal wanted by the International Criminal Court, and portraying him as anything but an isolated leader of an increasingly pariah state.
The capstone of Netanyahu’s short-lived Hungarian victory lap was Orban’s announcement of Hungary’s withdrawal from the ICC, a move with profoundly unsettling implications.
It would have been convenient for Netanyahu to use his Washington visit to deflect from his failed war in Gaza and internal strife in Israel. However, as the Arabic saying goes, “the wind often blows contrary to the ship’s desires.”
The notion that Netanyahu was summoned, not invited, is corroborated by Israeli media reports that he attempted to postpone the visit under various pretexts. He failed, ultimately flying to Washington on the date determined by the White House. Initially, reports circulated that no press conference would be held, denying Netanyahu the platform to tout Washington’s unwavering support for his military actions and to expound on the “special relationship” between the two countries.
A press conference was held, though it was largely dominated by Trump’s contradictory messages and typical rhetoric. Netanyahu spoke briefly, attempting to project the same confident body language observed during his previous Washington visit, when he sat with an erect posture and spread out his legs, as if in command. But this time, his body language betrayed him; his eyes shifted nervously, and he appeared stiff and surprised, particularly when Trump announced that the US and Iran would begin direct talks in Oman soon.
Trump also mentioned the need to end the war in Gaza, but the Iran announcement clearly shocked Netanyahu. He desperately tried to align his discourse with Trump’s, referencing Libya’s disarmament under Muammar Qaddafi. But that was never part of Israel’s official regional plan. Israel had consistently advocated for US military intervention against Iran, despite the certainty that such a war would destabilize the entire region, potentially drawing the US into a conflict far more protracted and devastating than the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Further evidence of Washington’s diverging views from Israel’s regional ambitions — centered on perpetual war, territorial expansion, and geopolitical dominance — lies in the fact that key political and intellectual figures within the Trump administration recognize the futility of such conflicts. In leaked exchanges on the encrypted messaging platform Signal, Vice President JD Vance protested that escalating the war in Yemen benefits Europe, not the US, a continent with which the US is increasingly decoupling, if not engaging in a trade war.
The Yemen war, like a potential conflict with Iran, is widely perceived as being waged on Israel’s behalf. Figures such as Tucker Carlson, a prominent commentator, articulated the growing frustration among right-wing intellectuals in the US, tweeting that “anyone advocating for conflict with Iran is not an ally of the United States, but an enemy.”
Trump’s willingness to openly challenge Netanyahu’s policies remains unclear. His conflicting statements, such as calling for an end to the Gaza war, while simultaneously advocating for the expulsion of Palestinians, add to the ambiguity. However, recent reports suggest a determined US intention to end the war in Gaza as part of a broader strategy, linking Gaza to Yemen, Lebanon, and Iran. This aligns with Washington’s need to stabilize the region as it prepares for a new phase of competition with China, requiring comprehensive economic, political, and military readiness.
Should Trump prove capable of doing what others could not, will Netanyahu finally submit to American pressure?
In 2015, Netanyahu demonstrated Israel’s unparalleled influence on US foreign and domestic policy when he addressed both chambers of Congress. Despite a few insignificant protests, Republican and Democratic policymakers applauded enthusiastically as Netanyahu criticized then-President Barack Obama, who did not attend and appeared isolated by his own political class.
However, if Netanyahu believes he can replicate that moment, he is mistaken. Those years are long gone. Trump, a populist leader, is not beholden to finding political balances in Congress. Now in his second and final term, he could, in theory, abandon the US’s ingrained reliance on Israel’s approval and its aggressive lobby in Washington.
Moreover, Netanyahu’s political standing is diminished. He is perceived as a failed political leader and military strategist, unable to secure decisive victories or extract political concessions from his adversaries. He is a leader without a clear plan, grappling with a legitimacy crisis unlike any faced by his predecessors.
Ultimately, the outcome hinges on Trump’s willingness to confront Netanyahu. If he does, and sustains the pressure, the Israeli leader could find himself in an unenviable position, marking a rare instance in modern history where the US dictates its terms, and Israel listens. Time will tell.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2596992
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Access Denied: How Israel Is Avoiding Scrutiny of Its Actions
Chris Doyle
April 14, 2025
Much furor erupted last week when Israel denied entry and deported for the first time ever two British MPs. A barrage of nonsense was spewed about a delegation we at the Council for Arab-British Understanding helped organize. It was a delegation to the West Bank, not Israel. It was never about Israel, but about assessing humanitarian projects and the challenges facing Palestinian communities under occupation. The MPs were not there to spread hate against Israel.
Yet the real story is not about these two Labour MPs, both of whom received welcome from the British government and parliamentary backing. It is that they and others are not allowed to witness the reality of life in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Israeli denials of access are becoming more frequent. In February, two European members of the European Parliament were also refused entry and sent packing.
Within the West Bank, leading international politicians have had their access curtailed by Israel. James Cleverly, when British foreign secretary, and his Irish and Norwegian counterparts were informed by Israeli authorities that they could not visit the village of Ein Samiya in the West Bank in September 2023. The village had been emptied of its Palestinian inhabitants. Even a development minister from Germany, one of Israel’s closest allies and collaborators, was denied access into Gaza back in 2010.
Gaza has been restricted for years. British politicians have not been allowed into the enclave via the Erez checkpoint since 2009. Even then, our delegation had to wait to be allowed in. One MP has made it through since, but she went as a breast cancer surgeon.
However, all categories of those who might bear witness to Israeli activities have faced more arduous restrictions.
Human rights groups are a prime target. Since Oct. 7, 2023, the International Committee of the Red Cross has not been allowed to visit Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli jails. The exception was when overseeing Palestinian detainee release during the period of the recent deal. In 2019, Israel expelled Omar Shakir, the Israel and Palestine director of Human Rights Watch.
International journalists, except some embeds, have not been allowed into Gaza since October 2023. Even during the recent pause in military operations, they were still not allowed access — a point made powerfully by the BBC’s international editor Jeremy Bowen. Their Palestinian colleagues have clearly been targeted to prevent the story from being broadcast to the outside world. And who can forget the murder of the Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin in 2022?
Diplomats as well have been denied access. None can get into Gaza. I have witnessed a local Israeli commander produce an order declaring a village in the south Hebron hills a closed military zone as a large European diplomatic delegation arrived to visit the site, which had been under attack from Israeli settlers. The date of the order was not even accurate. The diplomats had to leave.
UN agencies have all been restricted. International staff have increasingly found it harder to get visas, particularly since 2018. The Knesset has banned the UN refugee agency UNRWA from operations in all the areas under Israeli control. This included ordering six UNRWA schools closed in occupied Jerusalem. Israel will not accept any entry of UN commissions of inquiry or, since 2008, any of the UN special rapporteurs on occupied Palestinian territories.
Humanitarian agencies have likewise seen intensifying restrictions. Since 2023, international workers have been able to apply only for short-term visas. They now face a new set of draconian restrictions, not least over a new Israeli NGO registration system. The draft legislation will grant Israeli authorities extensive powers to ban and restrict registrations of NGOs and to deny staff entry. All existing NGOs will have to reapply for permits. This creates an environment of anxiety about whether life-saving projects will be able to continue.
Healthcare workers have also been a target. According to the UN, over 400 aid workers, including 280 UN personnel, have been killed in Gaza in the past 18 months. Yet getting doctors and medical professionals in has been more difficult, too.
Gaza is close to being completely and totally cut off. Internet access has been severed on occasions by Israel, but remains highly reduced. However, the story, the images, and the video footage still gets out. Even if the full scale of the horror is not comprehensively documented, the evidence of crimes against humanity and genocide stacks up every day.
In the West Bank, the stage is set for a similar scenario. All the tools are there to bring it about, not least dozens of new checkpoints. Israel controls all entry and access.
International actors have to push back on this. Israel would like to further its process of ethnic cleansing and genocide away from prying eyes. The antidote is to open all the Palestinian territories for proper scrutiny of what is happening.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2596981
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Lebanon Looks Back, But Is April 13 Best Forgotten?
Nadim Shehadi
April 14, 2025
Do we really have to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the start of the Lebanese civil war? We are still too busy still thinking of the more recent conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, and we are not even sure it is over yet. More importantly, the people who fought each other in that so-called civil war are now the staunchest of allies in a political confrontation with Hezbollah about its arms and its role in the current war. What is the point of reminding them that at one point they were killing each other?
Memory, as the philosopher Bashshar Haydar explained, is internalized. This ideally means that past events are digested and what remains are the useful lessons, with the useless toxic bits discarded. Historically, the Lebanese norm is a form of amnesia, but ignoring a painful past also means a desire to move on, a will to forgive and forget, of looking forward instead of back. The point is to take measures for it not to happen again, and there are many popular proverbs that support this attitude of “turning the page,” “mention it but never repeat it,” “stuff it in the saddle bag,” and ignore it.
This is not South Africa with truth commissions and accountability, unsure how it helps the healing if you have to reopen old wounds. Accountability also needs a clear picture of the guilty party, which may not help if you have to find a way of living together again. Clarity is also overrated — each side deals with the truth in their own way, and there develops a common language.
After the 1860 massacres in Mount Lebanon there was an agreement that “what is past is past” and the parties resisted European suggestions of separate cantons. The result was a formula for coexistence that remains to this day, a council with representation from all communities, and where none can dominate over the others. This was repeated over the years: in the constitution of 1926, the National Pact of 1943 and the Taif agreement of 1989.
In 2005, during the Cedar Revolution, demonstrators asked for the truth and for accountability via a UN-sponsored investigation and a Special Tribunal for Lebanon. But when the truth came and was confirmed by the tribunal, it was too hot to handle and was quietly ignored. Nobody is asking for accountability; the truth became a memory, and was internalized, and we moved on.
Agreements are, of course, always broken, and they are repaired or patched up with slogans such as “no victor and no vanquished“’ after 1958, “one Lebanon and not two,” or the Baabda Declaration of 2012 where the different parties pledged to recuse themselves from following their instincts to interfere in the Syrian war and respect Lebanese sovereignty. This was again broken by Hezbollah, which not only joined the action in Syria, but also dragged the country into another destructive war with Israel.
A new generation seems to think differently and is asking. what is wrong with us? Hezbollah did not exist before 1982, so it cannot be the only problem. They are asking for a radical revision of the system almost to the point of destroying it. The revolt of October 2019 had a nihilistic and populist bent to it; the masses were shouting slogans against the whole political class, political parties, banks, the economic system, and the power-sharing formula which they describe as sectarianism. Some even ask for a strong leader, an Ataturk or a benevolent dictator because we have all failed and deserve no better. What they seem to be asking for resembles nothing in Lebanon.
But my hope is that through these discussions they will end up appreciating their history better and maintaining the spirit of the power-sharing formula that characterizes the country. What makes me optimistic is that sometimes there is a difference between what people think, what they say, and what they end up doing. The best way to understand this is to observe what is happening now.
Hezbollah is not being held responsible — there are no calls for accountability for the destruction, deaths and human suffering that resulted from a war that it chose to wage with no consultation with the rest of the country. It is not being asked for damages; the whole country is accepting it will assume responsibility for reconstruction. Instead Hezbollah is being encouraged to apply the Taif Agreement by disarming and joining the political process. It is a subconscious repetition of the old slogans, letting bygones be bygones, “the past is past,” there are “no winners and no losers,” and there is “one Lebanon, not two.” During the war this fall, displaced Hezbollah supporters were received with open arms, even in the areas that opposed it most.
It is almost like a selective memory is paving the way again for an eventual amnesia, forgetting what happened and moving on. Even though it sounds like I am advocating against the commemoration of April 13, I find one reasoning for doing so to be valid, that of historian Makram Rabah of the American University of Beirut. Rabah, who specializes in memory and oral history, advocates for the commemoration in order to avoid the misuse of memory by spoilers and trouble-makers. This does not necessarily mean that there should be an official common account of history, but of a continuous discussion of a variety of perspectives.
One danger is that an official version of a common history has sometimes accompanied the call for memory. This is done with the best of intentions — such as the aim to maintain social cohesiveness and preserve national unity, sovereignty, and equality among citizens, similar to Kemalist Turkiye. This can, in fact, hinder a positive discussion, with anyone who thinks critically of the official version then accused of fomenting division and becoming a threat to national unity and social cohesion. Then the common version becomes like an oppressive big brother-type narrative, with its own vocabulary that no one can question.
Another obvious conclusion to avoid is that there is a zero-sum game between freedom and security. The Lebanese love their freedom to the point of anarchy. But when chaos sets in, they become more accepting of authority to the point they also tolerate limits to their freedoms. The argument is that both the PLO in the 1960s and Hezbollah as states within a state were regional phenomena which could only flourish in Lebanon because of the weak state and excessive freedom. Neither could have succeeded in an authoritarian society such Assad’s Syria or Saddam’s Iraq, but we should also avoid moving toward seeing them as desirable models.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2596965
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