Iran marks National Day of Rumi, greatest mystical poet
Mehr News [Iran], 30--9-2022
Mehr 8 in the Iranian calendar corresponding with September 30 is considered a significant cultural event for Iranians to commemorate the prominent Iranian poet Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi.
Rumi was born to native Persian-speaking parents on the Eastern shores of the then Persian Empire on September 30, 1207, in the city of Balkh which is now part of Afghanistan, and finally settled in the town of Konya, in what is now Turkey.
Rumi's life story is full of intrigue and high drama mixed with intense creative outbursts.
Rumi was a charming, wealthy nobleman, a genius theologian, a law professor and a brilliant but sober scholar, who in his late thirties met a wandering and holy man by the name of Shams on November 30, 1244, in the streets of Konya.
IFor months the two mystics lived closely together, and Rumi neglected his disciples and family so that his scandalized entourage forced Shams to leave the town in February 1246. Rumi was heartbroken, and his eldest son, Sulṭan Walad, eventually brought Shams back from Syria.
The family, however, could not tolerate the close relation of Rumi with Shams, and one night in 1247 Shams disappeared forever.
In the 20th century, it was established that Shams was indeed murdered, not without the knowledge of Rumi’s sons, who hurriedly buried him close to a well that is still extant in Konya.
After Shams was extinguished, Rumi fell into a deep state of grief and gradually out of that pain outpoured nearly 70,000 verses of poetry almost all in Persian that are collected in two epic books.
These thousands of poems, which include about 2,000 in quatrains, are collected in two epic books. The first collection is devoted to his mentor Shams named, Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi. It took him 15 years to complete this collection.
IAfter the first collection, he devotes the last ten years of his life to creating Masnavi Ma’navi. A work filled with anecdotes, life lessons, moral stories, stories from all three Abrahamic religions, and popular topics of the day.
On December 5, 1247, fanatics in the community took Shams’ life. The body disappeared. Rumi wandered for months – desolate in disbelief that his companion was really gone. One day in Damascus, he realized there was no longer a need to search. Shams was with him, in him. Rumi embodied the Friendship...
Rumi and Shams stayed together for a short time, about 2 years in total, but the impact of their meeting left an everlasting impression on Rumi and his work.
In Rumi's own words, after meeting Shams he was transformed from a bookish, sober scholar to an impassioned seeker of universal truth and love. Rumi was totally his own man. He was an utterly brilliant artist and a true genius who after the death of his mentor Shams became unstoppable.
His work has an all-embracing universality. A call from an independent soul yearning for true freedom from dogma and hypocrisy.
He died on 17 December 1273 in Konya. His death was mourned by the diverse community of Konya. Rumi's body was interred beside that of his father, and a splendid shrine, the Green Tomb was erected over his place of burial.
In Iran, the 7th day of Mehr and the 8th day of Mehr – the eighth month on the Iranian calendar, which fell on September 28 and 29 this year – have been designated as the National Day of Shams Tabrizi and National Day of Rumi respectively to commemorate these two great poets and figures of Iran and the world.
Ebrahim Raisi: Iran ready to
strengthen all-out ties with China
IRNA [Iran], 1-10-2022
Tehran, IRNA – Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a message sent to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Saturday expressed Tehran’s readiness for fostering all-out cooperation with Beijing.
President Raisi extended the message to congratulate his Chinese counterpart on the country’s National Day on October 1.
"Iran and China, as two countries opposed to unilateralism, have many grounds for comprehensive development of relations, and there is no doubt that the serious will of both sides to implement a comprehensive strategic partnership draws a clear perspective to realise the common interests of the two countries," Raisi underlined
Referring to today's world that faces various challenges, President Raisi stressed, "The current world is facing challenges that, in order to overcome them, it is necessary to increase the cooperation of independent countries and find global solutions."
He also pointed out that Iran supports the "global development" and "global security" initiatives of the Chinese President and welcomes the ideas as they are based on the collective interests of nations and aimed at improving welfare and strengthening global peace and stability.
After the communists’ victory in October 1949, the day was named the National Day of the People's Republic of China..
Xi Jinping & Confucius
TIME, 30-10-2014
Though Xi has also invoked other figures from Chinese history — from philosophers of competing schools to more modern personalities like Mao Zedong — the President seems to take special interest in Confucianism.
“Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire,” he said in a speech, quoting one of Confucius’s most-famous sayings.
Earlier in the year, he extolled the wonders of benevolent rule in an address to party cadres with another, well-known passage from the Analects: “The rule of virtue can be compared to the polestar which commands the homage of the multitude of stars without leaving its place.”
Last year he pledged to read Confucian texts and praised the continuing value of Chinese traditional culture...
Confucian ways
BBC, 25-10-2021
For over 2,000 years the norms of Confucian thinking shaped Chinese society. The philosopher (551-479 BC) constructed an ethical system that combined hierarchy, where people would know their place in society, with benevolence, the expectation that those in superior positions would look after their inferiors.
Heavily adapted over time, this system of thinking underpinned China's dynasties until the revolution of 1911, when the overthrow of the last emperor spurred a backlash against Confucius and his legacy from radicals including the new Communist Party.
One of those communists, Mao Zedong, remained deeply hostile to traditional Chinese philosophy during his years in power (1949-1976).
But by the 1980s, Confucius was back in Chinese society, praised by the Communist Party as a brilliant figure with lessons to teach contemporary China.
Today, China celebrates "harmony" (hexie) as a "socialist value," even though it has a very Confucian air.
And a hot topic in Chinese international relations is the question of how that term "benevolence" (ren), another key Confucian term, might shape Beijing's relations with the outside world.
Even Xi Jinping's idea of a "world community of common destiny" has a traditional philosophical flavour about it - and Xi has visited Confucius's birthplace of Qufu and cited his sayings in public.
The deadly greed of Iraq’s elite
Shafaq News [Iraq] 1-10-2022
On December 9, 2017, the prime minister of Iraq, Haider al-Abadi, said: ‘We have accomplished a very difficult mission. Our heroes have reached the final strongholds of Daesh [Islamic State] and purified it.’
Many argued that this moment, following the defeat of the last remnants of Islamic State in Iraq, would usher in a rebuilding and ‘post-conflict’ stage for the country. Though the threat of Islamic State has receded, five years on Iraq is still mired in conflict, with no end in sight.
The spasm of direct political violence at the end of August 2022 caught the attention of the world. But its roots lie in less apparent unresolved conflict dynamics in Iraq that are just as deadly to its citizens, and that current stabilization efforts will not improve.
In the most recent escalation, protesters and militia members linked to the populist Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr invaded Baghdad’s Green Zone – a fortified area which houses Iraq’s government buildings and international representations.
The clashes with security officials led to more than 30 deaths. Their armed opponents, linked to the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), sent followers to stage a counter protest, leading some to warn that the country was again on the brink of civil war.
That episode was the latest in the fallout from the election of October 2021.Though the Sadrists emerged victorious in that ballot, they bucked the custom of forming a consensus government with the main Shia, Kurdish and Sunni parties. Instead, Sadr pushed to establish a ‘majority government’ that included the dominant Kurdish and Sunni parties but excluded his powerful Shia opponents, Nouri al-Maliki, the former prime minister, and parts of the Popular Mobilization Forces.
When the attempt by the Sadrists to form a government failed, they decided to pull out of parliament.
Their Shia opponents saw an opportunity and with the Kurdish and Sunni parties moved to create a government without Sadr. Sensing his mistake, Sadr sent followers to invade Iraq’s parliament to prevent any political process without him, leading to clashes with government forces and his Shia rivals and dozens of casualties in Baghdad.
Since 2003, a number of Iraqi and foreign leaders have declared military victories in the country.
The first was pronounced by George W Bush, the US President, only six weeks after the invasion, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln in front of a banner reading ‘Mission accomplished’.
Each subsequent US president has announced a victory and ushered in a ‘post-conflict’ phase.
Yet, almost two decades on, Iraq has never been free of conflict. Structural violence linked to corruption in key sectors harms Iraqis every day.
From 2006 to 2014, for instance, the country lost an estimated $551 billion to corruption. The ruling elite relies on politically sanctioned corruption through an ethno-sectarian power-sharing system – muhasasa – to benefit from Iraq’s wealth, with an annual budget that can reach $100 billion.
This revenue is meant to provide basic public services. But corruption means that Iraqis don’t have enough electricity, many don’t have clean water and most medicine is past its sell-by date. The result contributes to Iraq having one of the lowest life expectancies in the world.
As a result, most Iraqis remain disillusioned with the country’s elite and its political system.
Sadr’s attempt to form a majority government after his 2021 electoral victory was his solution to the crisis and a bid to regain some ideological power with his base and the wider, disenfranchised population.
Following its failure and this summer’s violence, the Sadrists seem unwilling to play by the rules of the game and form another consensus government.
In response, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative to Iraq, has struggled to bring together the elite, including Sadr and Nouri al-Maliki, to reach a consensus government to combat the direct violence...
Following the clashes in August, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq issued a statement that ‘Iraqis cannot be held hostage to an unpredictable and untenable situation.’
However, Iraqis have not only been held hostage to the recent violent clashes, they have been hostages of the political order put in place after 2003, when the US-led coalition worked with returning exiled Iraqi political parties to establish muhasasa.
Since then, this ruling elite has acquired its wealth and power through corruption.
Tishreen movement resumes protests
in Baghdad on its third anniversary
Rudaw News [Kurdistan Region], 1-10-2022
Tishreen (October) movement on Saturday held fresh anti-government protests in the capital city of Baghdad, three years after the movement’s first demonstrations which toppled the government at the time.
The Tishreen protests which were held in Baghdad in October 2019 and lasted for several months demanded an end to the governance system which has been in place since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, an end to corruption, better basic services, and employment.
The protesters were met with violence and repression from the security forces and pro-Iran militia groups that left at least 600 dead and thousands wounded. The protests toppled the government of Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi, ignited reforms to the electoral law, and forced the October 10, 2021 parliamentary election.
The movement resumed demonstrations on Saturday, with supporters slamming the government for failing to meet their demands...
Read also: Iraq war planning wholly irresponsible
Terrorism, not Saddam Hussein, was the big threat
Richard Norton-Taylor, guardian.co.uk, 17-3-2013
Russian firms eye stronger business ties
with Saudi Arabia amid western sanctions
Arab News, October 05, 2022
RIYADH: A business delegation of 23 Russian companies held talks with Saudi firms in Riyadh on Oct. 4 amid a growing call from the US and EU to cut ties with Kremlin entities.
The meeting comes as Saudi Arabia strives to attract foreign direct investments aligned with its Vision 2030 goals.
The talks stressed on the vitality of elevating trade relationships between Saudi Arabia and Russia, while taking advantage of investment opportunities and establishing commercial partnership relations between the two parties to serve common interests.
Stanislav Yankovitz, the commercial representative at the Russian Embassy, noted that the trade relationship between Saudi Arabia and Russia has leapfrogged in recent years, with commercial exchange volume in 2021 witnessing an increase to $1.7 billion, and is expected to reach $5 billion by the end of 2024.
The event also witnessed bilateral meetings between businesspeople and representatives of Russian companies working in various sectors which include creative industries, education, electric power and design engineering.
Some of the other sectors include cosmetics, furniture, perfumery, food industry, industrial, information technology, smart technologies, medical equipment and oil and gas.
Counselor of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Saudi Arabia Alexander Istomin, said that Russian-Saudi relations are strong and that they have been witnessing continuous rapprochement.
VISION 2030
"It is my pleasure to present Saudi Arabia’s Vision for the future.
It is an ambitious yet achievable blueprint, which expresses our long-term goals and expectations and reflects our country’s strengths and capabilities.
All success stories start with a vision, and successful visions are based on strong pillars.
The first pillar of our vision is our status as the heart of the Arab and Islamic worlds. Our Kingdom is the Land of the Two Holy Mosques, the most sacred sites on earth...
The second pillar of our vision is our determination to become a global investment powerhouse. Our nation holds strong investment capabilities, which we will harness to stimulate our economy and diversify our revenues.
The third pillar is transforming our unique strategic location into a global hub connecting three continents, Asia, Europe and Africa. Our geographic position between key global waterways, makes the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia an epicenter of trade and the gateway to the world.
Chairman of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs
Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud
Joe Biden Complains OPEC+ Oil Cuts Are ‘Shortsighted’
and Releases More Strategic Oil Reserves
Charlie Spiering, Breitbart News, 5 Oct 2022
The White House on Wednesday expressed its frustration that OPEC+ had decided to cut production and announced additional releases of America’s oil reserves in an attempt to keep prices low.
“The President is disappointed by the shortsighted decision by OPEC+ to cut production quotas while the global economy is dealing with the continued negative impact of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine,” read a statement from the White House on Wednesday after OPEC+ announced their decision to cut production by 2 million barrels per day.
The White House press secretary was more direct, accusing OPEC+ of trying to help Russia.
“It’s clear that OPEC+ is aligning with Russia with today’s announcement,” she told reporters aboard Air Force One.
The White House said that Biden would release another 10 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in November to keep prices low.
“The President will continue to direct SPR releases as appropriate to protect American consumers and promote energy security,” the statement read.
OPEC+ announced their decision three months after Biden personally met with leaders of Saudi Arabia to encourage them to boost production.
Labour opposes proposed move of
UK embassy in Israel to Jerusalem
Liz Truss declares herself a 'huge Zionist'
By Rayhan Uddin, Middle East Eye, 5 October 2022
The UK’s Labour, Liberal Democrat and Scottish National parties have told Middle East Eye they oppose moving the British embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, following Prime Minister Liz Truss's controversial pledge to review its current location in Tel Aviv.
Senior Conservatives earier this week also called for the embassy to be moved to Jerusalem at an event organised by Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI), a pro-Israel lobby group, at the ruling party's annual conference in Birmingham.
Speaking at the event, Jake Berry, the Conservative Party chairman, pledged his “unwavering commitment… to build strong relationships with the state of Israel and to support it in its fight to ensure that it remains safe and that the capital in Jerusalem is the home to our new embassy”.
Liz Truss was among a number of ministers who attended the event, telling those present she was a “huge Zionist and huge supporter of Israel”.
Writing in the CFI’s Informed magazine, Truss said: “I understand the importance and sensitivity of the location of the British Embassy in Israel and I am committed to a review to ensure we are operating on the strongest footing within Israel”.
But representatives of the three opposition parties told MEE on Wednesday that they rejected moving the embassy to Jerusalem.
The UK, like most countries, currently has its embassy in Tel Aviv because of the disputed status of Jerusalem.
Layla Moran, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson, told MEE: “Moving the UK embassy in Israel to Jerusalem would be a provocation. The UK should under no circumstances be taking steps which risk inflaming tensions and damaging the prospects of peace."
The Scottish National Party pointed MEE to a column its foreign affairs spokesperson, Alyn Smith, wrote last week, in which he condemned Truss's consultation as "inconsistent with international law and does nothing to help bring about a peaceful two-state solution.
In 1967, Israel occupied and annexed the eastern part of the city of Jerusalem, which the Palestinians claim as the capital of a future state, in a move that has never been recognised by the international community.
If the British Embassy is moved, Truss would be following in the footsteps of former US President Donald Trump, who, in defiance of international law, moved the American embassy to Jerusalem in 2017, a move that formally recognised Israel's sovereignty over the city.

Flashback: US Embassy in Jerusalem
Iran to become energy hub in region: Oil minister
Tehran, IRNA, 6-10-2022
Iran’s oil minister said on Thursday that oil and gas swap between Iran and Russia would make Iran the hub of energy in the region.
Javad Owji who accompanies Iran’s First Vice-President Mohammad Mokhber in Moscow to attend the second meeting of the Caspian Economic Forum (CEF) said that Iran and Russia had made a lot of collaboration on energy swap.
He said that the two countries would make new agreements on establishing facilities and extracting joint gas fields, mentioning a joint investment with Russia’s Gazprom in LNG production and gas-related technologies.
The total agreements with Russian businesses on oil and gas accounted for 40 billion dollars, Owji said.
He also underlined that Tehran and Moscow will jointly construct pipelines from Iran to Oman and Pakistan and will swap up to 10 million tons of oil and non-oil products.
The oil minister expressed hope that the agreement to swap 15 billion cubic meters of gas will be finalized within weeks.
Flashback: Iran and Russia's Gazprom
sign primary deal for energy cooperation
LONDON, July 19, 2022 (Reuters)
The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and Russian gas producer Gazprom (GAZP.MM) signed on Tuesday a memorandum of understanding worth around $40 billion, Iran's oil ministry's news agency SHANA said.
Gazprom will help NIOC in the development of the Kish and North Pars gas fields and also six oil fields, according to SHANA. Gazprom will also be involved in the completion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects and construction of gas export pipelines.
Iran sits on the world’s second-largest gas reserves after Russia, but U.S. sanctions have hindered access to technology and slowed development of gas exports.
Iran ready to help restore
energy security to Europe: Deputy FM
Press TV [Iran],Thursday, 06 October 2022
The Iranian deputy foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani highlighted the dangers facing energy security in Europe amid the Russian war in Ukraine, saying Tehran, along with other energy providers, is ready to share its actual and potential capacities to help restore security to the energy market.
He made the remarks in a meeting with a group of business people and managers of Hungarian companies in Budapest on Wednesday.
He added that the continuation of war in Europe has endangered energy security in this part of the world.
"It was thought for many years that countries like Iran should pay the cost of being sanctioned [but] now the Europeans have realized that imposing sanctions has also a price," said Bagheri Kani, who is the chief negotiator in the talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal.
He warned that the Europeans will have to pay the price of imposing sanctions by increasing inflation and jeopardizing energy security if they fail to revise their unilateral policies.
Russia’s Annexation of Part of Ukraine
Drew Western Sanctions, but UK’s Liz Truss
is rewarding Israel’s Annexation
by moving British Embassy to Jerusalem
Mohammed Samaana 10-10-2022
Belfast (Special to Informed Comment) – Russia’s invasion and annexation of four regions of Ukraine exposed western double standards elsewhere in the world once again. Western countries reacted to Russia by imposing sanctions and by providing military and financial aid to Ukraine...
In comparison, the new British Prime Minister Liz Truss talked about the possibility of recognizing and, therefore, giving legitimacy to the Israeli occupation and annexation of Jerusalem by moving the British embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in the footsteps of the former US president and far-right darling Donald Trump.
This is besides the unfair western cliches of referring to the Palestinians who fight against the Israeli occupation as terrorists or militants while praising the Ukrainians who fight against the Russian forces as heroes.
The fact that she talked about moving the embassy to Jerusalem shows that she has no problem with invading and annexing territories against the International Law when it is done by her friends, but it is a crime that warrants sanctions when it is done by someone else.

East Jerusalem is occupied territory that can’t be annexed under international law, which also prohibits the occupying power from transferring part of its population to the occupied land. Israel has acted in a way that contravenes international law in order to impose demographic changes on the ground...
Considering the British history of inflicting suffering on the Palestinians, it would have been more appropriate for a British Prime Minister to apologize to the Palestinians for Britain’s crucial role in causing the endless suffering. Instead, Truss chose to support illegal occupation and annexation and gave history another episode of western hypocrisy, double standards and violation of human rights.
Egypt & Greece Reject Turkey-Libya Energy Deal
By Ahmad El-Assasy, Libyan Review, 9-10-2022
Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry said that Libya’s “outgoing” Government of National Unity (GNU) has “lacked legitimacy since 24 December, and has no right to sign international agreements.”
During a press conference with this Greek counterpart, Nikos Dendias, the Egyptian FM urged the United Nations to announce its position on the legitimacy of the outgoing Libyan government.
“We confirm the necessity of holding elections in Libya, and supporting the efforts of the Libyan Parliament,” he added.
For his part, Dendias referred to the memorandums of understanding between Turkey and the GNU, stressing that the MoU was illegal.
Dendias arrived in Cairo on Sunday to hold talks on the recently signed deal.
Last week, Libya and Turkey signed a series of economic agreements that included potential energy exploration in maritime areas.
The agreements will allow for oil and gas exploration in Libyan waters and come three years after the two countries signed a maritime border deal, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said after signing the MoU in Tripoli.
 
hor-parliament - bashagha (hor)
Wikipedia info: The Libyan House of Representatives (HoR) is the legislature of Libya resulting from the 2014 Libyan parliamentary election, which had an 18% turnout.
In late 2014, following the failed coup attempt to take over the capital Tripoli in the context of the Libyan Civil War, the House of Representatives relocated itself to Tobruk in the far east of Libya.
The House of Representatives supported the Tobruk-based government led by Abdullah al-Thani before supporting the incumbent Government of National Unity led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh. In September 2021, the House of Representatives passed a no-confidence motion against the interim Government of National Unity led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh.
Turkey fomenting discord in Libya again
Al-Ahram Weekly Editorial, 12 Oct 2022
Last week Turkey and the expired Tripoli-based government headed by Abdel-Hamid Dbeibah signed an agreement allowing Ankara energy exploration in the Mediterranean.
This is not just a flagrant violation of international maritime laws. It is also a confirmation that both parties have no intention or desire to support the UN-led international effort to restore stability in Libya by holding parliamentary and presidential elections leading to a legitimate, stable government capable of maintaining the country’s unity and territorial integrity.
Debeibah’s General Unity Government (GNU) was approved by the UN-overseen Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) in February 2021 to carry out one principal mission during a short transitional period: holding presidential and parliamentary elections on 24 December 2021.
This was not the only commitment Dbeibah made when he took over as interim prime minister. Together with the head of the Presidency Council, Mohamed Al-Menfi, he pledged not to take part as a candidate in those elections. Dbeibah failed on both counts.
No elections were held on 24 December, and he broke the commitment he had made to the UN and the international community not to run for president. As a matter of fact, since he took over as premier, he has spared no effort to abuse public funds in order to create a popular base that would back him in any upcoming elections within a very divided and fractured political scene in western Libya, dominated by militias and extremist Islamist groups backed by Turkey and the Muslim Brotherhood.
  
al-sarraj-turkey-saleh (hor)
When Dbeibah’s term expired in late 2021, in February the only legitimate Libyan elected body, the Tobruk-based parliament [HOR] appointed former interior minister Fathi Bashagha as interim prime minister.
Not surprisingly, Dbeibah, with military backing from Ankara, ordered the use of military force twice in order to prevent Bashagha from entering Tripoli and taking over his job....
Even before the UN managed to negotiate the agreement that led to the formation of Dbeibah’s government in February 2021, back in 2019 Ankara signed an invalid maritime border deal with former premier Fayez Al-Sarraj, granting Turkey access to a Greek economic zone in the Mediterranean for oil and gas exploration.
Neither the Al-Sarraj nor the Dbeibah government had the authority or mandate to strike any international deals or Memorandums of Understandings with Turkey that breach international laws only to maintain its military support, either through Turkish military units under the cover of “experts”, or mercenaries that Ankara shipped from Syria to fight alongside the Muslim Brotherhood-backed Tripoli governments.
This new and latest provocation by Dbeibah and Turkey must be met with a firm stand from the United Nations and all countries involved in the situation in Libya.
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Netanyahu has not changed,
but he sounds different. What happened?
By Mati Tuchfeld, Israel Hayom, 8-10-2022
[Israeli] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may not have changed, but he sounds different in both tenor and tone compared to the four previous election campaigns Israel has had since 2019.
Just over a year has gone by since he was unseated and became head of the opposition, but it looks like he is not the same candidate as before...
Cynics will be quick to say that nothing has really changed. Netanyahu, they would claim, has realized that the only thing keeping him from returning to power is the "soft-Right" voters who disavow his radical statements and the mob of foul-mouthed supporters who stick with him and often use vile rhetoric.
The cynics would say that Netanyahu has remained the same cynical political figure who panders to voters. They would argue that Netanyahu has realized that what he once considered to be a recipe for success – attacking the Left with harsh soundbites – had simply run its course and that now it is better for him to stick to a clean campaign and stay above the fray..
Regardless of what prompted this shift, everyone was shocked when Netanyahu was so contrite and introspective when he met supporters in a small meeting...
It all started when someone in the crowd asked Netanyahu whether he has learned something new in his time out of office and whether he would act differently if he got another shot at the helm.

Netanyahu: "We can't continue with this kindergarten"
YNet News, 18-1-2015
"Of course," Netanyahu responded. "I would come back as prime minister with many more insights; with more patience and humility." Netanyahu added, "This period [away from the job] taught me to consult with people and learn from them; to listen even to those whom I do not appreciate but can still glean some insights from.I became more humble, more open, and accepting."
Netanyahu also added, "This past year has given me time, time to look inwards; you learn about yourself and there are always conclusions. You learn about the mistakes you made, and perhaps on how to be more accepting of people. [..]
And this is perhaps the most important thing: Listen to others; you can learn from that. Even people that you do not hold in high regard, everyone has something – some hidden gem – that you can learn from."
The event where Netanyahu made those comments was a conference of religious Zionists in Modi'in, the first time he has participated in such a gathering during this campaign.
Netanyahu's moderate posture was also evident when he was asked on national security matters. "My conservatism applies to the pointless sacrifice of our soldiers' lives; I have seen bereaved mothers over the years, and while this doesn't mean we should shy away from making a sacrifice when necessary, when it's not you don't. My brother [Yoni Netanyahu, who died in the 1976 Entebbe raid] told me that a good commander completes missions with minimum casualties..."
Netanyahu offered some advice: "The first test is 'Don't just have people killed or get dragged into pointless wars. Don't enter traps that would cost you a heavy price in human lives.".
Israel and Lebanon Reach 'Historic'
Maritime Border Deal
Haaretz [Israel] Oct 11, 2022
“The offer is a serious proposal that can transform Lebanon from a country of economic ruin and energy crises to a natural gas-producing country” Al-Jazeera 2022
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Israel and Lebanon have reached a "historic agreement" on the final draft of a U.S.-mediated maritime border deal, negotiators from the two countries said on Tuesday.
[Israeli] Prime Minister Yair Lapid hailed the deal, which he said "meets all the security and economic principles laid out by Israel." He added that he will convene the national security cabinet on Wednesday, followed by the government, in order to fast-track the deal ahead of Israel's November 1 election.
"This is a historic achievement that will strengthen Israel's security, inject billions into Israel's economy and ensure the stability of our northern border," he said.
After receiving the final draft from U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein on Tuesday morning, the Lebanese president's office announced that the final version of the deal "satisfies Lebanon, meets its demands and preserves its rights to its natural resources."
The Lebanese group Hezbollah has not commented on details of proposals throughout the indirect negotiations, but has said it would agree to the Lebanese government's position.
In light of the petitions that have been submitted to the High Court of Justice against the agreement and the political opposition’s campaign against it, it is unclear whether it will be possible to clinch its approval by the Israeli government, the security cabinet and to present it to the Knesset before the November 1 election, which would be required for the deal to go into effect.
Opposition chairman Benjamin Netanyahu, who has described the deal as a "surrender" to Hezbollah, has announced that if he returns as prime minister he will not honor the agreement.
On the Lebanese side, the deadline for signing the deal is set for the end of October, which is when Lebanese President Michel Aoun's term ends.
On Monday, the Saudi Al-Arabiya news channel said that Israel and Lebanon will likely sign the agreement on October 20.
EU warns Turkey on ties with Russia
Nazlan Ertan, Al-Monitor, October 12, 2022
TurkStream directly connects the largest gas reserves in Russia to the Turkish gas transportation network, creating a reliable source of energy for Turkey, South and southeast Europe.
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The European Union is concerned with Ankara’s continued policy of non-alignment with restrictive measures against Russia and increased trade and financial relations with Moscow, the European commissioner for enlargement said Wednesday.
The red flag on Turkish-Russian ties from the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, comes as Oliver Varhelyi, the commissioner responsible for neighborhood and enlargement, outlined the annual country reports for the seven EU candidates.
The Hungarian commissioner praised Turkey’s efforts to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine and its vital role in the agreement on the export of grains from Ukraine.
“But, at the same time, Ankara has also decided to increase trade and financial relations with Russia … and signed a memorandum of understanding.”
Ankara’s continued policy of not aligning with restrictive measures against Russia is of concern due to the free circulation of products, including dual-use goods, within the EU-Turkey Customs Union,” he added.
The European Commission’s 140-page report on Turkey, the EU’s longest-standing candidate, said that free circulation of products “created the risk of undermining EU restrictive measures against Russia” and trust in the Turkish-EU Customs Union.
The report said that Turkey did not close its airspace to Russian planes and openly welcomed Russian oligarchs to invest in the country....
Ankara criticized the Commission’s report as "lacking a strategic approach and a vision” toward Turkey.
“It is a complete oddity that Türkiye is criticized for its non-compliance with the EU sanctions in relation to the Russia-Ukraine war albeit it does have no obligation to comply with such sanctions. We again emphasize that the grain export and exchange of prisoners of war between the parties could have only been possible thanks to the principled stance of (Turkey),” the Foreign Ministry said.
US Congress Cries Foul:
US-Saudi Relations Under The Hammer
Marwan Asmar, Albawaba, October 12th, 2022
The US has never been so angry with the Saudis as it is today. And its all because of oil and the cut in production agreed by the OPEC+ countries to slash two million barrels on the daily total in order to hike up international prices.
The latest wrath has come from Robert Menendez, the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the US Congress.
He is not mincing words, calling for the freezing of all US relations with Saudi Arabia and including arms sales.
"The United States must immediately freeze all aspects of cooperation with Saudi Arabia, including any arms sales and security cooperation beyond what is absolutely necessary to defend U.S. personnel and interests," the New Jersey senator said in a statement quoted in UPI.
"As chairman of the senate foreign relations committee, I will not green-light any cooperation with Riyadh until the kingdom reassesses its position with respect to the war in Ukraine, he pointed out.
Menendez went further and accused Saudi Arabia's decision as helping to "underwrite" Russian President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine.
"There simply is no room to play both sides of this conflict -- either you support the rest of the free world in trying to stop a war criminal from violently wiping off an entire country off of the map, or you support him," he said. "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia chose the latter in a terrible decision driven by economic self-interest."
Menendez may be echoing what the White House feels...
After the OPEC+ deal was made to cut oil Biden warned there will be “consequences” for Saudi Arabia. "There’s going to be some consequences for what they’ve done with Russia," Biden said in an interview with CNN. "I’m not going to get into what I’d consider and what I have in mind. But there will be — there will be consequences," he said and as quoted by Anadolu, adding it is time for Washington to rethink its relationship with the kingdom...
Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building
Measures in Asia (CICA) summit
Kremlin News, October 13, 2022
Vladimir Putin attended the 6th summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA). The meeting is taking place in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.
Following the summit, the participants adopted the Astana Statement on Transforming the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) and the Statement by CICA Heads of State on Cooperation to Ensure ICT Security.
Speech by the President of Russia at the 6th CICA summit
Over the past 30 years, the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia has been discussing vital aspects of strengthening security and stability in the vast Asian region.
Today we have met against the backdrop of serious changes in global politics and economy. The world is becoming truly multipolar, and Asia, where new centres of power are growing, is playing a major, if not the key role in this.
Asian countries are drivers of global economic growth. Integration associations, such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Eurasian Economic Union, are working dynamically and effectively here.
Russia is actively contributing to these processes. We are committed to the development and prosperity of Asia, to creating an open trade and investment cooperation space and broadening and deepening cooperation ties in various economic sectors towards this end.
I would like to remind you that Russia was a founding country of the CICA Business Council, which has held many successful conferences and seminars on the entire range of economic issues over the past years.
We are working hard together with other Asian counties to create a system of equal and indivisible security based on the universally recognised principles of international law and the UN Charter.
Like many of our Asian partners, we believe that it is necessary to start a revision of the operating principles of the global financial system, which for decades allowed the self-proclaimed “golden billion,” which has been using capital and technology flows to its sole advantage, to largely live at others’ expense.
As a priority measure, we believe it is necessary to more actively use national currencies in mutual settlements. These measures would definitely help strengthen the financial sovereignty of our states, develop domestic capital markets and deepen regional economic integration.
Mevlut Cavusoglu: Turkic world has become
'center of global geopolitics'
Merve Aydogan, Anadolu Agency, 17.10.2022
Global developments have once again made the Turkic world the globe’s geopolitical hub, said Türkiye’s foreign minister on Monday.
"Today, the Turkic world has become the center of global geopolitics, just as it was in history. We have a critical position connecting the East and the West, the North and the South on energy, trade, and transportation routes," said Mevlut Cavusoglu at an extraordinary meeting of foreign ministers of Organization of Turkic States member states.
Saying that the Turkic region's importance for global stability and prosperity has risen even further amid ongoing global crises, Cavusoglu added that Turkic states must present a "strong vision for the future" while working to prevent crises.
Amid the war in Ukraine, Cavusoglu stressed that global stability and prosperity are under threat as rising energy and food prices continue to plague countries worldwide.
"The way to turn our region into an island of stability while increasing the welfare of our nations is by strengthening our unity. The way to strengthen our unity is to take the right steps at the right time with courage," he argued.
Formed in 2009, the Organization of Turkic States promotes cooperation among Turkic-speaking states, including member states Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Türkiye, and Uzbekistan, with Hungary and Turkmenistan as observers.
Next month Samarkand, Uzbekistan is due to host a summit of the Organization of Turkic States summit attended by member state leaders.
For his part, Binali Yildirim, chairman of the Council of Elders of the Organization of Turkic States, stressed the importance of developing relations between the group’s member states.
Yildirim, a one-time Turkish prime minister, also expressed the need for the Middle Corridor to boost the integration of transport and communication infrastructures of member states.
Also called the Trans-Caspian East-West Middle Corridor Initiative, the network of railways and roads starts in Türkiye and covers Georgia, Azerbaijan, the Caspian Sea, and Central Asia to reach China, making it an important effort to revive the ancient Silk Road.
Saying that the corridor is not only a historically important trade route, Yildirim said it is economically faster and more profitable than other such routes.
"Russia's war waged on Ukraine once again showed that this corridor continues to be the best-working and safest corridor," he added.
Israel's intention to supply arms to Ukraine
will destroy relations with Russia — Medvedev
October 17, 2022 /TASS Russian News Agency
Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedevwarned on Monday that it would be a mistake for Israel to supply weapons to Ukraine.
"Israel seems to have decided to supply weapons to the Kiev regime. That would be a very rash decision, for it would damage all the interstate relations between our countries," Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel.
He said Israel might as well recognize [Stepan] Bandera and [Roman] Shukhevich, as its heroes. Bandera was the leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), and Shukhevich led the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). Both organizations are outlawed in Russia.
On Sunday, Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Nachman Shaid his country should follow the example of the US and its NATO allies and start providing military assistance to Ukraine.
US officials, having Stabbed Palestinians
in the Back for Decades, now “Offended” that President Abbas
doesn’t Trust them and Wants Russia Involved
Juan Cole 10/17/2022
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Barak Ravid at Axios reports that Biden administration officials are furious about remarks by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas saying he lacked confidence in the US as a mediator.
What Ravid does not say is that Washington has no right, none, to get on a high horse. Since the US sponsored and co-signed the Oslo Peace Accords in 1993, which guaranteed Palestinians a state in the West Bank and Gaza by 1997.
In return for PLO recognition of Israel, Palestinians have been royally screwed over.
Not only did the Israelis not withdraw from Areas C, B, and A in turn, as the accords specified, they doubled the number of squatters they sent from Israel to take over private Palestinian land just in the 1990s alone. That squatting process has accelerated in recent years. In the Trump era, the US cut the Palestinians off at the knees, defunding aid programs left and right.
The Biden people appear to think that Abbas owes them for restoring several hundred million dollars of aid to the Palestinians.
But, and I wish administration officials could hear this loud and clear, Palestinians don’t want to sell, for some aid money, their aspiration for statehood. They don’t want to sell their birthright to the land that their ancestors had farmed for, in many cases, thousands of years, and which has now been usurped from them by the Zionist movement, which originated among modern European Jews.
The US has played a very sinister role in prolonging and deepening the suffering and expropriation of the Palestinian people, clearly siding with the far right wing governments of Israel at every turn. Is it any wonder that the Palestinians have lost patience?
On Thursday, Abbas had met with Vladimir Putin at a summit in Astana, Kazakhstan. Abbas said that he had lost confidence in the United States as a mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Iran-Russia-Ukrain-News:
Iran denies sending Russia drones
Middle East Eye, October 18, 2022
A spokesman for the foreign ministry in Iran has denied reports that his country supplied drones which Russia has used in attacks on Ukrainian cities. Nasser Kanaani insisted that Iran has sent no weapons to either side in the conflict.
"This news is fabricated and serves the interests of the West," said Kanaani. "Iran has opposed the war on Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, opposes military solutions to resolve political conflicts, and opposes the war in Ukraine as well, and seeks to end the military confrontation there through its good relations with the two countries."
The official spokesman pointed out that it is a "bitter political irony" that countries which supply billions of dollars' worth of weapons to one side of the war are accusing another country of sending weapons to the other side.
"If these countries support a political solution to this crisis, how can they justify sending weapons in such large quantities?" he asked.
Hamas leaders meet Assad in Damascus to 'turn the page'
Rueters, 19-10-2022
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad met a delegation from Hamas on Wednesday, with the Sunni Palestinian Islamist faction saying the meeting could help "turn the page" after shunning Damascus for a decade.
Khalil al-Hayya, born in 1960 in Gaza, is a member of Hamas’s Politburo, and deputy head of Hamas’s regional politburo in Gaza since 2017.
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Hamas leaders publicly endorsed the 2011 Sunni street uprising against Assad's rule and vacated their Damascus headquarters in 2012, a move that angered their common ally, Iran.
Normalising ties with Assad could help restore Hamas's inclusion in a so-called "axis of resistance" against Israel, which includes Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah, natural allies of Assad.
The delegation visited Assad in Damascus on Wednesday "to turn all the pages of the past," according to the head of delegation and Hamas politburo member Khalil Al-Hayya.
"We consider it a historic meeting and a new start for joint Syrian-Palestinian action," Hayya told a press conference. "We agreed with the president to move beyond the past."
He said several factors had encouraged the rapprochement now, including Israel's development of ties with other Arab countries. "The Palestinian cause today needs an Arab supporter," he said.
Hamas has already restored its ties to Iran, with party officials praising the Islamic Republic for its contribution to their Gaza arsenal of longer-range rockets, which they have used in fighting Israel.
US-Saudi rift: Turkey calls on Washington
to stop 'bullying' Riyadh over oil prices
By Ragip Soylu, Middle East Eye, 21 October 2022
Turkey on Friday called on the United States to stop bullying Saudi Arabia over oil prices following Opec's decision earlier this month to cut oil production, which has caused a rift between Riyadh and Washington.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that the US may criticise Opec+ for cutting its production but "it was not right" to threaten Riyadh.
“The bullying against Saudi Arabia is inappropriate,” Cavusoglu said. “We are going through similar challenges in energy prices but we don’t threaten anyone."
Cavusoglu said embargoes imposed by the West on Iran and Venezuela have contributed to oil prices being high.
"The entire world needs Venezuela's oil and natural gas... On the other side, there's been embargoes on the Iranian oil," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.
"Remove these sanctions... if you want oil prices to drop, remove the embargoes on the countries that will offer their products to the market," he added.
“You cannot resolve this issue by only threatening a country. You should allow oil producers back in production."
The White House last week announced that it would review US-Saudi ties following a decision by the Saudi Arabia-led Opec+, which comprises the leading oil and gas producers and includes Russia, to cut oil output by two million barrels a day.
Washington accused Saudi Arabia of aiding Russia by increasing its oil profits and boosting its foreign earnings as it continues to wage war in Ukraine. Riyadh and other Opec+ members have denied that the decision was politically motivated.
Cavusoglu's criticism is significant as it shows how regional rival Turkey and Saudi Arabia have gotten back on track as regional allies pursuing common agendas.
Jerusalem Post Opinion
Smotrich, Ben-Gvir & the Threat of Religious Zionism
By Yitz Greenber, october 20, 2022
During this election cycle, several columns were published in The Jerusalem Post calling on Anglos to vote for the Religious Zionist Party. The main argument to support the party is to protect the Jewish character of the State of Israel. Actually, the surge of the Religious Zionist Party in this election is a great threat to Israel’s Jewish religious character.
I call on my fellow religious Zionists to stop the party before it damages Israel and its Jewish character.
Historically, the party of religious Zionists (then called the Mafdal, the National Religious Party) drew upon Jewish teachings and advocated human rights and social care for all. Mafdal was a force for unity (working with secular Jews, supporting the rights of Arabs and other minorities) and for moderation (seeking peace and supporting war only as a last resort).
The present Religious Zionist Party is extremist, intolerant of secularist people and culture, anti-Arab. It is divisive (demeaning the Left and delegitimizing cooperation across Israel’s polarized lines).
The Religious Zionist Party will enable a government that discriminates, that imposes religious coercion, that mistreats its non-Jewish minorities.
This election cycle, it merged with the Otzma Yehudit party, which is inspired by Meir Kahane and is out-and-out racist.
Otzma Yehudit is shaped by Kahane’s use of Maimonides’ rulings on ger toshav (non-Jews living permanently among Jews) to treat them as of second-class status and lacking citizenship rights. Their loyalty is impugned and they are constantly degraded, provoked and reminded that they are not Jews.
The rise and rise of Itamar Ben-Gvir,
the far-right politician holding the key to Israel’s next coalition
By Philissa Cramer, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 14-9-2022
In some ways, Itamar Ben-Gvir would seem an unlikely kingmaker in Israel’s upcoming election.
By his own count, the far-right provocateur and ultranationalist member of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, has been charged with crimes more than 50 times and convicted in eight cases, including once for providing support to a terrorist organization. After trying three times since 2019, he squeaked into the Knesset last year, when then-Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was unfit to serve as a minister.
Yet Ben-Gvir appears virtually assured of remaining part of Israel’s government after the upcoming Nov. 1 election, not just as a rank-and-file member of Knesset but as a senior minister — overtaking other right-wing politicians in influence and with Netanyahu directly contributing to his meteoric rise.
In a powerful indicator of Ben-Gvir’s mainstreaming, he was invited to participate last week in a mock debate held by Blich High School in Ramat Gan, a prestigious secular school famous for its role in hosting political candidates. His appearance there inflamed a nationwide debate about democracy and freedom of speech — and a screaming match between dueling protesters outside the school’s gates that required the intervention of dozens of police officers.
“Fascists, racists, you are enabling Hamas and Hezbollah. You want Israel to be a religious state, just like Iran and Saudi Arabia,” shouted one left-wing activist at the predominantly young religious boys and men holding signs in support of Ben-Gvir.
“Death to terrorists. Left-wing traitors, terror supporters. You don’t belong here, go home,” a far-right activist shouted back. Some chanted “May your village burn down,” a racist soccer hooligans’ slogan usually directed at Arabs.
The ascendance of Ben-Gvir and the far-right party he represents — Otzma Yehudit, Hebrew for Jewish Power — is among the most notable aspects of the upcoming election, Israel’s fifth in three years.
A protege of Meir Kahane, the American-Israeli Jewish extremist-turned-politician who advocated for openly racist policies, Ben-Gvir was once shunned by political parties and by the media for his extremist positions, racist ideology and violent activity.
He has gone from outcast to the in crowd in just a handful of years: Netanyahu, who understands that his political comeback depends on uniting Israel’s right, hosted Ben-Gvir and Religious Zionism party leader Bezalel Smotrich at his home in Caesarea last month.
Afterwards, they announced that they would all work together to ensure that the right wing prevails in November. Ben-Gvir and Smotrich combined their parties into one slate, which is now expected to win 12 or 13 seats of the Knesset’s 120.
Smotrich predicted that Ben-Gvir would wield great influence in the next government.
“According to the polling numbers, as of now, Itamar will certainly be a senior minister,” Smotrich said. “This is the meaning of democracy.”
“Ben Gvir is incredibly dangerous, both himself personally — he has a long list of indictments — and for the movement he represents, as the modern incarnation of the Meir Kahane,” said Rabbi Jill Jacobs, the American CEO of the rabbinic human rights group T’ruah, who has called for a crackdown by U.S. authorities on donations to groups tied to Ben-Gvir and others like him.
For his supporters, many of them from the haredi Orthodox sector, Ben-Gvir’s identification with Kahane is often a boon. Like Kahane and Ben-Gvir, they envision an Israel that is centered exclusively on Jewish interests. They are also increasingly involved in politics beyond their immediate communities.
“The haredim became much more right-wing in the past 30 years, undergoing what we call ‘Israelization’ — quite the opposite from their traditional anti-Zionist ideology and support of left-wing governments,” said Dani Filc, a political scientist at Ben Gurion University. “And that’s why many haredim are now voting for Ben-Gvir.”
Ben-Gvir’s anticipated electoral success reflects the rightward shift Israeli society has been experiencing for decades.
A recent poll by Israel Democracy Institute revealed that a record-high 62% of Israelis place themselves on the right wing of the political map.
Settler lawlessness in Israel's West Bank
By Jerusalem Post Editorial, 20-10-2022
An attack on Israeli soldiers by Jewish settlers is a sign of growing lawlessness in the West Bank and must be treated seriously.
This is not the first time that extremists within the Jewish community have felt impunity to attack other Jews, soldiers, Palestinians and basically whoever they want. The fact that Israeli authorities have refused to arrest and prosecute the suspects over the years shows that they have pretty much been given an implicit green light.
As we all know, appeasement doesn’t work, whether it comes to dealing with criminals or extremists. For too long, Israel has permitted lawlessness in parts of the West Bank, hoping – foolishly perhaps – that ignoring the situation will bring calm.
Authorities must take this seriously and politicians across the political spectrum, as well as settler leaders, must call out the extremists and stop appeasing them.
Overnight Wednesday, the commander of the IDF’s 202nd Paratroopers Battalion and a soldier were injured by settlers, who pepper-sprayed and stoned them in the Palestinian town of Huwara in the Samaria region of the West Bank.
Prime Minister Yair Lapid called the attackers “dangerous criminals who must be denounced and brought to justice without hesitation and with all severity.” He said, “They endanger the lives of our soldiers and they harm the State of Israel.”
The attacks followed weeks of increasing attacks on Palestinians and left-wing activists by extremists in the West Bank.
The attacks show that there is a whole culture of lawlessness that has grown up in this region ... and because Israel has never extended any laws to the West Bank these attacks are rarely punished...
Unfortunately, we all know that enabling extremists to run wild and feel they have impunity to attack cars, and now soldiers, will eventually lead to more violence. We’ve seen this cycle before and it rarely ends well.
Israeli Squatters in Palestinian West Bank
launch 100 attacks in 10 Days
Juan Cole 10/22/2022
The Palestinian West Bank, which is militarily occupied by Israel and which is being steadily colonized by Israeli squatters on Palestinian-owned land, is a seething cauldron.
Some sort of gag rule appears to deter American television “news” from covering these dramatic events.
Veteran newsman Tom Fenton once argued that the poor coverage on television news of international events actually forms a security threat to the United States, a republic that depends for its smooth functioning on an informed public.
Far right Israeli politicians such as Binyamin Netanyahu and Naftali Bennett, the two most recent ex-prime ministers, have assiduously cultivated equally far right squatters in the Palestinian West Bank, giving them carte blanche to arm themselves and to terrorize Palestinian townspeople.
When you encourage fascism, you should not be surprised when you get the equivalent of Mussolini’s black shirts, or Trump’s Oath Keepers...
Palestinians allege that Israeli troops show favoritism to the hard line squatters and even join with them in attacking Palestinians, but in the instances where the troops do attempt to curb squatter violence, the latter turn on their boys in uniform without a second thought...
One Israeli military spokesman accused the Israeli squatters of attempting to create the impression that the Israeli army has lost control of the situation in the Palestinian West Bank, as a way of scaring Israeli voters into backing the far right.
Gideon Sa'ar: Yair Lapid will not be able
to form the next government
Dalit Halevi, Arutz Sheva [Israel] Oct 21, 2022
[Israeli] Justice Minister Gideon Sa'ar of the National Unity Party criticized Prime Minister Yair Lapid over his position regarding the two-state solution and said he believes that Lapid will not be able to form a government after the upcoming elections.
In an interview with Arab Israeli media channels Panet and Hala TV, Sa'ar said that "the simple question is who will be able to form a government.
There is one possibility that Netanyahu will have 61 and he will form a government of extremists with [Bezalel] Smotrich, [Itamar] Ben Gvir and others, and another possibility in which Netanyahu will not have 61, and then I would presume Benny Gantz has the best chance to form a broad unity government." [..]
Asked whether he liked Lapid's comments at the UN General Assembly regarding the two-state solution, Sa'ar replied, "The truth is, no. I think he (Lapid) said something that he also did not work to promote during the last term, neither as Prime Minister nor as Foreign Minister, and for good reason. This thing today is not practical in any sense...
In my opinion, realistically, and this is also our approach, it is possible to take actions to strengthen the self-governance of the Palestinian Authority.."
"Going to a Palestinian state today (is) both unrealistic and dangerous for the State of Israel, and I do not support it."
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Palestinians are not sorry to see the back of Liz Truss
Motasem A Dalloul [Gaza-Palestine], October 24, 2022
After only 45 days as Britain's Prime Minister — 45 days "marked by turmoil" — Liz Truss bowed to pressure and resigned last week. Her badly thought-out economic plans failed to excite anyone, least of all the financial markets, and created a lot of anger across the nation.
The Palestinians are more than happy to see the back of her. Although we shouldn't have been surprised, it still angered us when a video emerged online of her telling the Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) lobby group earlier this month, "I am so pleased to be here for the first time at the CFI event as your Prime Minister. As you know I am a huge Zionist."
According to Britannica, Zionism is a "Jewish nationalist movement that has had as its goal the creation and support of a Jewish national state in Palestine." Zionists thus support the creation of a Jewish state in my country at the expense of myself and other indigenous people of Palestine. This obviously meant nothing to Liz Truss. "I am a huge supporter of Israel," she told CFI, "and I know that we can take the UK-Israel relationship from strength to strength."
Nobody will mourn Liz Truss as she leaves office this week.
The sad thing is that her replacement is likely to pledge his or her support to the occupation state of Israel within days of moving into Number 10.
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose… The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Rishi Sunak is front-runner
to be Britain’s new prime minister
By Ivana Kottasová, CNN, October 24, 2022
Britain’s former finance minister Rishi Sunak has emerged as the front-runner to be the country’s next prime minister, after Boris Johnson dramatically dropped out of the race to be Conservative Party leader.
The current prime minister, Liz Truss, resigned last week after just six disastrous weeks in office. Graham Brady, the Conservative official responsible for the leadership contest, said a new prime minister would be in place by Friday.
Johnson’s decision to withdraw from the contest leaves Sunak, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, competing against Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt.
As of Monday morning, Sunak was the only one of the pair to have met the necessary threshold of 100 nominations.
If Sunak remains the only one to have reached this number of backers, he will automatically become the Conservative Party’s new leader. The party’s parliamentary majority ensures he will also become the country’s next prime minister.
Flashback
UK: Sunak says Jerusalem is Israel's 'historic capital'
MIddle East Monitor, August 17, 2022
Britain's Conservative Party leadership hopeful Rishi Sunak claimed on Monday that there is a "very strong case" for moving the British Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and formally recognising the latter as the "historic capital city" of the occupation state. His comment was made during a Q&A session with members of Zionist lobby group Conservative Friends of Israel.
According to the Jewish Chronicle, Sunak told the audience that he considered Jerusalem to be "the undisputed capital" of Israel and said there was "a very strong case for it to be recognised" if he becomes prime minister. However, he warned the audience that he had never been Foreign Secretary and therefore was not aware of the "sensitivities" of the issue. Nevertheless, he reiterated that the case was "very strong".
Sunak was also asked about the Conservative Party manifesto commitment to pass legislation opposing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. In response, he cited his record as a local government minister when, in 2018, the government moved to stop investment policies that contradict British foreign and defence policies, including BDS.
The BDS and Sanctions Bill seeks to prevent local authorities from "adopting their own approach to international relations." It was drafted following a 2019 Conservative Party manifesto commitment to protect Israel from this entirely peaceful means of protest against its brutal military occupation of Palestine..
"As prime minister, we need to make sure that we do pass that bill opposing BDS. It's a manifesto commitment, it shouldn't be controversial, and I'd like to crack on and do it as quickly as possible."
The leadership hopeful then criticised Amnesty International's conclusion that Israel imposes a system of "apartheid" on the Palestinians. "This is an organisation that has lost its way because these places are being infected by a very dangerous kind of lefty-oriented ideology, which we must root out."
In response, Amnesty International UK's head of policy and government affairs Allan Hogarth told the: "Rishi Sunak is wrong about Amnesty. It's not a 'lefty' thing to call for an end to Israel's system of apartheid or to press the Ukrainian military to do all they can to ensure they're not endangering civilians; no government is beyond scrutiny."
Defending human rights isn't party political or left- or right-wing, he added...
Israeli Elections 2022
Interview with Ofer Cassif,
The Jewish MK in the Arab Hadash party
Sheri Oz, Arutz Sheva, Oct 31, 2022
Info: Hadash is a left-wing party that supports a socialistic economy and workers' rights. It emphasizes Jewish–Arab cooperation, and its leaders were among the first to support a two-state solution. Its voters are principally middle class and secular Arabs, many from the north and Christian communities. It also draws 6,000–10,000 far-left Jewish voters during national elections. (Wikipedia)
"The struggle which Hadash is conducting against the System which raises the banner of force and not that of negotiation, which drives about two million Israelis below the poverty line, and which prefers profit over welfare – is long and difficult..." (Hadash website)
Who is MK Ofer Cassif (born 25-12-1964) behind the harsh criticism (to put it mildly) that he expresses toward the Jewish state? What brought him to the political positions he openly and unabashedly expresses – his anti-Zionism, his view of the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria as his enemy, his rage toward the IDF?
I talked with Cassif, 57, in a coffee shop of his choosing in his hometown of Rehovot seeking answers to these questions.
In our meeting, he told me that his grandparents came to Israel from Poland in 1934 for Zionist reasons but his grandfather grew frustrated and hurt by how things had turned out in Israel and would say that if he was younger, he would have left the country.
His father was active in Mapai before Cassif was born and was close to Moshe Dayan. His parents became Meretz supporters in the mid-1990s and the last two elections, they voted for the Joint List.
In elementary school he was the class clown and “I always had a big mouth,” he says. In school plays, he played the lead role. In high school, Cassif admits, “I was quite a mess. I didn’t want to study, went to the beach during school time, spent more time in Hashomer than in school. I really didn’t study; it was boring.”
Cassif served in the Nahal Paratrooper Brigade, something he now regrets. At that time, he was very dedicated to forming a new kibbutz...
During his army service and kibbutz life, he moved farther left. “I was always the leftist of the garin, me and another two. The one who invited me to join the Mapam party [one of the precursors to Meretz] is responsible for me being politically active was the late Ilan Gilon.”
“There were two incidents that caused me to think that I am not in the right place. One was when I refused to serve in the reserves in the Palestinian occupied territories. Mapam was against this. They didn’t support it. It’s not the mere fact that they objected to what I did but their explanations why they opposed my move...what was the basis of their opposition.”
And what was that, I asked. “Zionism and militarism,” he responded.
So you were already considering yourself an anti-Zionist at that point?
“Not consciously. In retrospect, I think I was but I couldn’t define it clearly to myself for some time.”
At that time, Cassif was a student of philosophy at the Hebrew University. The first to refuse to serve in the territories and Gaza, he said that he was supported by “university students on the far left, including the communists. This had an influence on me.”
He completed his Ph.D. at the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2006. Entitled ‘On Nationalism and Democracy: A Marxist Examination,’ it asks if nationalism and democracy are mutually exclusive or reconcilable, “taking nationalism as it is and democracy as it may be.”
For him, nationalism-as-it-is refers to ethnic nationalism. And this, he says, cannot be reconciled with democracy.
“What is urgently needed,” he wrote, “is a form of democracy that could transcend the contradictions latent in modern capitalism and deliver a solution to identity crisis and alienation without subverting the values of individual equality and liberty.
Such a democracy, it is concluded, must be a socialist one in which the means of identity production are collectively owned.”
Since he divides society by class rather than ethnicities, he does not see the conflict here as being between Arabs and Jews but, rather, between those who dominate the means of production and the media versus the poorer classes of all ethnicities that make up the Israeli and Palestinian populations. In his words, “the powerful versus the powerless, the exploiters versus the exploited.” And ethnicity is irrelevant to him.
Israel's Lapid says Arab parties Hadash,
Ta’al wouldn’t be in coalition
i24 NEWS, October 27, 2022
Israel’s Prime Minister Yair Lapid reaffirmed on Wednesday that the Hadash-Ta’al Arab party union would not be part of a future coalition that he could form after the upcoming elections.
In an interview with Channel 12 News, Lapid condemned remarks of Joint List lawmaker Aida Touma-Suleiman, who claimed on Tuesday that the five members of a Palestinian militant group who were killed by Israeli forces at the beginning of the week were "martyrs,” and that their "resistance" was a response to "[Israel's] occupation.”
The Joint List, which traditionally commands the largest share of Arab votes, will contest the next elections as two separate factions: Hadash-Ta'al and Balad.
Lapid pointed out that Touma-Suleiman's remarks were another example of why the Hadash and Ta'al parties would not be part of his potential future government.
Israel elections:
Far-right surges to become third-largest party
as Netanyahu set for comeback
By Lubna Masarwa, Middle East Eye, 2-11-2022
Israeli far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir's Religious Zionism party had gained 14 seats by Wednesday morning with 84 percent of the votes counted following Tuesday's election, likely giving Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing bloc a majority in parliament.
Results so far showed the former prime minister, who is on trial for corruption he denies, leading a bloc of four parties taking 65 of the Knesset's 120 seats.
The Palestinian nationalist Balad party and left-wing Meretz party were so far both short of the 3.25 percent, four-seat threshold, needed to enter the Knesset.

Israel Election: Netanyahu Set to Secure Slender Majority,
Shock. Triumph for Far Right. Haaretz, 2-11-2022
With liberal and Arab strongholds yet to be fully counted, PM Lapid banking on the distant prospect that smaller parties make it into the Knesset and block a far-right government helmed by Netanyahu.
"We have won a huge vote of confidence from the people of Israel," a smiling Netanyahu told cheering supporters at his Likud party election headquarters. "We are on the brink of a very big victory."
During last year’s election cycle, Netanyahu said Ben-Gvir - who used to keep a picture of Baruch Goldstein, who massacred 29 Palestinians in a mosque in 1994, in his home - was not fit to be a minister. However, as Ben-Gvir's popularity has grown, Netanyahu has changed tack, and conceded that he could serve in any potential cabinet.
Bezalel Smotrich, a leader of Religious Zionism, tweeted that the party had made history and "this is a victory for the religious-Zionist camp".
If Netanyahu and his allies form a working coalition, the extremist views of his allies are likely to gain even more attention in the international arena.
According to Walla, an Israeli website, Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog during a visit to the US last week was forced to allay fears put to him by officials in the Biden administration that members of far-right parties could be appointed to any new coalition government.
ISunday's report said Washington fears that if leaders of the far-right parties receive senior positions, it could damage relations between the US and Israel.
UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed is reported to have warned Netanyahu in private that any cooperation with extreme right-wing parties could damage nascent relations between the countries.
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