Month: June 2023

Can France’s president fix Lebanon’s chaos by coddling Hezb’allah?

https://resistancerepublicaine.com/

By Darlene Casella

French President Emmanuel Macron has been on a diplomatic quest in Lebanon for two years.  

Many fear that his efforts will reward Iran-backed Hezb’allah more than benefit beleaguered Lebanon.

Macron’s distractors question whether he is capable of motivating Lebanese leaders to reform prevalent mismanagement and corruption. 

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Macron last week discussed cooperation and determination to work together pull Lebanon out of crisis. 

The Saudi/French joint effort to help Lebanon brings a new twist to the multi-dimensional political chess game in the Middle East.

Iran and Saudi Arabia have been historic enemies. Macron supports the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezb’allah as a political organization. 

But first, scroll back to 2020, which was where much of the crisis in Lebanon started..

White smoke billowed from the port’s grain silos on the Mediterranean Coast.   

If this was Rome, we might have thought a new pope had been elected.  

However, this was Beirut.  

The roof caught on fire, and then a stupendous mushroom cloud exploded into the air. Supersonic shock waves emanated throughout the city in the world’s largest ever non-nuclear explosion.

More than 200 died, more than 6,500 were injured, much of the port was destroyed, homes were destroyed, and it is estimated to have caused $3 to $4 billion in damage, not a trivial thing for a small country.

This catastrophic event began Lebanon’s downward spiral.  

Investigations into cause have been blocked.  Prime Minister Hassan Diab and his cabinet resigned.  President Joseph Aoun left office in October 2022.  

An economic crisis followed, brought on by central bank mismanagement. Angry citizens stormed banks demanding their savings.  The Lebanese currency, the poound or lire, as it is called, plunged 80% this year.

The economy went into and remains in a freefall.  Lawmakers failed for the twelfth time since October to elect a president. A protracted power vacuum is among the reasons the World Bank ranks Lebanon as potentially one of the top three most severe economic crises in the world since the mid-nineteenth century.  

Government top positions are allocated along religious lines: President, a Maronite Christian; Speaker of the Parliament, a Shi’a Muslim; and Prime Minister, a Sunni Muslim. A presidential candidate must receive a 2/3 majority in parliament in the first round.  If not reached, further elections are held until someone reaches a simple majority.  

Candidates in last week’s failed election – Suleiman Frangieh, supported by Hezb’allah, and a close friend of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad.  General Joseph Aoun (no relation to the former president) Commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces.  Gebran Bassil, who leads the Free Patriotic Movement and is the son-in-law of former President Michel Aoun.  Michel Moawad, Member of Parliament and the son of former President Rene Moawad, who was assassinated (1989).  

Iran-backed Hezb’allah is a global Islamic jihad network; responsible for bombings, assassinations, and murders throughout Europe and Southeast Asia.  

Decades ago, Lebanon ordered the dissolution of all militias, except Hezb’allah. The European Union declared Hezb’allah a terrorist organization in 2013. The United States, Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands have each banned Hezb’allah. Hezb’allah fires rockets into Israel from southern Lebanon, and denies Israel’s right to exist.

France is a holdout country protecting Hezb’allah.  

President Trump’s U.S. ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, sparked a political discussion in 2020 with his article in Die Welt calling for Berlin to ban the radical Islamic Hezb’allah.  Following this, Germany banned Hezb’allah.  U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken said that Hezb’allah is a threat to the United States, the Middle East and globally.  Reuters reported that Macron advised President Biden to adopt a more realistic attitude towards Hezb’allah to help break the political impasse in Lebanon.

The French president regards Hezb’allah as a political party, not a terrorist group. Many disagree, including Nadim Gemayel a Member of Lebanese Parliament.  

Gemayel said in a radio broadcast on June 6, 2023: “He knew that France had fallen when French President Macron came to Lebanon and urged the Lebanese people to ‘put Hezb’allah aside.’ 

Gemayel also said: “…all of France’s interest in Lebanon are channeled through Hezb’allah in an effort to reach Iran and all the investments that Hezb’allah can facilitate in Africa or in Iran.”  

Nadim believes that Macron is wrong, and there is no distinction between Hezb’allah the terrorist organization and Hezb’allah the political entity.

Lebanon and Arab nations share some cultural characteristics, but the country is not a kingdom.

It is a republic with a parliamentary government. National Assembly members are elected for four years. Women vote and can hold office.  

One of the world’s smallest sovereign states, Lebanon is located on the Mediterranean Sea and shares borders with Syria and Israel.  Historically it was part of the Ottoman Empire. After World War I, Lebanon was a French Military Mandate.  It became a republic in 1926 and gained independence in 1943.  

Macron is an advocate of the Iran Nuclear Deal.  When the U.S. pulled out of that agreement, and placed sanctions on Iran; Macron proposed a multi-billion-dollar credit deal to help Iran’s lost oil trade. Macron advocates for Iran-backed Hezb’allah as a political party and makes a distinction between that and the Hezb’allah terrorist organization.  A distinction that Hezb’allah does not make.  

For his quest in Lebanon, will history find Emmanuel Macron to have been Don Quixote, Winston Churchill or Neville Chamberlin?  

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/06/can_frances_president_fix_lebanons_chaos_by_coddling_hezballah.html

Sweden: Iraqi sets fire to Koran pages outside Stockholm mosque

The action was also slammed by Turkey, which is holding up Sweden’s pending NATO bid.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan condemned it as “despicable.”

“It is unacceptable to allow these anti-Islamic actions under the pretext of freedom of expression,” Fidan said on Twitter. “Turning a blind eye to such atrocious acts is to be complicit.”

Turkey is blocking the country’s NATO bid due to what it perceives as Stockholm’s failure to crack down on Kurdish groups it considers “terrorists,” and took particular offense to another Koran burning outside its Stockholm embassy in January.

A meeting between the countries’ top diplomats is scheduled for July 6 at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, with NATO counterparts pushing for Turkey to grant the green light to Sweden by the time a summit is held in Lithuania on July 11-12.

In its written decision granting a permit for the protest, Stockholm police said the security risks associated with the burning “were not of a nature that could justify, under current laws, a decision to reject the request”.

Salwan Momika, 37, who fled from Iraq to Sweden several years ago, had asked police for permission to burn the Muslim holy book “to express my opinion about the Koran”.

Ahead of the protest, Momika told news agency TT he also wanted to highlight the importance of freedom of speech.

“This is democracy. It is in danger if they tell us we can’t do this,” Momika said.

Under a heavy police presence and with around a dozen opponents shouting at him in Arabic, Momika, dressed in beige trousers and a shirt, addressed the crowd of several dozen through a megaphone.

He stomped on the Koran, put strips of bacon in it, lit a few pages on fire before slamming it shut, and kicked it like a football, while waving Swedish flags, AFP correspondents at the scene reported.

Investigation opened

Police had cordoned off an area in a park next to the mosque separating Momika and a co-protester from the crowd.

In the afternoon, police said in a statement that the protest had not caused “disturbances to order,” but added an investigation had been opened regarding “agitation against an ethnic group” since the man had chosen to burn the Koran so close to a mosque.

Police added he was also investigated for violating a temporary ban on lighting fires — in place due to a heatwave.

Noa Omran, a 32-year-old artist from Stockholm, called the protest “absolutely insane”.

“It’s just hatred masquerading in the name of democracy and freedom which it isn’t,” the woman, who said her mother was from a Muslim background, told AFP at the scene.

The police authorisation for the protest came two weeks after a Swedish appeals court rejected the police’s decision to deny permits for two demonstrations in Stockholm which were to include Koran burnings.

Police had at the time cited security concerns, following the January protest, which led to weeks of demonstrations and calls for a boycott of Swedish goods.

Similar acts have in the past sparked violent protests and outrage across the Muslim world.

Police, which had granted a permit for the January protest, argued it had made Sweden “a higher priority target for attacks” and then banned two subsequent requests for protests involving Koran burnings — one by Momika and one by an organisation.

The appeals court in mid-June ruled that police were wrong to ban those, saying the security concerns cited by police were not sufficient to ban the events.

‘Burn it’

Momika had said he would seek to burn the Koran again after his previous request was blocked.

“I want to protest in front of the large mosque in Stockholm, and I want to express my opinion about the Koran… I will tear up the Koran and burn it,” Momika, wrote in the protest application to police, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.

Speaking to newspaper Aftonbladet in April, Momika — who fled to Sweden from Iraq — said his intention was not to sabotage the Swedish NATO bid and had considered waiting to stage his protest until after Sweden had joined the alliance.

“I don’t want to harm this country that received me and preserved my dignity,” Momika told the newspaper.

Politicians in the Nordic country have criticised Koran burnings but have also adamantly defended the right to freedom of expression.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230628-sweden-police-grant-permit-for-koran-burning-protest-outside-mosque

Immigration crisis: 74% of French believe there are too many migrants in France, 72% want referendum on immigration

https://resistancerepublicaine.com/

A new poll conducted for top French newspaper Le Figaro shows that nearly three out of four French people believe there are too many migrants in the country, with the poll results coming after the country accepted a record number of foreigners in 2022 under President Emmanuel Macron.

The Odoxa-Backbone Consulting poll shows that at nearly every level, the French want stricter immigration controls, more deportations, and even a referendum on immigration into France.

It further shows that French people are becoming increasingly opposed to mass immigration, with 74 percent saying there are too many immigrants in France. This represents an 11-point increase from when the poll was conducted five years ago.

This holds true for supporters of National Rally (97 percent), Republicans (91 percent), Renaissance (68 percent) and even Socialists (52 percent) and Greens (51 percent). Only supporters of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s left-wing La France Insoumise are in the minority (44 percent) when asked if there are too many migrants in France.

The poll additionally shows that 79 percent of French want asylum seekers to have their requests decided on before they are allowed to enter French territory. Seventy-four percent also believe that immigration quotas should be set each year by the French parliament, and 72 percent believe that migration policy should be decided by a referendum.

The French also want to make the country less socially attractive for migrants (68 percent), to include the principle of assimilation in the Constitution (66 percent) and even to derogate from the European treaties (62 percent).

Interestingly, not only did a majority of Les Republicans, National Rally and Reconquête voters all take a hardline view on immigration, but also supporters from Macron’s party Renaissance did as well. All of the respondents were highly critical of Macron’s handling of the issue of immigration, with the exception of voters who approve of Macron.

On the issue of refugees fleeing persecution in their country, 55 percent say France should accept them, but this is a 10-point drop from five years ago.

The French, however, welcome proposals to better integrate migrants in the country, including supporting the creation of a residence permit for undocumented workers with jobs that employers need filled (58 percent) and allowing asylum seekers to access jobs (58 percent).

“On immigration, French people’s thinking is finally ‘complex’, a sort of ‘at the same time’ reduce the number of arrivals but also show ourselves more inclusive for immigrants already on our territory,” concludes Céline Bracq, Odoxa’s managing director.

During an appearance on the Europe 1 television station this month, the mayor of the French city of Cannes, David Lisnard, warned that immigration has become a major problem in France after it accepted a record 500,000 migrants last year. He says the government must bring immigration under control or risk societal consequences.

“It is communication itself that creates the problem. Immigration has become a major problem in France, we received more or less 600,000 people last year — 600,000. This is a (new) record. Hence, we must close the taps on immigration today, in the interest of the balance of French society,” said Lisnard.

https://rmx.news/france/immigration-crisis-74-of-french-believe-there-are-too-many-migrants-in-france-72-want-referendum-on-immigration/

LGBT Uniparty: Tory and Labour MPs Block Bridgen Bill Banning Radical Gender Theory in Schools

screen grab youtube

Reclaim Party MP Andrew Bridgen’s legislation to prohibit schools from promoting radical theories on gender and require that they inform parents if their child is seeking to ‘transition’ to the opposite gender was blocked by a cohort of left-wing Labour and allegedly Conservative lawmakers on Tuesday.

An attempt by Andrew Bridgen MP attempt to safeguard children from being used as “science experiments” amid the proliferation of widely contested gender ideology, was blocked from consideration in a rare move by a group of Tory and Labour MPs, who voted by a measure of 40 to 34 to prevent Bridgen’s bill from being put before the entire House of Commons, the Daily Mail reported.

The Reclaim Party MP, who joined Laurence Fox’s anti-woke party after being kicked out of the Conservative Party earlier this year over his criticisms of coronavirus vaccines and lockdowns, said that his bill would “prohibit the promotion of social transition practices in schools”.

“The promotion of social transitioning and the discussion of social transitioning practices would be prohibited from appearing on any aspect of a school curriculum,” Bridgen said.

The Reclaim MP said that in instances where gender identity is taught, it should be taught alongside opposing viewpoints in order to allow “a fair presentation of political beliefs.”

“Under all our noses, members of society, either politically or educationally tasked with helping bring up our children have turned raising the next generation into a science experiment with consequences that break my heart.

“Gender ideology is a political ideology. One that has been effectively promoted in schools, and therefore constitutes political indoctrination.’

“Our children are not guinea pigs, it’s high time this House took charge and stopped allowing ideologies passed down from mad scientists which treat them as such… My proposed bill will protect children, reassure parents, and offer certainty to teachers.”

Although 25 Conservative MPs supported Bridgen’s bill to be put forward as proposed legislation, 10 sided with the left-wing Labour Party, thereby blocking the bill from consideration.

The Conservative Party, which has been in power for 13 years, has come under increasing scrutiny for its failures to pass laws protecting children from radical educators. Despite growing pressure on the government to take a firm stance, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is only expected to issue “guidance” to schools, rather than actually changing the law.

Mr Bridgen’s bill, which would require schools to inform parents “if their child has indicated an intention to pursue or has commenced social transition’ and give parents the right to access information about sex education lessons in schools,” was criticised by left-wing MPs as allegedly forcing schools to “out” so-called transgender children.

“Many trans young people have very good reasons for not wanting to come out to their families. Andrew Bridgen’s Bill, which would require schools to out pupils who are socially transitioning, is a dangerous piece of legislation,” said Labour MP Olivia Blake.

This claim, which was repeated by several Labour MPs, was rejected by Reclaim Party leader Laurence Fox who said that there was no mention of “outing” children in the bill and that parents have a right to decide how they raise their children without “anti-family measures” being imposed upon them from the state.

“This isn’t China or North Korea. This is Great Britain. Parents are best placed to support and nurture their children,” the Reclaim leader said.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/06/28/uniparty-tory-and-labour-mps-block-bridgen-bill-banning-radical-gender-theory-in-schools/

Ireland expected to pass anti-Catholic bill criminalizing prayer outside abortion facilities

Domer48 at English Wikipedia, public domain 

India: 7 Students Of Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical College Hospital Demand Hijab-like Attire Inside Operation Theatre

https://swarajyamag.com/politics/kerala-7-students-of-thiruvananthapuram-government-medical-college-hospital-demand-hijab-like-attire-inside-operation-theatre

At least seven medical students of the Thiruvananthapuram government medical college hospital in Kerala have sought permission for wearing attire covering their heads while in operation theatre.

Citing their Islamic religious belief that mandates them to wear hijab all the time, the students demanded that the college principal allow them to wear long sleeve scrub jackets and surgical hoods inside the operation theatre.

The students claimed that the OT dress code required as part of hospital regulations makes it difficult for comply with the attire mandated by their religious belief.

Permitting long sleeve scrub jackets and surgical hoods would allow them to maintain sterile precautions as well as religious attire, the students said in their representation to college authorities.

The college principal Dr. Linet J Morris aid that he would call a meeting of surgeons and the infection control team to discuss the matter, adding that the team would decide on the request made by the students.

Deccan Herald quoted Dr.Morris as saying that he trying explaining the technical difficulties are involved in changing the operation theatre attire.

“We follow universal standards to ensure a sterile environment. I have told them that I am not in a position to decide on their request. A meeting of surgeons and infection control experts will be convened. Patient safety is of utmost priority. We will convene a committee and look at both sides and the focus will be on the safety of patients, which cannot be compromised.” Dr Morris said.

The demand from medical college students of Kerala appears to be inspired by ‘Hijab in OR’ movement by Deena Kishawi a Chicago based Muslim physician.

“Based on the alternatives for hospital personnel in other parts of the world, and based on what is available from companies that supply clothing for the operating room, alternatives have been identified.” Kishawi says in ‘About Us’ page of the personal website she maintains to promote the demand.

“Long sleeve scrub jackets should be made easily accessible in OR locker rooms for hijab-wearing women to wear over their scrubs until scrubbing in and donning sterile attire. Especially since no outside clothing is allowed, it would be most comfortable to have this on since long sleeves cannot be worn under scrubs.” she adds.

https://swarajyamag.com/politics/kerala-7-students-of-thiruvananthapuram-government-medical-college-hospital-demand-hijab-like-attire-inside-operation-theatre

WATCH: Dozens of Angry Minority Youths Torch Paris and Assault Police Officers After Teen Driver Is Killed by Cop – Media and Witnesses Claim Driver Was “Executed” But Video Proves There’s More to the Story (VIDEOS)

Left-wing Apartheid Regime in Germany: AfD Voters Are No Longer Allowed to Use Public Transport

Screenprint: via twitter

In a remarkable act of partisanship and dehumanisation, Berlin’s public transport company (BVG) posted a picture on its social media channels showing a crossed-out AfD lettering alongside a common pictogram banning food and drink on public transport. Underneath is the familiar message from buses and trains, “Thank you for keeping the train clean!”

The BVG has since deleted its tweet.

What was probably intended as a witty joke by the BVG marketing team was rightly met with outrage by many people. The implication that AfD voters – who now make up 20.5 per cent of Germany’s electorate – were “impure” and should be excluded from using public transport services brought back unpleasant memories of various forms of exclusion, segregation and dehumanisation in many places.

https://www.tichyseinblick.de/daili-es-sentials/berliner-verkehrsbetriebe-afd/

Netherlands: Father and daughter arrested for sending millions to proscribed terror organization Hamas

Dutch police arrested a father and his daughter on Thursday on suspicion of sending more than €5 million to Hamas, the Palestinian militant movement on the European Union’s list of terror organizations.

The pair, aged 55 and 25, were arrested at a property in the town of Leidschendam, while a search of an affiliated business in Rotterdam resulted in the seizure of a bank account holding around €750,000, the public prosecutor revealed.

“The public prosecution service suspects them of having sent money, approximately €5.5 million, to groups related to the organization Hamas,” the prosecution service said in a statement.

“They are also suspected of participating in a criminal organization whose purpose is to support Hamas financially,” it added.

The pair remain in custody, and an investigation into the matter is ongoing.

Founded by Muslim Brotherhood activists in 1987, Hamas has risen to become one of Palestine’s two mainstream political parties, but its militant wing has become infamous for its attacks on what the organization perceives to be the illegal Israeli occupation of its former land.

The organization was added to the EU list of proscribed terrorist organizations following the 9/11 terror attacks, and while it was temporarily removed in 2014, it was reinstated in 2017.

https://rmx.news/crime/netherlands-father-and-daughter-arrested-for-sending-millions-to-proscribed-terror-organization-hamas/