LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

Bible Quotation for today/Be vigilant at all times
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 21,34-36. Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man."

Baragwanath, Riachy Re-elected for 18 Months
Naharnet /Special Tribunal for Lebanon President Judge Sir David Baragwanath and Vice-President Judge Ralph Riachy have been re-elected for a period of 18 months, the STL announced on Friday. The judges of the Appeals Chamber, who met on Thursday, re-elected both Baragwanath of New Zealand and Lebanese judge Riachy, for the same time period starting September 1, said the statement. Their re-election is pursuant to Article 8(2) of the Tribunal’s Statute and Rule 31 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, it said. The STL President has a “wide range of tasks, including oversight of the effective functioning of the Tribunal and the good administration of justice, as well as representing the STL in relations with States, the United Nations and other entities,” the statement said. His duties are fulfilled by the Vice-President if the President is absent, it added.
The Tribunal, which is investigating the Feb. 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri, has indicted four Hizbullah members in the massive car bomb in Beirut that killed Hariri. The four men remain at large as the Lebanese authorities failed to apprehend them. Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has deemed the STL an American-Israeli product aimed at destroying the party, vowing that the accused will never be arrested.

President Michel Suleiman Calls on Rival Parties to Prioritize National Interest
Naharnet/President Michel Suleiman stressed on Friday that the current stage the country is passing through and the political and security developments compel everyone to have the necessary awareness and prioritize the national interest. “The accelerated frequency of political and security developments locally and regionally impose on everyone to have the required awareness and prioritize the national interest,” Suleiman said.
Since the eruption of Syria's clashes in 2011, Lebanon has been witnessing several security incidents in Tripoli, along the Lebanese-Syrian border and in several other regions. The latest was a car bomb attack that targeted Bir al-Abed neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburbs, which wounded 53 people. The president called on political leaders to avert the any negative repercussions imposed by the conflict in the neighboring country, which obliges on the Lebanese to offer sacrifices. Suleiman called on the swift formation of a responsible cabinet that is capable of confronting the challenges of the upcoming stage. Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam is seeking to form a cabinet divided equally between the Lebanese foes and the centrists and rejects to grant the veto power to any party. On Monday, the PM-designate said that there was still no progress in the formation of a new government and that a decision to step down was one of the available options

Israel Focuses on Northern Border to be a 'Step Ahead' of Hizbullah Abilities
Naharnet/An Israeli soldier collapses onto the floor of a house in Lebanon, shot by Hizbullah fighters. As his squad mates clear out the second floor, a medic rushes over, pulling on latex gloves and digging into his first aid kit. Gunfire echoes down the stairs as he starts to work on the wound. The Israeli military experienced this kind of brutal house-to-house warfare during its inconclusive 2006 war with Hizbullah. As it trains in a mock village in its base in the northern Israeli town of Elyakim, it is recreating similar battle scenarios as it prepares for the next confrontation with the Lebanese group. Officials say such a conflict could erupt at any time.
While the world has focused its attention on the turmoil in Egypt following the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi, Israel is keeping a close eye on its northern flank, where officials say the Syrian civil war, and Hizbullah's increasing involvement there, have created a combustible mix that could draw in Israel with little notice.
"They are more and more deeply embedded in their infighting and we have to be prepared, we have to watch the border and have the forces that will enable us to respond quickly and decisively," said Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a military spokesman.
Israel has been warily watching the Syrian conflict since it erupted in March 2011, fearing that sophisticated weapons could be transferred to Hizbullah during the chaos. Though they have not taken sides, Israeli leaders have said they would take military action to prevent "game-changing" arms from reaching the group.
Israeli warplanes have carried out at least three airstrikes in recent months on what were believed to be advanced missiles on their way to Hizbullah. A pair of mysterious explosions over the past week, one at an arms depot in Syria and a second in the Hizbullah stronghold of Beirut's southern suburbs, has raised suspicions that Israel was involved. Israel has not confirmed involvement in any of the airstrikes or explosions, but even the perception of an Israeli connection raises the risk of a reprisal.
On several occasions this year, mortar shells and tank rounds from Syria have landed inside Israeli-controlled territory, causing damage and spreading panic but causing no injuries. Israel says most of the attacks have been errant fire, but it has sometimes accused Syria of aiming at Israeli targets, and has briefly fired back across the border. In the wake of an Israeli airstrike in May, Syrian President Bashar Assad threatened to retaliate, while Israel's air force chief has warned that a "surprise war" could break out at any time.
Conflict with Syria would almost certainly mean renewed hostilities with Hizbullah, Syrian President Bashar Assad's close ally, which battled Israel in a month-long war in 2006 that ended in stalemate. During the fighting, Hizbullah fired some 4,000 rockets and missiles into Israel. Defense officials believe Hizullah has restocked its arsenal with tens of thousands of missiles, some capable of striking deep inside the Jewish state.
The base in Elyakim, in northern Israel, plays a key role in preparing for any future confrontation. The military built the complex after the 2006 war to institutionalize the lessons of guerrilla warfare. The village complex features networks of tunnels, and trainers frequently take hostages as part of battlefield scenarios like the one involving the wounded soldier and the frantic fight for control of the house. Lt. Archie Leonard, a spokesman for the school, said the experience of the last war gives the soldiers an important step up compared to 2006. He said intelligence keeps the trainers up to date on Hizbullah tactics.
"The next time that we'll go in, if we go in, we'll be much more forceful and more effective," he said. "I think the Hizbullah is getting better, but we're ahead of them and we'll always be a step ahead of their abilities."
Such training is only one step in a series of measures Israel has taken to boost security along its borders with Lebanon and Syria. The military has beefed up its physical defenses in the Golan Heights over the past two years, and officials say it has improved its intelligence operation to give early warning of potential attacks. Reflecting the high priority of the northern front, the military announced plans this week to create a new army division to oversee the Golan Heights, along the Syrian front, and "address emerging threats" like the one from Hizbullah. It approved the step even as defense officials slash their budget. The military is turning its forces away from heavy arms like tanks toward non-traditional forms of warfare like the guerrilla battle it faced in Lebanon. Defense Minister Moshe Ayalon said on Thursday that "army-to-army battles of the type we last saw 40 years ago in the Yom Kippur War are becoming less and less relevant," referring to the 1973 conflict in which Israeli forces confronted mass formations of Egyptian and Syrian tanks.
For now, Israeli officials believe neither Syria nor Hizbullah is interested in war. Assad is preoccupied with rebels trying to oust him, and the Israeli military estimates that around 3,000 Hizbullah fighters have entered Syria to aid him. Officials believe the group has lost some 200 fighters. Such losses may have weakened Hizbullah in the short term. But officials say Hizbullah's experience in the civil war may prove a valuable training ground. Officials point to the heavy Hizbullah involvement in the Syrian government's attack on the town of Qusayr several weeks ago, and said that Israel has seen Hizbullah fighters operating tanks.
In May, Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said that the group would help Syria retake the Golan Heights or accept upgraded arms from its military. "The resistance is prepared to accept any sophisticated weaponry even if it was to break the balance (of force)," he said. Yoram Schweitzer, a terrorism expert at the Institute for National Security Studies, a Tel Aviv think tank, said that even a weakened Hizbullah still can hurt Israel.
"In spite of its dire straits situation in Syria, mainly, the way it was equipped with very sophisticated armament and training by states is still posing a threat to Israel," Schweitzer said. No matter how many fighters Hizbullah loses, he argued, it maintains the ability "to send many rockets to Israel to devastate the country."Source/Associated Press.

Nigeria Denies Bail to Lebanese 'Linked to Hizbullah'
Naharnet/A Nigerian court on Friday denied bail to three Lebanese charged with "terrorism" over their alleged links to Hizbullah. Mustapha Fawaz, 49, Abdallah Thahini, 48, and Talal Ahmad Roda, 51, were charged last month after a massive supply of weapons was found at a business in the capital Abuja and a private home in the northern city of Kano. A fourth suspect is said to be on the run. "There is the likelihood ... that the first, second and third accused persons may not appear for trial," said High Court Justice Adeniyi Ademola Adetokunbo. The request "for the accused persons to be admitted to bail is hereby refused." The security services have claimed that the weapons discovered at the two premises were intended to attack Israeli and Western targets in Nigeria. Prosecutors have said the group was actively preparing to commit "a terrorist act." The judge also denied a request to re-open the businesses operated by the accused, which include a supermarket and an amusement park in the capital. The suspects, who are said to also hold Nigerian citizenship, have pleaded not guilty to all six counts of the "terrorism-related offences." According to court documents, the trio has admitted to being members of Hizbullah. Belonging to the group is not a "crime" under Nigerian law. Nigeria is grappling with a deadly Islamist insurgency waged by Boko Haram, but there has been no suggestion of any ties between the Lebanese accused and the Nigerian extremist group. Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, is home to a sizeable Lebanese population, including in the mainly Muslim north.Source/Agence France Presse.

Lebanese Army: Israeli Troops Briefly Cross Blue Line at Houla
Naharnet /The Army Command announced on Friday that Israeli troops briefly crossed the Blue Line into Lebanon earlier in the morning before returning to Israel. It said that five troops opened the technical gate at the southern region of Houla and then crossed the Blue Line for a brief time. They then retreated to Israeli territories. The army promptly deployed patrols in the area in coordination with troops from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. UNIFIL Spokeswoman Antoinette Midday later described the violation as dangerous and provocative. She told the National News Agency that some four or five Israeli troops crossed the Blue Line into Lebanon. They entered a few meters into the territory, where they stayed for some 30 minutes before leaving, she added. Crossing the Blue Line is a violation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1701 and the land excursions are very dangerous because they could be provocative, she stated. Midday revealed that UNIFIL Commander Major General Paolo Serra later contacted the Israeli army command to inquire about Friday's violation.
He called on it to withdraw its troops without any delay, stressing that Israel should completely respect the Blue Line, she added. Despite resolution 1701 that calls for respecting the Blue Line and Lebanon's territorial integrity, Israel has repeatedly breached the declaration, violating the southern border and crossing into Lebanese airspace.

Lebanon to File Complaint with U.N. over Israeli Border Violations, Abductions
Naharnet/Caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour called on Friday for filing a complaint with the United Nations Security Council over Israel's violations of the border and its kidnapping of Lebanese nationals.
The complaint comes after a 15-member Israeli commando forces crossed on Monday the border of the occupied Shebaa Farms in the South, and abducted Lebanese shepherd Youssef Hussein Rhayyel.
Rhayyel was kidnapped after the force advanced 600-800 meters into Lebanon, north of the al-Marsad military post. In the evening, LBCI and al-Manar TV networks reported that Rhayyel was freed. "Mansour tasked Lebanon's ambassador to the U.N. Nawaf Salam with filing the complaint with the Security Council,” the state-run National News Agency reported. Mansour explained: “The kidnapping is another Israeli assault on Lebanon that include violating the border, Lebanese waters and airspace.”"Such incidents are also a violation of the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 and of Lebanon's sovereignty.”
Last week, the Israeli army kidnapped two shepherds from a region near the southern town of Shebaa. They were released one day later following a mediation by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
Kidnapping incidents of Lebanese residents by the Israeli forces are frequent. On November 1, 2012, Israeli authorities handed over to U.N. peacekeepers a Lebanese shepherd who was arrested near the border in southern Lebanon a day earlier. A 12-strong Israeli force kidnapped Ismail Khalil Nabaa while grazing his flock on the heights of Jabal al-Saddaneh, north of the U.N.-demarcated Blue Line, the NNA said. The NNA reported on July 16, 2012 that an Israeli force failed to abduct two shepherds from southern Lebanon. It detailed that 20 soldiers crossed the border at Mount Hermon and infiltrated 500 to 800 meters into Shebaa where it tried to kidnap Mohammed Qassem Hashem from Lebanon and Ahmed Haidar from Syria. Also, Lebanese shepherd Youssef Mohamed Zahra was abducted in June 2012 by the Israeli army near Shebaa Farms.

Geagea Calls for Swift Formation of Cabinet, Urges Hizbullah to Reconsider Policies
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea condemned on Friday any terrorist act that aims at destabilizing the country, considering that Bir al-Abed neighborhood's blast is linked to Hizbullah's intervention in the conflict in the neighboring country Syria. “We will have to confront a more dangerous situation if the party hold on to the its policies,” Geagea said in an interview with al-Liwaa newspaper.
He called on Hizbullah to reconsider its policies and political stances to evade a crisis in Lebanon. Tuesday's Bir al-Abed car bomb attack, which wounded 53 people, was the most serious incident in Beirut's suburbs since the start of the Syria war more than two years ago. “It's hard to convince Hizbullah to change its approach and return to the state,” the Christian leader said. Asked about his stance from the Salafists and the radical Islamist movements, Geagea said that he “has the same stance for them that he has for Hizbullah... The LF expressed support to the army after the Abra clashes with (Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed) al-Asir's supporters.”
“Assaulting the army is a red line,” he told al-Liwaa newspaper. Al-Asir, a 45-year-old cleric who is no where to be found since last month's deadly gunbattles between his gunmen and the Lebanese army, resurfaced Thursday in an alleged audio message in which he described the clashes as a plot against him. Geagea said that the only way to resolve the current disputes in the country and avert a Sunni-Shiite strife is to end Hizbullah's provocations.
Concerning Prime Minister Tammam Salam's exerted efforts to form a new cabinet, Geagea reiterated demands that Hizbullah shouldn't participate in the government line-up as “it will only shatter the state's neutrality policy.”
Salam is seeking to form a cabinet divided equally between the Lebanese foes and the centrists and rejects to grant the veto power to any party. The LF leader called on Salam to swiftly form his government and stop wasting time. Geagea expressed fear that the country might slip into a political vacuum, saying that Speaker Nabih Berri's insistence on holding a parliamentary session with a wide agenda was unconstitutional. “We insist as a March 14 alliance on extending Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji and former ISF chief Ashraf Rifi's tenure,” he pointed out. Acting ISF chief Brig. Gen. Roger Salem took over the post of Rifi after his retirement, who was succeeded in turn by Brig. Gen. Ibrahim Basbous last month. Qahwaji's term ends this September when he turns 60, the maximum age for the post of the army commander. Sharp dispute also emerged between the Free Patriotic Movement and its March 8 allies over the matter, prompting Berri to announce that the coalition is no longer unifies it previous demands to obtain veto power in the cabinet are dropped in light of the differences. “If Berri's statements are not a trick then new political alliances will be created,” Geagea said. The extension, in addition to several other draft-laws, has been put on the agenda of a three-day parliamentary session that Berri has called for on July 16. But caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati and the March 14 alliance stand firm on boycotting it over their claim that holding such a session with a resigned government was unconstitutional, unless it was set to discuss a “critical” draft law.

Lebanese Shiites Ousted from Gulf over Hizbullah Ties
by Naharnet Newsdesk 12 July 2013/When Ali Farhat was summoned to the immigration department in the United Arab Emirates, the 33-year-old Lebanese restaurant worker knew he would have to pack up his family and leave fast. Like many Shiite Muslims working in the oil-rich Gulf state, Farhat says he popped up on the country's deportation radar merely because of his sect, which its Sunni rulers associate with Hizbullah.
"I felt like a criminal, but I did not know what I did wrong," said Farhat, who had lived in the UAE for 15 years before his expulsion in May. "It seems that my only crime was that I am Shiite."
Long considered by authorities as a security threat, hundreds of Shiites have been quietly expelled from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states on suspicion of being supporters of Hizbullah. The deportations have surged in recent months after the group publicly joined the civil war in Syria on the side of President Bashar Assad, an archenemy of the Gulf's rulers. It is the latest fallout for Hizbullah's high stakes and highly divisive military involvement in the war in Syria, and a sign of the growing sectarian fissures in the Arab world over Syria. Last month, Saudi Arabia announced plans to deport Lebanese who authorities accuse of supporting the Iranian-backed Hizbullah, and the other Gulf states say they too are reconsidering the status of their Shiite guest workers.
A Lebanese diplomat stationed in the Gulf confirmed to The Associated Press on Thursday that the stepped-up deportations from Saudi Arabia have begun, adding that he has documented an average of three cases a week in the past three weeks.
Farhat, like hundreds of other deportees, was never given an official reason for his family's expulsion, and was not able to challenge it in court or at a government agency.
Deportees like Farhat are not the only ones bearing the brunt of Hizbullah's military involvement in Syria, where the group's fighters helped Assad's forces recapture the strategic town of Qusair, near the border with Lebanon, last month. The group's backing of the Syrian regime has angered the overwhelmingly Sunni rebels fighting to topple Assad and raised sectarian tensions inside Lebanon. Several Syria-based Islamist groups have threatened to attack Hizbullah strongholds in Lebanon in retaliation. Rockets from the Syrian side regularly crash into Shiite towns and villages near the border with Syria. Twice this month, rockets slammed into the Hizbullah stronghold known as Dahieh, Beirut's southern suburbs..
In the most ominous sign yet that the sectarian war in Syria has begun to consume Lebanon, a car bomb tore through a heavily guarded sector of Bir al-Abed area on Tuesday, wounding 53 people.
The Syrian conflict, now in its third year with over 93,000 people killed, has pitted overwhelmingly Sunni rebels against Assad's regime, which is dominated by Alawites, an offshoot sect of Shiite Islam.
It has also become a regional struggle for influence between Shiite Iran on one side and major Sunni power Saudi Arabia on the other, backed by smaller Gulf Arab states. Ordinary Lebanese like Farhat are paying the price. "People start living in fear because they always think that they will be next," he told The Associated Press. He recounted his ordeal on the phone, speaking from a village in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley, where he returned with his wife and their young daughter. The family has been forced to move in with his parents.
Farhat's boss and his boss' family were ordered out of the UAE at the same time, he said, adding they were given just a week to pack up. After they were served the deportation order, they were put in a police van and taken to the immigration department. Their residency permits were canceled on the spot, their passports seized by officials. They got the documents back at the airport on their way out of the country.
The expulsion drive is partly fueled by the growing hatred between Sunnis and Shiites. Analysts say it is also rooted in Gulf rulers' need to keep their populations in constant fear of enemies — domestic and foreign — in order to preserve their authoritarian rule. Shiites in the Gulf have "effectively become scapegoats" for the Sunni rulers trying to curb Iran's growing regional influence and Hizbullah's military reach, said Christopher Davidson, an expert on Gulf affairs at Britain's Durham University. Tehran is Hizbullah's main backer and supplies the group with money and weapons, channeled into Lebanon through Syria.
In Syria, the Gulf countries have supplied the rebels fighting to oust Assad with funds and weapons. Shortly after the fall of Qusair, the Gulf Cooperation Council — which includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the UAE — said the bloc would crack down on Hizbullah members as part of a joint effort to limit the group's "financial and business transactions."
"Acts are being committed against innocent Syrian people," said Saudi Ambassador Ali Awadh Asiri of his country's decision to deport Lebanese accused of supporting Hizbullah.
Hizbullah says the group has no business interests in the Gulf. However, there are more than half a million Lebanese working in the Gulf states, including tens of thousands in Saudi Arabia. Many are Shiites.
Ali Rashid, a 45-year-old Lebanese businessman, had lived for 33 years in the UAE's capital, Abu Dhabi, where he owned four restaurants and a gift shop worth $3.5 million. In December 2011, he was told by authorities that he had 10 days to leave with his wife and three daughters. He bought one-way tickets to Beirut with $10,000 in cash he managed to take out of his bank account. Rashid's ties to the country go beyond his business investment: His father served in the security force that protected the family of Sheik Zayed Al Nahyan before he united seven city-states in the early 1970s, including Abu Dhabi and Dubai, into a federation that is now ruled by Sheik Zayed's sons. "I loved that country more than the Emiratis do," Rashid said, proudly showing off a black-and-white photograph of his father in a tribal robe, holding a rifle and a sword. His eyes filled with tears when he looked at a picture of himself, dressed in a white dishdasha and headscarf, traditional attire of Gulf men.
"I asked them for a reason, did I drive through a red light?" Rashid said. "They said, 'No, it's an order from the top.'"Privately, Rashid said, the immigration officials told him that his only problem was that he is Shiite, but when he asked them to put it in writing, they refused. There was something Rashid said he was told by the UAE authorities that he could have done in order stay: Inform on fellow Lebanese Shiites living in the country on their Hizbullah links and the group's alleged sleeper cells. He refused. So did Hassan Alayan back in 2009, when he was deported along with his wife and four children from the UAE, where he had lived for 27 years working as a journalist. Alayan now runs a committee to represent the deportees in Beirut. He has registered the names of 400 Shiite families who have been expelled from the UAE in the past four years, but says the number is much higher because many won't speak about their ordeals for fear of jeopardizing the immigration status of relatives still in the Gulf. He estimated that about 100 people have been deported from Gulf countries in the past weeks, but said there were no accurate figures. Many families refused to talk to the media and several declined to be interviewed by the AP. "It's a very simple mentality they have in the Gulf, and that is that all Shiites support Hizbullah with money," Alayan said. While Alayan, Rashid and Farhat all denied ever supporting Hizbullah, the end of their prosperous lives in the UAE has made them prouder Shiites, Rashid said.
"Their behavior gave us more power to be Shiite," he said. Source/Associated Press.

Tripoli Man Killed Fighting Alongside Syrian Rebels in Aleppo
Naharnet/A man who hails from the northern city of Tripoli has been killed while fighting alongside the armed Syrian opposition against forces loyal to the regime. “Gunfire was heard in Tripoli during a prayer for the dead for Ahmed Zaki Mansour,” LBCI television reported, adding that "Moamen Kahil, a minor, was wounded in the back by a stray bullet" from the shooting. LBCI clarified that Mansour was killed in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo. Meanwhile, the Facebook page Tripoli News Network said the gunshots were fired on al-Rahbat Street and published a picture of a crowd carrying black Islamist flags. In November 2012, several Lebanese Islamists, including Tripolitans, were killed in an ambush by Syrian regime forces in the Homs town of Tal Kalakh. Thousands of foreign fighters have joined Syrian rebels pitted against the regime of President Bashar Assad.
Lebanese Islamist clerics Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir and Sheikh Salem al-Rafehi have called on their followers to join rebels fighting in Syria and to support Sunni residents of the embattled central province of Homs.
Since it began in March 2011, Syria's conflict has fueled local tensions between the communities in Lebanon, with bouts of street fighting and kidnappings. Hizbullah fighters have also helped regime forces recapture the key town of Qusayr near Lebanon's border from rebel hands. In the wake of the Qusayr battle, Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the group will stay involved in the Syrian conflict. "Where we need to be, we will be ... To defeat this very, very dangerous conspiracy we will bear any sacrifices and all the consequences," said Nasrallah. He had previously justified the group's involvement in Syria by saying it was defending Lebanese-inhabited border villages inside Syria and Shiite holy sites in the Damascus province. But during a May 25 speech Nasrallah said "if Syria falls in the hands of the Takfiris and the United States, the resistance will become under a siege."

Saniora from Abra: Clashes May Renew in Presence of Non-State Arms
Naharnet/Head of the Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc MP Fouad Saniora on Friday voiced concern that clashes might renew in the southern city of Sidon because of the presence of weapons in the hands of non-state actors.
Saniora voiced his remarks from Abra, a Sidon suburb that witnessed deadly fierce clashes last month between army troops and gunmen loyal to anti-Hizbullah Islamist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir. "The main issue is that the residents of the city of Sidon absolutely do not want to see these clashes being repeated in any manner whatsoever," said Saniora as he inspected reconstruction works in Abra. “As long as weapons exist in the hands of individuals defying the authority of the Lebanese state, especially the authority of the Lebanese army and the security agencies, there is always a possibility that (clashes) might renew every now and then, which would harm the Lebanese, the city's residents and also stability,” Saniora warned. Saniora reiterated his call for turning Sidon into a "weapons-free city.""This is our main concern ... we want to know the truth and we also want to follow up on the issue of the detainees," the ex-PM said, stressing that the gunmen who attacked the army must be held accountable and "the innocents must be released from jail."
On June 23, gunmen loyal to al-Asir attacked an army checkpoint near the Islamist cleric's mosque in Abra. Eighteen soldiers were martyred and 20 others were wounded in the attack and in the fierce clashes that ensued. At least twenty of Asir's gunmen were also killed in the battle that ended when the army stormed al-Asir's headquarters on June 24. The fighting in Abra was among the worst in Lebanon since the outbreak of conflict in neighboring Syria 27 months ago deepened sectarian tensions. It highlighted widespread Sunni resentment against the army, accused of siding with Hizbullah and being selective in its crackdown on armed groups.
The Mustaqbal Movement and its allies in the March 14 camp have demanded clarifications from the military institution over reports that Hizbullah fighters had fought alongside army troops in the Abra battle.

Qassem: Those Serving Israeli Goals behind Bir al-Abed Attack
Naharnet /Hizbullah deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem stated on Friday that the party was expecting to be the target of an attack like the one that took place in the Bir al-Abed neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburb of Dahieh on Tuesday. He said on the seventh anniversary of the eruption of the July 2006 war: “The Dahieh blast is part of a plan to target the resistance and those backing Israel's agendas were behind it.”“We are being targeted and Dahieh is an open area that can easily be reached by anyone,” he added. “We are awaiting the results of the investigation to find out who planted the explosive,” remarked Qassem. The first leads indicate that forces seeking strife and serving Israeli goals are behind the blast, he said. He therefore stressed the need to prevent any instability, while questioning the Arab silence over the incident. Moreover, he linked the Bir al-Abed blast to the one that took place in the Shiyyah neighborhood in May, saying: “Some sides want to create strife in order to spark confusion within the resistance.” “Hizbullah won't be dragged into strife and it will do all it can to prevent it,” emphasized Qassem. At least 50 people were wounded in the car bomb attack in Bir al-Abed on Tuesday. In May, four people were wounded in a rocket attack on the Shiyyah neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburbs. Addressing ties between Hizbullah and the Change and Reform bloc of MP Michel Aoun in light of claims of a rift between them, Qassem said: “I would like to assure all sides that our relationship with the MP is still strong.”“It is natural for us to have differences over internal issues, but they will not affect the 2006 Memorandum of Understanding we have with the Free Patriotic Movement,” he declared. Some sides made “impulsive” comments about the ties, but they have since been withdrawn, he added. “Hizbullah does not need advice on how to deal with the components of the Lebanese society,” he stated.

Berri Says No New Cabinet without Hizbullah
Naharnet/Speaker Nabih Berri has snapped back at the March 14 alliance without naming it, saying the new government would not be formed without Hizbullah's participation in it. In remarks to al-Joumhouria newspaper published Friday, Berri said it was impossible to form the government without having Hizbullah representatives in it. The speaker's remarks were an indirect response to calls by some officials in the March 14 alliance to keep the party away from the cabinet line-up. Al-Joumhouria said that Berri also “mocked” remarks made by March 14 lawmakers on his announcement that the March 8 coalition of Hizbullah, his Amal movement and the Free Patriotic Movement, no longer existed. Officials, who visited Berri on Thursday, told the newspaper that the speaker held onto his stance of the end of the alliance on “domestic issues.”The speaker told several local dailies this week that he agreed with FPM chief Michel Aoun on strategic issues such as the resistance but not on local affairs. Differences between the FPM on one hand and Hizbullah and Amal began emerging late May over the extension of parliament’s term, which Aoun opposed, and more recently over the extension of Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji's mandate. But al-Akhbar daily said Friday that Hizbullah officials contacted Aoun to confirm that Berri's statement on March 8 is only linked to the negotiations on the shares of the alliance's different members in the new cabinet. The officials stressed to Aoun that Hizbullah was committed to having a united stance with Amal and the FPM in the decision on whether to participate or not in the government. The report confirmed rumors that the alliance's members would back Aoun if he didn't get the shares he is asking for. Sources close to Premier-designate Tammam Salam told al-Joumhouria that both Hizbullah and Amal would stand in solidarity with Aoun if he wasn't represented in the cabinet in accordance with his parliamentary weight. This means that March 8 parties would still enjoy veto power, which Salam rejects, the sources said.

Fugitive Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir supporters rally in south Lebanon
July 12, 2013/The Daily Star/SIDON, Lebanon: Supporters of fugitive Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir held a rally Friday in a suburb of Sidon, south Lebanon, calling for the return of the Salafist preacher whose gunmen fought deadly clashes in June against the Lebanese military.Over 200 Assir supporters marched from the Bilal Bin Rabah mosque, where Assir used to deliver his fiery sermons, in Abra, east Sidon, following Friday prayers. The supporters held a similar rally last week. In late June, armed supporters of Assir opened fire on a military checkpoint in Abra, killing several soldiers and prompting a swift crack down by the Lebanese Army. The clashes that ensued led to the killing of over a dozen soldiers and at least 28 of Assir’s fighters. Assir, who remains at large, reportedly fled the area hours before the military seized control of his security complex in Abra.

Sidon officials try to bury the hatchet after Abra violence
July 12, 2013/By Mohammed Zaatari/The Daily Star
SIDON, Lebanon: Talks are underway to put an end to tensions that have soared between residents of the mostly Sunni city of Sidon and its primarily Shiite suburb Haret Saida in the aftermath of clashes that rocked the Abra neighborhood last month. The latest round held Thursday, was chaired by Sidon Mayor Mohammad al-Saudi and had two objectives: to reduce tensions and promote reconciliation between the neighborhoods, and to help the most affected residents repair their homes. “We denounce the criminal act that happened in the southern suburbs, as we denounce every criminal act that targets the security and the well-being of citizens, their lives and their civil peace,” Saudi said. The meeting at the city’s municipal building was attended by the mayors and mukhtars of Abra, Haret Saida, Hlalieh and Salhieh – all neighborhoods affected by the recent battle in Abra between the Army and supporters of Salafist Sheikh Ahmad Assir. Representatives of civil society organizations and local groups were also present.
“We want a strong and just state which is capable of serving all its citizens,” Saudi said. “We are also committed to supporting our national Army which is the vertebral column of this nation to keep it united.”
“Our civil peace is a red line, so is the security of the city and its vicinity. Only the legal institutions should take the responsibility of safeguarding the security of this country,” he added. The Shiite mayor of Haret Saida, Samih al-Zein, saluted Saudi’s remarks, saying: “What Saudi has said expresses our opinion also.”
Saudi also addressed the issue of repairing material damage caused during the fighting, announcing that the rehabilitation work in Abra would be funded by a donation from former Prime Minister Saad Hariri.
He said the Higher Relief Committee had reached an agreement with construction company Genico, owned by Sidon MP Bahia Hariri’s brother Shafik, to start work on the structural restoration of all the damaged buildings and properties. The mayor went on to say that efforts to survey the damages in Taamir on the outskirts of the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp were nearing completion and that there could be cash compensations for residents to repair their homes. Saudi expressed hope that all the displaced residents of Abra and the surrounding areas would be able to return to their homes before Eid al-Fitr, the holiday to mark the end of Ramadan that this year falls in early August. Also present at the meeting was the head of the Al-Rahma center, a charity organization in Abra that provides support to female high-school dropouts.
The organization has accused men from Haret Saida of targeting the center during the recent fighting, leaving the building heavily damaged.
“Following the battle between the Lebanese Army and Assir supporters in Abra, Al-Rahma center was pounded from Mar Elias hill with machine guns, artillery, shells and rocket-propelled grenades. The shelling caused great damages to Al-Rahma social center,” a statement issued by the organization said. “The armed men didn’t only do this, they also broke into the offices on Sunday night and removed the doors. They damaged the offices and their contents. They broke computers, furniture, photocopiers and screens. They also damaged the electric wires and stole many items when they left on Monday at dawn.”
The organization has estimated the cost of repairing the damages will come to more than $150,000. At the meeting, the center’s head, Ahmad Jardali, condemned the attacks, sparking a discussion on why a humanitarian, nonpolitical organization had been targeted. All parties present denounced those that had attacked the center. Speaking to The Daily Star, Jardali urged all relevant parties to investigate what had happened and to shoulder their responsibilities. Back inside the meeting, the secretary of the local societies gathering, Majed Hamto, saluted the positive role being played by the municipalities of the region to reconstruct homes and foster peace.
He also emphasized the great responsibility local officials have toward those residents whose homes have been damaged and destroyed.

FIBA suspends Lebanon’s basketball federation
July 12, 2013/Daily Star /BEIRUT: The Lebanese basketball federation failed Friday to meet the latest stipulations from FIBA as the deadline to submit the MOU signed by all parties passed without a solution.
FIBA had given Lebanon until 1 p.m. local time Friday to solve the crisis by withdrawing the legal cases filed by Amchit and Mouttahed against the governing body as well as all the parties signing the MOU proposed by the Asian federation and Lebanon’s Youth and Sports Ministry but talks to resolve matters reached an impasse. As a result, FIBA is expected to confirm the suspension of the Lebanese basketball federation internationally, thus the national team will be stripped of their chance to compete in the upcoming FIBA ASIA Championship in Philippines next month.

Youth and Sports Minister Faisal Karami: Politics, Sectarianism Destroyed Lebanese Basketball
Naharnet/Caretaker Youth and Sports Minister Faisal Karami lamented on Friday the “death” of Lebanese basketball after the world governing body for basketball, FIBA, is likely to suspend the Lebanese union's membership, which will lead to the exclusion of the national team from international tournaments.He said: “Politics and sectarianism ruined Lebanon's basketball.”He explained that FIBA had issued a warning to Lebanon to clarify a number of violations otherwise it would face suspension. The violations included political meddling in matches and legal disputes between local teams and the union, which is a violation of the regulations of the international union, Karami stated. Lebanon's failure to comply with the warning will prompt FIBA to suspend its membership, he added. It is set to make an announcement shortly. “The Youth and Sports Ministry tried hard to avert this development, but none of the officials, whether in the union or among politicians, responded to them,” Karami continued. “It turned out that petty interests held sway over general ones,” he lamented. “Basketball in Lebanon has become the victim of the general atmosphere in the country where politics have ruined everything and sectarianism has ruined everything,” he said. “Sports, cultural, artistic, and economic events have not been spared,” noted the minister.
“I will no longer issue calls to any side to assist Lebanese basketball because they are no longer useful,” Karami stressed. FIBA had given Lebanon to Friday for it to comply with demands that it resolve its internal problems, including disputes within the union that led to the suspension of the local league. The suspension of Lebanon's membership will prevent the national team from taking part in the Asian Championship set to take place in the Philippines in August. The Lebanese national team, which had been taking part in the 35th William Jones Cup International Basketball Tournament held in Taiwan, will now be forced to withdraw. It will be replaced by Iraq.

'Several Dead', Dozens Injured in Train Derailment near Paris
Naharnet/At least seven people were dead and dozens injured on Friday after a speeding train split in two and derailed at a station in the southern suburbs of Paris, officials said. Interior Minister Manuel Valls gave the initial toll of seven dead and said there also were "dozens of injured" following the accident at the Bretigny-sur-Orge station involving a train heading from Paris to the west-central city of Limoges.The minister said that information on the number of dead and wounded was "constantly evolving" and that several train carriages were lying on their sides. The Paris prefect's office said a "red alert" plan had been activated at 5:23 pm (1523 GMT) following the accident. "The train arrived at the station at high speed. It split in two for an unknown reason. Part of the train continued to roll while the other was left on its side on the platform," a police source told Agence France Presse.
The cause of the accident was not immediately known. "It was not a collision and it was not a problem with the speed," a source with the SNCF national rail service told AFP. The accident took place at 5:14 pm, the SNCF said, minutes after the "Intercite" train left the Paris-Austerlitz station. Bretigny Mayor Bernard Decaux told newspaper Le Parisien that there was chaos at the station. "Everyone is running in every direction, there is panic," he said. "It is an apocalyptic scene. We are trying to organize things." Dozens of emergency and police vehicles had arrived at the scene, an AFP reporter said. The accident occurred as many in France were departing for the start of their summer holidays.SourceAgence France Presse.

Morsi Supporters Mass, Vowing to Defy Egypt Coup
Naharnet /Tens of thousands of supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi gathered Friday vowing to keep fighting for his reinstatement, as rival rallies defending his overthrow underlined Egypt's bitter divisions. The rallies come as Germany called for the release of Morsi, who is being held in a "safe place, for his safety" and has not yet been charged, according to the foreign ministry. Holding Egyptian flags and Korans, protesters gathered outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in Cairo's Nasr City neighborhood, chanting against the military and pledging allegiance to Morsi. "We will continue to resist. We will stay one or two months, or even one or two years. We won't leave here until our president, Mohamed Morsi, comes back," influential Islamist leader Safwat Hegazi told the crowd. Hegazi demanded the reinstatement of Egypt's first freely elected president, immediate parliamentary elections and a committee to oversee a plan for national reconciliation. Morsi supporters set up a field kitchen to cook iftar -- the breaking of the Muslim fast during Ramadan -- for demonstrators. Thousands also massed in support of the ousted president outside the University of Cairo, watched over by a heavy security presence. Despite the turnouts and defiant mood, the gathering has been increasingly out of step with political developments as the interim authorities press ahead with forming a new government and Gulf states help support the faltering economy. The Muslim Brotherhood, the influential Islamist group from which Morsi emerged, is now in tatters, its leadership detained, on the run or keeping a low profile following Morsi's July 3 overthrow by the military.
The holy month of Ramadan, usually a time of communal sharing and unity, has been marked by anxiety after deadly clashes. Pro-Morsi protesters arrived from across the country to join hundreds already camped out at the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque. The anti-Morsi camp also called huge rallies after Friday in Tahrir Square and at the Ittihadiya presidential palace, with a mass iftar planned at sundown.
In Tahrir Square, several dozen demonstrators gathered under a scorching midday sun, adamant that their numbers would rise later.
"It is because of the heat and Ramadan, when we have a fast. During the day, people stay at home but this evening, people will come to Tahrir," Gamal, 48, told Agence France Presse.
The rival rallies have raised fears of more of the violence that has shaken Egypt since the army removed Morsi after millions of demonstrators demanded his resignation.
In the worst incident, clashes at an army building in Cairo on Monday killed 53 people, mostly Morsi supporters. The Brotherhood accuses the army of "massacring" its supporters, while the army says soldiers were attacked by "terrorists" and armed protesters. On Friday, gunmen in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia killed a police conscript and wounded an officer when they tried to stop a vehicle the armed group was travelling in, MENA reported on Friday. The gunmen escaped, but security forces were tracking them down, Ismailiya police chief General Mohamed Eid told MENA. The restive Sinai peninsula, home to Egypt's luxury Red Sea resorts, has been hit by a surge of violence, with militants killing a police officer in a rocket attack on a checkpoint early on Friday, officials said.
A Coptic Christian man was found decapitated on Thursday five days after being kidnapped, and on Wednesday, two people died in an attack on a security checkpoint in the Sinai.
Police are hunting Brotherhood chief Mohammed Badie and other senior leaders suspected of inciting violence, after arrest warrants were issued on Wednesday.
The public prosecutor has pressed charges against 200 of 650 people detained during Monday's violence. A US State Department spokeswoman said the arrests were "not in line with the national reconciliation" the interim government and military say they want, adding that if they continued "it is hard to see how Egypt will move beyond this crisis". The German foreign ministry spokesman said a "trusted institution" such as the International Committee of the Red Cross should be granted access to Morsi. "We and our partners are of the opinion that any appearance of selective justice in Egypt must be avoided and there must be no political persecution," he said.
Adly Mansour, the military-appointed caretaker president, has set a timetable for elections by early next year. But Morsi opponents and supporters alike have criticized the interim charter he issued on Monday to replace the Islamist-drafted constitution and steer a transition that the army itself has acknowledged will be "difficult". Many fear a repetition of the mistakes of the last military-led transition, between Hosni Mubarak's ouster in 2011 and Morsi's election in June 2012.Source/Agence France Presse.

Explosion in the Suburbs, and "Chasing Away" the Moderates
Walid Choucair/Al Hayat
A broad agreement among Lebanon's political groups and leaders, warning about Sunni-Shiite strife as their response to the blast that targeted Beirut's southern suburbs on Tuesday, could have served as an occasion to launch an understanding in Lebanon to break the state of political crisis in the country. It could have brought a bit of vitality to Lebanon's political and constitutional institutions, instead of the paralysis it has been characterized by for months as a result of the vertical political division in the country, particularly over the Syria crisis. This situation has begun to apply to all issues, big and small, in managing the affairs of state.
However, this consensus on the part of the various political groups has remained at the verbal level. Each party to the country's political division has begun to claim that responsibility for preventing strife, which might be the objective of the bombing in the suburbs, lies with others. If we pose the silly question – who will become involved in this strife, since all sides reject and criticize it? – then the obvious answer is that no side announces openly that it is going to engage in strife and decides to launch it, taking responsibility for its outbreak. Instead, strife is based on grand slogans that seem noble, but events then unfold, as strife slips into the stances of various sides, based on group loyalty and instincts that are wrapped up in patriotic, pan-Arab, Islamist, struggle-related, and religious stances as well.
There have been many analyses and accusations about who was behind the explosion in the suburbs. Among them are reasonable and possible ones, as well as those that seek to exploit the incident politically. The most realistic analysis has been to link the bombing to the repercussions of the Syrian crisis on Lebanon. This has not been hidden in the many comments by Lebanese and others; otherwise, why has there been talk about takfiri extremists, or the need to return to Lebanon's policy of disassociation from the conflict in Syria, or the Baabda Declaration?
The explosion took place at a new moment of linking the Syrian crisis to the new political map in Lebanon. Anyone who ignores that Hezbollah is linking the survival of its influence, strength and weapons in Lebanon, backed by Iran, to the survival of the Syrian regime, is burying his head in the sand. This is why Hezbollah has openly declared its involvement in the fighting, alongside the regime. Anyone who ignores that the other side, namely the Future Movement and its March 14 allies, is betting on a re-ordering of the political formula in Lebanon – because the strength of the Syrian regime and Iran should be subtracted from the influence gained by Hezbollah and its allies domestically, as the influence of the regime in Damascus is receding, or expected to collapse – is also hiding his head in the sand. The political formula for both sides in Lebanon is that the balance of power in the political establishment is an extension of the nature of power in Damascus.
The last few months have proven that the side with the biggest influence in Lebanon, namely Hezbollah and its allies, by virtue of the strength they enjoy, were able to postpone the repercussions of the Syrian crisis on the balance of power in Lebanon. However, the direct military intervention in this crisis has led to accelerating the security repercussions on the country. Therefore, the Hezbollah-led March 8 camp has been able, for now, to postpone parliamentary elections, and delay the formation of a new government, amid expectations that the Lebanese will be unable to elect a new president next May.
Hezbollah has been unable to implement the slogan of its secretary general, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, to "let us fight in Syria and keep Lebanon neutral," which he deployed in a bid to put a positive spin on his forces' participation in the battles raging in Syria. Nasrallah was unable to see this slogan apply to his party's stance on Lebanon's constitutional institutions, which required avoiding a vacuum while preparing for engaging in political agreements to end the stand-off. In parallel to Hezbollah's hard-line stance vis-à-vis attempts to topple its ally, the Syrian regime, the party was unable to accept compromise solutions when it came to official Lebanese institutions. This was either because the party believed that others might weaken it, or because it expected victory in Syria, which should also take place in Lebanon.
The Future Movement and its allies were unable to convince their rivals to establish a neutral government in which neither they nor Hezbollah would be represented, because the former are biased toward the policy of toppling the Syrian regime, a stance that has not been matched by military developments on the ground in the last few weeks and months.
The dangers that have surfaced in the wake of the bombing in the suburbs lie in the absence of any sign of consensus on how to deal with the vacuum in Lebanon's military, security and administrative institutions, and in the government, and seeing vitality return to the newly-extended legislature. Perhaps these institutions can deal with attempts to ignite strife in the country, but the most dangerous aspect lies in trying to chase away the moderates who can play a role in halting strife. We are seeing this in the organized campaign of accusations launched by supporters of Hezbollah against Saida MP Bahia Hariri, claiming that she sponsors extremists and those who are carrying out bombings. Does the objective behind this "chasing away" what remains of the Hariri family involve leaving the arena to the extremists, as it comes after Hariri's residence was fired on and laid siege to on 23 June?

Can a Poet Call for War?
Hussam Itani/Al Hayat/The principle of war, peace, security and chaos were simple and clear in the old times. If, when entering a city, a man saw heads planted on spears or bodies hanging from ropes outside the city walls, then he would know that the ruler of the city is a powerful man and that there will be no messing around. If dead bodies were spotted within the city walls, then the visitor would understand that the city is in a state of chaos and that he can go ahead and do whatever he pleases with the risk of being exposed to danger in return. The poet Ounsi al-Hajj wrote a piece entitled “Looking for Bachir Gemayyel” in Al-Akhbar newspaper on Saturday, July 6, 2013 in which he called for making a choice between tyranny and chaos or a state of complete absurdity. In his piece, Al-Hajj argued in favor of the fascist form of tyranny since it will lead to building a state, army, and administrations as opposed to “the losers who only exist through their sects.” He added that the Lebanese must not be afraid of the Fascist threat previously represented by Bachir Gemayyel and now embodied by MP Michel Aoun because “dictatorship in Lebanon only persists as long as the dictator himself is around. When the dictator is gone, chaos might prevail unless he is replaced by a smart ruler who follows in the footsteps of his predecessor.”Ounsi Al-Hajj’s experience with political writing deserves a long and elaborate discussion. As for his experience in poetry, this is the job of the critics and the poets. However, one could make a few comments concerning this poet’s ideas about the present and future of our country especially that Al-Hajj is a prominent cultural figure. Lebanon is indeed going through a rough time and all roads seem to be blocked for the Lebanese people. The country is proceeding to a state of collapse for several, previously discussed reasons. The absurdity of the future is an idea that many Lebanese writers and intellectuals share with Al-Hajj. Regardless of the examples presented by the poet and that the Lebanese often use (Napoleon Bonaparte, Charles De Gaulle and the meaningless division between the March 8 and the March 14 teams), I believe that Al-Hajj’s long piece utilized a form of lazy approach where he placed all the different variables in one basket without making any distinction between the different hidden and blatant phases and cycles. He almost said that all evil parties are alike. They are all superficial and petty and ignorant…maybe. In our days however, it is hard to jump from the world of corruption to the world of values. Al-Hajj’s piece brings back the old question concerning the role of the intellectuals in society and politics. A poet like Ounsi al-Hajj does not have to be restricted by the minute details of society and politics in Lebanon since he writes from an emotional point of view. However, one cannot help but wonder about the point behind calling for a Fascist state in Lebanon today. Throughout European history, dozens of intellectuals justified and supported the establishment of Fascist, Nazi and totalitarian regimes through approaches similar to Al-Hajj’s approach: the frustration with the corrupted ruling political class; the suffering of the citizens with no hope for salvation; the hostility of the external enemies and the danger of the internal divisions… However, calling for a Fascist rule in Lebanon – a country where sectarianism is prevalent – is similar to wishing for an endless civil war in this country. Asking any party to give up its privileges is asking for trouble.
Is this what the poet wants? We don’t know for sure. However, it is high time for intellectuals to realize how unrealistic their approaches are; it is time for them to learn the lessons of De Gaulle and Bonaparte.

The Army in Egypt Did Not Carry Out a Bloody Coup against a Civilian Government
Raghida Dergham/Al Hayat
While US President Barack Obama is hesitating before he forms a view on the events in Egypt, and while members of the US Congress deliberate over whether what took place there was a “coup” that would compel them to cut off aid to Egypt, Arab Gulf countries have moved to pledge funds to the tune of $13 billion to Egypt, dwarfing the stick of threats and the carrot of enticement waved by the Americans, involving $250 million in annual economic aid and $1.5 billion in military aid linked to the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel.
The Gulf countries have done well to take the initiative of saving Egypt’s economy and protecting it from collapse. Hopefully, the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will realize that the wager of those who would wish to dwarf them, on the other hand, is on their failure to deliver the funds, because those countries have a record and a reputation of making pledges but not fulfilling their commitments.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration continues to try to catch up with events without a bearing of its own, and has succeeded at making itself the focus of polarization between, on the one hand, the Muslim Brotherhood, whose rise to power it rushed to embrace, and on the other, modernists and secularists, whose uprising for a secular government in Egypt Washington is taking its time to endorse.
The Europeans too are wavering over the definition of what is in fact the continuation of the Egyptian people’s revolution against monopolizing power and imposing religion on the state, at times by hiding behind the “legitimacy of the democratically elected government,” and at others citing what the BBC insists on describing as a “coup d’état,” without referring to the formal definition of the term or indeed the reality of the events in Egypt.
Russia, for its part, is comfortable with any form of Sunni political Islam falling from power, while its ally Iran adopts a different stance, in reflection of a fundamental principle, namely to endorse the rise of political Islam to power – exactly as took place in Iran more than 34 years ago. The West is required to stop obstructing the path to secular government in the Arab region – and in Egypt in particular. From Washington to London, the West had rushed to encourage the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood to power in Egypt a year ago, and it is today taking its time before supporting a secular state in Egypt. This is a big mistake, not just in terms of wronging the Arab peoples, but also in terms of being harmful to the West’s strategic interests in the Arab region.
The army in Egypt did not seize power, and it did not carry out a bloody coup against a civilian government. Rather, it has made clear that it was implementing a road map to hand over power to civilians through legitimate elections, a secular government, and a serious democracy. Fellow journalist Jihad el-Khazen turned to the Encyclopedia Britannica’s definition of a “coup” (or “coup d’état”): “the sudden, violent overthrow of an existing government by a small group. The chief prerequisite for a coup is control of all or part of the armed forces, the police, and other military elements. Unlike a revolution, which is usually achieved by large numbers of people working for basic social, economic, and political change, a coup is a change in power from the top that merely results in the abrupt replacement of leading government personnel.”
What happened in Egypt contradicts literally and in the details the definition of a “coup.” In spite of this, Western correspondents continue to shed doubt on the fact that what happened was not at all a “coup d’état.” Indeed, 22 million Egyptians took to the streets to demand reform to the revolution they carried out two years ago, which was hijacked by the Muslim Brotherhood. The latter then abused its power to seize control of all levers of power in all branches of government, and failed to respond to the Egyptian people.
American and British think tanks, which claim to have experts on the issue of Islamism and political Islam, fell in love with the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood to power, to such an extent as to be blinded to reality and to be lured away from the radar of the people in the Arab region. Their insistence on describing the events in Egypt as a “coup” is not devoid of ignorance or the desire to harm Egypt as a country, knowing that the US Congress is bound by law to discontinue any support to Egypt if what happened there really was a “coup.”
Those who threaten to cut off US aid to Egypt are wounding the pride of the Egyptian people and of Arabs in general, not because the amounts in question are scanty and not deserving of all this arrogant posturing, but because the threat comes against a popular revolution aimed at correction and reform. President Obama avoided in his first reaction using the term “coup,” and he has since avoided calling for reinstating deposed President Mohamed Morsi. President Obama has stressed the priority of the constitution and of elections, giving the army a chance to act responsibly and deliver on what it has pledged.
Yet the spokesperson for the US Presidency recently said that the administration was looking into whether what happened was a “coup,” bringing back the prevailing impression that the US President is always hesitant and someone who is constantly running behind events. Now is not the time to hesitate regarding what is happening in Egypt. The US President should inform the Egyptian army of the meaning of him trusting in its pledge that it will not turn to military rule, will not exercise power, and that it is resolved to hand over all levers of power to civilians on the basis of a swift timetable.
Furthermore, the US President is required to make clear his support for the rule of a secular state in Egypt, after the people have chosen to separate religion from state, especially since many in Egypt and in the Arab region are under the impression that Barack Obama supports the rise of Islamists to power, in particular the Muslim Brotherhood. The US President should also activate American-European diplomacy in support of a secular government in Egypt. Indeed, American diplomacy under Obama has been costly for the Arab region, as a result of its hesitation with regard to Syria for two years, and now with regard to Egypt as well, albeit for different reasons.
The Egyptian Armed Forces must commit to and fulfill what they have pledged. They must also abide by the rules of engagement, even if they are facing provocation and incitement. Indeed, excessive use of military force against the Muslim Brotherhood would not be in Egypt’s interest, despite the fact that the side that resorted to violence was the Brotherhood and that the one engaging in incitement is its Supreme Guide, Mohammed Badie, who is calling for martyrdom for the sake of Mohamed Morsi. What the Egyptian people witnessed after the death of 51 people in the confrontation between the army and the Muslim Brotherhood has done away with any popular sympathy left with the Brotherhood, after young Colonel Ahmed Ali explained what had happened and revealed the use of images of murdered Syrian children, claimed by the Brotherhood to be Egyptian children killed by Egyptian troops. Colonel Ahmed Ali also clarified that the Muslim Brotherhood had been purposely driving the Egyptian army towards a confrontation, and that their protests did not consist only of civilians, but also armed men tasked with provocation.
The army is refraining from being too decisive, because it is being careful not to allow matters to get out of hand and head towards civil war. That is why it is taking steps to reassure the Muslim Brotherhood that it is welcome to join the transitional process. The problem is that the Brotherhood is angry, and does not want to admit to failure or defeat. Indeed, it has lost a historical opportunity and is in a state of denial about what has happened. Its members claim to be the representatives of “legitimacy” and are imploring the West to intervene to save them, in the name of their President having ascended to power through democratic elections. They forget that their President had seized all levers of power, and that the people have the right to depose a president who has lost their confidence by betraying the democratic process.
The Muslim Brotherhood is being flooded with advice, with some calling on it to follow the Turkish model, i.e. to be patient and then carry out a coup, while others urge it to avoid the Algerian model, i.e. engaging in an armed battle against the army, because it would mean suicide. But the Muslim Brotherhood must recognize that Egypt has rejected its attempts to impose its ideology on the state and society, and that the second chapter of the popular revolution has been against theocracy, monopoly, and unilateral control of power.
The Brotherhood must also stop imagining its eight decades of struggle to seize power automatically gives it the right to seize and monopolize power. It has the right to participate, not the right to exclude. They, its members and leaders, are the ones who excluded others. Today, they refused the invitation of the interim prime minister to have two ministers in the new cabinet, and are throwing away the pledges of secular leaders that they would not be excluded or prosecuted. The Muslim Brotherhood had wagered on Qatari and Turkish promises that the West would embrace and support them no matter what. The people have seen fit to challenge these promises and to wager on their own will, not on the will of the West or of others. The Muslim Brotherhood had been prepared to please the West in order to monopolize power, and had wagered on a new “ally” that it had in the past considered to be an “enemy”. The time has come for it to face reality with humility and rationality, so that it may reconsider its mistakes and accept partnership instead of monopoly.
The army is trying to entice the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafist Al-Nour Party by taking steps of which some are detrimental to the process of deliberation it had pledged to hold with secular leaders. This is why it has rushed to issue a temporary constitutional declaration stating that Islamic law would be the main source of legislation, without consulting secular opposition leaders on the issue of reviving Article 219, which the Muslim Brotherhood had forced into the constitution, defining Islamic law as the basis of all Egyptian law.
The secularists want the Prime Minister to hold greater powers than the President. The army has so far not met their demands, and has made of the Prime Minister’s position one devoid of powers. The army speaks of parliamentary elections first and presidential elections later. The secularists want presidential elections first, so as to provide time to organize legislative elections, and so as not to prolong the transitional phase and the army’s mandate over the country. And of course, priority should be given to a secular constitution, which secular leaders seek to represent a guarantee of democracy.
Priority should also be given to the economy, and that is why the amounts of $5 billion pledged by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, $4 billion dollars pledged by the United Arab Emirates, $4 billion pledged by Kuwait are vital to save Egypt. But Egypt is also in need of institutions and of a plan for growth.
Indeed, the coffers of the Egyptian treasury are empty, and without prudent management of these funds, Egypt will remain in a precarious situation. The army should exercise proper control, the Prime Minister should appoint young ministers in his government, and the cabinet should be characterized by vitality and dynamism, so as not to prolong the transitional period. The army is now leading, but it should avoid assuming the reins of power in any way, shape, or form. The coming phase will be a frightening one if the Muslin Brotherhood decides to make it a phase of violence, revenge, and sabotage, in order to soothe its own despair. It is a phase that will require wise internal measures, generous Arab funds, and international support for Egypt as a secular state.
It is a seminal moment for Egypt and the Arab region. Indeed, religious rule in Iran has been maintained for over three decades, and no matter how much a Shiite Iran might oppose a Sunni Muslim Brotherhood, their greatest enemy is liberal secular government. This is why Iran is not comfortable with the Muslim Brotherhood having been defeated and ousted from power. Turkey too is today under religious rule, through the Justice and Development Party (AKP) led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. And Turkey too is very angry at the toppling of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Israel is under its own religious rule as well, and seeks international recognition of the “Jewish State”. The oasis for secular government in the Middle East is Egypt. Then, when Egypt regains stability with a secular government, the features of the Middle East will change for the better – better for the Arab region and for the Middle East equally.

Israel allows an Egyptian Apache gunship base in Sinai to combat Islamist terror
DEBKAfile Special Report July 12, 2013/Israeli military sources reported Friday, July 12, that, after an Egyptian Apache gunship flew over the Gaza Strip, an Israeli Air Force control tower notified the Egyptian Air Force that the gunship had strayed off-course. This sort of interchange further testified to the quiet Israeli-Egyptian cooperation afoot in recent days in combating the upsurge of terrorism in Sinai posed by armed Salafists linked to Al Qaeda and the radical Palestinian Hamas. debkafile’s military sources add a correction this picture: The Egyptian helicopter was not off-course; it was on a mission to block the two-way inter-terror traffic ongoing between Sinai and the Gaza Strip. It came from the helicopter base which the Egyptian army established this week at the airport of El Arish in northern Sinai, after first obtaining Israel’s consent (as per their 1979 peace treaty). El Arish is closed to civilian air traffic for the time being. The gunships have given the Egyptian army the capacity to prevent Hamas operatives heading out of the Gaza Strip to reinforce the armed Salafist gangs of Sinai, while also drying up the flow of smuggled missiles from Sinai into Gaza. For the first time, Egyptian forces in Sinai were able Friday to use the Apaches to strike Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, on the one hand, and reach Salafist strongholds and al Qaeda cells in the precipitous Jabal Al-Halal mountain area of central Sinai, on the other. Before the gunships arrived, Egyptian security forces managed to seal off arms smuggling routes through Sinai to and from the Palestinian enclave, and strike a number of Salafist bases of attack against Egyptian forces in North Sinai. But until now, they were unable to cut down Islamist violence against Egyptian military targets in the El Arish area.
Friday, Islamist gunmen again shot up an Egyptian army checkpoint and military vehicle with rocket-propelled grenades, killing an Egyptian officer and wounding several soldiers and police officers.
The Cairo daily Al Ahram disclosed Friday that “Sinai army helicopters destroyed three armored vehicles.” This was the first time any Egyptian source had revealed that at least one of the Islamist groups terrorizing Sinai – Salafists or Hamas – had acquired armored vehicles. Clearly, the lawless groups of Sinai have also upgraded their tools of war.
Thursday, July 11, debkafile disclosed Israel's green light for big Egyptian counter-terror Sinai offensive, after Islamists fail to assassinate Egyptian general:
Israel Thursday July 11 approved a major Egyptian offensive for curbing the mounting aggression in Sinai of armed Salafis gangs, Muslim Brotherhood raiders and Hamas terrorists. A day earlier, Egypt’s Second Army commander, Maj.-Gen. Ahmad Wasfi, who is assigned to lead the offensive, escaped unhurt from an attempt on his life. Some of his bodyguards and soldiers were killed.
Maj.-Gen. Wasfi arrived in Sinai just four days ago to set up headquarters in the northern town of El Arish. He was targeted for the first attempt by radical Islamists to murder a high-ranking Egyptian general. As a close associate of Defense Minister Gen. Fattah El-Sisi, Wasfi took part in the military coup which ousted President Mohamed Morsi in Cairo on July 3.
Around 30 Islamist gunmen laid in ambush for his convoy Wednesday, debkafile's sources report. As the cars drove past Sheikh Zuwayed, southwest of El Arish, they came under a hail of RPG anti-tank rockets and explosive devices. A minivan then drove the length of the convoy shooting heavy machine guns and armor-piercing bullets, trapping the Egyptian troops and officers in the blazing vehicles and gunning down those who tried to escape. A fierce shootout ensued in which a number of attackers suffered losses, Egyptian military sources say. The minivan’s driver was captured and is under interrogation. Tuesday, at the same location, two buses carrying Colombian peacemakers serving with the multinational force-MFO at the Sheikh Zuwayed base were also waylaid and shot up. Of deep concern to the Egyptian and Israeli high commands is the Salafist assailants’ prior knowledge of the timing and route taken by Gen. Wasfi’s convoy in Sinai, because it means that Islamist terrorists have penetrated Egypt’s military apparatus in Sinai and gained an inside track on its activities.
With Israel’s consent (in line with the 1979 peace treaty), the Egyptian army last week withdrew substantial strength from the Suez Canal towns of Port Said and Ismailia and deployed the troops in Sinai ahead of the offensive.
On the other side of the Sinai border, Israeli Defense Forces are heavily deployed along the Sinai and Gaza border fences and in the southernmost sector of Eilat.
They are on high alert on intelligence that the armed Islamists plan to retaliate for an Egyptian assault by attacking Israel.
There is also concern that such attacks would draw in radical Palestinian Hamas fighters. They have nothing to lose after their Muslim Brotherhood patrons in Cairo were overthrown and have little to expect from the army. Indeed, the generals in Cairo suspect Hamas of abetting the Brotherhood’s declared “uprising” by organizing a center of armed resistance in Sinai as its launching base for a combined Islamist revolt against the new regime in Egypt. Their suspicions were confirmed by the placards of Mohamed Morsi alongside black al Qaeda flags affixed to the armed minivans used by the Salafists.
For some days, Egyptian troops have been working non-stop to block the smuggling tunnels between Sinai and the Gaza Strip used hitherto to secrete weapons and fighters into Gaza. But now, the Egyptians are concerned to cut down the traffic of fighting men and weapons moving in the opposite direction to reinforce the Sinai Salafists. A senior Egyptian official said Thursday that at least 150 Ezz a-Din al-Qassam operatives (members of the Gaza-based Hamas military wing) were seen heading into Sinai via the tunnels. Over the past few days, Egyptian security forces have killed and arrested around 200 militants in the Sinai Peninsula, killed 32 Hamas operatives and arrested another forty-five. By joining up with fellow Islamists, debkafile reports, Hamas hopes to salvage something from its debacle in Cairo. An attack on Israel or even the threat of terrorist operations may be used as the Palestinian radicals’ bargaining chip with the Egyptian army for improving their position.

Egypt's bruised Islamists protest after bloody week
July 12, 2013/Daily Star/CAIRO: Islamist supporters of Egypt's ousted president, Mohamed Mursi, protested in Cairo on Friday after a week of violence in which more than 90 people were killed in a bitterly divided nation.
More than a week after the army toppled Egypt's first elected leader after a wave of demonstrations against him, Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood is trying to mobilise popular support for his reinstatement, which for now looks like a lost cause. At a Cairo mosque where Mursi supporters have held vigil for more than two weeks, crowds swelled as people were bussed in from the provinces, where the Brotherhood has strongholds.
The streets of Cairo were otherwise quiet on Friday, the weekly Muslim day of prayer, in the holy month of Ramadan. The youth-led Tamarud group, which brought millions of people to the streets to demand Mursi resign, has called for a Ramadan celebration in Tahrir Square, the cradle of the uprising that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Officials say Mursi is still being held at the Republican Guard compound in Cairo, where troops killed 53 Islamist protesters on Monday in violence that intensified anger his allies already felt at the military's decision to oust him. Four members of the security forces were also killed in that confrontation, which the military blames on "terrorists". Mursi's supporters call it a massacre and say those who died were praying peacefully when troops opened fire.
Many of Egypt's 84 million people have been shocked by the shootings, graphic images of which have appeared on state and private news channels and social media. The incident occurred just three days after 35 people were killed in clashes between pro- and anti-Mursi demonstrators across the country.
"It's a very hard time for Egyptians, to see footage of blood and violence during the holy month of Ramadan, and everyone I speak to says the same thing," said Fateh Ali, a 54-year-old civil servant in Cairo.
The Brotherhood contends it is the victim of a military crackdown, evoking memories of its suppression under Mubarak. But many of its opponents blame Islamists for the violence, and some have little sympathy for the demonstrators who died, underlining how deep the fissures in Egyptian society are.
The unrest has also raised fear over security in the lawless Sinai peninsula bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Militant groups in North Sinai have promised more attacks and urged Islamists to take up arms, while the army has vowed to step up operations in the region, which is near the Suez Canal, the busy waterway linking Asia and Europe. One Egyptian policeman was killed and another wounded early on Friday when militants fired rocket-propelled grenades at checkpoints in the Sinai town of El Arish. Egyptian state media said police arrested three Palestinian militants for attempted attacks in Sinai.
Outside the Rabaa Adawiya mosque in northeastern Cairo, thousands of Brotherhood supporters gathered late on Thursday to mourn the dead in Monday's violence, the deadliest since Mubarak was toppled, apart from a 2012 soccer stadium riot. Women wailed and men cried as they watched a large screen showing grim footage of hospital scenes immediately after the shooting, with corpses on the floor and medics struggling to cope with the number of bloodied casualties being carried in. Hundreds of Egyptian flags fluttered. Songs of defiance were sung. Thousands of Islamists have camped out in searing heat, fasting in the daytime since Ramadan began on Wednesday. "This is a bloody military coup," said Saad Al-Husseini at the vigil. "This is the biggest crime I have witnessed in my country's recent history. Never before has blood been so cheap."
The camp has become the de facto base of the Brotherhood, whose leaders live under the threat of detention after the public prosecutor ordered their arrests earlier in the week.
Judicial sources say Mursi is likely to be charged, possibly for corruption or links to violence. Prosecutors are also looking again at an old case from 2011 when Mursi and other Brotherhood leaders escaped from prison after being detained during anti-Mubarak protests. The detentions and threats of arrest have drawn concern from the United States, which has walked a semantic tightrope to avoid calling Mursi's ouster a military coup.
U.S. law bars aid to countries where a democratic government is removed in a coup. Washington, which gives Egypt's military $1.3 billion in aid each year, has said it is too early to say whether Mursi's removal by the army meets that description. The army has said it was enforcing the nation's will - meaning the huge crowds of people fed up with economic stagnation and suspicious of a Brotherhood power grab who took to the streets in late June to demand Mursi's departure. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Wednesday Mursi's government "wasn't a democratic rule". Her words were warmly received by the interim government and swiftly denounced by the Brotherhood. On Thursday, Psaki expressed concern over the crackdown on Brotherhood leaders.
"If politicised arrests and detentions continue, it is hard to see how Egypt will move beyond this crisis," she said. German's foreign ministry demanded that Mursi be freed.
Crucial to longer-term stability will be holding parliamentary and presidential elections, which the transitional authorities are hoping to achieve in a matter of months. Adli Mansour, the interim president named by the general who removed Mursi, has announced a temporary constitution, plans to amend it to satisfy parties' demands and a faster-than-expected schedule for parliamentary elections in about six months.
He has named liberal economist Hazem el-Beblawi as interim prime minister, and Beblawi said he had named leftist lawyer Ziad Bahaa el-Din as his deputy. Beblawi also said he would contact candidates for ministerial posts on Sunday and Monday, with a view to swearing in a cabinet next week. Negotiations are difficult, with the authorities trying to attract support from groups that range from secularists to ultra-orthodox Muslims, nearly all of whom expressed deep dissatisfaction with elements of the interim constitution. Underlining the level of concern overseas at Egypt's crisis, two U.S. Navy ships patrolling in the Middle East moved closer to Egypt's Red Sea coast in recent days, in what appeared to be a precautionary move following Mursi's ouster on July 3.

Al Assad, Doggedly deluded
July 12, 2013/The Daily Star
Several days after reshuffling the Baath Party’s central committee, comments from President Bashar Assad Thursday revealed, if more evidence was needed, that he is not facing up to the reality of events on the ground.
The naming of 16 new party leaders Monday left only Assad himself in place as secretary-general, and sought to fill the command center with only those most loyal to the president, or so unknown as to prove harmless.
Most noticeably removed from power was Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa, not without coincidence the committee’s only member to openly speak out in favor of a diplomatic solution to the increasingly bloody war.
It is also not unlikely that Assad’s fears of a Yemen-like scenario, where President Abdullah Ali Saleh was replaced by his deputy, may have contributed to Sharaa’s downfall. Certainly diplomatic talks at the first Geneva conference seemed to insinuate that such an interim government might be a favored possibility. The reshuffle was the first since 2005, and this delay is emblematic of the myriad reasons Syrians eventually rose up and demanded their right to freedom and democracy. Ensconced in the Baath Party rule since 1963, they had grown tired of the same faces, the same policies, and the lack of any real or genuine progress.
In his latest remarks, Assad said those who were dethroned in the reshuffle had made mistakes, and this was why they were ousted. But the fact that he himself as leader of the party has remained in power undermines the basic rules of management. If a soldier trips up, his commanding officer must step up and take the blame. So too must Assad, if he truly believes mistakes have been made, be the one to take responsibility, for any mistakes have happened allegedly under his watch. Assad also used the interview to continue to gloat over the toppling of the Muslim Brotherhood-led government in Egypt last week. While long his enemies, Assad seems to forget there were plenty of others, in Syria and outside, who wish to see his days end. If he mistakenly believes that if the Brotherhood is weakened across the region then he has won the war, he is going to be in for a surprise. Many people of different sects and backgrounds and political affiliations want to see the end to Baath Party rule, which for 50 years has governed their lives. For 50 years those in the varied ranks of opposition have tried in countless, legitimate ways to contest his rule. With no success after half a century, their anger naturally exploded. And instead of meeting their anger with democratic discussion and interaction, the regime decided to turn the situation into a civil war.
Superficial changes within the Baath Party, coming now as they do, with Assad feeling a little bit stronger after gains on the ground, represent little more than time wasting, and will deceive no one as to their aim.

Canada Deeply Concerned by Continuing Violence in Egypt
July 11, 2013 – Andrew Bennett, Canada’s Ambassador for Religious Freedom, today issued the following statement:
“Canada remains deeply concerned by the continuing violence in Egypt, which has claimed the lives of more than 50 protesters in recent days and left many hundreds more injured. On the eve of continued protests, we call for calm and restraint on both sides.
“Canada condemns the shooting death of Coptic Christian priest Mina Aboud Sharween near El Arish in Egypt’s Northern Sinai.
“Canada condemns in the strongest possible terms violent extremism in all its forms and urges all parties in Egypt to remain calm, avoid violence and engage in meaningful political dialogue.
“The targeting of religious leaders is unacceptable. Canada calls on Egyptian authorities to protect religious leaders from violence and intimidation.
“At this critical time in Egypt’s democratic transition, Canada will continue to support a pluralist democratic Egypt that protects the right of all Egyptians, regardless of faith, to live in peace.”

Question: "What are the most common things people think are in the Bible that are not actually in the Bible?"
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Answer: In Psalm 119:16, David promises God, "I shall delight in Your statues; I shall not forget Your word." In Deuteronomy 11:18-19, God exhorts the Israelites, "You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up." As believers, we know we are to study the Bible, memorize it, and obey it. But does the Bible say what we think it says? The truth is, there are several phrases that sound like they come from the Bible, but do not.
"God helps those who help themselves."
The earliest recording of this saying is actually from Aesop's fable "Hercules and the Waggoner." A man's wagon got stuck in a muddy road, and he prayed for Hercules to help. Hercules appeared and said, "Get up and put your shoulder to the wheel." The moral given was "The gods help them that help themselves." Aesop was a Greek writer who lived from 620 to 564 BC, but obviously did not contribute to the Bible. As a biblical truism, the proverb has mixed results. We can do nothing to help when it comes to salvation; salvation is through Christ alone. In the work of sanctification—becoming more spiritually mature—we are to join in the work. 1 Peter 1:14-15 says, "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior."
"Cleanliness is next to godliness."
Despite the strict rules given to the Israelites about uncleanness as a metaphor for sinfulness and ceremonial washing required by the priests (see: Exodus, Leviticus), this phrase is not in the Bible. It originated as an ancient Babylonian and Hebrew proverb, but became very popular during the Victorian era after being revived by Sir Francis Bacon and John Wesley. Is the proverb true beyond the metaphor? A new study shows that people are generally fairer and more generous when in a clean-smelling environment. But Jesus also exhorts us to worry more about the sin in our hearts than the dirt on our hands (Matthew 7:18-23).
"In the last days, you will not be able to know the seasons except by the changing of the leaves."
Even a thorough Google search will not reveal the origin of this saying, but it is not found in the Bible. Matthew 24:32-33 uses the budding of leaves heralding the coming of summer as a metaphor for the signs that Christ will return. But nowhere does the Bible mention that seasons will be so altered that only the changing leaves will identify them.
"Hate the sin, love the sinner."
Although this is a biblical-sounding admonition, it is not directly from the Bible. It's a quote from Mahatma Gandhi. As a guideline, it's valid. We are to hate sin—even our own. And we are to show love to all others. Gandhi's quote is coming under fire in the world as more and more people define themselves by their sin and resent the guidelines God has given us in His Word.
"Money is the root of all evil."
This is a common misconception with an easy fix. 1 Timothy 6:10 actually says, "For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil…" Money is not good or bad, and being wealthy is not a sin; Job was wealthy and described as a man who was "blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil" (Job 1:1). Loving money, which in the Greek is "avarice" and infers an emotional affection, is the root of all sorts of evil as the desire to accumulate wealth is placed above God and others.
"This too shall pass."
This is actually a misinterpretation of a line from "The Lament of Doer," an Old English poem. Doer has been replaced as his lord's poet, and calls to mind several other Germanic mythological figures who went through troubled times. Each refrain ends with, "that passed away, so may this." Several verses in the Bible remind us that our lives and, indeed, heaven and earth will pass away (Matthew 24:35). But while we can find comfort knowing that our earthly sorrows are temporary, we're still called to rejoice in our trials, knowing that they will lead to endurance and sanctification (James 1:2-4).
"The lion shall lay down with the lamb."
Although Jesus is both the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God (Revelation 5), this phrase does not appear in the Bible. Isaiah 11:6 says, "And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little boy will lead them." Similarly, Isaiah 65:25 reads, "The wolf and the lamb will graze together and the lion will eat straw like an ox…" The sentiment reads true, however—hunter and prey will be reconciled and live in peace in the eternal kingdom.
God left us the Bible as a written testimony of His Word. His truth is found in the Bible. Some sayings are simple rewordings of biblical truth, but others are dangerous heresy. Despite how clever or even edifying a quote may be, if it isn't in the Bible, we have no guarantee that it is the Word of God. And the only way we'll know is if we read the Bible.
Recommended Resources: Logos Bible Software and The Quest Study Bible.
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