Middle East Matters

The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo published its first issue today since gunmen stormed the magazine’s headquarters in Paris last Monday, killing twelve people. The new cover depicts the Prophet Muhammad cryingand holding a “Je suis Charlie” sign under the words: “Tout est pardonné” (“All is forgiven”). The surviving editors of the magazine held a press conference today claiming that the cartoon is an act of forgiveness. The cartoonist of today’s provocative cover, Renald Luzier, stated, “we have confidence in people’s intelligence and we have confidence in humor.” Immediately, the Charlie Hebdo cover precipitated widespread condemnation across the Middle East invoking accusations of blasphemy, though reactions varied. In a statement to the New York Times today, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula reacted to Charlie Hebdo cartoons , saying, “We have warned you before about the consequences of these deeds that your governments collude with under the pretext of ‘freedom of press’ or ‘freedom of ideas…We tell you once again, stop your insults on our Prophet and sanctities. Stop spilling our blood. Leave our lands.” Below are some other reactions from political and religious leaders and media institutions across the Middle East: Algeria Journalist Habib Rashdim, writing in the Arabic language daily newspaper Echourouk, condemned the French government for helping to fund today’s edition of Charlie Hebdo, saying this “violates all red lines, and is an open crusade against Muslims… It has become every Muslim’s right today to file a lawsuit against the country’s ambassadors over charges of ‘insult and contempt for religion.’” Algerian anti-Islamist newspaper Ennahar responded to today’s Charlie Hebdo cover with a front page cartoon showing a man carrying a “Je suis Charlie” sign next to an army tank crushing placards from Palestine, Mali, Gaza, Iraq and Syria. The headline at the top of the image says: “Nous sommes tous… Mohamed” (“We are all Muhammad”). Egypt Egypt’s Grand Mufti Shawqi Allam warned Charlie Hebdo against publishing a new caricature of the Prophet Muhammad, saying: “This edition will cause a new wave of hatred in French and Western society in general and what the magazine is doing does not serve coexistence or a dialogue between civilizations…This is an unwarranted provocation against the feelings of…Muslims around the world.” Secretary General of Egypt’s Journalists Syndicate Karem Mahmoud: “Insistence on hurting the feelings of millions of Muslims across the world undoubtedly serves the interests of extremists…[the new cover will] embarrass moderate voices who had viewed the Paris crime as treacherous and unlinked to Islam.” Ibrahim Negm, spokesperson for Dar al-Ifta, the fatwa-issuing institution of Al Azhar, said in a lecture at the Martin Luther Church in New York: “The ‪‎world must listen to the wise voices from among the ‪followers of different faiths and pay attention to the demands they repeat after each incident of offense against religious symbols and beliefs…the best way to respond to any offense against the Messenger [of God] is to ignore it and show kindness instead, just as he used to do along his lifetime.” Iran Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem-Shirazi, a leading cleric in Iran, said the publication of further satirical images of Mohammad “amounts to declaring war on all Muslims.” Tabnak, a conservative news site in Iran, stated “Charlie Hebdo has once again insulted the Prophet.” Foreign Minister Mohammad Jawad Zarif, while waiting for nuclear talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said: “Unless we learn to respect one another, it will be very difficult in a world of different views and different cultures and civilizations, we won’t be able to engage in a serious dialogue if we start disrespecting each other’s values…we believe that sanctities need to be respected…” Jerusalem Jerusalem’s Grand Mufti Mohammed Hussein criticized the Charlie Hebdo editors’ decision to publish a new cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad saying: “This insult has hurt the feelings of nearly two billion Muslims all over the world. The cartoons and other slander damage relations between the followers of the (Abrahamic) faiths." Jordan Former Crown Prince Hassan bin Talal said: “If the cartoon had read “Je suis Ahmed,” given that many were carrying that badge after the police [killed] Ahmed Merabet, might not have put more salt to the wound but taken it to another level.” Turkey Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan said in a message on Twitter, as a Turkish court banned some web sites from showing the most recent Charlie Hebdo cover: “Those who publish imagery referring to our esteemed prophet with complete disregard for Muslims’ holy beliefs are engaging in an open provocation.” Utku Cakirözer, editor-in-chief of pro-secular newspaper Cumhuriyet, wrote on Twitter: “When publishing this selection [of latest Charlie Hebdo cartoons], we paid attention to the freedom of belief and the religious sensitivities of societies…After multiple consultations, we decided not to publish on the cover.”

Significant Developments CIA Torture Report. Official reaction in the Middle East to the release yesterday of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report on torture has been muted so far, with protests concentrated primarily on social media. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei yesterday said that the report revealed the United States to be a “symbol of tyranny against humanity.” ISIS and al-Qaeda eagerly decreed that the report showed the United States’ hypocrisy, with Dutch jihadist Israfil Yilmaz writing: “They call us monsters? Slap yourself, read some of the @CIA torture reports and wake up.” Yemen’s legal advisor Nazeeh Alemad said the publication of the report “makes no difference” as “people here [in Yemen] are not looking for more proof of torture [...] they deal with it as a fact.” He added, “what makes a difference is what happens here, not some report published over there.” Secretary of State John Kerry had urged Senate Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein to delay the publication of the report, Kerry warning that its release would have adverse foreign policy implications for the United States’ “ongoing efforts aginst ISIL and the safety of Americans being held hostage around the world.” Yemen. U.S. hostage Luke Somers was killed on Saturday night by militants affiliated with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) during a rescue attempt by an American Special Operations team. A South African hostage, Pierre Korkie, was also killed. Nasr bin Ali Al-Ansi, a top AQAP commander in Yemen, blamed President Obama today for the death of the two hostages, describing the rescue attempt as an “execution order” and warning the president that al-Qaeda would “continue to put the lives of all Americans in danger inside and outside of America […].” Earlier in the week, Al-Ansi denounced the act and promotion of beheading prisoners as “barbaric” and “not acceptable whatever the justifications are” in response to a reporter questioning whether al-Qaida was mirroring ISIS’ tactics. Israel-Palestine. Thousands of Palestinians marched to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s headquarters in Ramallah today as part of the funeral procession of senior Fatah official Ziad Abu Ein. He died yesterday after inhaling tear gas and a violent altercation with Israeli security forces during a protest in the West Bank to mark International Human Rights Day. Abbas called Abu Ein’s death “an intolerable crime in every sense of the word.” However, the autopsy report on the cause of death was interpreted differently by Israeli and Palestinian forensic experts today. According to the Israeli forensic expert today, the cause of death was a stress related heart attack. The Palestinian expert, Dr. Saber al-Aloul, determined that Abu Ein died of violence and not natural causes, due to wounds and bruises on his teeth, neck, tongue and windpipe. A spokesperson for the Palestinian government, Ehab Bessio, stated earlier: “Today, based on the autopsy results, we hold the Israeli government accountable for the murder of Ziad Abu Ein.” Israel. Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni announced yesterday that they intend to run on a joint ticket in the upcoming March 17 Israeli elections in an effort to deny Benjamin Netanyahu a fourth term as prime minister. Herzog leads Israel’s center-left Labor Party, which currently has 15 seats in the 120-member parliament. Livni, who was dismissed as justice minister by Netanyahu last week, leads the centrist Hatnua party, which has six seats in parliament. Livni and Herzog are proposing to rotate in the role of prime minister, with Herzog serving the first two years of the term and Livni taking over for the second two. U.S. Foreign Policy ISIS. Secretary of State John Kerry testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, where he requested that Congress refrain from banning the use of ground forces to fight ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Kerry stated that “the president has been crystal clear that his policy is that U.S. military forces will not be deployed to conduct ground combat operations […], [but] it doesn’t mean that we should pre-emptively bind the hands of […] our commanders in the field in responding to scenarios […] that are impossible to foresee.” Iraq. Unspecified allies in the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS pledged on Monday to send 1,500 military troops to support American military advisors in Iraq. American officials declined to identify the countries contributing the additional forces. The United States has already guaranteed to send 3,000 soldiers to train and advise Iraqi and Kurdish troops. The new pledge would bring the total number of military advisors to 4,500. Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi requested that the United States provide additional air power and heavy weaponry during a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel on Tuesday. Hagel was visiting Baghdad to discuss the military progress against ISIS. While We Were Looking Elsewhere Israel-Syria. Syria’s Armed Forces General Command confirmed Sunday that Israeli warplanes earlier in the day struck at least two areas near Damascus, including the international airport. The Syrian Army stated that the attack “proves Israel’s direct involvement in supporting terrorists in Syria,” while Syrian and Iranian foreign ministers called it an act of “aggression.” Israeli officials neither confirmed nor denied reports of the attacks, though Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said Tuesday that Israel “will not allow red lines to be crossed that endanger Israel’s security.” Syria did not retaliate, but called on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to impose sanctions on Israel. Iran. A UN Panel of Experts report on Iran alleges that Qassem Soleimani, leader of the military Quds force, has been photographed in Iraq where he is allegedly providing assistance to militants fighting ISIS. The Quds force is the international branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Soleimani’s presence in Iraq is a violation of an international travel ban and asset freeze imposed upon him by the UN Security Council since 2007. Under this resolution, UN member states must prevent blacklisted individuals from entering their state. Iraqi diplomats have not respondent to questions. Syria. António Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, announced on Tuesday that the number of Syrian refugees to be resettled in third countries outside the region will double. The pledge comes after twenty-eight countries pledged to accept over 60,000 refugees and eleven more states agreed to investigate the possibility of expanding their current resettlement programs. Meanwhile, the UN World Food Program announced on Monday that it will resume its food voucher program for Syrian refugees after its online campaign raised $80 million. The funds raised will enable the UN to sustain the program from mid-December until January. However, UN emergency aid coordinator Valerie Amos warned on Monday that without further large contributions from donors, the World Food Program would be “lurching from month to month.” Bahrain. Two deadly bombs exploded in Bahrain in less than twenty-four hours earlier this week. The first explosion killed a policeman in Damistan, a village southwest of Manama, the Bahraini capital on Monday. The second explosion detonated on Tuesday in Karzakan, southwest of Mananma, killing a Bahraini national and injuring another civilian. Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid al-Khalifa held Hezbollah responsible for making the bombs used in the attack on Monday, and called the explosions a “terrorist act.” Bahrain’s main Shia opposition group Al-Wefaq publicly distanced itself from the attack. Libya. UN Special Envoy to Libya Bernardino Leon announced on Monday that the UN would postpone talks to end the political crisis in Libya until next week. The talks, which were scheduled to begin on Tuesday, have been deferred to give the two rival political factions a longer opportunity to construct a compromise. The internationally recognized government exiled in Tobruq, and Libya Dawn, the armed groups allied with the self-declared Islamist-affiliated authority in Tripoli led by Omar Hassi, refused on Sunday to include the other party in discussions with the UN. Palestine. The 122 members of the Assembly of State Parties of the International Criminal Court (ICC) awarded the Palestinian delegation “observer status at their annual meeting on Monday. The move is mostly symbolic and gives Palestine the same status as the United States which is not a signatory. Palestinian ambassador Riyad H. Mansour said that the Palestinians “want to strengthen [their] presence in international fora, […] not only in the General Assembly.” Qatar. High-level officials from the Gulf states arrived in Doha on Tuesday for the start of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) meeting in Qatar. The diplomats included Saudi Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum. This meeting was scheduled after Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates reinstated their ambassadors in Qatar last month. U.A.E. A court sentenced eleven people to prison terms between three years and life for attempting to establish an al-Qaeda affiliate group in the United Arab Emirates. They were also charged for joining al-Qaeda affiliate groups al-Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham in Syria. Four defendants were acquitted, and the accused denied all charges brought against them.  

Significant Developments Egypt. Egypt’s top prosecutor announced Tuesday that he plans to appeal an Egyptian court’s dismissal of all remaining charges against former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak, his security chief, and six high level police commanders were acquitted last week of killing protestors in the 2011 uprisings after the court ruled the case “inadmissible” on a technicality. Corruption charges were also dismissed against the former Egyptian leader, his two sons Alaa and Gamal, and his exiled friend Hussein Salem. Hundreds of protestors took to Tahrir Square after the verdict’s announcement, prompting the closure of the square over the weekend and again on Monday afternoon. Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International strongly criticized Egypt yesterday over its decision to sentence 188 former president Morsi supporters to death for killing 13 policemen in August 2013. Human Right’s Watch’s Sarah Lea Whitson stated that “mass death sentences are fast losing Egypt’s judiciary whatever reputation for independence it once had.” Israel. The Knesset voted yesterday to dissolve itself, setting new elections for March 17, 2015. The move followed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s firing of Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni on Tuesday. Netanyahu accused Lapid and Livni of undermining him and forcing the coalition to break up. The current coalition government lasted a mere 20 months. Should Netanyahu win the next election, as is currently expected, he would become the first Israeli prime minister to serve four terms. U.S. Foreign Policy Bahrain. The State Department announced that Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights, Tom Malinowski, will visit Bahrain after being expelled last July for violating “conventional diplomatic norms,” by meeting with Al Wefaq, Bahrain’s main opposition party. The United States had responded to the Bahraini decision by partially suspending the sale of weapons to Bahrain’s defense ministry until Malinowski is authorized to return, and by indefinitely terminating assistance to Bahrain’s interior ministry. Malinowski will travel to Bahrain with Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs, Anne Patterson. Anti-ISIS Conference. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry hosted the first ministerial conference of the international coalition fighting ISIS at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels. The meeting, which was attended by over sixty ministers, focused on evaluating the coalition’s strategy against ISIS. Kerry told the conference that the United States would “engage in this campaign for as long as it takes to prevail.” Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg yesterday on the sidelines of the conference that the Baghdad government will request NATO’s assistance in defense capacity building support. Secretary General Stoltenberg used the meeting to stress NATO’s “continued support to Iraq in its efforts to restore stability and security, and its commitment to help Iraq build more effective security forces.” While We Were Looking Elsewhere Qatar. Matthew and Grace Huang, the American couple that was detained and tried in Qatar for their alleged involvement in the death of their daughter, left the country for the United States yesterday. The couple was prevented from leaving for several days despite an appellate court ruling on Sunday that they were not responsible for their daughter’s death in January 2013. On Sunday, Secretary of State John Kerry called on the Qatari government “to immediately implement the court’s decision and permit their return to the United States without further delay.” The Huangs were escorted to the airport by U.S. ambassador to Qatar Dana Shell Smith. ISIS. Iranian and Pentagon officials confirmed on Tuesday that Iran fighter jets bombed Sunni extremist targets in Iraq last week in a buffer zone twenty five miles from the Iranian border. According to Rear Admiral John F. Kirby, spokesperson for the Pentagon, the United States is not coordinating military activity with Iran, and it is the responsibility of the Iraqi government to “de-conflict [the Iraqi] airspace.” The United States has expressed concern that Iran’s increasingly active military involvement in Iraq could further stoke sectarian tensions in the region. According to Admiral Kirby, “our message to Iran is […] that we want nothing to be done that further inflames sectarian tensions in the country.” Syria. The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) suspended its food voucher program on Monday, after running out of funds to pay for vouchers for the month of December. The donation cuts affect 1.7 million Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and Egypt after donors failed to honor their pledges. Yesterday, WFP launched a social media campaign to raise the $64million it requires to reinstate the voucher program. Iran. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano requested an extra $5.7 million from member states to finance its monitoring of the extended interim nuclear deal with Iran. The nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 countries were extended until the end of June after the parties failed to reach a decision by the November 24 deadline. Under the extended interim agreement, Iran will convert higher-grade enriched uranium into reactor fuel, which will make it more difficult to develop the uranium into an atomic weapon. Tunisia. Tunisia’s new parliament appointed Mohammed Nacer, vice president of the secular Nida Tounes party, as its speaker today. The new parliament opened its first session on Tuesday and will be tasked with naming the new prime minister after the final presidential vote later this month. Lebanon. Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil signaled yesterday that Lebanon is considering participating in the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS. One day earlier, American officials reported that Lebanese authorities had allegedly detained the daughter of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi over a week ago at a checkpoint in northern Lebanon. The child’s mother was also detained, but it is unclear whether she is legally the ISIS leader’s wife. Yesterday, a spokesperson for the Iraqi interior ministry rejected allegations that the woman detained was Abu Bakr’s wife; instead, they identified the detainee as Saja Abdul Hamid al-Dulaimi, the sister of Omar Abdul Hamid al-Dulaimi, who is being held as a terror suspect in Iraq. Yemen. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility for yesterday’s terrorist attack targeting the Iranian embassy in the Yemeni capital Sana’a. Iranian Ambassador Hossein Niknam escaped the explosion unharmed, but the blast killed a security guard and five civilians, and injured eleven more civilians. AQAP previously promised to destabilize the Houthis after they took control of Sana’a in September. Ambassador Niknam is seen as a close ally of the Houthi rebels.