Middle East Experience

Saudi Arabia detected 416 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Kingdom to 346,047, the Ministry of Health said on Wednesday.For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page.Medina reported 75 new cases of COVID-19, the highest number recorded in the country in the past 24 hours. The capital Riyadh detected 49 new cases, Mecca detected47, and Jeddah detected 10.The other new cases were reported in cities and provinces around the Kingdom. Nineteen people died due to complications caused by COVID-19, bringing the total number of virus-related deaths to 5,348.Meanwhile, 433 people recovered from the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, which raises the total number of recoveries to 332,550.Read more:Coronavirus: 5 questions answered if you are planning to travel to Mecca for UmrahSaudi Arabia to give SAR 500,000 to families of health workers who died from COVID-19
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Coronavirus: Saudi Arabia detects 416 new infections as recoveries rise by 433

A security agreement reached earlier this month between the Iraqi central government and the Kurdistan Region on the disputed territory of Sinjar has sparked both praise and criticism as tensions rise between the KRG and the PKK.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Yazidis react to Sinjar accord amid growing KRG-PKK tensions in Iraq

Israeli media are covering the conflict over coronavirus measures in New York's Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods, and the issue bears resemblance to Israel's virus situation.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: In New York Jewish communities, similarities to Israel's virus struggle

EgyptAir has signed an agreement with Ghana to create a national airline after a similar deal with Ethiopian Airlines fell through.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Ghana signs joint airline deal with Egypt, bypassing Ethiopia

Lebanon called for an extra 1,430 square kilometers (550 sq. miles) on Wednesday during the second round of US-brokered negotiations with Israel over maritime borders between Beirut and Tel Aviv.For years, the debate was over close to 860 sq. kilometers of disputed waters, where there are believed to be large swathes of natural gas reserves.For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.But senior political and military sources in Lebanon told Al Arabiya English ahead of Wednesday’s session that the Lebanese Army Commander ordered the delegation heading the talks to state that Lebanon’s southern maritime border begins from Ras al-Naqoura toward the sea.But Reuters reported that the Israeli team presented its own map that pushed the boundary farther north than its original position, according to a source familiar with what was discussed.All sides agreed to have another session on Thursday.This will be the third round of dialogue in less than a month after Washington spent years trying to mediate and find common ground for the talks to begin.The first round of talks earlier this month was seen as positive, with little controversy surrounding any of the topics discussed that included opening speeches and each delegation’s positions.Read more: Journalists covering border talks between Lebanon and Israel attacked by HezbollahWhile the formalities were relatively straightforward the first time around, officials dug into details and technicalities on Wednesday.According to a Lebanese army study, Lebanon’s new maximalist approach references the border between the French and British mandate instead of the 1949 Armistice Agreement.“It also does not take into account Tekhelet’s island in Israel and other small rocks, as they are small and uninhabited,” said Laury Hatayan, the MENA Director at the Natural Resource Governance Institute.In recent years, Lebanese officials have demanded that Beirut’s border begin from the “B1” point, demarcated in the 1949 Armistice Agreement between Lebanon and Israel.The new directives appear to backtrack on that stance and demand Ras al-Naqoura as the starting point, giving Lebanon more than 1,400 sq. km. they had not claimed previously.The Armistice Agreement “largely matches” with the international boundary line, or Paulet-Newcomb line, a Lebanese army source said.Why does this matter?Tekhelet, an island claimed by Israel, is around 1,800 meters south of Ras al-Naqoura and 1,000 meters west of the shore.Based on this, the Lebanese army has conducted a new study based on the UN Law of the Sea Convention, ratified by Lebanon in 1982. This has not been agreed to or signed by Israel.The Lebanese army source said that the delineation of the Lebanese Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) boundaries allowed for the modification of the maritime boundary line, “provided that more accurate data is available, and this is the case.”But this line would also cross the Karish Field, which Energean from Greece is prepping to dig in after signing a deal with Israel.“Accordingly, the Karish field will be located in a disputed area which bears consequences on international companies drilling for oil and gas in this area. The same can be said of concession Block 72, which was open for bidding by Israel on June 2020,” the army source added.Hatayan, an oil and gas expert, told Al Arabiya English that the Israelis probably expected this new Lebanese approach but that it was unclear how Tel Aviv would respond.She noted that new dispute could result in Energean and other energy companies to refrain from investments in Block 72 or the Karish Field.The US State Department said it does not comment on private, diplomatic discussions, when asked if the new Lebanese stance threatened the fate of the negotiations.Read more: Initial Lebanon-Israel border talks were ‘productive’: US State Department - With Reuters
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Lebanon demands extra 1,430 sq. km. in US-brokered talks with Israel

Many leaders of the Syrian opposition prefer Donald Trump, who used military force twice against the Syrian government, over Joe Biden, who served in an administration they believe turned a blind eye to the Iranian presence in Syria and allowed the regime to use chemical weapons.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Syrian opposition fears being left behind again after US election

Although the horrific decapitation of French schoolteacher Samuel Paty took place on October 16 after he had shown cartoons of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed, the hashtag calling for the boycott of French products first emerged as early as October 2, analysis has since found.The first time the viral hashtag appeared on Twitter came under a response tweet after the Turkish state broadcaster TRT’s Arabic channel tweeted a photo of French President Emmanuel Macron in which his photo was accompanied by a quote attributed to him saying: “Islam is a religion going through a crisis in the world.”“French President Emmanuel Macron describes Islam as ‘a religion that is in crisis in the world.’ What do you think of his recent statement?” TRT Arabi tweeted.On October 2, Macron said his government would unveil a proposed law to fight “Islamist separatism“ later in the year to combat what he saw as those favoring religious laws over France’s republican and secular values.“Islam is a religion that is in crisis all over the world today, we are not just seeing this in our country,” Macron said.The French debate on Islam deepened two weeks later on October 16, when Abdullakh Anzorov, an 18-year-old Russian man with Chechen origins, decapitated 47-year-old teacher Samuel Paty outside his school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, northwest of Paris.A week later on October 23, cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed were projected onto government buildings in France.The viral hashtags of #BoycottFrenchProducts, #Islam, and #NeverTheProphet in Arabic.Amplified by pro-Muslim Brotherhood networksThe hashtags have also been amplified by pro-Muslim Brotherhood media networks such as Turkey’s TRT and Qatar’s Al Jazeera in recent days.Al Jazeera tweeted a thread of photos on Monday using the hashtags #NeverTheProphet and #BoycottFrenchProducts to illustrate several protests across the Arab and Islamic worlds.“#Except_the_Messenger_of_God and the #BoycottFrenchProducts.. Calls for boycott were accompanied by protests in a number of Arab and Islamic countries against Macron’s insults of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace,” Al Jazeera tweeted.According to Track My Hashtag, a hashtag analysis site, on October 26 – five days following Macron’s national tribute speech of Paty – the most retweeted tweet under the #BoycottFrenchProducts hashtag was by Hakem al-Mutairi, a pro-Muslim Brotherhood Kuwaiti hate preacher. Al-Mutairi is currently under investigation by Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior following leaked recordings of his past conversations with the former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi discussing the overthrow other Arab leaders.Calls for boycotts after insults were made at Islam’s Prophet Mohammed have taken place in the past. In 2005, Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten caused worldwide controversy when it published cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammed and in 2010, a “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” campaign was created following the censorship of Comedy Central’s South Park episode "201" featuring a character in a bear costume, who various other characters stated was Islam’s prophet.Compared to those past protests and campaigns, many in the Arab media seem to focus less this time around given the geopolitical issues that are pitting France on the one side, while Qatar and Turkey on the other on files such as the Libyan conflict and the conflict in the Eastern Mediterranean.“Today, with some French media insulting the Prophet, and with the calls made by Qatar and Turkey to boycott France, this appears to be an export of speech only, highlighting the question that Doha and Ankara evaded from ... Why has Qatar not yet taken the initiative to boycott France and abandon those investments that feed the French economy and supports the current government ?” wrote Saudi Arabian writer Muhammad al-Saad in the Okaz newspaper.Al-Saad pointed to past reports of Qatar’s investment in France, including Doha’s purchase of 24 Dassault Rafale fighter jets and French government announcements that Qatar has invested, directly and indirectly, about $15 billion in France over the past five years, excluding the private investments made by the Emir of Qatar and his family.Slow to protestIn the past, protest campaigns have galvanized a more cohesive stance from the Arab and Islamic world. Following the Jyllands-Posten Prophet Mohammed cartoons controversy in Denmark in 2005, 11 ambassadors from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Egypt, Indonesia, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Libya, Morocco, and the Head of the Palestinian General Delegation asked for a meeting with the Danish prime minister to discuss the cartoons.Saudi Arabia on Tuesday said it condemns any cartoons offending the Prophet Mohammed and rejects any attempts to link Islam with terrorism. The Secretary-General of the Mecca-based Muslim World League Mohammed al-Issa said Muslims do not stand against constitutional freedoms of individuals, only attempts to distort those freedoms and using them to spread hatred.“We are not against legitimate freedoms, but we are against employing those freedoms for material gain, undermining their value. We are also against the consequential spread of hatred and racism,” he said.While the #BoycottFrenchProducts hashtag showed up early on October 3, it began to trend worldwide on October 21 following Macron’s speech paying tribute to Paty. According to the hashtag analysis website Track My Hashtag, 560,000 tweets were posted under the #BoycottFrenchProducts between October 2 and October 27.The French government has responded to the protests and calls for boycott by saying that the hashtags have distorted France’s true position.“These calls distort the positions France has upheld in favor of freedom of conscience, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and the rejection of any incitement to hatred. They also distort and exploit for political purposes the statements the President made in Les Mureaux on 2 October and during the national tribute to Samuel Paty, aimed at fighting radical Islamism and doing so with the Muslims of France, who are an integral part of France’s society, history and Republic,” France’s foreign ministry said in a statement.“The calls for boycotting are therefore completely groundless and must stop immediately, along with any attacks directed against our country, which are exploited by a radical minority,” the statement added.Read more:France-Turkey tensions: Paris seeking ‘strong’ EU response, potentially sanctionsUK stands in solidarity with France after murder of teacher: Foreign secretaryFacing Muslim anger, France warns citizens abroad to take caution, avoid gatherings
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: ‘Boycott France’ calls started before Samuel Paty murder, slow to gain support

Although there is no parallel timeline, there have been cases where judicial trends in the US have had an impact in Israel too.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Will the US judicial right-wing swerve influence Israel’s Supreme Court?

Anti-Macron protests took over the Somali streets of Mogadishu on Wednesday..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Hundreds in anti-Macron protest in Somalia

Colel Chabad was specifically chosen by both Home Front Command and government ministries to implement much of the food distribution and support efforts amid the coronavirus crisis.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: IDF soldiers pack, deliver sweets to homes of coronavirus patients