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In this mailing:
* Bassam Tawil: Who's Attacking Palestinian Christians?
* Amir Taheri: Iran: The Train Hits Something Hard


** Who's Attacking Palestinian Christians? ([link removed])
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by Bassam Tawil • March 8, 2020 at 5:00 am
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oneinstitute.org%2F15690%2Fattacking-palestinian-christians&pubid=ra-52f7af5809191749&ct=1&title=Who%27s+Attacking+Palestinian+Christians%3F [link removed]
* The plight of Christians living under the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip is one that is often ignored by the international community and foreign journalists based in the Middle East.
* It is worth noting that that the Christian population in the Bethlehem area has dropped from 86% in 1950 to less than 12% today. Across the West Bank, Christians now account for less than 2% of the population....
* In the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, the situation of Christians is even worse.
* Instead of raising their voices against the persecution of Christians by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, these Christian leaders are busy trying to blame Israel. They want the world to believe that Christians are fleeing Bethlehem and the Gaza Strip because of Israeli security measures against terrorists, and not because of the brutalities perpetrated by the Palestinian authorities and Muslims in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. If their claim were true, why aren't Muslims also fleeing as a result of the purported Israeli measures?

While Christian leaders are busy condemning Israel and spreading blood libels against it, Christians in Bethlehem (pictured) are again being targeted by hoodlums and punks. (Image source: Daniel Case/Wikimedia Commons)

While Christian leaders are busy condemning Israel and spreading blood libels against it, Christians in Bethlehem are again being targeted by hoodlums and punks.

The latest victim of this anti-Christian violence is Dr. Salameh Qumsiyeh, a gynecologist from Bethlehem who was brutally attacked by unidentified thugs as he was driving his car in the center of the city on February 18.

Four masked assailants intercepted Qumsiyeh's car, eyewitnesses said, and beat him with clubs and sharp tools before fleeing the scene. Qumsiyeh was rushed to hospital, where medics said that the wounds he had suffered were serious.

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** Iran: The Train Hits Something Hard ([link removed])
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by Amir Taheri • March 8, 2020 at 4:00 am
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* After weeks of debate, the outgoing Majlis had rejected the budget with a clear majority. The "Supreme Guide", however, needed the budget to release funds for the various military and security organizations on which the regime is built not to mention stipends for Bashar al-Assad, Hassan Nasrallah, the Houthis, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Iraqi militias and kindred groups across the globe.
* In other words, Trump's policy has forced the Islamic Republic to assume its true identity as a typical "Third World" regime based on the military-security apparatus with a pseudo-theocratic façade.
* The daily Kayhan, believed to reflect Khamenei's views, claimed last Tuesday that, in a letter transmitted through the Swiss ambassador, Tehran had "indicated agreement" to return to a de facto recognition of "The Zionist regime", disarming of the Lebanese branch of Hezbollah and end of support for Hamas
* No longer enjoying access to massive amounts of easy money from oil exports, the Khomeinist leadership is growing daily more desperate to loosen the lasso thrown by the Trump administration. Always anxious not to lose face, it has modified aspects of its behavior, confirming the view that the Khomeinist train, which according to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had no reverse gear, would stop only if it hits something hard.

Having already exposed President Hassan Rouhani (pictured) and his Cabinet as nothing but puppets, last Tuesday, Iran's "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenei decided to reassert his position as puppet-master by annulling the decision of the Majlis on the new national budget. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

One of the arguments advanced by Democrat critics of US President Donald Trump's "maximum pressure" policy towards Iran is that, far from persuading Tehran to change its behavior, it has helped marginalize the so-called "moderate faction" and propelled the "radicals" into an even more aggressive posture.

At first glance, the criticism may appear justified. In last month's parliamentary election, the "moderate" faction, always the Cinderella of the system, was reduced to the status of a mouse in the Khomeinist kitchen.

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