Libyan Amazigh Threaten Dbeibeh with War, Taking Control of Ras Ajdir

A former meeting between the head of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohammed al-Menfi, and Abdulhamid Dbeibeh (Libyan Presidential Council)
A former meeting between the head of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohammed al-Menfi, and Abdulhamid Dbeibeh (Libyan Presidential Council)
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Libyan Amazigh Threaten Dbeibeh with War, Taking Control of Ras Ajdir

A former meeting between the head of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohammed al-Menfi, and Abdulhamid Dbeibeh (Libyan Presidential Council)
A former meeting between the head of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohammed al-Menfi, and Abdulhamid Dbeibeh (Libyan Presidential Council)

No military vehicles to the forces loyal to the interim unity Libyan government are allowed to move to the west of the country, the head of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohammed al-Menfi, has announced.

Menfi sought on Saturday to contain sudden military tensions in the country after the Libyan Amazigh Supreme Council accused the unity government chaired by Abdulhamid Dbeibeh of "gathering armed formations to attack Ras Ajdir” border crossing with Tunisia.

Menfi, who is also the Supreme Commander of the Libyan Army, demanded the military units affiliated with Dbeibeh "not to move towards the West," ordering all militants who left Tripoli to return to their headquarters.

In the letter leaked to local media, he required unit commanders to follow orders and implement them as soon as possible, calling on the Army Chief of Staff and the Military Intelligence Department to take legal action against any violating unit.

Earlier, tensions arose between Dbeibeh and the Amazigh Council president, al-Hadi Barqiq, after the latter called on the unity government to "immediately dissolve and withdraw the joint operations room."

Barqiq called on all parties to demonstrate a patriotic spirit, warning against "any military action that would drag the region into unpredicted actions."

He also warned against reaching "a point of no return," describing the situation as an "existential conflict," especially since the constitution does not guarantee the rights of the Amazigh, who were not well represented.

The statement of the Libyan Amazigh Supreme Council, which named Dbeibeh as the head of the outgoing caretaker government, cautioned anyone against attacking Zuwara or its affiliated cities.

It warned that any military development could lead to a fierce war that would end the Amazigh's presence.

It indicated that the Amazigh are living in a state of security instability in light of the collapse of the Libyan economy, adding that they were surprised by Dbeibeh's attempt to gather armed formations to attack Ras Ajdir under false and malicious, baseless pretexts.

On Friday, the Amazigh civil and military components declared a state of emergency and maximum mobilization among all military battalions, positioning them along the Zuwara area.

According to the Amazigh Channel, the first military convoy of the Nalut Military Council entered Ras Ajdir, and other forces will be stationed inside Zuwara.

Local reports monitored a sudden disruption of the traffic system at the Ras Ajdir crossing on the Libyan side.

Dbeibeh ignored these developments while attending the North African International Conference for Ports and Free Zones in Misurata.

He stressed that port development and infrastructure development are one of the government's priorities.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior of the unity government began its "official control and monitoring over the Libyan border with Tunisia," announced Minister Imad Trabelsi.

Trabelsi warned that any illegal immigrant would be returned to his country, asserting that any migrant entering Libya and benefitting from its resources must arrive legally. He said that Dbeibeh advised him to refuse resettlement.

During his visit on Friday evening to the headquarters of the Anti-Illegal Migration Agency, Trabelsi confirmed that the agency's employees have significant responsibilities to limit illegal immigration, which caused huge debts due to the provision of shelter and deportation of those arrested.

Libya is set to host a two-conference on legal migration, entitled "Safe Mediterranean, Stable South," which will take place on Nov. 27 in Tripoli, with the participation of labor ministers from the Sahel and Sahara countries.



Israel Cracks Down on Palestinian Citizens Who Speak out against the War in Gaza

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
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Israel Cracks Down on Palestinian Citizens Who Speak out against the War in Gaza

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP

Israel’s yearlong crackdown against Palestinian citizens who speak out against the war in Gaza is prompting many to self-censor out of fear of being jailed and further marginalized in society, while some still find ways to dissent — carefully.
Ahmed Khalefa's life turned upside down after he was charged with inciting terrorism for chanting in solidarity with Gaza at an anti-war protest in October 2023, The Associated Press said.
The lawyer and city counselor from central Israel says he spent three difficult months in jail followed by six months detained in an apartment. It's unclear when he'll get a final verdict on his guilt or innocence. Until then, he's forbidden from leaving his home from dusk to dawn.
Khalefa is one of more than 400 Palestinian citizens of Israel who, since the start of the war in Gaza, have been investigated by police for “incitement to terrorism” or “incitement to violence,” according to Adalah, a legal rights group for minorities. More than half of those investigated were also criminally charged or detained, Adalah said.
“Israel made it clear they see us more as enemies than as citizens,” Khalefa said in an interview at a cafe in his hometown of Umm al-Fahm, Israel's second-largest Palestinian city.
Israel has roughly 2 million Palestinian citizens, whose families remained within the borders of what became Israel in 1948. Among them are Muslims and Christians, and they maintain family and cultural ties to Gaza and the West Bank, which Israel captured in 1967.
Israel says its Palestinian citizens enjoy equal rights, including the right to vote, and they are well-represented in many professions. However, Palestinians are widely discriminated against in areas like housing and the job market.
Israeli authorities have opened more incitement cases against Palestinian citizens during the war in Gaza than in the previous five years combined, Adalah's records show. Israeli authorities have not said how many cases ended in convictions and imprisonment. The Justice Ministry said it did not have statistics on those convictions.
Just being charged with incitement to terrorism or identifying with a terrorist group can land a suspect in detention until they're sentenced, under the terms of a 2016 law.
In addition to being charged as criminals, Palestinians citizens of Israel — who make up around 20% of the country’s population — have lost jobs, been suspended from schools and faced police interrogations posting online or demonstrating, activists and rights watchdogs say.
It’s had a chilling effect.
“Anyone who tries to speak out about the war will be imprisoned and harassed in his work and education,” said Oumaya Jabareen, whose son was jailed for eight months after an anti-war protest. “People here are all afraid, afraid to say no to this war.”
Jabareen was among hundreds of Palestinians who filled the streets of Umm al-Fahm earlier this month carrying signs and chanting political slogans. It appeared to be the largest anti-war demonstration in Israel since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. But turnout was low, and Palestinian flags and other national symbols were conspicuously absent. In the years before the war, some protests could draw tens of thousands of Palestinians in Israel.
Authorities tolerated the recent protest march, keeping it under heavily armed supervision. Helicopters flew overhead as police with rifles and tear gas jogged alongside the crowd, which dispersed without incident after two hours. Khalefa said he chose not to attend.
Shortly after the Oct. 7 attack, Israel’s far-right government moved quickly to invigorate a task force that has charged Palestinian citizens of Israel with “supporting terrorism” for posts online or protesting against the war. At around the same time, lawmakers amended a security bill to increase surveillance of online activity by Palestinians in Israel, said Nadim Nashif, director of the digital rights group 7amleh. These moves gave authorities more power to restrict freedom of expression and intensify their arrest campaigns, Nashif said.
The task force is led by Itamar Ben-Gvir, a hard-line national security minister who oversees the police. His office said the task force has monitored thousands of posts allegedly expressing support for terror organizations and that police arrested “hundreds of terror supporters,” including public opinion leaders, social media influencers, religious figures, teachers and others.
“Freedom of speech is not the freedom to incite ... which harms public safety and our security,” his office said in a statement.
But activists and rights groups say the government has expanded its definition of incitement much too far, targeting legitimate opinions that are at the core of freedom of expression.
Myssana Morany, a human rights attorney at Adalah, said Palestinian citizens have been charged for seemingly innocuous things like sending a meme of a captured Israeli tank in Gaza in a private WhatsApp group chat. Another person was charged for posting a collage of children’s photos, captioned in Arabic and English: “Where were the people calling for humanity when we were killed?” The feminist activist group Kayan said over 600 women called its hotline because of blowback in the workplace for speaking out against the war or just mentioning it unfavorably.
Over the summer, around two dozen anti-war protesters in the port city of Haifa were only allowed to finish three chants before police forcefully scattered the gathering into the night. Yet Jewish Israelis demanding a hostage release deal protest regularly — and the largest drew hundreds of thousands to the streets of Tel Aviv.
Khalefa, the city counselor, is not convinced the crackdown on speech will end, even if the war eventually does. He said Israeli prosecutors took issue with slogans that broadly praised resistance and urged Gaza to be strong, but which didn’t mention violence or any militant groups. For that, he said, the government is trying to disbar him, and he faces up to eight years in prison.
“They wanted to show us the price of speaking out,” Khalefa said.