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Marcel Ghanem Rejects ‘Silencing of Voices’ in Lebanon

Lebanese Media Figure Marcel Ghanem. Asharq Al-Awsat
Lebanese Media Figure Marcel Ghanem. Asharq Al-Awsat
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Marcel Ghanem Rejects ‘Silencing of Voices’ in Lebanon

Lebanese Media Figure Marcel Ghanem. Asharq Al-Awsat
Lebanese Media Figure Marcel Ghanem. Asharq Al-Awsat

The summoning of Lebanese media figure Marcel Ghanem to investigate the hosting of two Saudi journalists, Ibrahim al-Merhi and Adhwan Alahmari, in last week’s episode of his program “Kalam Al-Nas” has drawn more reactions.
 
Warnings rose on Friday against harming the media and entrapping it in political bickering, as well as exploiting the crisis to “silence voices”.
 
After accusing on Thursday Justice Minister Salim Jreissati of bias, Ghanem reiterated in remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat that he refused to submit to the investigation, adhering to the rights of journalists and media workers and warning against using his program in the current political crisis.
 
“It was demanded that I would be brought and requested to pledge in signing that I would not attack the President of the Republic; I never did and won’t do,” Ghanem said at the beginning of his political show on Thursday.
 
Addressing Jreissati, Ghanem asked: “Have you taken any action in the Free Zone case, of which you were the main hero? In the case of Casino du Liban? And in the most important file: the events of Arsal, when we saw members of ISIS leaving in armored buses in a scandal deal? What did you do to bring the murderers of Rafik Hariri to justice?”
 
In a statement on Friday, Jreissati said: “The time of media’s disgrace, which is devoid of any moral or professional controls, has passed.”
 
Ghanem responded, in comments to Asharq Al-Awsat: “The words of the Minister of Justice are returned to him. He is trying to infuse the media into his political calculations, exploit the political situation by shutting the mouths and intimidating the media.”
 
“We will not accept such attempts,” he added.
 
The case sparked a wave of support for Ghanem from the majority of Lebanese politicians.
 
Information Minister Melhem Riachi said: “Insulting national symbols is not permissible in any circumstance, especially through the media, but in the event the media fell in any inadvertent error, there is a mechanism for all of us to abide by, through the Ministry of Information and the National Information Council.”
 
“I appreciate the position of the Minister of Information who, in a phone call with me, confirmed his support (against fascism in dealing with the media),” Ghanem said.
 
For his part, Minister of Education Marwan Hamadeh expressed his solidarity with Ghanem “in the context of the battle of freedoms” and warned in a statement against any violation of media freedom.
 
MP and former Minister Boutros Harb underlined his commitment to defend freedoms and volunteering as a lawyer to defend Ghanem in any prosecution against him.
 
“Hosting guests in a program on air does not place any responsibility on the host in the event of a guest violated the law,” Harb said.

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Arab World

Gaza Civil Defense Says 13 Dead as Heavy Rains Batter Territory

Heavy machinery operates as Palestinians gather amid a search for victims in a destroyed house that collapsed due to heavy rains, in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, December 12, 2025. (Reuters)
Heavy machinery operates as Palestinians gather amid a search for victims in a destroyed house that collapsed due to heavy rains, in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, December 12, 2025. (Reuters)
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Gaza Civil Defense Says 13 Dead as Heavy Rains Batter Territory

Heavy machinery operates as Palestinians gather amid a search for victims in a destroyed house that collapsed due to heavy rains, in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, December 12, 2025. (Reuters)
Heavy machinery operates as Palestinians gather amid a search for victims in a destroyed house that collapsed due to heavy rains, in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, December 12, 2025. (Reuters)

Gaza's civil defense agency on Friday said at least 13 people had died in the last 24 hours, including three children who died from exposure to the cold, as a winter storm batters the territory.

Heavy rain from Storm Byron has flooded tents and temporary shelters across the Gaza Strip since late Wednesday, compounding the suffering of the territory's residents, nearly all of whom were displaced during more than two years of war.

Gaza's civil defense agency, which operates as a rescue force under Hamas authority, told AFP three children had died from exposure to the cold -- two in Gaza City and one in Khan Younis in the south.

Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City confirmed the deaths of Hadeel al-Masri, aged nine, and Taim al-Khawaja, who it said was just several months old.

Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis on Thursday said eight-month-old Rahaf Abu Jazar had died in the nearby tented encampment of Al-Mawasi due to the cold.

With most of Gaza's buildings destroyed or damaged, thousands of tents and homemade shelters now line areas cleared of rubble.

Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said six people died when a house collapsed in the Bir al-Naja area of the northern Gaza Strip.

Four others died when walls collapsed in multiple separate incidents, he said.

In a statement, the civil defense said its teams had responded to calls from "13 houses that collapsed due to heavy rains and strong winds, mostly in Gaza City and the north".

- No dry clothes -

Under gloomy skies in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, Palestinians used bowls, buckets and hoes to try and remove the water that had pooled around their tents made of plastic sheeting.

Young children, some barefoot and others wearing open sandals, trudged and hopped through ponds of muddy water as the rain continued to fall.

"The mattress has been soaked since this morning, and the children slept in wet bedding last night," Umm Muhammad Joudah told AFP.

"We don't have any dry clothes to change into."

Saif Ayman, a 17-year-old who was on crutches due to a leg injury, said his tent had also been submerged.

"In this tent we have no blankets. There are six of us sleeping on one mattress, and we cover ourselves with our clothes," he said.

The Hamas-run interior and national security ministry gave a preliminary toll of 14 dead due to the effects of the winter rains since Wednesday.

A ceasefire between Israel and group Hamas that took effect in October has partially eased restrictions on goods and aid entering into the Gaza Strip.

But supplies have entered in insufficient quantities, according to the United Nations, and the humanitarian needs are still immense.

The UN's World Health Organization warned on Friday that thousands of families were "sheltering in low-lying or debris-filled coastal areas with no drainage or protective barriers".

"Winter conditions, combined with poor water and sanitation, are expected to drive a surge in acute respiratory infections," it added.

Arab World

Israel Gives Legal Status to 19 West Bank Settlements, Media Reports

Israeli settlements seen from Bethlehem in the West Bank. (AFP file)
Israeli settlements seen from Bethlehem in the West Bank. (AFP file)
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Israel Gives Legal Status to 19 West Bank Settlements, Media Reports

Israeli settlements seen from Bethlehem in the West Bank. (AFP file)
Israeli settlements seen from Bethlehem in the West Bank. (AFP file)

Israel's cabinet has decided to give legal status to 19 settlements in the occupied West Bank, including two that were vacated 20 years ago under a pullout aimed at boosting the country's security and the economy, Israeli media reported.

The Palestinian Authority on Friday condemned the move, announced late on Thursday.

Some of the settlements are newly established, while others are older, Israeli media said.

The move to legalize the settlements in the West Bank -- territory Palestinians seek for a future state -- was proposed by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz.

Most world powers deem Israel's settlements, on land it captured in a 1967 war, illegal. Numerous UN Security Council resolutions have called on Israel to halt all settlement activity.

Israel disputes this, saying it has historical and biblical ties to the land.

Construction of settlements -- including some built without official Israeli authorization -- has increased under Israel's far-right governing coalition, fragmenting the West Bank and cutting off Palestinian towns and cities from each other.

The 19 settlements include two that Israel withdrew from in 2005, evacuated under a disengagement plan overseen by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that focused mainly on Gaza.

Under the plan, which was opposed by the settler movement at the time, all 21 Israeli settlements in Gaza were ordered to be evacuated. Most settlements in the West Bank were unaffected.

In a statement on Friday, Palestinian Authority minister Mu’ayyad Sha’ban called the announcement another step to erase Palestinian geography.

Sha'ban, of the Palestinian Authority's Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, said the decision raised serious alarms over the future of the West Bank.

Home to 2.7 million Palestinians, the Israeli-occupied West Bank has long been at the heart of plans for a future Palestinian nation existing alongside Israel.

Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians reached their highest recorded levels in October with settlers carrying out at least 264 attacks, according to the United Nations.

Arab World

Former Iraq President Named UN Refugee Chief, Document Shows

Former Iraqi President Barham Salih. (Reuters)
Former Iraqi President Barham Salih. (Reuters)
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Former Iraq President Named UN Refugee Chief, Document Shows

Former Iraqi President Barham Salih. (Reuters)
Former Iraqi President Barham Salih. (Reuters)

Iraq's former president Barham Salih has been chosen as the next High Commissioner for Refugees for the United Nations, a letter showed on Friday, breaking with a tradition of appointing leaders from major donor countries.

The letter, signed by UN Chief Antonio Guterres and dated December 11, says Salih has been appointed for a five-year term beginning January 1.

He replaces Italy's Filippo Grandi, a veteran UN official, who has held the position since 2016. The appointment is provisional and needs to be approved by UNHCR's Executive Committee, the document showed.

Salih, a British-educated engineer from Iraq's Kurdish region, faces major challenges with global displacement at record highs and about double the levels it was when Grandi first began.

In parallel, funding has fallen this year as key donors like the United States have cut back and other Western donors have shifted funds to defense.

About a dozen candidates were competing for the role, including several politicians as well as an IKEA executive, an ER doctor and a TV personality. More than half of them were from Europe, in keeping with a tradition of the Geneva-based agency's chief coming from top donor states.