The majestic building stands menacingly on the edge of the cliffs, its frescoes faded and distorted. The facade shows the deep traces of time and when the spires are enveloped by clouds, the monastery looks like an apparition.
Sumela rises 1200 meters above sea level and is located in Altendere Park. Although it is only about 50 kilometers from the Black Sea city of Trabzon, the monastery is not overly popular.
How the “Holy Virgin Sumela” appeared is the subject of legends and outright myths.
One of them states that an icon of the Holy Virgin Mary, painted by the Apostle Luke himself, was lowered into the cave by two angels.
Somewhere in the 4th century, two monks read the omen and decided to found a monastery right in front of this same cave, and gradually a whole complex sprung up there.
In the heart of the monastery is the so-called Rock Church, which is as if dug into the rocks. Over time, chapels, cells, common rooms, an aqueduct and others were built around it.
All this has experienced a dizzying change of eras – from the collapse of the Roman Empire, through the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman rule, to Turkey‘s struggles for independence.
Some of the frescoes are badly damaged – in one place Saint John has no hand, in another Jesus is faceless, in a third there are vandalized inscriptions on the frescoes.
Again, myths say that because of some mystical power, the Ottomans spared “Sumela” and left the monastery intact during their invasion.
The latter, however, is more likely due to the location of the monastery complex, which made the invaders not hang it. It is a fact that in the 18th century the monks were calm enough for the monastery to paint a huge part of its walls with the frescoes that are still visible today.
The crisis for “Sumela” came in the 1920s, when after the First World War the monks left the monastery in panic.
Massive migrations due to the military conflict did not pass the region and the priests fled to Greece, but not before burying a large part of the valuables in secret places around the monastery.
After that, “Sumela” was attacked by vandals, deceived by the rumors of what untold riches the monastery hides. Valuables were never found, but a significant part of the unique frescoes were damaged, the altars were broken, and the cells of the priests were insulted.
In 1970, however, the Turkish Ministry of Culture turned its attention to Sumela and began the first restoration program. In the 1980s, symbolically, on the Great Mother of God, the monastery officially began to receive pilgrims and tourists again.
The restoration works are still ongoing because the frescoes are many and complex. The only images that are completely spared are those of the Virgin Mary, because she is considered a holy figure in Islam as well.
The monastery can be reached from Trabzon by private transport or by one of the organized buses. Entrance is 20 euros, and “Sumela” is open for visits and prayers all year round.
Amulets were consecrated on September 16 in the main temple of the Russian Armed Forces. They are called “Seals of Purity”, contain Psalm 90 and will be sent to the Russian military in Ukraine, the manufacturers boasted.
The “Seals of Purity” were made by the famous artist Dmitry Sever, “in the style of church calligraphy”, in four versions – “normal” and camouflage.
Fans of computer games immediately recognized in military amulets a replica of the red sheets with wax seals that are attached to the armor of the “Angels of Death” – space marines from the popular game Warhammer 40k.
In-game Seals of Purity are described as: “The perfect accessory for fans of the Warhammer 40K universe. These are metal or wax seals used to attach strips of parchment to the armor of a war machine or infantryman. These seals show the piety and purity of the faith of their bearer. Seals of Purity are perhaps the most common award in the Imperium and are found in all armies loyal to the Throne. Every day thousands of people, at the discretion of the missionaries and the blessed cardinals, receive this high honor”.
The makers of the amulets claim to have been inspired by the computer game and its ‘Seals of Purity’ as they believe that ‘Russian soldiers in the Special Military Operation Zone are the world’s brightest warriors who fight the forces of chaos’. They also produced titanium icons “Spas Neraktoverten” (the image of the Savior not made by hands or the so-called tablecloth), which were also sent to the front.
The Orthodox Church in principle forbids the creation of amulets, regardless of what texts are written on them, and defines their creation and use as paganism.
The stones and cracks in the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem were cleaned of the thousands of notes with prayers and wishes left by the faithful, called “Messages to God”. The procedure is performed twice a year under the supervision of the chief rabbi. Now the occasion is the Jewish New Year, and so a place will be made for the new notes, which will be left in the holiest place for the Jews.
Shmuel Rabinovitch, who is the chief rabbi of the Western Wall and Israel’s holy sites, emphasized that this year’s notes “were soaked in tears.”
The messages collected after the cleaning will be buried with a special ritual on the Mount of Olives near the city, as tradition dictates. Offering a prayer through a note that is placed between the stones of the Wailing Wall dates back centuries. Visitors from all over the world take advantage of the opportunity to have their requests heard.
The Western Wall, or the Western Wall as it is also known, is one of the symbols of Judaism and one of the most visited sights in Israel. It is a legacy of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, which it reminds of. The temple was destroyed in the 1st century, but the Wailing Wall maintains its sanctity among the faithful.
The name “Wailing Wall”, and descriptions such as “wailing place”, appeared regularly in English literature during the 19th century. The name Mur des Lamentations was used in French and Klagemauer in German. This description stemmed from the Jewish practice of coming to the site to mourn and bemoan the destruction of the Temple and the loss of national freedom it symbolized.
Muslims have associated the name Al-Buraq with the wall at least since the 1860s.
Source: “Reuters”
Photo: Engraving of the Western Wall., 1850 by Rabbi Joseph Schwarz.
The role of local and regional authorities in effectively responding to the challenges facing European democracies, in supporting Ukraine, protecting human rights, saving the environment, and enabling young people’s involvement is the focus of a conference of associations of local and regional authorities from the Council of Europe’s 46 member states, that started on 12 September.
The conference was opened by Marc Cools, President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities; Arnoldas Abramavičius, Vice-Minister of Interior, on behalf of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers; Bjørn Berge, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe; and Congress Youth Delegate from Andorra Lisa Cruz Lackner.
Ekrem Imamoglu, Mayor of Istanbul and President of the Union of Turkish Municipalities, and Gunn Marit Helgesen, President of the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities and President of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions, opened the debate on the role of national associations in strengthening territorial democracy.
“Resilience, reconstruction and reform of Ukraine”, “Boosting democracy by engaging all citizens” and “Local innovation for stronger local authorities” are the themes of the round tables to be held as part of the conference.
On 13 September, the event participants adopted a joint declaration to reaffirm the commitment to the Council of Europe’s values and standards.
The event, which was streamed online, coincided with the Council of Europe’s 75th anniversary and the 30th anniversary of the Congress, and is held under the auspices of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers.
There is a need for expanding municipal partnerships and co-operation between Ukrainian and other European municipalities, and for sharing good practices of municipal support for rural and small communities to increase their resilience; European local authorities must also pass a common motion of support to Ukraine and against the Russian Federation and develop projects to support protection, recovery and reconstruction in Ukraine. The Congress should help to raise awareness of Ukrainian local authorities on how to make use of the Council of Europe’s Register of Damage for Ukraine, while donors – such as Ukraine Facility – should invest more in education, with a focus on youth, and in developing social housing for internally displaced persons (IDPs).
These were some of the conclusions from the round table on “Resilience, reconstruction and reform of Ukraine” held as part of the Conference of associations of local and regional authorities on 12 September 2024 in Strasbourg. During a highly solemn and emotional debate, the participants stressed that reconstruction and reform required new strategies, laws and capacities, as well as joint positions and dialogue, and that reconstruction was not only about infrastructure but also about recovering communities, reconstructing the social cohesion and restoring cultural heritage as a reflection of the Ukrainian identity. Ukrainian mayors had additional responsibilities due to the war as they had to address the needs of soldiers, residents and displaced persons while also working on reconstruction; and the Ukrainian young people suffered from multiple challenges due to the disrupted education and feelings of despair, anxiety or depression, highlighting the need for a public mental health system.
“As co-organisers of Ukraine Recovery Conference 2024 we continue our work to expand partnerships at local level, since municipalities do a lot for Ukraine’s reconstruction and recovery. Let us join efforts for every Ukrainian municipality to establish cooperation with a municipality from other European country,” underlined in her video message Svenja Schulze, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany. Vitali Klitschko, President of the Association of Ukrainian Cities (AUC) and Mayor of Kyiv, referred in his video message to the Concept for the Recovery of Local Self-Government in Ukraine, developed by his Association, stressing that “it is important that local self-government is preserved today and restored everywhere after our Victory”.
“As local self-governments, we see our key goal as bringing people back to Ukraine from abroad and restoring life in de-occupied territories, and your assistance is key to sustainable development for our communities. Together with international partners, we are launching the Community Recovery School, which will consolidate the best practices of post-war reconstruction and create a solid foundation for the recovery of Ukrainian communities,” said Vadym Boichenko, Mayor of Mariupol and Chair of the AUC Section on the Development of De-occupied and Temporarily Occupied Municipalities.
Tetiana Yehorova-Lutsenko, President of the Ukrainian Association of District and Regional Councils and Chair of the Kharkiv Regional Council, spoke of elaborating a national concept for the development of Ukraine’s regions based on regional strategies, which should become the foundation for Ukraine’s recovery and development. Petra Neumann, Legal Adviser in the Register of Damage for Ukraine, referred to an outreach strategy involving local and regional authorities.
Congress Youth Delegate from Ukraine Sofiia Bohdanova concluded the debate with the following words:“Young people in Ukraine hide everything inside. Far away. So deep. Because we understand that we can’t balance on the rope with baggage filled with doubts and fears. We go where we feel scared because we need to know what is waiting for us at the end of this rope.”
On 12 and 13 September 2024, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities hosted a Conference of national associations of local and regional authorities from the 46 member states, at the Palais de l’Europe in Strasbourg. Organised on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Council of Europe and the 30th anniversary of the Congress, under the auspices of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers, the Conference brought together Presidents and representatives of some 60 national associations from across Europe, as well as Congress Bureau members and Heads of national delegations to the Congress, Congress Youth Delegates and guest speakers.
Over two days, they engaged in discussions on how local and regional authorities can respond effectively to the challenges facing European democracies, and on their role in supporting Ukraine, stopping democratic backsliding, protecting human rights, saving the environment and enabling young people’s involvement in democratic action, in the light of the decisions of the Council of Europe’s Summit in Reykjavik in May 2023.
The Conference opened on 12 September by Congress President Marc Cools, Lithuania’s Vice-Minister of Interior Arnoldas Abramavičius, Council of Europe Deputy Secretary General Bjørn Berge and Congress Youth Delegate from Andorra Lisa Cruz Lackner. The opening debate on the role of national associations in strengthening territorial democracy and multilevel governance introduced by Ekrem Imamoglu, Mayor of Istanbul and President of the Union of Turkish Municipalities and Gunn Marit Helgesen, President of the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities and President of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR).
The first round table will focus on the “Resilience, reconstruction and reform of Ukraine”, with presentations from Vitali Klitschko, President of the Association of Ukrainian Cities and Mayor of Kyiv, and Tetiana Yehorova-Lutsenko, President of the Ukrainian Association of District and Regional Councils and Chair of the Kharkiv Regional Council, as well as Mayor of Mariupol Vadym Boichenko, Executive Director of the Register of Damage for Ukraine Markyan Kliutchkovsky and Congress Youth Delegate from Ukraine Sofiia Boudanova
The second round table on “Boosting democracy by engaging all citizens” focused on fighting sexism in politics, ensuring the right to free, fair and transparent elections and promoting youth engagement in public life as well as on ways to foster social inclusion and participatory democracy.
Finally, the third round table on “Local innovation for stronger local authorities” became the opportunity to discuss new approaches to promoting human rights at local level, improving internet safety and responding to cyberbullying, as well as the use of AI and digital tools to manage the integration of migrants and refugees, and local and regional responses to climate and environmental challenges.
All three round tables included an exchange with Conference participants where they could share their views and experiences. As the Congress promotes the participation of youth in public life, Congress Youth Delegates actively contributed to the Conference and shared their perspective on the current state of democracy and proposals for the future.
At the close of the Conference, participants adopted a joint declaration to reaffirm their commitment to the Council of Europe’s values and standards, and to give a renewed momentum to the partnership between the Congress and national associations.
“People in Gaza are facing yet another peril: Hepatitis A is spreading including among children,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees, UNRWA, wrote on social media.
Since the start of the war last October, UNRWA shelters and clinics have reported 40,000 cases of the disease, he said, compared to only 85 in the same period before conflict erupted, representing “a frightening increase”.
Hepatitis A is an inflammation of the liver caused by a virus of the same name that is transmitted through ingestion of contaminated food and water, or through direct contact with an infectious person.
The accumulation of waste is posing a health hazard in Gaza.
“The waste management system in Gaza has collapsed. Piles of trash are accumulating in the scorching summer heat. Sewage discharges on the streets while people queue for hours just to go to the toilets,” said Mr. Lazzarini. When combined, they “make a dangerous recipe for diseases to spread”.
Humanitarians are also preparing for the worst-case scenario of a polio outbreak following the recent discovery of the disease in sewage samples.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said earlier this week that although efforts are ongoing to acquire vaccines, it is not enough just to get them across the border.
WHO called for a ceasefire and at the very least, clear roads and safe access to allow partners to reach every person in Gaza with the necessary vaccinations.
Access impediments
Meanwhile, humanitarians continue to face impediments to aid delivery, including continued hostilities, unexploded ordnance, damaged and impassable roads, attacks on aid convoys, a lack of public order and safety, and not enough border crossings.
The Israeli authorities also continue to impose restrictions on the entry of certain humanitarian supplies into the enclave.
“These factors continue to significantly hinder the entry of aid into Gaza and the delivery of aid and basic services to hundreds of thousands of people across the Strip,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said.
In July, Israel facilitated just 67 out of 157 aid missions planned to northern Gaza. The others “were either denied, impeded or canceled due to security, logistical or operational reasons,” OCHA added.
‘Tragic and devastating milestone’
This week marked “a tragic and devastating milestone’ for UNRWA as the number of staff killed since the war began rose to 202, Mr. Lazzarini said in a statement on Monday.
This is the largest number of UN personnel killed in a single conflict since the Organization was established in 1945.
He said these fallen colleagues were teachers, doctors, nurses, social workers, engineers, support staff, logisticians, and technology and communications workers.
Most “were killed with their families at home or in a place they thought would be safe”, while several lost their lives in the line of duty, providing humanitarian assistance to people in need.
“I echo the call from the Secretary General: the UN will spare no effort to demand accountability for the deaths of our staff,” he said.
“Over the coming weeks, we will find several occasions to mark this somber memory of our fallen colleagues.”
The starting point was a personal revenge by an academic who got a suspended sentence of four months in prison for harassment
On 28 November 2023, just after 6 a.m., a SWAT team of around 175 policemen wearing black masks, helmets, and bullet proof vests, simultaneously descended on eight separate houses and apartments in and around Paris but also in Nice. They were brandishing semi-automatic rifles, shouting, making very loud noises, crashing doors and putting everything upside down.
For comparison, in late August 2024, the French anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office engaged about 200 police officers to hunt a suspect who had tried to set a synagogue ablaze in the southern French city of la Grande-Motte and caused an explosion wounding a police officer and destroying several cars nearby.
The November 2023 raids were not an operation against a terrorist or armed group or a drug cartel. It was a raid targeting eight private places mainly used by peaceful Romanian yoga practitioners.
Most of them had chosen to combine the pleasant with the useful in France: to practice yoga and meditation in villas or apartments kindly and freely put at their disposal by their owners or tenants who were mainly yoga practitioners of Romanian origin and at the same time to enjoy picturesque natural or other environments.
The first objective of the operation was to arrest people involved in “trafficking in human beings”, “forcible confinement” and “abuse of vulnerability” in organized gang. The second objective was to save victims of these illegal activities but there were no such victims.
About 50 of them happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and had nothing to do with the search warrant justifying the operation. At any rate, they were victims of the police intervention as they were kept in custody in inhuman and humiliating conditions for two days and two nights, or more in some cases, for interrogations. Human Rights Without Frontiers interviewed about 20 victims of the police raids and abuses, in particular in Villiers-sur-Marne, Buthiers and Vitry-sur-Seine. None of them and others was interviewed by the French media.
The Romanian yoga practitioners were not treated with the same respect and humanity as Pavel Durov, the big boss of the famous social media Telegram, when he was arrested at the end of August 2024, getting off his private jet in Paris. After four days of police custody and interrogation, he was released on bail despite 12 serious charges – child pornography, complicity in all sorts of arms and drug trafficking for willfully failing to regulate Telegram according to the French law. The authorities put him under judicial control at the risk of letting him escape as the Lebanese businessman Carlos Ghosn managed to do by concealing himself inside a large box shipped as freight on a private jet while he was under house arrest in Japan awaiting trial in 2019. Double standards. “Depending on whether you are powerful or miserable, the court judgments will make you white or black…,” wrote the famous French writer La Fontaine in one of his numerous fables.
The testimonies collected by Human Rights Without Frontiers about the inhuman and humilitating conditions of the custody of the Romanian yoga practitioners detained and interrogated by the French police after the November 2023 raids were confirmed by a Canadian researcher: Susan J. Palmer, an Affiliate Professor in the Religions and Cultures Department at Concordia University in Montreal who is also directing the Children on Sectarian Religions and State Control project at McGill University. She published her own findings after interviewing in Romania the yoga practitioners who had been arrested and kept in custody in France: The Police Raids Against MISA in France: Conflicting Narratives – MISA Students Tell Their Stories – The Yogis’ Complaints About The Police – The MIVILUDES Behind The Raids.
The question raised by this paper is “What is the origin of such a disproportionate police operation targeting yoga practitioners?”
At the origin, a university researcher sentenced for harassment against a female colleague
According to the French media, the story of the widescale police raids targeting yoga practitioners started with a University of Angers medical researcher called Hugues Gascan.
His peer-reviewed publications in scholarly journal shows that he is an esteemed scientist, said Massimo Introvigne in Bitter Winter. Some of his earlier articles were co-authored with a female colleague, P.J., and others.
At one stage, a dissent emerged between Gascan and P.J. about alternative therapies for cancer and perhaps other matters as well. Gascan accused P.J. of being influenced by her participation in a “cult” led by a Canadian teacher of tantric yoga.
The conflict in the laboratory became so acute that the University of Angers in 2012 decided to close the research center where both Gascan and P.J. had worked. Gascan now presents himself as a victim of a “cultic infiltration” into his laboratory but court records tell a different story.
His female colleague P.J. filed criminal charges against him for “moral harassment” and had him sentenced in first instance, and on appeal, and finally by the Court of Cassation on May 14, 2013, which confirmed the suspended sentence of four months in prison. The term “harassment” was used 11 times in the final judgment.
According to the court decisions, he also harassed other employees of his laboratory. Several people in the university testified that they had personally been subjected to a similar pattern of denigration of their work, and to various forms of bullying which led to their isolation from the group and their removal from the department.
The judges noted as well that a forensic psychological examination of P.J. had confirmed she was in a good mental health, and that even the governmental anti-cult agency MIVILUDES, reported that no cultic deviances had been identified” in her behavior.
This experience seems to have developed a deep hatred of Tantric yoga groups in Gascan.
Gascan and MIVILUDES behind the massive police raids
After this failure, Gascan declared war on cults. In 2022 he created a small confidential anti-cult group of two persons called GéPS (Groupe d’étude du phénomène sectaire/ Study Group of the Cult Phenomenon). This ‘group’ was almost unknown until November 2023, has no website and no public report of activities but surfing on the anti-cult wave in France easily attracts the attention of the media in a positive way. It was a way for Gascan to bury in the sands of oblivion his judicial troubles and his suspended sentence of four months in prison, and to restore his personal public image.
He boasted in some French media, as Le Point and Nice-Matin, that for 10 years he had investigated the activities in France of the Romanian Tantric yoga group MISA founded by Gregorian Bivolaru who had been accused of using it for sexual abuse. Moreover, he claimed that he had provided testimonies and his research documents to the governmental anti-cult agency MIVILUDES (Interministerial Mission of Vigilance and Combat against Cultic Drifts) but they never emerged in any trial. His thunderous declarations earned him the pinnacle of certain media outlets in search of sensationalism as “The man who brought down MISA.”
According to him, the then president of MIVILUDES, Hanène Romdhane, transferred his reports to Claire Lebas of the Cellule d’assistance et d’intervention en matière de dérives sectaires/ Assistance and intervention unit with regard to cultic deviances (Caimades) and from there to Major Franck Dannerolle, head of the Office central pour la répression des violences aux personnes/ Head office for the repression of violence against persons (OCRVP). The result was the police raids of 28 November 2023 on eight separate houses and apartments in and around Paris but also in Nice, Gascan said.
While readers of French media are led to believe that this operation was the result of a Sherlock-Holmes-like work by GéPS, the sensational stories and accusations that he shared with some journalists had been known for years by the French authorities. At this stage, the accusations of trafficking in human beings and sexual abuse of foreign women have never been confirmed by any court decision in Europe.
Moreover, two scholars have investigated the testimonies of so-called victims of sexual abuse and have highlighted their unreliability: the Italian scholar Massimo Introvigne in his book Sacred Eroticism: Tantra and Eros in the Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute (MISA) (Milan and Udine: Mimesis International, 2022) and the late Swedish scholar Liselotte Frisk in her research the case of Finnish women claiming to have been victims
Surprisingly for the 175 policemen wearing bullet-proof vests and armed with semi-automatic rifles, none of the women reportedly ‘liberated’ and interrogated by the police confirmed Gascan’s story but numerous women were victims of abusive police custody in humiliating and traumatizing conditions during which there were serious breaches of the law as Human Rights Without Frontiers brought to light throughout interviews of about 20 female yoga practitioners.
Whether Gascan’s fake story about the alleged trafficking and detention of several foreign women for sexual abuse in France really influenced the MIVILUDES and the French judicial authorities in the decision that was taken to launch such a huge operation finding no victim will only be verifiable if access to key administrative documents of the MIVILUDES is granted to researchers.
Israel/Gaza: Remarks by High Representative/Vice-president Josep Borrell to the press following the Ministerial meeting on “Implementing the Two-State Solution”
Remarks by EU Vice President Borrell
Thank you for being here, at a somewhat late hour. I wanted to comment to you, from my point of view, as an observer that I was today, at the meeting that took place, convened by the government of Spain.
I was on mission in the Middle East – yesterday I was in Beirut. Also visiting the United Nations mission in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL. Then [visiting] the authorities and [having] different meetings with Lebanese civil society. Earlier I had been in Cairo, at the meeting of the Arab League ministers.
I came to Madrid, but tomorrow I am going back to the Middle East, to the [United Arab] Emirates. After having participated as an observer in this meeting – convened by the Spanish government – and I want to thank the Spanish government for the effort it is making to promote the peace process in the Middle East, based on the two-state solution.
I have been an observer on behalf of the European Union. As you know, the European Union has different positions on this point. Whether or not to recognize Palestine as a state is a national prerogative of the member states. Some have done so, others have not.
Undoubtedly, there is unanimity in the Union on the need to support the solution based on the construction of the Palestinian State. The State of Israel already exists, it is a democratic State, powerful – economically speaking – with a very important military capacity.
Today’s meeting serves to keep alive the prospect of such a solution. But for that to happen, many steps must first be taken. In the first place, the cease-fire, which continues to be negotiated interminably. If not today, it will be tomorrow. And not tomorrow either, [but] the day after. We will see. There is little hope that it can be achieved in the short term, according to the information I have.
But that does not prevent us from continuing to work to achieve, first, to bring aid to the people in Gaza, and to continue to demand the release of the hostages. But to continue also to have a political solution in perspective. Although it is clear and evident that the government – this government of Israel – rejects it.
We have to build as much international consensus as possible. This morning there was a very interesting exchange of views, first with the Prime Minister and then among the ministers.
As I was telling you, tomorrow I will go to the Emirates [United Arab Emirates], which was not present at today’s meeting – neither was I in Cairo, at the Arab League meeting – and then in New York, at the meeting that we are planning together with Norway, in the framework of the United Nations General Assembly.
I think everybody knows: we are living in the Middle East a situation on the edge of a problem, I would not say much more serious, because what there is is already serious enough. The situation in Gaza is already serious enough not to think that someone else can do more, but regional spillover is still a possibility.
We begin by strongly condemning the Hamas terrorist attack. We have to remember that whenever we take the floor to say it again. But then what is happening in Gaza is a horror that is not justified by the horror that Hamas previously provoked; that horror does not justify another.
I have been to a closed border post at Rafah, where we are negotiating the possibility of opening it with a presence of the mission that we have had stationed at the border for more than 20 years.
It’s one thing to be told, it’s another thing to see it. It’s one thing to be told that there are a lot of trucks waiting and it’s another thing to see the endless line of more than 1400 trucks – 1400 trucks on both sides of the road waiting to get in and sometimes waiting for weeks.
It’s one thing to be told that, it’s another thing to see the warehouses full of the products rejected at the border control, among which there is everything. Yes, it is frankly shocking to see mountains of boxes of different kinds of material. Some have come from Singapore, others from Brazil, others from Norway, from European countries. Where there is everything, where there are medical first aid boxes that are rejected because inside there are those little scissors that are used in pharmacies to cut the adhesive tape. Even water purification systems that are rejected because there are carbons inside – and of course, how can water be purified without carbon? Even sleeping bags that are rejected because they are green – green, apparently, can be considered as a material for military use.
You see boxes and boxes of the stuff that is dramatically lacking for those a few miles away. And yet they are held back after a long journey and a long wait.
We have condemned recent attacks in so-called “safe zones.” Which then, at the moment of truth, are not, with an absolutely unjustified number of civilian casualties.
In Lebanon, as in the West Bank, there is today the fear that there will be an even greater pressure that will generate a new emigration of Palestinians – forced migration, of course – both in the West Bank and in the Sinai.
That is the situation. Today’s meeting was, I think, important in preparation for the UN meeting.
Once again, from an observer position, [since] I did not take part, I neither approved nor rejected the final statement of the meeting because, as I tell you, there are different positions within the Union, even if we are all in favor of the two-state solution.
The problem is not being in favor of a solution, but what to do to achieve it. For this, there are different actions that I had the opportunity to discuss with the Arab ministers at their ministerial meeting in Cairo.
I remain at your disposal in case I can answer some of your questions.
Q&A
Q: I don’t know if you think there should be some specific actors participating in this [United Nations] meeting. What international actors do you think should be at the table?A couple of hours ago, the Israeli foreign minister posted a message on social media accusing you that your legacy is going to be anti-Semitism and hatred of Israel.I don’t know how you feel about that, in the framework that we’re in now.And if I may, a third one.I don’t know if on your visit to Madrid you had the intention or the opportunity to meet with Mr. Edmundo Gonzalez or if you have in the future and intention or want to seek the opportunity to meet with him.
Q: I would like to ask you about whether the Maduro regime can be described as a dictatorship following Mrs. Robles’ comment.
Q: I would also like to ask you about Venezuela, what do you think about the proposal of the European People’s Party for the European Parliament to recognize Edmundo Gonzalez as president?
Well, I see that the situation in the Middle East is less topical than the discussion on Venezuela – which is also going to be discussed in the European Parliament next week.
Let’s talk first about the issues of today’s meeting. Actually, I believe that the problem does not affect only Arabs and Europeans. It is a problem that affects the whole world. Although for historical reasons, naturally the Arab neighbors in the Middle East, well, they have been more affected. [Historical and factual reasons because they have received the largest number of Palestinian refugees. I think we must also overcome the fact that the contact groups are between one geographical area and another. It would be good – and this will surely be debated at the United Nations – to incorporate into any contact group actors that represent international concern, [that] there is a problem.
Why not countries like Chile, which has a large colony, or like Canada, which also has a large Palestinian colony – and which have taken important decisions. Canada has banned arms exports and Israel. Chile’s positions – you know them – are, as they have already been very strong from the point of view of respect for human rights. So, yes, I think we have to overcome a little bit [the division between] Europeans and Arabs, and perhaps also the United States. You have to open the contact group to more international actors.
Second, [about] Twitter [and] the Israeli minister. Well, what I would like to say is that we don’t care about Iran, either the Minister is not well informed or he doesn’t care about not being well informed. Just last week we proposed – and it is proposed to the Council – the Council is going to discuss – an additional proposal for sanctions on Iran. In the same way that he regrets that he did not take the initiative – I hope that this press will help him to be a little better informed. I insist, whether he cares about being well informed or he doesn’t care.
Secondly, Kissinger – who had some experience in discussions about the Middle East and who was also a Jew – used to say that as soon as you argued with the Israeli government of the day and you did not agree 90% with its positions, you were immediately accused of anti-Semitism.
That word should not be devalued. There are in history, unfortunately, manifestations of what it means to be anti-Semitic, and I believe that one should not play with big words that have had a tragic dimension in history. To accuse anyone who disagrees with the position of a government of being anti-Semitic makes no sense.
I am repulsed by anti-Semitism. The Jewish people have obviously been subjected to persecutions and sufferings that everyone knows and recognizes. I am the first. Therefore, I am not going to bother to refute these kinds of qualifications that fall under their own weight. I am going to do everything I can to ensure that the Association Council, which is scheduled, is held. I just want to point out that this thing that says I don’t care about Iran also falls apart and you should know that.
The second [question] was already about Venezuela. I will gladly meet with Edmundo González. Unfortunately, I am leaving tomorrow for the Emirates [United Arab Emirates] and I will not have the opportunity, but I have been in permanent contact with Mr. Gonzalez. With the candidate that we believe – in the light of the only information available, which is the one provided by the Venezuelan opposition, but that the United Nations observers themselves recognize its verisimilitude. [They] recognize that, obviously, to the extent that they describe the reality that they have been able to measure the elections, Maduro has not won them. Therefore, I have already said it: we do not recognize Maduro’s democratic legitimacy because we do not recognize that he won the elections.
Q.The first one is about the UN actors.The second one was about the Israeli newspaper and the third one is about the interview with Mr. Edmundo Gonzalez – if it was possible, if there was a future.
I would have no problem finding him. Hours before he left Venezuela I was at the Ambrosetti Forum in Italy, I was talking to him, and he already told me the situation he was in. I have spoken with him and we have invited him to come to the Foreign Affairs Council. Naturally we are going to continue to maintain with him and with the opposition that has remained in Venezuela – we must not forget that there are people in Venezuela who need our support and who are in a complicated situation – to the extent that the Maduro regime – I suppose that tomorrow they will also call me in some way, it does not matter – is engaged in a repressive dynamic that worries us all, and which can only be overcome through international pressure and in particular that which can be done by the Latin American countries that are closest to us.
I have also been asked about the statements made by a minister and other ministers. I am not going to comment on the statements made by the ministers of a country, even if it is my own. I am Spanish and naturally I follow Spanish politics, but I do not think it is my role to comment on the statements of one or the other. What is clear is that these elections have shown that the democratic quality of Venezuela, which we already knew before, has not improved.
The third issue is the question of the Popular Party to recognize Edmundo [Gonzalez]. Look, in international law what is recognized are States. The existence of a State is recognized. For example, Kosovo is not recognized or is recognized. Kosovo, the State of Kosovo. The government in power in Kosovo is not recognized or is not recognized. In international law, a State is recognized. When it was the procés, and Catalonia tried to achieve independence outside the Constitution, the big question was whether this independent Catalonia would be recognized as an independent State. Not whether or not you recognized the president of the Generalitat, but an independent State. The case of Kosovo: some recognize it and others do not recognize it.
Venezuela is a recognized state. It sits in the United Nations. We continue to recognize the State of Venezuela, but we do not recognize the democratic legitimacy of those who say they have won the elections without proving it. In any case, recognition or non-recognition is a national power of the Member States. The European Union neither recognizes nor fails to recognize Kosovo because it does not have the capacity in international law. The Member States have it and some use it in one sense and others use it in another. But even if I wanted to, I could not recognize or not recognize a state. And to recognize or not to recognize a president of the government. What is done is to recognize or not to recognize the democratic legitimacy of the one who holds power, the territorial control of the army, of the police. That, in fact, was Maduro before the elections and continues to be Maduro after the elections. But we do not consider him a person who can claim democratic legitimacy to the power he holds.
Unfortunately I cannot be in Strasbourg because I could not be in two different places at the same time. I believe that at this moment the commitments I had made in the dialogue on the situation in the Middle East could no longer be modified. Surely there will be more occasions to discuss that in the coming days. In any case, unfortunately, there are no magic wands in these matters. As the spokeswoman of the Socialist Party said in a recent debate in Parliament, acknowledgements may have a symbolic value, but unfortunately they do not change reality. I do not know if I have made myself clear. Governments are not recognized, States are recognized. It is the States that can do it. It is the States that recognize other States and we do not recognize them. We, the European Union, do not recognize the democratic legitimacy of Maduro.
Q.I wanted to ask you what plans you have for the reactivation of the mission [EUBAM Rafah], and if you are considering, a new, strengthened mandate.I remember that one of the big problems we had then is that it was a non-executive mandate – we were mere observers.Also, our security forces could not be armed.So, in the hypothetical case/incident we had to get in the armored cars and run away.In this case of a new EUBAM Rafah, what would be a bit of a mandate?Also ask him about the security of the Philadelphi corridor, something Prime Minister Netanyahu is constantly claiming.That they don’t want to somehow delegate the security of the corridor because of the problem of the tunnels and the possibility of new smuggling of weapons, ammunition, explosives.The possibility of a multinational military force has been considered and perhaps you could also comment a little on what hypotheses are being considered, if it would be under NATO mandate.There are European countries willing to contribute troops, Arab countries, friends of Israel that also seem to be offering.
Well, if you were there when EUBAM Rafah was created, you know what the rules of the game are. It’s a non-executive mission, like [almost] all of our missions. I think only an executive mission in Kosovo. Sorry, not in Kosovo, it’s in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Even the missions in the Sahel didn’t have the executive character. Executive in the sense of UN terminology, which means being able to go into combat. They are not, and [EUBAM] Rafah was not. And it’s going to continue not to be. We’re not going to change the nature of the mission.
On the other hand, unfortunately we are not close, if not far away, from getting an agreement that would allow this mission to be deployed again. It was deployed in its observer and advisory capacity, and we had to withdraw it. I am willing to assume the responsibility of sending my people again, but it has to be with guaranteed security conditions and with acceptable political conditions.
That means an agreement that allows the Palestinian Authority to be our interlocutor on the ground. At the moment, neither of these two things has been achieved. Therefore, the mission cannot be deployed for the time being. It would be a non-executive mission, an observation and support mission, but that means that the Palestinian Authority has to be there. You will remember if you were there, that Egypt said “that goes with you on the Gaza side. On the Egyptian side I don’t need you and you don’t deploy.” That is still the case. It would have to be deployed on the other side, but with what interlocutor and under what security conditions? I don’t think that’s going to be for tomorrow. Which is all the more unfortunate because the border is going to remain closed. When one goes there and sees the line of ambulances from the [International Red Crescent Movement] waiting to evacuate people who cannot cross the border, with seriously wounded, one can only regret it. To consider that the situation of blockade at the border is not admissible, but it is what it is.
You asked me about an international mission. There has been a lot of talk about it. Almost all the news I have heard is unfounded. As far as I know, there is no Arab country that has offered the presence of its troops. [There are] some exceptions, but under conditions that are far from being met. The same goes for the European Union. This does not mean that a solution should not be sought to stabilize the situation in Gaza.
Today at the moment Gaza is a lawless and lawless area with desperate people. One of the reasons why the United Nations is having serious difficulties is because there is no interlocutor and no one to guarantee security internally. First, a cease-fire has to be achieved. As long as there is no ceasefire, everything else is just talk for the sake of talk.
Concern mounts about the increasing purchase of properties by the Russian Orthodox Church near military sites in Norway, which poses security issues.
In recent years, the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) in Norway has acquired properties next to military bases, which has been a source of concern since the beginning of Putin’s war on Ukraine.
More than 700 religious communities receive state grants in Norway, including Orthodox parishes subordinated to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Rus’ who blessed Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Purchase of properties
In 2017-2021, a number of properties were purchased by the ROC in the coastal area of Rogalan.
According to cadastral data, the ROC bought in 2017 a building in the town of Sherrey (Bergen community), located on a hill three kilometers away from Haakonsvern, which offers a view onto the main base of the Royal Norwegian Navy and the largest naval base in the Nordic area. Before the acquisition of this house, the religious community was located in the city center. The Orthodox priest in Bergen, Dimitry Ostanin, is Ukrainian and was appointed by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’ in 2008 when the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) was fully subordinated to him. Before that, he had served in Kaliningrad and Smolensk (Russia).
In the town of Stavanger, the former priest of the local community of the Russian Orthodox Church has a property near the NATO Joint Warfare Centre (JWC) in Jatta, according to Dagbladet. It is located just one kilometer away from an important military building, about fifteen minutes’ walk. That NATO Centre celebrated its 20th anniversary during a formal ceremony on 26 October 2023. Over the last two decades, the JWC has planned and delivered more than 100 exercises and training events and ensure that NATO’s commanders and their staffs are well-prepared and ready to respond to any mission, whenever and wherever the call may come.
The Russian Orthodox Church also has a parish in Trondheim. On 21 March 2021, the first Orthodox service in the city was celebrated for almost a thousand years as part of the celebrations of the feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy at the parish of the Holy Princess Anna of Novgorod, in Russia. News of this important event in the life of Orthodox Christians in Norway was shown on the Russian The Saviour and Unity TV channels.
In 2015, the Russian Orthodox Church also bought a property in Kirkenes (Finnmark county) in the far north-east of Norway, on the border with Russia.
In addition, the Moscow Patriarchate sponsors work in Tromsø in northern Norway and in Svalbard, also known as Spitzbergen.
In 1996, the Moscow Patriarchate established a parish in Oslo. Among all Orthodox Churches in Norway, the parish of St. Olga in Oslo, is currently the largest one; another parish under the Moscow Patriarchate in the capital city is Saint Hallvard.
The presence of Orthodox Churches subordinated to the Russian Orthodox Church/ Moscow Patriarchate in EU countries has also raised national security concerns because in a number of cases they were suspected or accused of serving as relays for Putin’s propaganda or Russia’s spying activities. Czechia, Estonia, Lithuania, Sweden and Ukraine have taken various measures to anticipate or tackle security risks, including with the assistance of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
In Norway, an Orthodox parish dedicated to St. Nicholas under the Patriarchate of Constantinople was founded in Oslo in 1931 by a small group of Russian refugees who fled the Bolshevik Revolution. In light of security threats attributed to the Russian Orthodox Church/ Moscow Patriarchate in several European countries, the ROC in Norway remains registered and surprisingly continues to receive state grants. One can wonder why Norway is so laxist with this security issue. Voluntary blindness or lack of political will or both?
