Halim Shebaya

Professor Amitai Etzioni is straightforward. He does not sugarcoat his language or his intention as he shares his thoughts in his now-infamous op-ed for Haaretz, "Should Israel Flatten Beirut to Destroy Hezbollah's Missiles?"

The newspaper changed the title twice, as reported by Salon. But regardless of the words in the title, the intention is clear: how to justify Israel's policy and military tactics during armed conflicts.

A reader unfamiliar with the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict might be impressed with the intentions behind the article. The problem that is identified is that "most of Hezbollah's 100,000 missile arsenal are hidden in civilian areas." And the point of the op-ed is allegedly to push Israel to "examine now the ethical and logistical consequences of its first use of extreme conventional weapons against them."

By Jack Moore

Three female entrepreneurs have kickstarted a sexual harassment tracker in Beirut in the hope of combating crimes against women in the Lebanese capital.

A beta version of Harass Tracker—launched on Monday—will provide a three-month trial in the city after which, if successful, it will be expanded across the entire country.

The platform is essentially an online reporting tool where people who have witnessed or experienced sexual harassment can mark the location on a map of the city and provide information regarding the type of sexual harassment that they encountered, alongside a description of the event.

by Arab News

JEDDAH: Lebanese expats working in the Gulf remit around $5 billion annually, with Saudi Arabia leading the list of these countries, an official of that country has said.
“The Lebanese economy will adversely affected once the number of expats working in the Gulf begins to decrease,” Mohammad Shaheen, chairman of the Lebanese Council for Work and Investments in the Gulf, said.
Most of the Lebanese working in these countries occupy prestigious jobs and positions, such as doctors, managers and engineers, he was quoted as saying by local media on Thursday.
“More than 300,000 Lebanese expatriates send remittances to about 600,000 beneficiaries in Lebanon who are bound to experience hardships if immediate steps are not taken by that country to mend its ways,” he said.

Naharnet

Dozens of Lebanese employees have been fired from their jobs in Saudi Arabia, media reports said on Thursday, amid an unprecedented rift in the Saudi-Lebanese relations.

“Around 90 Lebanese citizens have been informed by their employers in Saudi Arabia that they have been laid off,” MTV reported in the afternoon.

The head of the Lebanese-Saudi Business Development Commission, Elie Rizk, confirmed the news to LBCI television.

“Nearly 90 Lebanese from all affiliations and sects have been sacked,” he said.

Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) also reported that around 90 Lebanese have been fired while noting that no decision has been taken to "deport" the laid off employees.