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Ukraine is pressing its allies for faster weapons supplies as intense fighting continues in the eastern Donetsk region.

Following a weekend of attacks on the cities of Kharkiv and Kherson and ongoing battles around Bakhmut in Donetsk, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that “Russia hopes to drag out the war, to exhaust our forces. So we have to make time our weapon. We must ... speed up the supply and opening of new necessary weaponry options for Ukraine.”

Ukraine’s allies agreed last week to provide the country with heavy battle tanks, with Kyiv then pressing for fighter jets too. One Ukrainian governent advisor was reported stating Saturday that “negotiations” were taking place over the possibility of sending fighter aircraft.

Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz insisted over the weekend that fighter jets would not be provided to Ukraine, however, telling a German newspaper that “the question of combat aircraft does not arise at all,” Scholz told the Tagesspiegel newspaper in an interview published Sunday.

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Just over a decade ago, the Palestinian flag hung alongside Israeli and American flags at the Israeli prime minister’s residence, when Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas shared a historic handshake.

Today, Netanyahu is back in power and Abbas never left, but many other things have changed, including Israel’s attitude toward the Palestinian flag.

This month, new Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir ordered police to take down Palestinian flags in any public place in Israel, claiming they are a rallying symbol for terrorists.

At least one artist felt forced to respond to Ben Gvir’s decree.

As soon as he heard about the minister’s order, Tel Aviv-based visual artist Michael Rozanov drew himself in the colors of the Palestinian flag and made the artwork his Facebook profile picture.

“It’s ridiculous, you want to take down flags? What if I am a flag, what would you do? Would you put me down because I’m wearing certain colors?” said Rozanov, known as Mysh. “So I drew this illustration that took me 10 minutes.”

He didn’t expect it to attract much attention, but dozens of Israelis joined Mysh, asking him to draw their profile pictures with the Palestinian flag in the hope of making some impact.

“And then I thought, yeah, it would be nice to offer other people to join in. Because I like drawing and I like starting something online,” Mysh told CNN .

Naturally, he also drew Ben Gvir clothed in the colors of the Palestinian flag, right up to his kippa, the skullcap worn by religious Jews.

Mysh is far from the only Israeli unhappy with Netanyahu’s new government. The prime minister’s right-wing coalition won a slim majority of the popular vote in November’s elections, but critics and opponents object to a wide range of its moves, including the Palestinian flag public ban, increased deference to the ultra-Orthodox and plans to change the judicial system.

More than 100,000 people turned out in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, the latest – and largest – in a series of weekly protests against legal reforms Netanyahu’s allies are planning.

But not all Israelis welcomed Mysh’s drawings.

One commenter on Facebook accused Mysh of “spreading a flag of hate,” adding: “What a bummer.”

Another said: “What does this want to say? That it is now cool to belong to a nation that has surrendered to its terrorist leaders? Hamas doesn’t want peace with us, what’s not clear?”

Mysh made a point of replying to each comment to explain and even try to convince his critics.

But he believes that Ben Gvir’s attempt to publicly ban the Palestinian flag – which is technically legal to fly in Israel – is a continuation of the direction Israel has been moving toward since its founding in 1948.

“It’s definitely a step forward for the craziness, but nothing surprising,” Mysh said. “I think what we see now is the shattering of this illusion that most Israelis try to maintain, that they can live in a liberal democracy that respects all human rights, while simultaneously robbing five million people more of the same basic rights,” he said, referring to the Palestinian population.

An artist who uses different media – film and animation, illustration and comics – to address social and political issues, as well as sexuality and gender, Mysh came to Israel as a teenager from Latvia in 1993 and served in its army for three years.

But one day doing his reserve service at an Israeli checkpoint in the Jordan Valley, he says he had a powerful insight into the Palestinian experience.

“The only reason that checkpoint existed was to make the life of the people in the village more difficult,” Mysh said. “We were checking the same people twice every day. They were mostly mothers who take their children to kindergarten on the other side of the village.”

“There was a day when I was standing there with my gun and another soldier was checking ID cards, and suddenly I realized that I am a grown-up man who points a gun at a 3-year-old child. And I say to myself: ‘I’m not really pointing at him. I’m just standing like this.’ Yeah, but he doesn’t know that. What he sees is this scary creature pointing a f**king gun.”

“It suddenly hit me, the perspective of the other side, which is this child that twice a day sees this monster pointing a gun at him. What are the chances that this child grows up being ready to see me as a human being as I am? How can I expect him to perceive me as a human being? Then I decided I’m out of this. I’m not doing this anymore,” Mysh said.

Mysh sees a direct connection between Israel’s military checkpoints and Ben Gvir’s attempt to essentially ban the Palestinian flag, which is likely to be tested in court.

“Every oppressive system is a weak system because it can’t withstand any friction,” Mysh argued. “It needs to enforce a huge amount of violence to avoid friction.”

That is what Ben Gvir is trying to achieve, Mysh said: “It is an idea that in order to achieve our national identity, we need to take it away from other people.”

The digest
NATO negotiations between Sweden, Finland and Turkey delayed – Finnish FM

Finland’s Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told CNN on Tuesday the country’s joint NATO membership bid with Sweden is delayed amid reignited tensions with Turkey. “Of course, this is not good news,” he said. The delay follows protests in Stockholm over the weekend that included the burning of a copy of the Quran.

Background: Turkish state broadcaster TRT Haber reported Tuesday that scheduled negotiations between the three nations in February have been postponed upon Ankara’s request. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Sweden on Monday that it should not expect to receive any support from Turkey for backing the country to join NATO in light of the protests. Haavisto indicated in the CNN interview there are no plans for Finland to proceed with its NATO membership bid without its Nordic neighbor: “We are not in a hurry, we have time to go together with Sweden,” he told CNN.
Why it matters: Turkey’s Erdogan has been caught in a spat with his NATO allies over his obstruction of Sweden and Finland’s accession to the Western alliance. Turkey has cited the Nordic countries’ “support for terrorist groups,” mainly Kurdish militant groups, as a key reason for its objection. The recent burning of a Quran in Stockholm, which ignited outrage across the Muslim world, has further strained negotiations, all of which come months ahead of a presidential election in Turkey that Erdogan hopes will allow him to rule into a third decade. Haavisto added he hopes negotiations can resume after the Turkish election in May.
Battle continues over Beirut port explosion probe

Lebanese judiciary officials clashed on Tuesday over the reopening of an investigation into the 2020 Beirut port explosion. The inquiry was reopened by judge Tarik Bitar on Monday, but was rejected by Attorney General Ghassan Oweidat, who insisted that the investigation remains suspended and that no decision had been taken on whether Bitar could continue investigating.

Background: The inquiry into the blast had been paralyzed for more than a year by political confrontation and complaints filed by top officials who were sought for questioning. The massive explosion that took place in Beirut’s port on August 4, 2020 left more than 200 people dead and thousands injured. The damage was estimated at between $3.8 and $4.6 billion.
Why it matters: Reopening the investigation may bring hope to countless victims whose lives were uprooted by the deadly blast. Many are still eager to see accountability for the incident.
Israeli PM meets Jordan’s king in Amman in first trip abroad since returning to office

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on Tuesday held talks with King Abdullah in Jordan. The visit comes amid heightened tensions between the two countries over a Jerusalem site holy to both Muslims and Jews over which Jordan has custodianship in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem.

Background: Tensions have been high over the flashpoint complex known as Haram al-Sharif to Muslims and Temple Mount to Jews. It contains the al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, and the site of the destroyed first and second Jewish Temples, the holiest site to Jews. Only Muslims are allowed to pray at the complex under a decades-old agreement. However, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Ben Gvir, who in a controversial move visited the site two weeks ago, believes that Jews should have the right to pray there too. King Abdullah told CNN in December that Jordan is willing to work with “anybody and everybody” in Israel to bring peace, but won’t allow “red lines” over Jerusalem to be crossed, referring to al-Aqsa mosque.
Why it matters: This is Netanyahu’s first trip abroad since reassuming Israel’s premiership last month, and his first visit to Amman and meeting with Abdullah since June 2018. It comes just two weeks after Ben Gvir’s visit to the site, which drew widespread international condemnation, including from Jordan’s Royal Court. After the visit, Abdullah stressed the need for Israel to respect “the historical and legal status quo” of the al-Aqsa mosque compound. Palestinians immediately objected to the visit.

American social media star Kylie Jenner’s baby son was trending on Twitter in several Arab countries – for all the wrong reasons.

Jenner revealed her 11-month-old son’s name to the public on Sunday. Arabs swiftly took to social media to poke fun at it. The name, Aire, means penis or ‘my penis’ in Levantine Arabic, and is often used as profanity.

“Umm should someone tell Kylie Jenner she renamed her son Aire which is a common Arabic expression for ‘my penis’ or nah?” tweeted journalist Antoinette Lattouf to her 13,000 followers.

Even the head of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) weighed in.

“Arabic speakers are having a field day with this. The Arabic language is full of beautiful words, many of them are used for names,” Abed A. Ayoub, national executive director of the ADC, tweeted in jest to his 15,000 followers. “I hope he doesn’t have any Arab friends when he’s older.”

Jenner, 25, is mother to Aire Webster and 4-year-old Stormie Webster.

This is not the first time such a name made news in Levantine countries, which include Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the Palestinian territories.

In 2012, Arabic news outlets found themselves in a tough spot when Jean-Marc Ayrault became the prime minister of France. The French pronunciation of his name also means “his penis” in Levantine Arabic. Many Arabic outlets chose to pronounce his name with the L, which is meant to be silent.

CNN Arabic similarly decided to transliterate Ayrault’s name as it is written, with last two letters, rather than how it’s spoken.

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The cries of the women outside a Tehran courthouse swell to a collective wail. The gathering is reminiscent of a vigil, but it is one of the vestiges of a nationwide uprising that has all but died down after the Iranian judiciary’s breathless handing down of death sentences in recent weeks.

Children stand at the front of the courthouse protest chanting “No to execution” in a January 14 video shared by the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA). Despite the blurring of faces in the video, one girl can be seen wiping her tears. She appears no older than 10 years.

The nationwide uprising that began in mid-September convulsed Iran, posing the biggest domestic threat to the ruling clerical class in more than a decade.

It penetrated the regime’s conservative support base and produced countless acts of defiance – and sometimes violence – against the formidable Basij, a voluntary paramilitary group that is the fulcrum of the Islamic Republic’s security apparatus. The protesters were young and angry, and a barrier of fear appeared to have broken.

Four months on, the protests have fizzled out amid a growing wave of repression against demonstrators. Four protesters have been executed by the regime; many others fear the same fate. The executions are the culmination of an increasingly violent crackdown including the gunning down of protesters, mass arrests, physical assault and sexual violence.

The regime has also doubled down on the repression of dissidents, ethnic minorities and women. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has chalked the protests up to a foreign conspiracy and has called them an “act of treason.”

Another factor working against the protesters: most people over the age of 25 have steered clear of the demonstrations, analysts and activists said. This deprived the protest movement of the momentum needed to topple a heavily sanctioned regime over which the international community has little to no remaining leverage.

Still, Iran analysts agree that the regime has kicked the can down the road, and that protests are likely to resurface. Iran’s clerical leadership is either unwilling or unable to address its festering economic problems, exacerbated by a US sanctions regime and by widespread corruption.

“People’s anger has increased, not decreased,” said a 25-year-old activist from the southeast of the country who asked not to be named due to concern for his safety. “If there were no guns in the hands of security forces, large masses of people would stage an insurrection tomorrow.”

Almost 20,000 people have been arrested according to activists. More than 500, including dozens of children, have been killed, according to HRANA.

Iran Fire
VIDEO
Inside Iran's third month of protests as regime steps up deadly crackdowns
The repressive methods have left Iran’s protesters in a catch-22 situation. Disgruntlement against the regime appears to be spreading, but its use of brute force has deterred protesters from growing to the level needed to force the regime to stand down.

The absence of a critical mass created a “mathematical problem” for the protest movement, said Ali Vaez, International Crisis Group’s Director of the Iran Project.

“The majority will only join in when the regime has lost its will to suppress,” he told CNN. “And the regime’s will to suppress is unlikely to crack unless there is a critical mass on the streets.”

Vaez compares the state of affairs in Iran to the Soviet Union in the early 1980s, a period of public frustration and dire economic conditions that years later prompted the string of reforms, known as Perestroika, that preceded the USSR’s collapse.

“(The Islamic Republic) is where the Soviet Union was in early 1980s … It is ideologically bankrupt, is economically in deep trouble and is simply unable to reform itself,” said Vaez. “Unlike the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, (Iran) still has the will to fight.”

“One can conclude that the protests will re-emerge sooner rather than later in a more ferocious manner,” he added.

The chilling effect of executions
Echoes of the uprising continue to reverberate in the country. Every night in Tehran, , chants of “death to the dictator” ring out from rooftops and from behind drawn curtains, out of the sight of security forces. Anti-regime protests continue to crop up in some of the country’s minority-dominated border regions which bore the brunt of the regime’s crackdown.

On Friday, thousands of people poured into the streets of Baloch-majority Zahedan city after noon prayers, demanding the fall of the regime.

The Kurdish-majority west of the country continues to be peppered by gatherings marking the end of 40-day mourning periods for slain protesters.

“Kurdistan, Kurdistan, the graveyard of fascists,” mourners chanted in a video shared by Iranian-Kurdish human rights group Hengaw on January 16. The mourners raised roses in the air to commemorate Hooman Abdullahi, a protester who was shot and killed by security forces.

For activists, the endurance of the protests among ethnic minorities is a sign of what’s to come. The executions, they say, will eventually backfire.

At least 18 protesters have been sentenced to death as of now, with only five having won the right to appeal, according to HRNA. More than 100 protesters have been charged with crimes that carry the death penalty.

Four people have been executed already, including high-profile prisoners such as a karate champion and children’s coach.

Protesters with a noose around their necks during a demonstration in The Hague on December 21. The protest called on the Dutch House of Representatives to close the Iranian embassy and to expel its diplomats.
Executions aren't new in Iran, but this time they're different
“People are more angry after we realized how fast and hastily they hanged those men,” said one activist in Iran who does not want to be identified for security reasons and calls himself Mr. Z. “I think they compressed the spring more. Next time, people won’t even be afraid of being hanged,” he told CNN.

The executions have drawn sharp condemnation from the international community. Reports, including CNN’s own reporting, suggest that most protesters are being denied due process, with speedy trials and access only to state-appointed lawyers.

But the death sentences have also had a chilling effect, mostly on the older generation of Iranians who largely stayed off the street and who are now trying to keep their children at home, activists say.

“Nobody wants to hold a picture of their kid,” said one activist outside Iran, referring to mothers carrying photos of their slain and arrested sons and daughters. The images have been ubiquitous since the start of the protests.

“But the kids want to build their future,” said the activist, known as Mamlekate, who has played a key role in distributing photos and video from the protests, and in connecting journalists to sources in the country.

“If the kids don’t do it, who’s going to do it?” he told CNN. “This is far from over.”

The digest
Netanyahu dismisses key ally Aryeh Deri after High Court order

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed key ally Aryeh Deri from all ministerial posts on Sunday, complying with a ruling by Israel’s highest court that it was unreasonable to appoint the Shas party leader to positions in government. Netanyahu told Deri he made the move “with a heavy heart, with great sorrow,” according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s office.

Background: The court had said Deri’s appointment “cannot stand” due to his criminal convictions and because he had said in court last year before being sentenced over a tax fraud conviction that he would retire from public life. The ruling was a dramatic move amid an unprecedented confrontation between his government and the judiciary.
Why it matters: Netanyahu’s government is planning major judicial reforms, which include a series of changes announced earlier this month that would allow parliament to overturn high court decisions and give politicians more power in appointing judges. More than 100,000 people protested Saturday night in central Tel Aviv, the largest in a series of demonstrations against the planned changes.
Prominent Egyptian businessman and his son released from prison

Safwan Thabet, founder and former CEO of Juhayna Food Industries, and his son Seifeldin Thabet were released from prison in Egypt on Saturday following almost two years in pretrial detention. The businessmen’s release comes almost two weeks after a loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) called for stronger support for the private sector as one of its key demands.

Background: Safwan was arrested in December 2020, and his son was later summoned and arrested in February 2021. They were both accused of “belonging to and financing terrorist groups,” but were never formally charged. The businessmen’s case gained international traction over the last two years, and in September 2021 Amnesty International said the incident shows “just how far the Egyptian authorities are willing to go to exert control and exposes how terrorism-related accusations are ruthlessly exploited in today’s Egypt”.
Why it matters: The listed company Juhayna is Egypt’s largest producer of dairy and juice products. In 2021, it had a 58% market share in the milk segment. It is unclear why the two men were released, which comes just two weeks after the IMF released details of its $3 billion Extended Fund Facility to Egypt, in which Egypt pledges to “reduce the state footprint” in the private sector.
EU approves new Iran sanctions package, says Iran Guards terrorist designation requires court decision in member state

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday said any decision to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as a terrorist organization would first require a court decision in a member state.

Background: The European Parliament on Thursday approved a resolution calling on the bloc to designate the IRGC as a terrorist group. And on Monday, the EU approved a new package of sanctions on Iran amid the country’s crackdown on protests at home.
Why it matters: Borrell’s statement comes amid conflicting reports from Iranian politicians about potential retaliatory action should the EU move forward with the terrorist designation. The Vice Chairman of the Internal Affairs and Councils Commission in the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Hassan Asfari, on Monday said that shuttering the Strait of Hormuz to European commercial ships is “on the table,” according to local media. Shortly afterwards, parliament spokesman Nizamuddin Mousavi said that there is no plan on the parliament’s agenda to close down the strait. The strait, which lies off Iran’s southern coast, is only 21 miles wide at its narrowest point. One third of the world’s seaborne oil passes through it.
Around the region

Conservatives in Jordan’s parliament are up in arms over a locally produced Netflix film that depicts crime and corruption in the country.

“The Alleys,” set in a fictitious neighborhood in Jordan, started streaming in early January and has come under heavy attack by lawmakers, some of whom described it as a decadent portrayal of society and criticized its use of obscene language.

One member of parliament (MP), Suleiman Abu Yahya, went as far as to demand on Monday that the government strip the citizenship of one of the film’s actors.

Last week, another MP, Mohammad Abu Suailik called for the producers to be taken to court for defaming the country and its people.

“This is a great assault on other people’s freedom, their values, religion and beliefs.” he said in parliament. “The filmmaker and its funders should be held accountable.”

Bassel Ghandour, the director, didn’t respond to CNN’s request for comment.

Jordan’s nascent but thriving film production industry has frequently come under fire by conservatives in parliament for its depiction of local society.

Liberal activist Sanad Nowar responded to the controversy by saying on Instagram that Jordan’s reputation is being marred not by the movie but by parliament’s own behavior, posting a video of MPs last year throwing punches at each other.

“This is not the first time parliament attacks such Jordanian movies,” he told CNN. “Every time, they use the same argument, which is that it doesn’t represent (the) Jordanian community.”

“We’ve been seeing so many attacks on anything related to art, music or any creative work that is outside of the box.”

Co-written and directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Bassel Ghandour, the film recounts events in a “claustrophobic neighborhood where gossip and violence police people’s behavior,” the film’s synopsis reads.

The film has won multiple awards, including the Audience Award and Special Mention at Sweden’s Malmo Arab Film Festival.

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The British government wants to hand new powers to police that would allow officers to take stronger action against people engaging in peaceful, political protest.

Human rights activists have accused the government of trying to suppress freedom of speech, while opposition politicians claim that Downing Street is simply trying to distract from the myriad of things going wrong in the United Kingdom at the moment.

The government issued a statement on Sunday night, in which it said it would table amendments to legislation that is already passing through Parliament called the Public Order Bill. This has already been the subject of huge controversy due to the extent to which it curbs protest.

Specifically, the bill nakedly targets groups such as Black Lives Matter, Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil, all of which have used disruptive tactics in their protests against the government.

The bill would criminalize long-standing protest tactics such as locking on (where protesters physically attach themselves to things like buildings) and tunneling (literally digging tunnels), and could force people who protest regularly into wearing electronic tags. The new amendment would also give police the power to shut down protests before any disruption even occurs.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “We cannot have protests conducted by a small minority disrupting the lives of the ordinary public. It’s not acceptable and we’re going to bring it to an end.”

The head of London’s Metropolitan Police Service, Mark Rowley, also issued a statement, in which he made clear that the police had not asked the government for more powers to curb protests.

Adam Wagner, a leading human rights lawyer, thinks this might be due to the fact there is actually very little to be gained in all of this for the police.

“The police already have to decide which protests to get involved with and which to leave alone. Whatever they do, they will get criticized and ideally they would probably rather have less to do with policing protests and the bad publicity that comes with it,” Wagner told CNN.

Critics of the government’s move point out that officers already have the ability to handle protests that get out of hand and are disruptive.

“The police have been very clear that they have the power to adequately deal with protests and manage protests when they are going to cause unjustified disruption and that’s been the case for decades,” Yasmine Ahmed, UK director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), told CNN.

“Our right to protest is fundamental, especially at a time when we are in the grip of a cost-of-living crisis, a climate crisis and our public health service is on its knees. Instead of helping people who are below the poverty line – people who are in work, including nurses – the government is wasting time crushing dissent,” Ahmed added.

Wagner believes that the bill could lead to the government being taken to court over allegations of breaching human rights law.

“(In) breaking up peaceful protest you are getting right to the core of human rights law. Direct action groups like Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion are not doing much different to what we saw in the civil rights movement or from the Suffragettes. To get some issues on the national agenda you have to be disruptive and people who do that should be tolerated as they are protected in law,” he said.

Conservative MPs are on the whole publicly supporting the government, but privately some concede that making amendments to make the bill even stronger could have something to do with the fact that the Conservative Party is trailing in opinion polls.

This allegation has been made of the government on a number of policies, such as its controversial plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, its efforts to make it harder for unions to declare strike action and a law that protects statues and national monuments.

“It is politically convenient to put the opposition on the side of all these other issues and remind the public that Labour (the official opposition) is funded by the unions,” a senior Conservative told CNN.

While issues like these might be controversial, just being willing to have the argument is something that could help the Conservative Party as it tries to rebuild its base before the next general election.

Multiple polls suggest that the public generally opposes disruptive protest and the Conservative Party has become very good over the past few years at weaponizing wedge issues, such as Euroskepticism, immigration and protecting statues of Winston Churchill.

There is no doubt that these issues put Labour in a tricky spot. On one hand, to have broad appeal they have to support the police and not appear to be on the side of disruptive protesters. On the other, they still have to oppose the government.

Sarah Jones, Labour’s shadow minister for policing, said in a statement that the police “have powers to deal with dangerous, disruptive protests and Labour backs them to use those powers… But the Prime Minister has spent more time talking about protest than he has the epidemic of violence against women and girls or his government’s shameful record prosecuting criminals.”

This might be a fair criticism of the government and prime minister, but is a less clear and clean message than simply saying “protests are bad and we will stop them.”

It’s not clear that the government will receive much of a boost from cracking down harder on demonstrators, especially if the new legislation leads to lots of messy scenes where peaceful protesters are being hauled away by an increasingly unpopular police force.

But beyond the politics, this Public Order Bill has left Ahmed, of HRW, questioning what sort of a country Britain really wants to be in 2023.

“When people argue that the government have a right to stop protests, well that’s what China says, that’s what Russia says, that’s what Myanmar says,” she said. “We wouldn’t live in the democracy we have today if people didn’t have the right to protest and disrupt things.”

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