Abu Dhabi Meets “Israel”: Lebanese Banned From Entering

After repeated denial attempts over the past week, Reuters confirmed the news by announcing that “the United Arab Emirates will stop issuing new visas to citizens of 13 countries, including Lebanon, according to a document issued by the state business complex.” In the details of the news, the document that Reuters reviewed was based on a circular from the Immigration Department, which took effect on November 18. According to the document, applications for new work and visit visas have been suspended for overseas citizens of 13 countries, including Afghanistan, Libya and Yemen, until further notice. The document says that the visa ban also applies to citizens of Algeria, Kenya, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Tunisia and Turkey, as well as Lebanon.

This decision brought to mind the issue of Lebanese deported from the United Arab Emirates, up to the arbitrary detention campaigns against which Lebanese are illegally subjected or charged against, since these people are expelled from their homes without knowing where they are taken and threatening their families in case they cause confusion in In this sense, even the Lebanese people live in a state of panic. The number of arbitrary detentions has increased, and more than 14 Lebanese were recently known, who were detained in batches, starting early last month (see “Al-Akhbar”, Thursday, November 19, 2020 and Friday, November 20, 2020).
It is not the first time that the UAE has taken ever-increasing measures against Lebanon. Years ago he reduced diplomatic representation, deported Lebanese, arrested, interrogated many people and reduced them. In some cases, the threat went so far as to threaten to halt Emiratis’ travel to Lebanon. This is repeated today in extremely delicate circumstances, and comes a few days after the statement of the Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister, who for the first time in a long time crystallized the Kingdom’s position on what is happening, saying: “We have a case in which the regime in Lebanon is mainly focused on covering Hezbollah. . This completely undermines the state. The state is plagued with corruption and mismanagement due to one party’s control over it, which is an armed militia that can impose its will on any government. Therefore, I believe that without structural reforms that address this basic problem, individuals are not the problem ”. Here, the action taken by the UAE cannot be separated from the path of US pressure to isolate Lebanon. In addition to this factor, the recently announced strategic alliance between Israel and the Emirates. Abu Dhabi’s decision to stop granting visas to Lebanese comes in compliance with an Israeli decision, in preparation for joint security agreements between the two allies aimed at protecting Israelis who are exempt from the requirement to obtain a prior visa to enter the United Arab Emirates. It remains that this file is absent from the priorities of Lebanese politicians, who previously neglected this issue. While no clear or public position has been issued on the matter, official Lebanon is not expected to take any action as a matter of reciprocity or issue a statement of condemnation, due to permanent submission to the Gulf states.

Parliamentary fun with criminal scrutiny
Internally, the political reality has been locked into the equations of disrupting the line of government formation, while attention is directed to the Friday session of Parliament to be held at UNESCO to discuss the message that President Michel Aoun sent to the Parliament on the criminal audit of the accounts of the Banque du Liban, before the exit of the company “Faris End”. Marsal ‘, indicating additional disputes between political parties. The response to this message is expected to come politically through the positions that will appear in the session, or legislatively, through two bills, one from the “Development and Liberation” bloc and the other from the Lebanese Forces. Although the Amal movement appeared in the last period as one of the local parties most in solidarity with the governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh, it opted for this option without explaining the reasons for the withdrawal of the aforementioned company, nor touching the argument to which it it adhered not to deliver information, which is bank secrecy. The foregoing raises the question of whether the move of the Amal movement was to “enlarge the stone” to hinder its advance, since the proposal it made calls for expanding the scrutiny to reach ministries and public institutions, noting that this process will require an effort that It will last for years, highlighting that the State tells that the Minister of Finance had The first, Ali Hassan Khalil, the first credit for its completion is present in the Audit Office and the audit was not completed as required … Or the Amal movement wants to demonstrate what it says that it does not interrupt the audit, and that it is ready to go far in the audit even in the ministries that were in its custody? In the last years.
Suggestions abound, while the House of Representatives is required to have one, a law that robs the integrity of the ability to invoke bank secrecy to cover up crimes and violations that occurred at the Central Bank. Although the proposal presented by the “forces” is an advanced step in this regard, it also contains a loophole, namely a one-year limit for lifting banking secrecy, although it must be permanent, since the limits must be eliminated. imposed by the banking secrecy law and the monetary law. And credit to any investigation requested by the judicial authority or the executive branch. If these limits are not removed, the financial sector will remain above the law.
In fact, words are no longer useful, as it seems that the whole issue of scrutiny has been closed, while everyone awaits the formation of the government. Even if it is made up, the most that can be achieved is for the French central bank to come and conduct an account audit, not a criminal one, and ensure a safe exit for Riad Salameh, whose chances of leaving before his term ends are still slim. .

Chances of Riad Salameh leaving before his term ends remain slim

Here, it is necessary to refer to the maneuvering of the political forces who say that the audit of the state accounts in the Banque du Liban is available without modifying the laws, because the state can lift the secrecy of the accounts of the ministries and departments, which is a type of fraud practiced by these forces, because the accounts are already in the Diwan. Accounting, and because the required audit is not in how the Central Bank manages state accounts, but in its handling of monetary policy and its dealings with banks and the transfer of public money to private money for the owners of the banks and the large depositors. Therefore, any statement that the state can remove bank secrecy from your accounts is aimed at obscuring the truth and escaping the desired goal.

Bassil responds to the United States ambassador
On the other hand, the media office of the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, Gebran Bassil, stated: “There is no need to respond again to the US ambassador as long as she repeats herself without providing any evidence about the accusation of corruption by the head of the Patriotic Movement. Free, as long as the Lebanese State does not deliver any file that contains information or document OR presumption. We call on the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to remind the US ambassador of the need to respect diplomatic principles and not interfere in the internal affairs of Lebanon.
The US Ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea, said that “Basil thanked me for confronting him with details about Hezbollah,” and noted that Bassil “altered the content of the meetings that took place between us and the sanctions that were imposed on him for corruption. “. He revealed that “there are files on Lebanese personalities in Washington that are being studied under the banner of sanctions related to corruption or terrorism.”

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