WhatsappAfter Israel spent a week successfully taking out an Iranian spy ship in the Red Sea, destroying Iranian bases in Syria, and setting back the Iranian nuclear program with a bomb blast in Natanz, the Saudis have decided to repair relations with Tehran – undercutting the formidable Abraham Accords alliance that had been built with their acquiescence.
After working closely with Saudi Arabia and the UAE to build a real sense of an alliance against the spreading hegemony of the Shiite fanatics in Iran, why would these country’s backstab Israel?
So much was made of the Abraham Accords and there has been a lot of good will messages back and forth. There have also been a myriad of business deals and a serious increase in tourism. Still, one has had the sense that like anything else in the Middle East, these relationships were just transactional – great on paper and social media, but not reliable if the needs of the Sunni states changed.
With the Biden administration, the Sunni states have had to think about the recalibration that is necessary to survive. An Iran that is now allowed back into the US good graces means a very different Middle East than what Trump envisioned.
The Financial Times reported:
“The process is being facilitated by Iraqi prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, who held talks with Prince Mohammed in Riyadh last month. ‘It’s moving faster because the US talks [related to the nuclear deal] are moving faster and [because of] the Houthi attacks,’ the official said.”
Essentially, the Gulf States allowed Israel to take the heat for an attack on an Iranian spy ship, while conspiring to shift and kneel in front of the Ayatollah.
This is the Middle East. There are no lasting alliances or friendships, just necessities bound in transactional relationships. Like a show of the Game of Thrones, allies are abandoned or backstabbed, friends thrown asunder.
The mistake to trust Saudi Arabia and others is the real issue here and that mistake is Israel’s. We the Jewish people have returned to our Land, but we continue to make the mistake over and over again. We are in search of friends, alliances, and permanent stability, but that is not the world we live in.
Countries and rulers respect strength, not honor or friendship or even business deals. It is why the Lechi of pre-State Israel mentioned the following as point 16 of their 18 principles of the Rebirth of Israel: “The Hebrew nation shall become a first-rate military, political, cultural and economic entity in the Middle East and around the Mediterranean Sea.”
The Sunni Arabs, Sudan, Morocco, and others didn’t reach out to Israel because they wanted to be friends. They signed the Abraham Accords because Israel has become the regional powerhouse it was meant to be. These same countries are willing to throw us under the Iranian bus unless we are willing to fight the enemy at “our gates.”
Understanding the real game is the key to being the leader Israel must be in order to win the coming war. It does not have much time. Iran is already here.
