Jerusalem and Washington are advancing a secret plan to establish a continuous land bridge connecting the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel, leading from the Persian Gulf straight to Israel's seaports. This is intended for the export of goods from the East to Europe through Israel, and later for tourist movement as well.The land bridge will enable trucks to transport goods while significantly reducing transportation costs and time compared to the current situation.According to a study conducted by the Foreign Ministry and the U.S. government, the time reduction is estimated to be from two to three days to several weeks, and saving up to 20% in shipping costs.Currently, trucks leaving the United Arab Emirates reach the port of Haifa via the Allenby Bridge but face bureaucratic procedures, including driver changes, paperwork and lengthy waiting times. Another expensive option for shipping goods is via ships through the Suez Canal and then to European ports, which is also costly.The idea is to enable the arrival of a single truck and driver from Dubai to the port of Haifa, for example, without changing drivers and trucks at border crossings between countries. The Israeli Foreign Ministry presented the plan to the U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein.According to senior Israeli officials, the Americans were enthusiastic about the plan and began promoting it with the involved countries: the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
Sounds like a win-win-win. As long as proper security measures are in place, the idea of cutting shipping times from weeks to days between the Gulf and Europe will benefit everyone, and help solidify peace in the region.
So the usual haters are starting their campaign against it. And their major reason to oppose it is....classic antisemitism.
Rai al-Youm, a site run by known antisemite and terror supporter Abdel Bari Atwan, describes this plan as a nefarious plan for Jews to take over the economy of the Gulf. It headlines the story, "Israel's plan to control the wealth of the East."
Their illustration:
The article concludes that "It goes without saying that if the aforementioned plan succeeds, the entity will enjoy Arab money for free." The comments go on from there with various Jewish plots to take over the UAE and Bahrain.
It will be most enlightening to follow this plan. The economics and US enthusiasm may convince the Saudis to go along with it even without an official agreement between them and Israel. Assuming that they are on board, there is no reasonable objection to this plan except pure hate of Jews.
But if history is a guide, the "progressives" who are the bulk of modern antisemites in the West will work overtime to come up with reasons to oppose this plan that will sound reasonable to those who share their latent antisemitism. We will see objections based on "human rights" even though there is no human rights issue here. They will craft convoluted essays opposing it that will first be published in Al Jazeera, then sharpened and focused to be acceptable to The Nation, and then crafted further to be in the New York Times op-ed page.
But as the first knee-jerk reaction in Rai al-Youm shows, the real reason is hate of Jews, and the other excuses that follow will have only one purpose: to hide the nakedly antisemitic intent of that opposition.
