Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

09/15 Links Pt1: The tender photo that just might signal start of true change in Arab-Israel ties; Mark Regev: "We will not be prisoners of the past"

From Ian:

The tender photo that just might signal start of true change in Arab-Israel ties

On Monday afternoon, a day before the Israel-UAE-Bahrain peacemaking ceremony at the White House, US President Donald Trump’s adviser Avi Berkowitz posted a quite beautiful photograph on Twitter. It shows Jared Kushner, the president’s senior adviser and son-in-law, handing a Torah scroll to His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa bin Salman al-Khalifa of Bahrain, to be used in a synagogue in the kingdom.

The moment is tender and moving — with the gazes of both men focused on the velvet-covered scroll rather than each other, respectful of it. It is a picture of transition and of trust — an American Jewish official entrusting an Arab monarch with the Jewish people’s most sacred text, for his safekeeping, to convey to a Jewish community free to practice its religion in his country.

Kushner has called the process of peacemaking we are now witnessing between Israel and, so far, the UAE and Bahrain, “the beginning of the end of the Israel-Arab conflict.” If that proves to be the case, this photograph may come to symbolize it.

There is no end of realpolitik in the new alignments. Israel has gradually impressed upon the neighborhood that it has millennia of roots here, that it is not going anywhere, that it is no pushover, and that it is well capable of defending itself. Its emerging new partners share a common concern about the Iranian regime’s rapaciousness and aggression, and recognize that Israel can be a critical ally against Tehran. The deals also open opportunities for warmer ties with Israel’s dependable US ally, and likely arms sales as a direct consequence. Also, decades of the Palestinians’ intransigence have reduced sympathy for their cause in at least parts of the Arab world — or at least reduced the readiness of parts of the Arab world to subjugate their own perceived interests to those of the Palestinians.

Still, Israel’s new partners did not abandon the Palestinians. A central element of the UAE deal was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s agreement to indefinitely suspend his plan to unilaterally annex up to 30 percent of the West Bank — the Biblical Judea and Samaria — including all the settlements. Trump had indicated early in his presidency that he was no particular supporter of settlement expansion; Kushner made explicit last week the concern that Israel, via the settlement enterprise, “would have eaten up all the land in the West Bank” if the administration hadn’t put out its January peace vision. And Netanyahu, laudably and politically problematically, chose the historic opportunity of a wider circle of peace for Israel over a unilateral push for wider Israeli sovereignty.

The moment Jared Kushner gave His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa bin Salman al-Khalifa of the Kingdom of Bahrain a Torah scroll for a Synagogue in Bahrain pic.twitter.com/RvPif5x51I
— Avi Berkowitz (@aviberkow45) September 14, 2020

Exclusive: We will not be prisoners of the past, says Israeli PM's aide

Jews in the Middle East were better off than their counterparts in the Christian Europe for many years, and by leaving behind the hostilities of the past, the UAE and Israel are showing the world how historical animosities can be overcome and partnerships built for future, Mark Regev, Senior Advisor to Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, told Khaleej Times in an exclusive interview.

"For many years, Jews in the Muslim Middle East were treated much better than the Jews in the Christian Europe. There were traditions of religious tolerance in Islam at a time when it was not present in Christian Europe. We are all the children of Abraham. The conflict between us in the last decades were an aberration," said Regev over telephone on Monday from Washington D.C, where the UAE and Israel will sign the historical Abraham Accord on Tuesday, September 15.

The US-brokered peace deal, which Trump announced on August 13, will see both the countries establishing diplomatic relations, and Israel agreeing to halt its controversial annexation in the occupied West Bank.

The UAE is the first GCC nation to normalise relations with Israel, and the third Arab country to do so after Egypt and Jordan.

Speaking about the scars of the decades-long hostilities between Arabs and Jews in the region, Regev said people cannot forever remain imprisoned in the past.

"No one can forget the past. In my country, of course, there are many memories from the Arab-Israeli wars. But there is a difference between knowing the past and being aware of the past and being imprisoned by it."

The official said both Israel and the UAE are countries that "embrace the future".

Colin Rubenstein: Deals between Israel, UAE and Bahrain shatter old barriers

The Palestinian leadership’s very strong response to the UAE and Bahraini moves – and the anger this has generated in Persian Gulf states – only underscores how the traditional Palestinian approach of all or nothing has become a major obstacle to peace for the region. It is the reason the Palestinians turned down repeated Israeli offers of statehood that met almost all Palestinian aspirations, in 2000, 2001 and 2008.

Meanwhile, the UAE and Bahraini decisions to normalise relations with Israel almost certainly occurred with the blessing of Riyadh. Saudi Arabia may not quickly follow suit, but it is nonetheless very much a part of the new Middle East alignment.

The UAE and Bahrain normalisation deals with Israel are therefore the tip of a much wider regional iceberg of changing strategic thinking that signals a far-reaching re-alignment.

At a time when the US is committed to drawing down its troops from the region, Western-aligned Arab states are recognising the value of partnering more openly with Israel in their common goal of thwarting Iran’s expansionism and deterring aggression.

There is every reason to hope these deals will empower the Western-leaning Sunni Arab grouping through more open ties with Israel, boosting stability, expanding co-operation on defence and intelligence affairs, trade, investment and joint technological development, and the potential for increased cross-cultural dialogue. Meanwhile, it should weaken the rejectionist forces determined to destabilise the region, especially Tehran and its Hezbollah proxy in Lebanon; the Assad regime; Turkey’s Islamist ruler Recep Tayyip Erdogan; Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.

These normalisation agreements are a hugely positive watershed development. Australia, where Foreign Minister Marise Payne and opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong have welcomed both deals, should now lend its diplomatic weight to helping encourage other Western-leaning Arab and Muslim allies to follow suit.

Arsen Ostrovsky: Palestinians Never Miss an Opportunity to Miss an Opportunity

The United States was not prepared to sit idly by while the Palestinian leadership held ransom Israel's normalization with Arab and Gulf countries, thereby also holding back real progress and hope of a better future for everyone else in the region.

As Jared Kushner noted, President Trump has sought to "align the different countries in the region around their common interests, as opposed to focusing on historic grievances."

One of those common interests was Iran. Contrary to the conventional wisdom of the United Nations and the European Union, the United States also understood that it was not Israel, but rather the Islamic Republic of Iran, that was the main destabilizing force in the Middle East—and the one that could also unite Israel with the Arab and Gulf countries which Iran also threatens.

Therefore, the U.S. turned the entire conventional wisdom upside-down and proved all the naysayers and so-called "experts," who said peace in the Middle East must first go through Ramallah, wrong.

What we are witnessing today is nothing short of a full paradigm shift in the geopolitics of the region—not only normalization between Israel and Arab countries, but recognition of the importance of laying the foundations for a warm, durable peace, from the bottom up and not from the top down.

The only question remains: Will the Palestinian leadership follow the courageous lead of the UAE and Bahrain, look to the future and make peace with Israel—or continue to miss the opportunities before them, thereby consigning their own people to further misery?

Commentary Magazine Podcast: A New World Order

The realignment of geopolitics in the Middle East has many fathers, and Donald Trump was only one of them. What the thaw in Sunni states’ relations with Israel means for America moving forward. Also, for all the talk of the president’s “white grievance” politics, he’s performing better among minority voters in polls than he did in 2016 while white voters are fleeing his coalition.

With the UAE, and now Bahrain, recognizing Israel -- what would happen to this momentum if Biden were to become president?

In a recent article, Jonathan Schanzer -- of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies -- asks Would Joe Biden be willing or able to take advantage of the progress made with the Israel-UAE deal? At issue is whether Biden would be in a position to take advantage of the willingness of some Arab states to establish peaceful ties with Israel.

On the one hand, there is "the unorthodox approach of focusing on Arab states on the periphery of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict (rather than on the Palestinians)" -- going against the established precedent of relying on Arab states to bring the Palestinian Arabs to the negotiating table, the Trump administration is bypassing the Palestinians and bringing the Arab states themselves to normalize relations with Israel.

This is a new approach that Biden would be free to continue.

(Unless, of course, the Arab states are wary of the man who, as vice-president, vigorously supported Obama's strengthening of Iran, creating the instability and fear in the region that gave the impetus to Trump's policy in the first place.)

The stakes for the Palestinian Arab leadership are high:

At minimum, they will need to give up the dream of the demise of Israel as a state in which the Jewish people enjoy sovereignty and self-determination. More practically, this means the Palestinians would have to compromise on core issues like borders, Jerusalem, and Palestinians claiming refugee status.

And if Trump in fact should win in November, some version of his Deal of the Century is very possible.

On the other hand, if Biden were to win, his options could be limited.

First, Schanzer points out, there are the progressives supporting the Iran deal, who consider Saudi Arabia, the UAE and their allies deserving of US sanctions. Reestablishing the Iran deal would undercut the ability of a Biden administration to act as a broker with those states.

Then there are the progressive Democrats supporting BDS against Israel, and would likewise make a policy de-emphasizing Palestinian Arab demands more difficult.

Interestingly, prior to Trump becoming president, the Obama administration also worked on engaging foreign countries and improving relations.

But they did not think in terms of alliances -- it focused on Iran, not only to slow down its nuclear program, but also for the influence Iran could have in the region.

As described in Foreign Policy back in 2015:

If an Iran deal helps forestall development of a nuclear weapon, that has to be seen as a benefit. If it has produced a partner in helping to contain Sunni extremism, that will also be seen as a net good. If it forms the foundation for a new U.S. regional policy that is based on enlightened management of the balance of power between key regional actors to maintain stability and contain threats, that is to the net good...If [Obama] can make that happen through careful, strategic management of U.S. relations in the region and follow through on all the steps required to make this work, it’ll be quite an accomplishment.

Aside from betting on a global supporter of terrorism to get the job done, Obama was relying on the influence of a single, albeit influential state not shy about extending that influence, to hold things together. This was an extension of Obama's policy of engaging other countries one-on-one -- to "extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist,” even to governments “who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent.”

Like Myanmar, which Obama rewarded with restored diplomatic relations in 2012, following its political and economic changes and reforms, and cease-fire with rebels.

And Cuba, where Obama restored full diplomatic relations in 2014 and opened a US embassy for the first time in over 50 years, vowing to “cut loose the shackles of the past.”

The accomplishments are not insignificant, regardless of how one views Cuba and Iran. But it is a different approach from the policy of the Trump administration, which is focusing on alliances and regional peace as opposed to engaging individual countries and re-establishing relations.

And what about Biden?

As vice president, he has not been in a position to directly conduct foreign policy, though he has claimed to have influenced foreign leaders.

In 2018, Biden bragged about getting the Ukrainian government to fire a corrupt state prosecutor, by threatening to hold back loan guarantees:

I said, nah, I’m not going to—or, we’re not going to give you the billion dollars. They said, you have no authority. You’re not the president. The president said—I said, call him. (Laughter.) I said, I’m telling you, you’re not getting the billion dollars. I said, you’re not getting the billion. I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money. Well, son of a b*****. (Laughter.) He got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time.

Holding back aid in order to strongarm foreign governments appears to be a favorite tactic of Joe Biden.

In a well-known incident in1982, when Prime Minister Menachem Begin appeared before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden went beyond voicing opposition to the Israeli settlements and suggested that he would propose cutting financial aid to Israel. Unlike the Ukrainian leader, Begin was not impressed:

Don't threaten us with slashing aid. Do you think that because the US lends us money it is entitled to impose on us what we must do? We are grateful for the assistance we have received, but we are not to be threatened. I am a proud Jew. Three thousand years of culture are behind me, and you will not frighten me with threats. Take note: we do not want a single soldier of yours to die for us.

In this case, instead of bragging, Biden has "hotly denied" the incident, but it is confirmed by both the New York Times and Time Magazine.

In another incident, Biden killed 2 birds with one stone -- again bullying Ukraine, this time in order to undermine Israel by ensuring a unanimous vote for UN Resolution 2334, with the US being the lone abstention.

So much for supporting allies.

Schanzer suggests that a Biden administration could both continue the Trump policy of encouraging Arab states to recognize Israel while also leveraging those states to encourage the Palestinian Arab leadership to come back to the negotiating table.

But would Abbas see that as the last opportunity for peace on favorable terms, or as an opening to again scuttle talks and maintain the status quo?

In the meantime, let's see how many more Arab states will recognize Israel before the November elections.

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Will the "State of Palestine" take back the awards it gave the leaders of the UAE and Bahrain?

The purported "State of Palestine" has an elaborate set of awards and honors that it gives to people it wants to impress. Here is a subset of these awards:

These awards are given out liberally to any head of state that Mahmoud Abbas happens to meet.

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, received the "Legion of Merit of Jerusalem" from Abbas in October 2008.

In 2010, Abbas awarded the Order of the Star of Palestine to the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

In 2017, Abbas awarded Bahraini Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa the "Grand Collar of the Order of the State of Palestine".

Will Abbas now withdraw these honors because these countries "stabbed Palestine in the back"?

It seems like Abbas has no choice in the matter, if he wants to be consistent in his position that those countries are to be treated like pariahs.

(h/t Irene)

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Is this the biggest BDS fail of all time?

From i24, August 16, 2018:

Israel’s exports to Gulf Arab states were worth some one billion dollars in 2016, a new analysis of trade data suggests, despite their refusal to recognize Israel or have diplomatic relations with it.

Israel’s publicly available foreign trade data does not show any direct trade in recent years with countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, but the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change said Tuesday its analysis of goods flows between third countries suggest the true amount is “close to” USD$1 billion.

Its estimate suggests Israeli exports to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries outstripped those to allies and giant economies such as Russia and Japan in 2016, the most recent year for which annualized Israeli trade data is available.

The GCC is comprised of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Each are wealthy monarchies with rapacious consumer markets and an appetite for the kinds of advanced technology Israeli firms offer. The study said the one billion figure is only a tiny fraction of the trade’s potential.

If Israel was selling a billion dollars worth of goods to the Gulf in 2016 when it had to go through third parties and engage in some under-the-table transactions, how much is the market worth when done openly?

The same article estimates that, too:

“Given the size of these (GCC) markets, even if Israel’s potential share of them is conservatively estimated at just 2-3 percent of their total imports of goods and services under normal trading conditions, that would amount to $15-25 billion,” the report’s authors wrote of a situation in which the trade was conducted openly.

I don't think that boycotting Sabra hummus will make up for this.

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09/14 Links Pt2: David Collier: Fake Jews, the Scottish PSC and anti-Jewish hostility in Scotland; Medieval libels in today’s PA: “Israel openly murders Palestinian children”

From Ian:

David Collier: Fake Jews, the Scottish PSC and anti-Jewish hostility in Scotland

In Scotland they have antisemites who pretend to be Jews. The fake ‘Jewish’ activist is then promoted by the antisemites in the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC). In turn the SPSC has access to the heart of the Scottish Government and Justice system. In Scotland Jews can be stalked and have their complaints fall on deaf ears. Jewish business has already been chased out of the country. When they eventually try to defend themselves, Jews end up being smeared by a hostile press. Nobody can fairly say that Scotland is safe for Jews.
The ‘Jewish’ activist at the football match.

Last week I reported on a vile demonstration that took place in Glasgow, when a few extremist groups protested about Scotland playing against a football team from the Jewish state. My article focussed on the presence of several notable antisemites. A recent video from the pro-Iranian Press TV brought to light something even more sinister. Their reporter Robert Carter tweeted a video of an interview that took place during the demonstration. Carter introduces the person as a ‘Jewish activist’. The footage went viral.

The person in the video is called Jola AlJakhbeer. In 2018 she married a Palestinian from Gaza, Younis Al Jakhbeer. Her name on Facebook is currently AlJakhbeer Jola but the Facebook URL suggests she may also have used Lola Hazel at some point.

In the interview AlJakhbeer says she is there representing ‘Scottish Jews against Zionism’. It is worth watching the interview and listening to her talk about ‘us’ and ‘we’ and ‘Jewish values’.

Jola is a key campaigner for the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC). She appears to have used many aliases, such as Daria Krysta and Daria Auerman.

After the invention of ‘Scottish Jews against Zionism’, the name ‘Jola Litwitz’ began to appear on letters from Scottish Jewish anti-Zionists. I found occurrences in the National, IJAN and on posts belonging to the SPSC and JVL. It is possible that there are two women with the name Jola in Glasgow that are running Scottish Jews Against Zionism, but it is highly unlikely. Far more logical is that Jola AlJakhbeer has used a surname that sounds more Jewish.

For about three years, Jola went by the name of Jolanta Hadzic. She claimed she was the wife of Bosnian Muslim Muhammed Hadz. At the time this is what Hadz had to say about Jews – that we are all ‘Khazars‘.

Israel Advocacy Movement: Chris Williamson shared a 'Jewish' Holocaust denier

Lib Dems drop shortlisted London mayor candidate over ‘don’t vote for a Jew’ footage

A Liberal Democrat shortlisted to stand for London mayor has been dropped by her party it emerged she had called on voters not to back a Jewish candidate.

The JC has seen footage of Geeta Sidhu-Robb using a megaphone during the 1997 election campaign in Blackburn to urge Muslim voters not to vote for her Labour opponent, former Labour Secretary Jack Straw, because he is “a Jew.”

After the Lib Dems were sent a complaint about the candidate’s remarks, which were filmed for a Channel 5 documentary, the party released a statement saying: “Geeta Sidhu-Robb has been suspended from the Liberal Democrats and will not be on the ballot paper to be the Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of London.

“There is an investigation underway in accordance with due process."

Then a Conservative candidate, the health food entrepreneur was shown in the footage saying she was going to “take the gloves off” after accusing the local Labour Party of telling Muslim voters she was “against Islam”.

Ms Sidhu-Robb, once a senior figure in the People’s Vote campaign, could be seen making allegations about the local Labour campaign, accusing it of “making it racist, it's making it personal….. particularly considering the fact that my husband actually is Muslim.”

She then announces: "So, we are just going to pull the gloves off. I am going to get a car and walk around, and drive through town telling everyone Jack Straw is a Jew. How is a Muslim going to vote for someone who is Jewish?

This is Geeta Sidhu Robb a potential @LibDems candidate for London Mayor.

“Don’t vote for a Jew, Jack Straw is a Jew”

“If you vote for him your voting for a Jew”

“Jews are the enemy of Muslims”

Disgusting repulsive antisemitism. pic.twitter.com/f218dnazQH
— (((GnasherJew®גנאשר))) (@GnasherJew) September 13, 2020

Why Jews would vote for Trump: Answering Abe Foxman

The “more in sadness than in anger” trope is on full display in a recent Times of Israel op-ed by Abe Foxman about Jewish voters and President Trump. Foxman, who served as head of the Anti-Defamation League for decades and oversaw its shift from mainstream community defense organization to a shill for the left, offers a harsh critique of President Donald Trump’s record of unparalleled support for Israel and fails to make mention of the virulent anti-Semitism that now flows from the lips of the ascendant “progressive leadership” of the Democrat party; including Ilhan Omar, Rashid Tlaib and AOC. Let me set the record straight.

President Trump’s record is a story of perseverance and success in the face of overwhelming opposition – and his every success has benefited the United States and the Jewish community.

By removing onerous regulations at home and negotiating fair trade agreements abroad, President Trump pushed opened the door to the greatest period of economic growth we’ve seen in this country in decades. Unemployment fell to historically low levels, in particular for minorities, improving the lives of millions of American families. Likewise, the Trump administration has opened educational opportunities for underserved students, safeguarding the rights of parents and students to choose the education that is best for them, including Jewish students.

Foxman pays lip service to President Trump’s pro-Israel actions, such as moving the US embassy to Jerusalem. But there is much more to praise in the President’s Middle East policy. First is the President’s decision to take the US out of the disastrous Obama-Biden Iran nuclear deal, a badly conceived effort that let Iran continue to cheat its way toward nuclear weapons and the ballistic missiles to carry them. Trump’s “maximum pressure” policy against Iran has deprived the mullahs of the resources to pursue their nuclear dreams and limited their ongoing nefarious deeds as the largest state sponsor of terrorism – which was funded by American cash as part of the nuclear deal.

Next was President Trump’s decision to buck the warnings of failed diplomats and show true friendship to Israel. He recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and began discussions with the Israeli government about the extension of Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank, moves that made it clear that the US backs Israel’s national and sovereign rights. Trump’s policies implicitly called on the Arab world to recognize the State of Israel’s legitimacy and permanency. This not only strengthened the US-Israel alliance, but made possible the incredible diplomatic successes of the UAE-Israel peace treaty and the Bahrain-Israel agreement. Real, concrete peace has begun between Israel and Arab states, for the first time in 25 years. That is truly historic.

Quran wars on Twitter

The IDF Arabic language spokesperson Avichay Adraee tweeted a Quranic verse in support of the accords between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain, which says, "O you who believe, enter into complete peace."

The Israel in Arabic Twitter account quoted it as well, and noted that there are 170 Quranic verses that discuss peace.

One friendly UAE tweeter responded back with one of those other Quranic verses, 8:61, saying "If they incline to peace, incline you as well to it, and trust in Allah. Surely He is All-Hearing. All-Knowing."

But of course some Muslims are offended when a Jew quotes the Quran. One other response to Adraee's tweet was from 5:82, "You will surely find the most intense of the people in animosity toward the believers [to be] the Jews and those who associate others with Allah;"

Others said that the second half of the verse was more appropriate for Israel: " and follow not the footsteps of the devil. Surely he is your open enemy."

And one Photoshopped Adraee and labeled him The Great Ayatollah Avichay Adraee - which Adraee enjoyed.

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PLO secretary general Saeb Erakat gave a long, angry interview with An Najah TV where he accused Israel of being fully responsible for everything wrong in the Middle East and the Palestinians as peace-seeking victims.

Some interesting claims:

"We signed the Oslo Agreement for our desire to achieve peace, end the occupation, live decent lives and solve final status issues, foremost of which is the refugee issue."

In short, Oslo was meant to create two states - both of which would be Palestinian, after the "right of return" was implemented. Jews would have no homeland in the PLO's vision of "peace."

"The Palestinian side has signed many agreements with the Israeli occupation, but in light of negotiations with it it has been proven that they have a negotiating behavior that signs the agreement and does not implement it."

Such as when Arafat said that he renounced terror in 1993 but was behind the deadly Second Intifada? Israel has consistently offered peace but it was never good enough - to say that the Palestinians wanted peace is absurd; they never accepted a peace plan that would leave a Jewish state in existence and secure.

In an angry response to those who blame the Palestinian leadership for the sorry situation they are in, he said, "How can this accusation be directed at the Palestinian leadership that clings to its principles, and what they did with the late President Yasser Arafat for his insistence on East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine and the right of return and all Palestinian principles is a perfect example, so they assassinated him."

I have seen examples of Erakat saying in Arabic that Israel assassinated Arafat, but never in English - because he knows that any Western diplomat would laugh him out of the room.

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09/14 Links Pt1: Trump triumphs as PLO continues to dig its own grave; Man of the Year 5780: Jared Corey Kushner; German athletes urge sanctions against Iran for execution of wrestler

From Ian:

The Cultural Genius of the Abraham Accord

This concept of balance derives from the nomadic “way of the desert,” when it was common for tribes to fight over scarce resources, including water. Tribal raids were common, and reciprocity or proportionality of war did not exist. A weak tribe raided by a stronger one, therefore, would be enslaved, taken over, or obliterated. It was thus advantageous for a tribe to have more people and better weapons, for example, to safeguard its survival. Tribal competition in the Middle East is not simply a thing of the past, however. In today’s popular Arab culture, even television shows, such as soap operas, tell tribal stories. Museums in the Gulf display family trees of their countries’ leaders and powerful tribes.

In the corporate world too, photos of ruling families and tribes line the walls of major companies. In the political arena, key cabinet positions — including those of defense, foreign affairs, and intelligence — are allocated according to tribes, not only giving their representatives a seat at the table, but helping to establish loyalty to the country’s ruler and maintain mu-wazana. Even Jordan’s parliament is dominated by tribal, rather than religious or ideological, parties. One reason for this is that the tribe as a unit supports all legal, financial, and social aspects of the lives of individuals.

This primacy of the collective and “balance” in the Arab world is foreign to Western culture, which emphasizes the rights and freedoms of individuals. Westerners doing business in the Middle East thus frequently encounter difficulty as a result of this difference. Western corporations in Arab countries often make the mistake of allocating benefits to their local employees based on individual merit, for example, rather than recognizing the authority of the tribal leaders to decide on such matters.

This brings us to Iran, which created “imbalance” in the region through expansionism, backed by its military and many proxies, and by spreading fear among the Arab countries. This is why Bahrain — whose population is predominantly Shiite, but whose ruling family is Sunni — has followed the UAE’s lead and made peace with Israel. Even neighboring Saudi Arabia appears interested in making a similar arrangement, as was evident in the permission it gave to an El Al plane to use its airspace at the end of August to transport a delegation of American and Israeli dignitaries to Abu Dhabi for the purpose of ironing out the details of the Abraham Accord.

Herein lies the great success of the peace plan brokered by Trump between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan: It is the fruit of identifying an opportunity of an “imbalance” caused by Iran, and formulating a treaty that fits into the culture of mu-wazana. As such, it is bound to be a precursor to many more such treaties.

David Singer: Trump triumphs as PLO continues to dig its own grave

Trump offered the Palestinian Arabs this lifeline:
“I think the Palestinians are going to end up doing something that’s going to be very smart for them. And all their friends are coming into this, and they want to come into it — they want to come into it very badly.

"And I can see a lot of good things happening with respect to the Palestinians, which would be really wonderful. Whether you are on their side or not on their side, people want to see it all brought to an end, and brought to an end quickly. So that’s going to be very important.”

Erekat’s reply was reprehensible:
“[Erekat] said that this free normalization is bizarre as it comes through Jared Kushner, senior advisor to US President Donald Trump, who is a mixture of ignorance and an extremist Zionist who believes that the historic land of Israel is from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea and that the Arab regimes are bound by a peace treaty even though they are not at war with Israel, rather only the Palestinian people are at war with Israel.”

Erekat, recently appointed to teach diplomacy at Harvard, continued with a vitriolic personal attack on Trump’s son-in-law Kushner, one which has got Jew-hatred written all over it and will backfire badly.

Erekat clarified the PLO was still pushing the outdated 2002 Arab Peace Initiative and rejecting Trump’s 2020 deal of the century:

“[Erekat] stressed that what is required is to drain the occupation quagmire as stipulated in the Arab Peace Initiative. As for normalization before this is done, then it is accepting that Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre remain under Israeli sovereignty, which was what came in the so-called "deal of the century." This is a major treachery.

Regarding what happened in the meeting of Arab foreign ministers held virtually on Wednesday, Erekat said that the Arab League approved all the decisions except the one that condemns those who deviate from the Arab Peace Initiative, which some countries have objected to, and therefore it was dropped by Palestine so that no one will go to Washington to participate in the normalization steps or support them and say they went with an Arab or Palestinian cover.”

Trump is rapidly advancing peace between Arabs and Jews at a pace never before seen in the last 100 years.

Whilst Trump triumphs - the recalcitrant and rejectionist PLO continues to dig its own grave.

Old habits die hard for the PLO's director of public diplomacy, Hanan Ashrawi.

For decades the PLO would threaten that there would be an outbreak of terrorism or war or popular uprisings if the Palestinian leadership didn't get its way. And for decades, international diplomats believed those threats.

But over time, as the world saw that those threats were empty and that the promised mass Arab uprisings and murderous attacks did not materialize when the US moved its embassy to Jerusalem, when it recognized the Golan Heights as part of Israel, or any other time the PLO promised a strong Arab response.

But this does not stop Hanan Ashrawi from still invoking that tired formula.

In her statement in response to the announcement of an agreement between Israel and Bahrain, she said, "The false promise of prosperity and peace based on the US-Israeli approach will prove itself a destructive mirage that will only further destabilize the region."

How, exactly, would it destabilize the region? She leaves that to Western imagination to hearken back to the 1970's oil shock and Palestinian international terror attacks, to fears of an Arab street uprising, to Hezbollah and Iran activating terror cells.

In the end, it is simply another threat.

This time, though, much of the world is recognizing Palestinian threats for the mafia-style shakedowns that they are.

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This morning, Palestinian Authority prime minister Mohamed Shtayyeh said that the PA ministers are considering presenting a plan to to president Abbas to "reconsider" their relationship with the Arab League in light of the League refusing to pass a resolution condemning the UAE for choosing to normalize relations with Israel.

Shtayyeh said during his speech at the beginning of the cabinet meeting today that the Arab League has become a symbol of Arab impotence, and that normalization of relations with Israel is an affront to Arab dignity.

He added, "Is it possible for Arabs to accept only praying in the Al-Aqsa Mosque while it is under occupation?"

His supposed concern over politicizing the Temple Mount area is a bit hypocritical, coming a few weeks after the PA's Mufti, who works for Mahmoud Abbas, issued a fatwa to not allow any residents of any Arab nation that normalizes relations with Israel to even enter the area.

"Tomorrow will Arab peace initiative will be killed, and Arab solidarity will die. Therefore, we must rise together, and we will witness a black day in the history of the Arab nation and a defeat for the Arab League institution, which is no longer unified, but divided. This day will be added to the calendar of Palestinian pain and the record of Arab fracture," Shtayyeh added.

For decades every Palestinian resolution was passed at the Arab League as the Arabs feigned solidarity with a cause that they increasingly resented. Finally the charade is beginning to end as Arab states choose their own self-interest over the fake solidarity of the Arab world, one where the anti-Israel cause was often the only position Arab League members could agree upon.

Instead of seeing that the winds have changed, the Palestinian leadership is acting as if they are still in charge of how the entire Arab world should act. The Arab refusal to blindly bend to their will is causing lots of rage and zero self-reflection.

The Palestinian Authority is not only telling the Arab League to go to hell, but they are choosing to align with Hamas - the Muslim Brotherhood linked group that has become anathema to much of the Arab world, and which will push Egypt and Jordan away from their own sympathetic stance with the Palestinian Authority. Tomorrow and Friday the PA and Hamas are holding joint anti-UAE rallies and this entire situation is causing them to speak with each other more than they have in many years.

Because of a very skewed sense of honor, the Palestinian Authority is destroying itself. It simply cannot grasp that the world has changed and it must change along with it. There is an opportunity here for a path to statehood that they are refusing to take, and this is alienating them from the larger Arab world that they have relied upon for support. Moreover, a tilt towards Hamas will further estrange them from their benefactors.

The only real question - one that has life and death implications - is whether the PA and PLO will choose to explicitly ally with Iran, Hamas and Islamic Jihad and return to terrorism as their main strategy? They still want to maintain relationships with European powers that have replaced the Arab world as their main champions. But Hamas and the other terror groups are seeing this as an opportunity to return to "armed resistance", a move being actively pushed by Iran and its Hezbollah proxy.

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Iran's anger at Bahrain goes from whiny to threatening

The Islamic Development Organization sounds like a pan-Islamic NGO but it is in fact a mouthpiece of Iran's Supreme Leader.

Here was its whining reaction to the Bahrain/Israel deal, highlighting how much they are appealing to the honor/shame dynamic:

After accepting humiliation by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government, now accepting the humiliation of compromise by Bahraini government in diverting the world's public opinion from the first issue of the Islamic world and normalizing relations with the child-killing Israeli regime is a clear betrayal that will never diminish the determination and resistance of nations of the Islamic world. Relying upon the assistance of the Almighty God, we will soon witness the liberation of the occupied lands and territories as well as Al-Quds by the Palestinian people.

With this humiliating compromise, Bahraini rulers should know that allowing Zionist regime to step its foot in the Persian Gulf region will not be a simple issue and not only this irrational act will not lead to the spread of peace and security but also will lead to growing insecurity and instability in the region.

The foolish rulers, who are in a hurry to normalize relations with the occupying regime of Israel, will one day pay a heavy price for this great crime.

In continuation of their struggle in supporting the Palestinian cause, the brave nation of Bahrain will undoubtedly respond to this betrayal of the dictatorial rulers.

While strongly condemning this shameful agreement and humiliating act, the Coordinating Council of the Islamic Development Organization considers it a great treason that history will never forget.

But the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps of Iran was more threatening:

In a statement on Saturday, IRGC strongly condemned the establishment of diplomatic relations between Bahrain and the Zionist Regime and noted, “The callous ruler of Bahrain must be waiting for the hard revenge of the soldiers of Quds and the Muslim nation of the country.”

“The shameful act of Al-Khalifa and the Bahraini Regime in establishing relations with the Zionist regime, which was done against the will of the Muslim people of this country, is a great folly and lacks any legitimacy and will receive appropriate responses,” it read.

According to the statement, normalization of relations between a number of Arab countries and the Zionist Regime will never achieve its goals. It is a conspiracy organized by the White House which seeks to impose humiliation on Muslim nations and plunder their resources and wealth.

The statement added that the evil action of the Bahraini Regime will not have any achievements for the US and the Zionist Regime, noting that Muslims especially the Shia Muslims of Bahrain will take strong revenge on those who brought oppression, terror, violence, war, and insecurity to the region.

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Ken Roth of @HRW falsely accuses Israel of being Islamophobic

Ken Roth, head of Human Rights Watch, tweets about how there isn't enough criticism of China's horrible treatment of Uyghur Muslims.

But he can't resist throwing in a baseless accusation against Israel.

The people of Muslim-majority countries are increasingly distraught about their governments' silence regarding China's persecution of Uighur Muslims. If Israel, Myanmar, India, the US are rightfully criticized for their treatment of Muslims, why not China? https://t.co/Pj4saZrvow pic.twitter.com/ERyp8yedic
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) September 10, 2020

If you look at the original Foreign Affairs article he links to, he has changed a crucial word:

And yet the countries and entities that regularly criticize Israel, Myanmar, the United States, and other nations for their actions against Muslims have kept quiet about China’s treatment of the Uighurs.

It is quite valid to point out the hypocrisy of those who regularly criticize Israel or the US for their supposed treatment of Muslims while remaining silent for Uyghur abuses. But Roth changes "regularly" to "rightfully" - saying that the US and Israel are Islamophobic.

I responded on Twitter:

France outlaws burkinis. Not Israel.

Switzerland outlaws minarets. Not Israel.

European nations have more restrictions on Muslim call to prayer than Israel does.

The Israel Museum gives as much space to Islam as to Judaism.

Exactly how does Israel mistreat Muslims, @kenroth? https://t.co/5vyFNluSXQ
— Elder of Ziyon 🇮🇱 (@elderofziyon) September 13, 2020

Claiming that Israel mistreats its Muslim population is nothing short of slander, especially when Israel is more tolerant of Muslims than most Western European countries are by any measure.

But that is par for the course for the human rights defender who regularly attacks the human rights of Jews to live in their historic homeland.

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09/13 Links: What Bahrain’s deal with Israel really means; Caroline Glick: America And The EU—A One-Way Alliance; Saeb Erekat belongs in jail, not at Harvard

From Ian:

What Bahrain’s deal with Israel really means

Noxious or not, his policy had a larger strategic purpose, one that is bearing fruit in recent agreements. Trump was backing the Saudi regime, brutal as it was, because he cared more about their political stability and partnership against the Iran regime than about their deadly assaults on human rights. He may also have remembered that human rights interventions can entangle the US, as they did in Somalia, or lead to chaos and catastrophe, as they did in Libya. In any case, Trump effectively brushed off the killing of Khashoggi and continued to support the Saudi regime, which remained close to Washington, kept pumping oil, and bought more arms to cope with Iran.

By pulling back from direct military engagement in the Middle East while he promoted hardline opposition to Iran, Donald Trump has forced all Arab-Muslim states in the region to choose between appeasing the mullahs or making a common front against them. The Bahrain and UAE agreements with Israel show that they are choosing the latter option. It was Trump’s White House, not the State Department, behind those deals.

The most important potential agreement is between Israel and Saudi Arabia. That’s still far from certain. The Saudis have moved cautiously, despite their strategic vulnerability. There has been a lot of quiet military cooperation with Israel, but few public signs of it. That’s understandable. The Saudi royal family is well aware of their narrow political base and their vulnerability to extreme religious movements, within the Kingdom and outside of it. They know open cooperation with the Jewish state is risky business for a regime whose legitimacy depends on their role as Guardians of the Two Holy Mosques. That is why Mohammad bin Salman is waiting for Saudi Arabia’s friends in the Gulf and North Africa to move first.

Bahrain’s agreement with Israel is another important step in assembling a Washington-led coalition against a major strategic threat. It parallels Trump’s strategy in the Indo-Pacific region, where he is assembling a coalition against an even bigger enemy, reinforced by economic sanctions and military deterrence. These coalitions, Trump’s reluctance to put American troops in harm’s way, and his public denunciation of Nato partners for free riding on the common defense represent the biggest changes in American foreign policy since the end of the Cold War.

Seth Frantzman: Why Oman’s support for Bahrain-Israel deal is important for the Gulf

Oman’s support for the Bahrain-Israel deal is not entirely surprising since the Gulf nation that was the original trial balloon in 2018 welcoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Oman’s wording of its support argues that the Bahraini step to normalize relations is linked to achieving peace by ending Israel’s occupation in the West Bank and establishing a Palestinian capital in east Jerusalem. Al-Ain and other Gulf media emphasized this point.

The goal of Oman over the last two years has been to help pave the way for countries to be more open to Israel. This was clear in 2018 and early 2019 as Oman stressed this point in forums such as during the Manama Dialogue meeting in 2019. The Sultanate also pushed this point again in Jordan at a meeting near the Dead Sea. The concept was to welcome Israel’s integration into the region. Bahrain has made this point as well.

However, Oman has also been traditionally closer to Iran, serving as a kind of neutral state. It is not close to Turkey though, which is important for Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. Thus Oman plays a unique role. Its openness to Israel was well received in Washington in the lead-up and aftermath of Netanyahu's 2018 trip.

In 2020, Oman went through a leadership change when Sultan Qaboos died. A new foreign minister was named in mid-August. Some believed that winds of change might make Oman less open to Israel. But the recent statement signals the opposite.

What’s important here is the growing consensus in these statements of an emerging Gulf paradigm on Israel and normalization. Praising the deal is now becoming a natural and encouraged part of public statements from the alliance system anchored in Riyadh. This includes the statements by Egypt’s leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and also Oman.

Welcomes Bahrain-Israel Peace:
🇺🇸 US
🇬🇧 UK
🇪🇺 EU
🇦🇪 UAE
🇪🇬 Egypt
🇱🇻 Latvia
🇨🇿 Czech
🇦🇹 Austria
🇨🇦 Canada
🇸🇮 Slovenia
🇷🇴 Romania
🇦🇺 Australia
🇩🇪 Germany

Condemns Bahrain-Israel Peace:
🇮🇷 Islamic Republic of Iran
🇵🇸 Palestinian Authority
🇱🇧 Hezbollah
🏴‍☠️ Hamas
🇹🇷 Turkey
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) September 13, 2020

Caroline Glick: America And The EU—A One-Way Alliance

Whether the issue is Balkan peace, the International Criminal Court, Iran's nuclear program, Russian gas deals or China's 5G network, the EU always adopts positions that reject American leadership. Whatever issue is on the table at any particular moment, if the U.S. has a strong interest in a certain outcome—even if Europe ostensibly shares the U.S.'s goal—the EU adopts a policy opposed to the U.S.

Part of this owes to a freeloader mentality. The EU trusts that the U.S. will achieve its goals and Europe will be the beneficiary of American victories. At the same time, by opposing the U.S., Europe will maintain its close ties with America's enemies at America's expense and to Europe's financial and diplomatic benefit.

Israel is a story in and of itself. The EU doesn't have a unified policy about Kosovar independence. States with separatist minorities like Spain oppose it. States that have no such issues support it. The EU is similarly divided on all issues—except Israel.

The EU's only consistent foreign policy is its hostility towards Israel. When Stano said the notion that a state seeking EU membership would locate its embassy in Israel's capital city is "a matter of serious concern and regret," he was saying that no opposition is possible in the EU's passive-aggressive and continuous drive to weaken and delegitimize the Jewish state.

The Trump administration's domestic opponents have consistently blamed the president for "alienating our European allies." But the fact is, the administration has done nothing hostile to the EU. U.S. foreign policy under Trump aims at advancing U.S. interests by, among other things, promoting the cause of peace in the Middle East, blocking the spread of weapons of mass destruction to rogue regimes, defeating terror forces and blunting China's rise as a global superpower.

U.S. allies, whether in Europe or elsewhere, should applaud and support these efforts. The EU's vicious and sinister response to the Serbia-Kosovo agreement indicates that for all the talk of the Atlantic alliance, that alliance is in reality a one-way street.

Brilliant: Bahrain compliments Palestinians and says they support them; Palestinians tells Bahrain to drop dead

The utter cluelessness of the Palestinian leadership continues.

In an interview with Asharq al-Awsat, Bahrain's Foreign Minister Dr. Abdul Latif bin Rashid Al-Zayani emphasized that Bahrain still supports the Arab Peace Initiative.

He also took pains to say how much Bahrain supports the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people, and even went out of his way to compliment the Palestinian leadership:

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the Palestinian leadership, its firm positions and its continuous efforts to safeguard the rights of the brotherly Palestinian people and work to achieve their legitimate aspirations, and with regard to Bahrain, it affirms its commitment to its continuous and supportive approach to the efforts to enable the Palestinian people to advance their capabilities and enhance their resources to achieve their legitimate aspirations, like other peoples in the world.

How does the Palestinian leadership respond?

Dr. Muhammad Shtayyeh, the Palestinian Prime Minister, said: “We record for history our condemnation of the Bahraini normalization with Israel, following that of the condemned Emirati move, which is a flagrant violation of the official and popular Arab position.”

Shtayyeh said in a statement on Saturday evening that normalization was striking a blow to the Arab backbone and joint Arab action is nothing but a service for the country of use of Israel and its protector, and it is intended for narrow, short-term accounts with the American administration, above considerations of strategic issues, at the expense of the aspirations of the Arab and Islamic nation, Palestinian rights, and legitimization of occupation, settlements, and repeated aggression against Al-Aqsa.

Now, Bahrain and the UAE have a chance to pressure Israel to make peace with the Palestinians. They will be in constant contact with an Israeli leadership that is not only willing but eager to work with them.

Do Palestinian insults against them make it more likely or less likely that they will act to help the Palestinians?

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This morning I tweeted:

I'm still trying to figure out how the brilliant diplomats of the Obama administration weren't able to bring accords between Israel and any Arab country, and the incompetent Trump team managed to do it twice.

While the tweet is snarky, there is a serious answer.

The Obama administration (and, to be fair, plenty of previous administrations as well) took for granted various assumptions about the Middle East. Some of these are in the "everyone knows" category, some of them are from an inability of understanding the dynamics of the Arab world and taking some of their leaders' honor-based statements as being 100% true.

Donald Trump's major strength as President is that he does not accept many of the assumptions that others took for granted, and therefore he has not been straitjacketed by blind adherence to assumptions that are accepted as facts.

Some of these assumptions, in no particular order:

1. Israel is the intransigent party.

2. Settlements are the biggest obstacle to peace.

3. Jerusalem is an intractable problem that must be left for the end of negotiations.

4. Jerusalem must be the capital of Palestine in any peace deal.

5. The Arab world cannot make peace with Israel without a Palestinian state first.

6. Unless Palestinians' demands are met, the Middle East (and maybe the world) will explode into war and terrorism.

7. Solving other Middle East issues depends on the Palestinians accepting a peace plan with Israel.

8. The Arab street will never accept any deviation from the Palestinian demands on settlements and Jerusalem.

9. Arab nations will forego their own self-interest for solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

10. A right wing Israeli government cannot be serious about peace.

11. All of Jerusalem is in dispute until Palestinians are given the parts that were under Jordanian rule for 19 years.

12. The US must be in sync with the UN's and EU's dictates for peace.

13. If Palestinians reject a plan, Israel - as the stronger party - should be pressured into more concessions.

14. A two-state solution is the only possible solution.

15. Israeli rejectionism must be punished by the US, but Palestinian rejectionism must never have any negative consequences.

16. The Oslo process is the only possible way towards peace.

17. Any cooperation between Israel and Arab nations must remain quiet and under the radar; if they go public they would be torpedoed by the Arab media and people.

18. Israel is the only adult in the Middle East and as such the only one that should make sacrifices for peace.

When looked at in total, we see that many of these are articles of faith - almost a religion - that have little relationship with reality. And many of these are self-fulfilling assumptions.

Trump looks at the world a completely different way, one with completely different assumptions. Trump's assumption is that everyone wants a deal that maximizes their own self-interest, and that the US can facilitate such deals when it is in the US' own self interest.

It is still an open question whether the Bahrain and UAE deals will work out. But it is clear that the Obama-era assumptions are completely and thoroughly wrong, something that nearly all of those diplomats cannot yet accept.

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