The Israel – UAE Bonhomie

israel uae 1

The improbable and unprecedented has happened. United Arab Emirates (UAE) has declared to normalise relations with the state of Israel on August 14, 2020 1 , after a phone-call between the trio- US president Donald Trump, Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu and UAE crown prince Zayed Al Nahyan sealed it through, sending shock waves throughout the world, apart from the general resignation in the Middle-East, particularly so, when Beirut, the capital of Lebanon has witnessed a blast  which has reduced it to a smoke in not just over a fortnight on August 4, 2020 2 , prompting Iran to call it ‘huge mistake’ 3  and Turkey has said that history would never forgive the UAE ‘hypocritical-behaviour’ which would recast the order of the Middle-East politics 4.  Even as the smoke of the Beirut blasts has not silenced  that an ‘event’ of such propensity has taken place, when particularly, Trump had already twice reiterated that Beirut attack was with some kind of a bomb and not an accident 5 .

What however has come more of a shock is that when Gulf-states should have been rallying for Lebanon apart from the formal medical and food supplies, UAE instead has just added to more Chutzpah in Israel, where Zionist ultra rightist politicians have called Beirut blast as a ‘Gift from God’ 6 .  For those who follow the Middle-East politics the developement has not come as too much of a surprise, except for the timings, as UAE had been flirting with Israel from quite some-time back ,  as it was only on June 19, 2020 Middle-East Monitor 7 had carried a story as to how UAE was bent upon leaving Palestinians in a lurch in order to embrace Israel. In order to break the ice formally, UAE ambassador to Washington Yousef Al Qtaiba wrote an article in a Hebrew Daily, the first ever in an Israeli newspaper on June 12, 2020 8, in his piece, Al-Otaiba, one of a few Arab leaders to support Trump’s ‘peace-plan’ had written that the UAE had long “promoted engagement and conflict reduction,(and) helped to create incentives-carrots rather than sticks-and focused attention on the collective benefits for all parties. He (also) cited Abu Dhabi’s listing of  Hezbollah, as a terrorist organisation and condemnation of Hamas, to support his suggestion that the UAE had played a serious role in advancing peace (with Israel). This all was being done in alignment to the ‘annexation-plan’ of West Bank by Benjamin Netanyahu touted as ‘deal of a century’ by Trump.  UAE was definitely playing to the tune of Trump as It was Qtaiba who (on June 12, 2020) was cautioning about the dangers of the ‘annexation-plan’ when he has already had a  ‘loud-laugh’ with Benjamin Netanyahu along with Bahrain ambassador Abdullah Al Khalifa at a restaurant in Washington on May 12, 2018 9 . Khalifa had been very vocal on his tweeter account having  had ‘stunned Israelis and Arabs ( in May 2018) for his support for Israel self-defense after Israel  retaliated for an Iranian rocket barrage by attacking suspected Iranian targets in Syria’ 10 .

Yousef Al Qtaiba is the man who clinched the deal.  The point of trigger in the acceleration of this UAE-Israel  ‘love-affair’ primarily stems from the intimidating message Israel has given (officially denying while US pointing) , after the Beirut blasts and also for what has been ‘life-long’ in Iran. The Gulf-states are very loathsome of Iran and its influence and also its military might, which had been given a fresh impetus by Iran-China 400 billion USD deal for twenty-five years, on July 13, 2020 11, as Iran has always stood to the US hegemony in the Middle-East and has withstood the eight year war by Iraq Saddam Hussein, who was sponsored by the Gulf-states and US, and which US later turned-upon Saddam Hussein himself to leave Iraq now fractured to no end. Iran is supportive of Syrian regime along with Russia and Iran supports Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Palestine.  Israel is now almost routinely involved into bombing inside Syria and Lebanon boundaries on the Iranian assets.

‘The Israelis claim that there are many common denominators between Israel and the UAE, as both have close relations with the US and Egypt, and these four countries share an alliance against Iran and the armed jihadist organisations, ( i.e. Hezbollah and Hamas) making them both benefit from this relationship.  Furthermore, Israel also benefits from US and Egyptian relations with the UAE, by obtaining an entry card to a huge commercial market, and an overt presence in the rich Gulf region. As for the Emirati leaders, they have an alliance with a regional power – Israel – and according to the available information, relations are (were) growing and warming over time’, informs the article in Middle-East Monitor 12.

The Christian Zionists are ecstatic. Mike Evans, who is one of the most vociferous proponents of the ‘annexation-plan’ of Trump, is a man to be listened as time and again he has warned (Trump) to expedite the Israel plan to annex West Bank and Jordan Valley   or else loose Christian votes in US November 2020 elections 13 , was prophetic when he had lauded MbS-the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and MbZ-the UAE counterpart to be ‘more pro-Israel than a lot of Jews’ on Sep 13, 2019 .  ‘(A) Video footage circulating on social media shows Dr Mike Evans, who in 2015 founded the Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem with the late Shimon Peres as its first chairman, speaking about his private meetings with Arab leaders to an audience at the Jerusalem Post 8th annual conference, which was held in New York two months ago( July 2019) . Evans can be seen displaying astonishment and delight in equal measure over his discovery of the views of Arab leaders concerning Israel. “I’ve met with MBZ in the Emirates,” he explained. “I’ve met with MBS in Saudi Arabia… and I can tell you something astonishing. These leaders are more pro-Israel than a lot of Jews.” He used colloquialisms to identify the two Crown Princes  14.

If Mike Evans can be believed which he seem to be increasingly so, it is well expected that the Gulf-states are now to fall in line in their bear-hugging Israel, with KSA facilitating it from ‘behind-the-curtain’ for the time being (as their might be a reaction from Muslims) and later to enter as a ‘kingpin’ of the whole grandiose plan.  This all is happening in the enmity of Iran. As for Palestinians? They have been abandoned long back. It is no secret that Christian Zionists and Jews are into for together to demolish Masjid Al Aqsa, one of Islamic holiest sites, and build a Solomon Temple or the ‘Temple-Mount’ on it in East Jerusalem 15.  It is thus only a matter of time when Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman (already has it) and KSA are to have full-time-ties with Israel, with Qatar a bit of a hard nut, and which too, has been circumvented by allegations to have ties with Hezbollah 16  by the US or else its chance to organise Football Word Cup  in 2022 would stand to be smashed!

 

Qatar is already into an exclusion list as since ‘three years, an air, land and sea blockade has been imposed on Qatar by four Arab countries. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt have cut their diplomatic and trade ties with Doha, and have imposed a sea, land and air blockade on Qatar, claiming it supported “terrorism” and was too close to Iran 17 ’. An allegation Qatar denies.  The dangerous implications and consequences of UAE are to unfold in the coming decades. This may be the beginning of the ultimate dream of the Greater-Israel.

The Trump aided ‘annexation-plan’ has not been put on hold. An attack on Iran by US before November 2020 elections is also very much on the cards. Meanwhile, Turkey, is mulling to snap its diplomatic ties with UAE.  The drama is all set to continue, who knows,  well into the next century, but one thing is for sure, COVID-19 pandemic is turning out to be harvest-moon for Israel.

The writer is a former UP State Information Commissioner. He is also a lawyer based in Lucknow.

 

References:

1-https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/uae-israel-normalise-ties-latest-updates-200813154215455.html

2-https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/04/Smoke-seen-from-possible-explosion-near-port-area-in-Lebanon-s-Beirut

3-https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-emirates-iran/irans-president-says-uae-made-huge-mistake-with-israel-deal-idUSKCN25B0BE

4-https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-emirates-iran/irans-president-says-uae-made-huge-mistake-with-israel-deal-idUSKCN25B0BE

5-https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/it-was-a-bomb-of-some-kind-donald-trump-reiterates-lebanon-blast-might-not-have-been-an-accident/ar-BB17CRe9

6-https://www.middleeasteye.net/video/former-member-israeli-knesset-celebrates-beirut-blast-gift-god

7-https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200619-uae-sabotages-relations-with-palestinians-to-normalise-with-israel/

8-https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200612-annexation-would-destroy-israel-arab-normalisation-efforts-warns-uae/

9-https://www.timesofisrael.com/dinner-diplomacy-netanyahus-unusual-encounter-with-uae-envoy/

10-https://www.timesofisrael.com/dinner-diplomacy-netanyahus-unusual-encounter-with-uae-envoy/

11-https://www.financialexpress.com/defence/iran-china-strategic-agreement-and-its-implications-for-india/2022453/

12-https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200815-uae-and-israel-disclose-their-relations-after-decades-of-secrecy/

13-https://www.israelhayom.com/2020/07/02/if-trump-pulls-his-support-for-israel-he-will-lose-the-evangelical-vote-and-the-election/

14-https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190903-saudi-and-uae-leaders-more-pro-israel-than-a-lot-of-jews-says-prominent-christian-zionist/

15-https://countercurrents.org/2020/07/hagia-sophia-babri-masjid-and-temple-mount/

16-https://www.jpost.com/international/us-team-to-qatar-to-probe-its-alleged-finance-of-hezbollah-report-638382

17-https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/qatar-blockade-gulf-crisis-190604220901644.html


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