Tag Archives: Abraham Accords

I Didn’t Pay To Be An Ally Of Iran

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On March 5th, Hot Air posted an article about the changing alliances in the Middle East. There are a lot of reasons for those changes–economic, political, and reading the writing on the wall. In an effort to expand the war and apply pressure against Israel, Iran has attacked Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Jordan, Oman, and Iraq. Those attacks have not had the desired effect–in fact in many cases those countries have now quietly or openly aligned with Israel. I wonder if these countries are grateful that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon.

The article reports:

Donald Trump is breaking the post-Cold War assumptions in foreign policy and rewriting the strategic rules. Campus radicals in America, and antisemitic professors and transnational elites are much more hostile to Israel than Saudi Arabia or even Qatar.

The international establishment can’t wrap its head around the new reality, nor the opportunities that the changes in strategic alliances promise.

Winning the Iran war, or whatever you want to call it, has the potential to reshape the Middle East for decades to come. Especially if the new Iranian regime is relatively moderate, as we can hope, if not expect, yet.

In the1970s the Middle East was divided between Arab states hostile to Israel and an alliance of Israel, Iran, and the United States. Since the Iranian revolution, the Arab states remained enemies with Iran, had reasonable relations with the US, and a mostly hostile peace with Israel.

Could we soon see a new alignment, with Israel, the Arab states, and even Iran coexisting well together?

We can hope.

The Abraham Accords were the beginning of this process. We could be looking at a peaceful Middle East. It has been a long time since that happened.

This Is Beyond Ridiculous

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On Sunday, Red State posted an article about the peace process in the Middle East and the return of the hostages. The return of the hostages (even though only 20 of them are alive) is an amazing accomplishment. That may be one of the reasons that former Secretary of State Antony Blinken is giving former President Biden credit for that accomplishment. What?

The article includes screenshots of some X posts:

First of all, Secretary Blinken might want to remember that over 70 percent of ‘Palestinians’ supported the actions of Hamas on October 7, 2023 (source here). The actions of Hamas on October 7, 2023, were clearly in violation of the rules of war that are generally agreed on internationally by civilized countries. Right now, there is a gang war going on in Gaza with Hamas killing anyone they think might have collaborated with Israel and rival gangs killing each other. Civilized behavior has not been a strong suit of the ‘Palestinians.’

The article at Red State continues:

Comparing the terrible ceasefire Blinken and Biden brokered to this one is so disingenuous. That ceasefire was never viable because it left hostages in the hands of Hamas, and it provided no path to disarm and fully defeat the terrorist group, instead demanding Israel essentially surrender. It was the typical warmed-over slop we’ve come to expect from the Obama/Biden axis of foreign policy expertise. 

At no point did the Biden administration apply any pressure on the Arab nations to turn against Hamas and end the war. More importantly, they never applied pressure on Iran, which was fueling the conflict in Gaza and propping up Hezbollah in the north as a threat. In short, the entire region was on fire, and it was handed over to Trump in far worse condition than Biden and company found it.

For Blinken to pretend the former administration laid the groundwork and showed the path forward is laughable. But he hadn’t reached peak shamelessness yet. That came later in his thread when he demanded the establishment of a Palestinian state. 

…This absolute clown. If you’ve been following this issue for any amount of time, you will understand how infuriating that is. The foreign policy establishment has insisted for decades that you could never get Arab buy-in, defeat Hamas, neuter Hezbollah, and limit Iran without giving the terrorists in Gaza a state. That issue was treated as the key to everything, basically becoming a tenet of faith and a bludgeon to beat Israel with. Trump walked in and proved them all wrong, securing the Abraham Accords and ending the war in Gaza by marginalizing the issue, and yet they are still claiming that a Palestinian state must be established. 

The article concludes:

Americans should be so thankful that no one is listening to these over-credentialed imbeciles anymore. The arsonists don’t get to wag their fingers and lecture the firefighters who put out their fires. They certainly don’t get to take credit for it. The foreign policy establishment is a joke, and it should be treated as such. 

Until the ‘Palestinians’ learn to act like civilized people, there is no reason to give them a state.

Why Now?

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Why is Hamas finally willing to make peace? Are they really willing to make peace? Keep in mind that Hamas has only agreed to Part 1 of the Peace Plan. Also remember that Hamas has never been an orphan before.

Let’s look at the past two years. Under the Biden administration, Israel was pretty much prevented from taking serious action against its enemies. When President Trump took office in January, he made it very clear that he supported Israel fully in dealing with its terrorist enemies. Since January, Israel has had America’s support to deal with the constant rocket attacks and terrorist attacks within its borders.

The Abraham accords under the first Trump administration were the beginning. They represented a peaceful initiative to isolate Hamas. The attacks on Iran, Lebanon and Yemen further cut off much of Hamas’ support, both diplomatically and logistically. The attack on Hamas leadership in Qatar made it clear that there would be no safe haven for Hamas. It also put the Middle East on alert as to the dangers of sheltering the leadership of Hamas.

By the time Israel invaded Gaza, Hamas was an orphan with no place to hide. That is the reason Hamas is finally negotiating peace.

This is not a perfect agreement. If it is carried out, the price of getting twenty or so live hostages freed from Hamas is the release of more than 1,000 known Hamas terrorists. It will be interesting to see if the terrorists are allowed back into Gaza. That will be a clue as to what happens next.

It will be very interesting to see if the peace process continues after the hostages are released and the requirements of Phase 1 are implemented. Part of Phase 1 calls for the Israeli Defense Forces to withdraw from much of Gaza. Will that be a clue for Hamas to resume fighting?

If you sense a lack of trust of Hamas on my part, you are correct. There are two principles of Islam that we need to keep in mind when dealing with Hamas–hudna and taqiyya. Hudna is the act of calling a truce so that you can rearm and then breaking the truce when you feel that you are strong enough to win the war. Taqiyya is generally described as lying for the sake of Islam. Hamas is Islamic and is well aware of both of these principles.

Money Talks, But Can It Bring Peace?

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President Trump seems to have a gift for understanding economic leverage. This is becoming very obvious in the Middle East. He has essentially given a number of Middle Eastern Countries a choice–do you want to be economically successful or do you want to continue supporting terrorism? There will be countries that will attempt to play both sides of the fence–traditions and generational hatred are hard to overcome–but the people who rule countries understand they tend to stay in power longer if their country is prosperous. It may come down to a ruler having to decide whether he values his position enough to forgo some of his hatred toward Israel.

As I write this on Monday, the news from the Middle East is that five of the most prominent Arab sheikhs in Hebron—yes, Hebron, the heart of biblical Judea—just declared that they want to join the Abraham Accords, recognize Israel as the Jewish state, and break away from the Palestinian Authority. This is according to a Jewish News Syndicate article posted on Sunday. This might be taken as an indication that Hamas no longer has the power it once had and that Iran is no longer in a position to support Hamas. It is also being reported that Qatar (a major supporter of terrorism) has told the Hamas leaders in Qatar to lay down their weapons. Even Qatar wants peace.

Before we get too excited over this, there is something we all need to take into consideration. It is the Islamic concept of “hudna” defined as a tactical pause intended only for rearmament.

We need to remember that when we are dealing with the Islamist population of the Middle East, we are dealing with generational hatred and indoctrination. In Gaza, the indoctrination begins with telling very young children that they should be martyrs in the quest to retake Jerusalem. Overcoming this indoctrination will take time and will not be easy.

Memri.org, one of the most reliable sources for information on current events in the Middle East, recently reported that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed gave an interview to Fox News in which he called for the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, for the formation of a government in Gaza that does not include this movement, and for the establishment of calm there.

Living with constant terrorism and war does not make for a stable government, and many Middle Eastern leaders want to maintain their positions. If that means joining the Abraham Accords to create prosperity in their countries and to create longevity for their rule, they may be willing to do that.

The Thinking Behind October 7th

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On May 18th, Zero Hedge posted an article about what is considered the reason behind the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2024. I suspect there are many in Hamas who currently wish they could rethink that attack.

According to the article:

Newly uncovered internal Hamas documents confirm a longtime theory explaining the motives behind the Oct.7, 2023 terror attack which kicked off the bloody and grinding Gaza war, which still shows no signs of abating and has resulted in unprecedented death and destruction in the Gaza Strip.

The documents, published by The Wall Street Journal, demonstrate that Hamas leaders had a specific aim of preventing a potential peace agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia based on the US-backed Abraham Accords. This was speculated about soon after the horrific attacks that also kicked off the hostage crisis.

This is according to minutes from a high-level meeting which cite now slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and which were reportedly discovered by Israeli forces in Gaza tunnels. Sinwar was quoted in the internal papers, which are dated Oct. 2, 2023 – as saying, “There is no doubt that the Saudi-Zionist normalization agreement is progressing significantly.”

The article concludes:

And the prospect of Palestinian statehood resulting from some kind of Israel-Saudi normalization agreement based on Trump’s Abraham Accords (conceived during his first administration) – which US media reports previously hailed as ‘deal of the century’ – also clearly seems a pipe dream at this point.

In this regard at least, Sinyar’s ‘extraordinary act’ served its purpose, but the bloody aftermath is thousands of Israelis killed, many tens of thousands of Palestinians dead and wounded, and a region on fire.

So what would Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords mean and why is it important? The two negative players in the Middle East right now are Iran and Turkey. Turkey, unfortunately is a member of NATO, which complicates things. A majority of the Middle Eastern countries do not want Iran to get a nuclear bomb. They understand that even if the bomb is only used on Israel it will negatively impact them–radiation, infrastructure damage, etc. Iran is funding Hamas. If Iran is isolated, it may lose the ability to fund Hamas. Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords might be the domino that falls and paves the way for other countries to join. Iran would be isolated, and the money to Hamas would probably dry up. October 7th was an act of desperation. I don’t think Hamas got the results they wanted–Israel is not going to stop fighting this time.

When Your Advice And Actions Backfire

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On Friday, PJ Media posted an article explaining how the Obama-Biden-Harris foreign policy of enriching Iran may have actually helped Israel. Because of the large amounts of money freed up for Iran and the loosening of sanctions of Iran, Iran was able to increase its terrorist funding and terrorist activity in the Middle East. That increase was noticed by its Sunni Arab neighbors. That increase probably paved the way for the Abraham Accords. The article reminds us that President Biden was giving advice to Prime Minister Netanyahu during the period after October 7, 2023, and Prime Minister Netanyahu was wisely ignoring that advice. The article notes that President Biden has been wrong on every foreign policy issue since he has been in public life. The war in Israel is no exception.

The article reports:

Kamala Harris might’ve said that Iran is America’s greatest enemy, but the trio of Obama-Biden-Harris did more to strengthen Iran than any U.S. presidents since the overthrow of the Shah. From secretly sending planes with hundreds of millions of dollars to Tehran to sending over a BILLION+ more (in untraceable cash, no less), they were the financial pipeline that kept the mullahs in power. Most remarkably, this Unholy Trinity actually spearheaded a plan to legalize the Iranian nuclear weapon program!

In fact, under the original deal, the sanctions restricting Iran’s centrifuge usage would have expired in 2026, and by 2031, so would the limits on the amount of uranium Iran is allowed to develop and use. (But Iran pinky-swears they’ll be good.)

Basically, Obama-Biden-Harris planned to allow Iran to get their nukes… but to make sure it happened when someone else was in office.

The trio’s utter ineptitude is absolutely astounding.

But here’s where things go full circle: This trio is so amazingly inept, sometimes their backfires backfire — and you get the best possible result. It’s sort of the reverse version of Murphy’s Law.

With this in mind, I’d like to THANK Obama-Biden-Harris for helping Israel make peace with the Arabs.

Because if they hadn’t worked so hard to strengthen Iran, the Abraham Accords never would’ve happened under Trump. Israel never would’ve made peace with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Nor would they be partnering logistically and militarily with Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Oman. Nor would they be on the verge of peace with most of the Sunni world.

The Obama-Biden-Harris Triumvirate strengthened Iran so dramatically that it actually scared the Sunni world into siding with the Zionists!

Perhaps this wasn’t ineptitude. Perhaps it was all deliberate and was the greatest example of 4-D chess in geopolitical history. But c’mon, folks: The is Obama-Biden-Harris we’re talking about. It was definitely, 100% ineptitude.

Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn occasionally!