By David Israel, JEWISH PRESS
Billionaire Haim Saban (r) with Secretary of State John Kerry and Ambassador Martin Indyk. / U.S. Department of State via Wikimedia
According to Barak Ravid reporting for Axios (Billionaire Haim Saban advised UAE ambassador on Israeli annexation op-ed), Israeli-American billionaire Haim Saban assisted in writing and publishing UAE Ambassador to Washington Yousef Al-Otaiba’s Friday’s op-ed in Yedioth Aharonoth (Annexation will be a serious setback for better relations with the Arab world).Al-Otaiba warned Israeli readers that a Netanyahu attempt to impose Israeli law on Jewish communities in about 30% of Judea and Samaria “will ignite violence and rouse extremists. It will send shock waves around the region, especially in Jordan whose stability – often taken for granted – benefits the entire region, particularly Israel.”Ravid cites Israeli sources who say Al-Otaiba asked Saban in early June how to best reach Israeli public opinion with a message against the plans for sovereignty, and Saban suggested the message should be in Hebrew and through a major media outlet – namely Yedioth.
Saban introduced his PR expert Moshe Debi to the ambassador, and Debi took charge of the content and timing of the publication.
Saban, whose wealth is estimated at $3 billion, is a major donor for the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, and sponsors the Saban National Political Leadership Training Seminar. Ravid notes that Saban was one of Hillary Clinton’s main political backers and donors.
According to Ravid, the Netanyahu government was not informed in advance of the publication, while the White House was, and, apparently kept it a secret from Jerusalem. This was planned this as a two-punch operation: following Friday’s op-ed, on Tuesday UAE Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash will speak at the American Jewish Committee Global Forum taking place this week, and will likely repeat his ambassador’s threats.
Also confirmed for the AJC global forum: Benjamin Gantz, Israel’s Alternate Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, and MK Merav Michaeli (Labor).
In his op-ed, Ambassador Al-Otaiba lavished promises on Israel, if only it refrained from including close to half a million of its citizens in the protections of Israeli laws:
Annexation will certainly and immediately upend Israeli aspirations for improved security, economic and cultural ties with the Arab world and with UAE.
With the region’s two most capable militaries, common concerns about terrorism and aggression, and a deep and long relationship with the United States, the UAE and Israel could form closer and more effective security cooperation.
… The UAE has encouraged Israelis to think about the upside of more open and normal links. And we have done the same among Emiratis and with Arabs more broadly.
For example, Israel has been invited to participate in Dubai’s World Expo now planned for next year. Israeli diplomats have an ongoing presence in Abu Dhabi at the headquarters of the United Nations International Renewable Energy Agency.
Remarkably, the op-ed is not advocating the establishment of a Palestinian State, other than a vague reference to the Palestinian’s right to self-determination. rather it speaks of negotiations to reduce violence – meaning that it cleverly focuses on appealing to the desires and trepidation of secular, center-left Israelis (Yedioth’s readers) without alienating rightwing Israelis. It is a well thought out attack, certain to be picked up by politicians on both sides of the aisle.
It should also be noted that the majority of settlement leaders are opposed to sovereignty if the cost is an israeli commitment to the United States to promote the cause of a Palestinian state.
This picture: 3 antisemites!
@ Bear Klein:
Hi, Bear.
Local chapters of pro testers have been trying to set up “Chaz Juniors” in North Carolina, Buffalo and Oregon’s own Portland. They were pretty much taken down by police before they got off the ground. Meanwhile, there is…
“The Seattle protest — which has essentially taken over a residential area of the city called Capitol Hill — has been criticized by the city’s police chief, praised by the city’s mayor and apparently came as a surprise to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.”
That sounds like a Three Stooges routine. It’s good to know God’s in control. The Democrats certainly aren’t 🙂
This thread is supposedly about an Emirati op-ed, that he “Electronic Intifada” describes as a “love letter to Israel”. I don’t know how I should respond, but my mouth instinctively yawned. I suppose that since it was a “love letter”, Israel should take out an op-ed in an Emirati paper, thanking them.
The USA seems even more split than in the 1960s and early 1970s. Nixon in part won a divided electorate by being the Law and Order President.
I can not predict the future but the USA division so far is far riots. Antifa’s goal is to destroy the USA government and bring in a communist form of government. They will be met with resistance by some state and locale governments certainly in Red States. The Federal Government. Eventually citizens will fight back against these anarchists. Some of these anarchists walked into the wrong places already and were bounced like toys by citizens opposed to them!
In Seattle if the lawless “Chaz” zone is done by the 21st of June, I anticipate violence. Bikers for Trump have planned to meet there. Hopefully the State of Washington does this first.
Blue States seem to be on a binge of lawless disorder. Though Red States are not immune from this trouble (e.g. Atlanta).
@ Michael S:
Michael, relying on whatever god you believe in may set you up for great disappointment in the coming years. The god some Jews believe in was either on sabbatical or vacation or otherwise preoccupied when some 6 million Jews were murdered in the 40’s. The many gods that people believe in all over the world have been somewhat derelict in preventing countless genocides and injustices over the centuries. What you can count on, however, is the folly of mankind that always leads to death, disease and destruction. Right now the left is in the process of taking over the culture and soon the governments of the West. They will destroy our way of life and everything they can get their hands on as has occurred in the countries and US cities they have ruined. If they continue to dominate and run the agenda in the West, life in the next 5, 10, 15 whatever years will be unrecognizable and perhaps barely tolerable. You and others are free to pray and hope that your various gods will save the day but be prepared that they will not forestall the march of human stupidity.
@ Adam Dalgliesh:
Hi, Adam
I definitely am “on the spot”, right here in the US of A; and (I’m not being sarcastic) what I see at the moment is, frankly, darkness outside because it is 4:24 AM here. But when the sun comes up, as it usually does in the morning, I will see a hummingbird feeding, squirrels going about their business, crows and jays gathering moss and twigs for their nests, and maybe a few deer. That’s the sort of thing that is actually happening in most of America, most of the time. Sometimes we are troubled FOR A TIME by political darkness, but the sun eventually rises.
This past week, political events have taken over the headlines; but for my wife and I, COVID-19 is a far more important matter. Our lives are connected with many dear friends and neighbors, that we used to get together with for coffee, for prayer, for just being neighborly. That has all been rudely interrupted by the virus which, for elderly people like us with pre-existing conditions, could mean pain and death for us and for those we come into contact with. Thanks to President Trump’s streamlining of the approval process, that could change radically with the release of one of the many antiviral and therapeutic candidates that are getting very close to approval.
I dare say, that a COVID-19 vaccine will be in the distribution stage before the election; and that the Seattle “Free Zone” will have been dismantled months before then. As I write, the “hated” Seattle Fire Department is in that zone, investigating a probable arson that started a fire there:
https://www.king5.com/article/news/crime/seattle-police-ask-for-help-identifying-man-suspected-of-starting-fire-outside-east-precinct/281-76e33acf-0f57-427a-ac3f-3df3b4b7d136
What’s falling apart isn’t the US Government, but the “communards” at the barricade. The US definitely has a shelf life; but God is the one with the time stamp.
God bless and keep you and yours. I’m tired, and need to go to bedzzzzzzzzzzzz
@ greenrobot:
@ Michael S: When senior officials in several major cities respond to rioting and looting by supporting the rioters demands that the police be abolished; when policemen and women are fired, arrested and charged with crimes without any due process at all, in response to the demands of a mob; when nothing is done to stop rioting and looting, and instead police stations are abandoned and burnt to the ground; when rioters and looters are freed without bail and are not charged with any crime; the results are likely to be the complete collapse of law and order. And what country can survive without at least some measure of law and order in its major cities? Police all over the country will inevitably quit their jobs in droves.
Whole cities will burn to the ground. Millions of people will leave them and try to find safe haven in rural areas, or leave the country entirely.
Earlier efforts by the Democrats were aimed pretty much exclusively at Trump and his immediate personal entourage and appointees. This is an attack not just on Trump, but on American society as a whole. An organized attempt to destroy America as a finctioning society, on the grounds that it is inherently “racist.” And the destruction campaign is meeting with little resistance–even from Trump. He talks about restoring law and order, but does nothing.
I don’t know how many of our readers are actually living in the United States right now. Things really look different when you are “on the spot” than when you are observing things from far away.
@ greenrobot:
Greenrobot, I wondered at the same statement.
IMHO, the US is far from disintegrating. The Democrats/ MSM are connected with a dangerous group of terrorists, including Antifa, Black Lies Matter and others, who are intent on destroying the country. Meanwhile, Demwits in Congress are doing their best to accomplish this legislatively, in concert with Dem judges, justices, professors, etc. This movement is well funded by the likes of Bill Gates, George Soros, the Koch Brothers, etc., and has connections with highly placed men and women in the military, the justice and intelligence community, etc. and at times, in the White House itself. All of these have shown no compunction about working to illegally alter the results of US elections,
On the other hand, this country and its leaders are in the hand of God, and He turns them any way He wants. Through Him and His power, Donald Trump won the presidency, and his supporters have gained control of the Senate and the US Supreme Court, as well as holding over 100 judgeships. He has rebuffed over three years of concerted effort to get him removed by impeachment on false charges, and has superbly handled the coronavirus crisis. Add to this, working with corporate and labor leaders, he has reinvigorated the US economy, so that even after these crises plus the ongoing violent putsch, Wall Street investors continue to exhibit confidence in his leadership.
The US will eventually certainly fail, along with every other goy government, because the people of the world have largely turned against God and Torah; but I doubt that he will strike this president and his wife, who have lifted up the God of Israel, the land of Israel and the people of Israel.
Of course, God has the RIGHT to destroy us. In fact, if He DOESN’T, He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. He will not fail those who trust in Him, however.
Using ‘better relations’ as a carrot . Same as the carrot of ‘peace’
@ Adam Dalgliesh: Why do you say “And with the United States disintegrating before our very eyes, it can’t rely on help from the United States, a severely wounded and perhaps dying giant.”
Of course Israel should declare its sovereignty over the “Palestinian” territories, whether the UAE, the White House or anyone else likes it or not. Of course it should extend full citizenship rights to the Israeli-Jewish inhabitants of Judea and Samaria, so that they will no longer be subject to the arbitrary rule of the military, which now can imprison them or exile them from their homes, tear down their homes, etc. without trial or even explanation.
However, there is also a need for a drastic shift of focus and emphasis by the Israeli government, press and public, including the inhabitants of Judea-Samaria. Even sovereignty has little practical meaning value if you are flat broke. And Israel is flat broke. Within weeks, it will run out of money to keep its hospitals open and to pay its soldiers. The government will be unable to pay unemployment insureance or emergency relif to the million or more Israeli unemployed. And with the United States disintegrating before our very eyes, it can’t rely on help from the United States, a severely wounded and perhaps dying giant.
Hopefully the Bank of Israel will extend unlimited “stimulus” money to the Israeli government and private sector to help the country through its economic crisis. But of course that will cause runaway inflation–the lesser evil, perhaps, Israel has survived severe inflation crises before, but still no walk in the park or picnic on the beach.
Above all, the lockdown must end if Israel is to survive. The government must ignore the demands of the halfpenny Fauci clones in the Health department who want Israel to be on permanent lockdown. It must let kids go back to school. Yes, there will be some more illnesses deaths from coronavirus. But those who get sick and die will be a tiny number compared to those who wil perish if the economy collapses. And if the peope are allowed to mingle and engage in normal social, work and prayer, the population will acquire herd immunity, and the number of COVID-19 cases will be miniscule in future years.
Sovereignty, yes–but lockdown, No!