Peloni: Recall Mudar’s comment on the very morning of October 7: “The King of Jordan’s intelligence and the Egyptian military intelligence are the ones behind Hamas’ escalation against Israel,” The leadership of these two nations have badly betrayed Israel and they must be replaced.
T. Belman. Mudar also said that Abdullah enlised MBZ to convince Al Sisi to support Hamas. Of course MBZ brought a ton of money with him. But the truth of the matter is that al Sisi had to know about the smuggling and did nothing to stop it or acknowledge it.
If Mudar’s connection to the Shin Bet knew about it, the IDF also knew. Its hard to escape the conclusion that the top echelon of the IDF who ignored all the evidence coming in, wanted the attack to take place as a means of dethroning Netanyahu.
Since Oct. 7, it has become clear that Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi has been playing Israel for a fool.
Caroline Glick | JNS | May 23, 2024
Israelis have long viewed Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as an ally in the fight against the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran. Sisi, after all, led the Egyptian military in overthrowing Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood government of then-president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Since the Hamas regime in Gaza played a key role in ousting former President Hosni Mubarak from power and assisting Muslim Brotherhood terrorists from escaping Egyptian prisons in the Sinai in 2011 and 2012, el-Sisi also shared Israel’s negative view of Hamas. He stood with Israel during the Hamas war against Israel in 2014.
But over the past several years, Sisi’s position has changed. And since Oct. 7, Egypt’s role in Hamas’s build-up of its forces and military capabilities has come into sharp relief. Indeed, as the months have passed, the conclusion has become unavoidable that far from acting as a restraint on Hamas’s military and economic power as it did a decade ago, Egypt in recent years, and still today is a major state sponsor of Hamas.
At every stage of the war—from the Oct. 7 Hamas invasion and slaughter on—el-Sisi’s regime has undermined Israel’s war effort in a bid to prevent the Jewish state from defeating Hamas. The motivations for Egypt’s support for Hamas are still difficult to assess. However, the financial interests of el-Sisi’s family appear to have been advanced significantly through cooperation with Hamas’s efforts to build tunnels across the border with Egypt. These operations have included smuggling weapons and raw materials for constructing weapons and tunnels, and transiting Hamas personnel between Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula.
Then there is ideology.
Along with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain, in 2017, Egypt abrogated all diplomatic ties with Qatar over Qatar’s support for Iran and its subversion of moderate Arab regimes on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood through its satellite television network Al Jazeera. In January 2021, Egypt was the first of those states to renew its ties with Qatar.
That rapprochement may well have also led to a reduction in ideological tensions between the regime and the Muslim Brotherhood generally and between the el-Sisi regime and the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood—Hamas, specifically.
For decades, observers of Egypt’s military buildup, and its development of military infrastructure in Sinai have warned that Egypt’s commitment to peace with Israel may be more declarative than real. In light of what Israel has seen since Oct. 7, which has pointed to close cooperation and coordination with Hamas, Egypt’s massive investment in its arsenals and military infrastructures in the Sinai has increased concern that under el-Sisi, Egypt is moving deliberately towards a confrontational posture towards the State of Israel.
On May 17, Israel revealed that during the early stages of the Israeli military’s operation to seize the international border zone between Egypt and Gaza in Rafah, the Israel Defense Forces discovered upwards of 50 underground tunnels that traverse the border between Gaza and Egypt. The scope of the cross-border tunnel project indicates that Egyptian authorities were not merely aware of Hamas’s operation. They were partners in Hamas’s efforts.
El-Sisi’s son, Gen. Mahmoud el-Sisi, serves as the deputy commander of Egypt’s General Intelligence Directorate. He co-founded Organi Group with Ibrahim Organi, a Bedouin chief in the northern Sinai. Through two subsidiaries, the Organi Group controls all aspects of the border zone with Egypt. It is the broker, for instance, for all bribes by Gazans seeking to cross into Egypt. Reports estimate that since the beginning of the war, Organi has received tens of millions of dollars in payments from Gazans for permission to enter Egypt. Israel’s takeover of the border zone from Hamas will necessarily involve the loss of massive profits for the Organi Group and its stakeholders—Sheikh al-Organi and General el-Sisi.
Egypt’s efforts to undermine Israel’s military operations in Gaza have involved acts of intimidation, threats, diplomatic and legal warfare, and sabotage.
Blocking the Exit of Gazans From the War Zone
Beginning on Oct. 10, the Egyptian president has blocked all efforts to permit civilians in Gaza from exiting the area either to seek refuge in Egypt for the duration of the war or to receive refuge in third countries. In justifying the move, el-Sisi said Egypt “will not allow the termination of the Palestinian cause.” In other words, he was committed to a policy that will forever keep the Palestinians locked in a genocidal effort to eliminate Israel by blocking all other options from the residents of Gaza.
Egypt’s refusal is unlawful under international humanitarian law and has had the operational impact of prolonging the war and the suffering of Gazans on the ground for seven months. Israel has been forced to construct humanitarian zones inside of Gaza amid the fighting to provide temporary refuge to civilians who live in battle zones. Hamas has used these crowded safe zones to continue its rocket and missile assaults on Israel.
Threats to Abrogate the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty
Beginning in February, el-Sisi began a practice of repeatedly threatening to cancel Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel. He threatened to end Egypt’s peace with Israel and rejoin the pan-Arab war to annihilate the Jewish state if the IDF seized Rafah or took other measures required to defeat Hamas. In other words, el-Sisi has tied Egypt’s peace with Israel and its posture in the region to the survival of the Hamas regime in Gaza and Israel’s defeat in the war.
It was largely due to his threats—supported by the United States—that the IDF postponed its operation in Rafah for three months, adding to the suffering of Israelis and Palestinians alike.
Hostage Negotiations
The primary victims of the prolongation of the war are the 128 hostages that Hamas is still holding in Gaza. On May 21, CNN reported that Egypt undermined a possible deal to free at least some of the hostages earlier this month by deliberately miscommunicating Israel’s offer to Hamas. Egypt’s reported action is responsible for the failure of those talks.
Blocking Humanitarian Aid
Israel’s first action in Rafah was to seize control over the international terminal that governs open travel between that city and Israel. The Rafah terminal was the chief transit point for humanitarian aid. Egypt responded to Israel’s operation by prohibiting the transit of humanitarian aid trucks through the terminal.
Political Warfare/Lawfare Against Israel
At the same time that Egypt undermined humanitarian-aid efforts, it joined the South Africans at the International Court of Justice at The Hague in accusing Israel of genocide against the Palestinians.
Egypt’s War Dividend
According to an investigative report in Tablet magazine, in exchange for its “moderating” role in mediating the war between Hamas and Israel, Egypt has received loans and investments from the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the United Arab Emirates totaling more than $50 billion. While Egypt was on the brink of insolvency on Oct. 6, this inflow of money has now secured Egypt’s financial viability for the next several years.<
There is no objective reason that el-Sisi’s extortionist pro-Hamas policies should succeed. U.S. leverage over Egypt is considerable. Use of but a fraction of that leverage by the U.S. can induce a significant shift in Egypt’s actions, at least in the immediate term. But rather than use it, the Biden administration to date, has rewarded el-Sisi for siding with Hamas against Israel.
Egypt would not have received its cash infusion from the IMF, the European Union and the UAE without a green light from Washington, which also provides Egypt with $3 billion in military aid per year. Rather than demand that Egypt follow international humanitarian law and permit Gazans to flee the war zone to Egypt, the administration has firmly supported el-Sisi’s refusal to permit them to cross the border. Similarly, Washington has been as critical of Israel’s operation in Rafah as Egypt.
Given the administration’s policy, it is time for American lawmakers who understand the danger Hamas’s survival poses to begin criticizing and Egypt’s nefarious role in facilitating Hamas’s weapons build-up and its success in building its warren of more than 400 miles of underground tunnels across Gaza and into Egypt. Egypt should see its aid tied to an end to its sponsorship of Hamas.
If Hamas survives, its perceived victory over Israel will of course inspire Hezbollah, the Houthis, the Shiite militia in Iraq and Syria and Iran itself to step up their assaults on the Jewish state. But it will also be an adrenalin shot for Islamists in the Western world to expand their terrorist attacks and other forms of political violence against Westerners and home and worldwide.
U.S. elected officials must express their disapproval of Egypt’s policies. They need to take action to undermine el-Sisi’s ability to maintain his pro-Hamas policies and anti-Israel brinkmanship by, among other things, tying U.S. fiscal support and military assistance to Egypt to an end to its cooperative relationship with Hamas; its political warfare against Israel; and threats to abrogate the peace treaty with the Jewish state.
I personally heard the Jordanian Foreign Minister confirm that Jordan had shot Iranian drones when Iran had attacked Israel. He was explaining the drones were also dangerous to Jordan. I am making this comment because one of the many inaccurate comments made previously said that their were no valid references that this actually happen.
Anyway I am not a supporter of the King and Queen of Jordan. Just presenting a balanced view of what the situation actually is as opposed to some of the distortions and lies I have read!
@Bear
This treaty has been betrayed by Jordan routinely, even as Jordan sparked the 2021 War of Riots and Rockets which saw the coordination between Jordan’s call for violence and the Hamas missile attack and the Israeli Arab riots on the streets of Israel. Jordan has even been caught sending arms and funding to slaughter Israelis on the streets. This is what many describe as a cold peace, but it is not peace in any meaningful context of the word.
The reason that Jordanians has such an actively virulent hatred of Israel is much the same reason that Egypt does. It is because both nations employ a Jihadi education endoctrinating their antisemitic subjects to ever greater strides of antisemitism. This is no misstep but is the intent of these two vile regimes.
The king does more than verbally attack Israel as I have noted above. The border is quiet not because of an agreement which Jordan has violated repeatedly, but because Jordan has not the means to win a war with Israel, as has been explained by the previous Prime Minister of Jordan, perhaps you are unaware of his comment? The mutual security interests are controlled by the US forces which dominate Jordan, the import of which is not dependent upon the king’s consent, but rather provides the king with the ability to boast of holding his crown.
No where in the above statements have I referenced Mudar, who speaks quite importantly on Israel’s behalf as only a Pal, a leader of Pals, and an ally of Israel, might. So while I am better positioned to accept Mudar’s comments as relevant, it is irrelevant to the facts which I have referenced and which you seem to prefer to ignore in supporting the iniquitous Hashemites as being relevant, necessary or benign when in fact they are none of these.
@Peloni what do you characterize Israeli IAF use of Jordanian airspace as? It is kept fairly quiet but when needed it does occur.
Jordan and Israel have a peace treaty, though not a warm peace with lots of people to people interchange we do have mutual interests (security, water, electricity and a quiet border). The peace treaty has held in-spite of Jordan having a population that is ~80% Palestinian origin and among the highest percentage of Jew haters according to the Pew poll. So the King bad mouths us and shows he has the same sentiments as the people overall but keeps the border quiet and acts in mutual security interests when needed. I know this does not jive with the Mudar rhetoric and thus with his believers on Israpundit.
@Bear
This is quite a euphamism for the treachery which the Hashemites have committed against the Jewish people.
They have been caught sending arms and gold into Israel proper to support the slaughter of innocent Jews during peace time, all while being signatories to a peace treaty which requires them to forgo even the incitement towards violence which they regularly ignite, nevermind the terrorism which they support. Even the Hamas leadership have acknoledged that Jordan would welcome their presence without any correction by Rania on her campaign to malign Israel’s right to self defense.
The claim that Jordan acted to support Israel has no source beyond ‘sources say’, much as the Russia Hoax was based upon. While this may satisfy your support of them, I would argue that actions speak louder than does rumor. If they were partnered with Isael in any way, they would seek the obliteration of the Brotherhood, with whom they are allied.
As to the US using Jordanian air space, Abdullah rules at the whim of the US military, and the king’s coffers and that of the Jordanian military are kept full by the yearly stipend issued by Washington, which remains the largest US foreign aid package granted to any nation in the history of the US. So the US military can do as it pleases in Jordan, and they do.
Jordan has mutual interests with Israel. They are not our friend as the King and his wife regularly bad mouth Israel. The mutual interests win out in many cases as when Iran attacked Israel recently
@Peloni Jordan IS NOT acting as Iran’s ally. They acted against Iranian weapons when Iran attacked Israel directly plus allowed the US and other air-forces to use its airspace to shoot down Iranian drones and missiles which were heading to Israel. Iran has been trying to overthrow the Monarchy in Jordan.
@Raphael
@Bear
Their hostile and restive populations are restive and hostile due to the despotic regimes which misuse state funds and purposefully keep the people in a state of endless squalor. Meanwhile, both nations continue to push a radical Islamist education, which maintains a thirst for war against their supposed Israeli ally, something which Sisi and Abdullah have each employed to threaten the west and more directly Israel.
Their respective economies are in the toilet because of the misuse of state funds to deprive their people of a more stable economy.
The respective publics hate these two leaders and would certainly overthrow them if given the opportunity, but these publics have no say in the matter at all. Indeed the hold on power by these two despots is entirely dependent upon their military, which is financed and subsidized by the US – which explains why these two regimes are quite responsive to US power as you noted.
We may have to agree to disagree, but their expressed support for preserving an Iranian threat, on Egypt’s border and not far from that of Jordan’s, which regularly destabilizes the region and is a constant threat to Israel, begs the question of how much worse could it be. The only reason that they do not make open war on Israel is because they know they would lose, and that their military is supported by the US, so, again, how much worse might it become if we were to seek a better ruler in place of Sisi and Abdullah who are fully acting out the role of Iran’s ally in this war by aiding and advocating for Iran’s proxy.
They must go, or so I would argue.
Perfidious USA.
Don’t expect the truth about Rob Malley.
While Egypt and Jordan are not ideal neighbors or peace partners, I think that many try to hold them to a standard that, in context, they cannot realistically come close to achieving. Their respective governments are keeping a lid on hostile and restive populations, their economies are perpetually in the toilet, and their hold on power is always tenuous at best. On the positive side, they do work with Israel on some level, and they are not actively attacking Israel. They are also, to some extent, responsive to US pressure to be moderate toward Israel. These are certainly far from ideal neighbors, but the alternative could be much worse.
Paul Eidelberg (1979)
https://afsi.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/SadatsStrategy_Eidelberg1.pdf
THAT’S
TED’S Willful blindness………Popularised by the Christian Bible , but I think first stated in Torah.
@Ted. Concerning your comment about the IDFs ‘willful blindness:’ There is an old proverb, “There’s none so blind as those who will not see.”
@Peloni I only said Jordan was opposed to Iran and included a whole article which is one of many which confirms that reality. I know that fly’s in the face of those who believe in Mudar but that is what I believe the truth and reality are! Iran has tried to overthrow the government in Jordan or minimally destabilize it! Part of article is below (you may have missed it https://www.iranintl.com/en/202404084424).
Actually Egypt has allowed for bribes Gazans to emigrate. This is in addition to the Hamas members which go via Egypt to get to Turkey. Egypt does not want large amounts of Gazan’s or Hamas or Muslim Brotherhood to live in Egypt. If you recall Al-Sisi overthrew the previous regime which was Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. They have had many battles with them and fought terrorism from them.
Egypt as Glick points out is not Israel’s friend and is not acting like it in the least. I concur with that!
@Bear
You address the refusal of Egypt to permit Brotherhood emigration from Gaza to be based upon Egyptian greed and an enmity of the Brotherhood, but I see a few flaws in your logic which perhaps you can address.. Notably, Egypt was offered a massive sum comprising their entire debt with the IMF, a sum which would top any amount of border bribes, to allow the Gazans to be penned in Egypt or to move elsewhere, but Egypt refused. This demonstrated the Egyptian refusal to facilitate Gazan emigration to be based on something other than greed. Also, since Israel now holds the Philadelphia corridor, there will be no more Gazans coming from Rafah nor any munitions going into Rafah, so the financing from Gaza would be largely ended. Yet they refused to allow the Brotherhood Gazans to emigrate elsewhere, thus keeping the target of their fear quite close to home by choice. Hence, Egypt’s motive in holding the Pals in Gaza would seem to be based on something other than expected future bribes even as it defies Egypt’s claimed contempt and fear for the Brotherhood supporting Pals in Gaza.
You also ignore the fact that the dynamic duo, Sisi and Abdullah, have each been caught smuggling arms across their respective border to support the slaughter of Israelis, and are each even today actively manipulating the world to believe that Israel is the monster which actually resides in Gaza.
Consequently, if we are to accept that Egypt and Jordan are so opposed to Iran as you suggest they are, I would suggest that their significant efforts to support Iran in this crisis constrains credulity. This is particularly true of Egypt, which again, against all reason, is refusing to allow the Brotherhood Gazans emigrate to somewhere so remote as Scotland who has foolishly offered to accept some number of them, and yet Egypt will permit none to go there even for the price of a prince’s purse. Indeed, these two scoundrels are far from playing for the middle ground in this war, but are actively supporting Iran’s positions against their own interests, nevermind Israel.
@Adam I agree many Haredi are not currently fit for combat service. However the IDF and other security services are full of jobs they could do, that would free others to take a combat role. Every job in the military is not an infantry position.
Also training for the IDF enlistment many times take place during high school years. So some that are not fit could be made by training for a year or two for combat or other roles.
You are correct there are difficulties with Haredi enlistment but with sincere effort this can be overcome. Israel needs more manpower in the IDF. The Haredi need to contribute by more than prayer is the overwhelming view of Israeli society.
The last sentence of my last post should read, “Two thirds of haredim who do attempt to enlist flunk their physicals and are not inducted into the IDF.
Bear, concerning Haredi service in the military: for years, the IDF’s top brass has been opposed to haredi enlistment, even though of course they don’t say so publicly They consider the Haredi who do serve, and there have always been some who do serve, to be royal pains in the ass, and more of a hindrance then a help to the army. They not only demand ultra-kosher food, but they demand the the food be inspected and approved by the leaders of every haredi sect who has members in the army. And that means the food has to be inspected and certified as kosher by as many as thirty different sect leaders. (aka “rebbes.”). Then there is the problem that they refuse to serve in any unit where women are also serving. And they refuse to listen to female instructors. They walk out whenever a woman entertainer (singers, etc,) is providing badly nreeded entertainment to the non-Orthodox Jewish soldiers. Then there are the accusations that the haredi soldiers are guilty of brutality toward Arab prisoners. These allegations have become less numerous in recent years as the haredi soldiers are now better trained. But that villain Blinken was able to use these outdated criticisms in an attempt to blacklist the haredi battalion.
The entire way they are brought up and educated ensures that 90 percent of haredim of military age iare unfit for military service. For example, haredi students are required to bob up and down in their seats whenever they are reading or praying. This insures that nearly 100 percent of young haredi men are very near-sighted, In many cases, their myopea cannot be correct to 20-20 even with the strongest glasses. At least until very recently, haredi students did not receive any physical education and did not play any sports , at least during school hours. Most received no education in the subjects that would enable them to make contributions to the military, such as vocational training, science, mathematics or social studies, In my opinion, if all haredim of military age were called up for a physical by trhe IDF, 90 percent would flunk. QAnd the total number of haredim serving in the IDF would not increase by very much.
Two-thirds of the haredim who do attempt to enlist
@Adam you are correct this is a very good article by Glick, with excellent points made.
Egypt is not interested in attacking Israel. It is clearly trying to clip its wings but a war is not in Egypt’s interest.
Egypt has a massive water problem and would be more likely to go to war over that
with Ethiopia which is keeping the water from flowing to Egypt by its damming operations on the Nile.
With Israel Egypt wants Hamas to stay in power so it can keep its lucrative smuggling of humans and weapons business with Hamas flowing. If Israel stays on the Rafah border and Hamas goes, that business ends. The tunnels will be either destroyed or become completely inoperable. Also if Israel controls the crossing or oversees it, then the smuggling business into and out of Gaza disappears.
Brilliant analysis and fact-check from Caoline as we can expect from her. But terrifying. Is al-Sisi planning on an invasion of Israel? Other internet sources have pointed out that al-Sisi sabotaged what looked like a done deal for a terrorists-for-hostages deal that had bbeen more or less agreed to by Israel, the United States, and Qatar, and that the U.S. assumed would soon be implemented. However, al-Sisi sabotaged the deal by altering his proposal for a deal to Hamas, without notifying any of the other parties to the negotiations. This annoyed the United States, Israel, and even Qatar. One commentator pointed out that this was the forst time in a long time the Qatar expressed anger at Egypt. Usually they are the best of friends. In this case, al-Sisi was doing Israel a favor, since any hostages-for terrorists deal is extremely harmful to Israel.Still, his two-faced behavior is grounds for concern.
Ted, Bibi was one of the main and maybe central leader for years in just mowing the lawn in Gaza instead of finishing Hamas. He is partially responsible for allowing the vast majority of Haredi not to enlist.
The military is now clearly too small and overdependent on the reserves. That is part of the issue why we are playing tit for tat with the Hezbollah.
Israel needs new leadership after the war. I would like Barkat to lead the Likud and become PM. He is in private pointing out many of the errors and is taking on Bibi, because is now part of the problem. We could get leaders from other right-wing parties to join in solving problems if it were not for Bibi’s leadership style.
@Ted, Israeli leaders were over confident, over reliant on the billion dollar electronic fence and technological defense means. Hamas knew Israel listened to all their cell phone and electronic communication. In the communications they sent, clear disinformation that they were not interested in war with Israel. This helped fool Israel.
Israeli intelligence leaders at middle levels it appeared did not pass information sent by the low level on the ground females who were reporting signs of Hamas planning an attack.
That is what we know so far. There needs to be a general inquiry by the IDF and of the IDF mistakes that lead to the October 7, 2023 disaster and mass murder.
That many people want Bibi gone is no secret. Many Israelis I talk to blame him as the long term PM as being responsible in part for October 7.
No ONE Would intentionally let 1400+ Israelis die to get rid of Bibi. That is simply an outrageous accusation and not credible nor believable.
@Bear
Gallant, Gantz, Eisenkopt, Ehud Barak, among others, are still trying to take him down.
@ Bear
How else can you explain he unwillingness of the top echelon of the IDF to recognize all the intelligence coming in. They had eyes on the ground that kept reporting what was going on. They ignored or dismissed what they were told.
To my mind, they applied willful blindness
Israel intelligence screwed up on October 7 signs that an attack was going to take place. Where things fell apart needs to be analyzed in depth.
That the IDF was involved in trying to take down Bibi and allowed an attack to take place and allow 1400+ Israelis to get murdered is NOT BELIEVABLE to be UNDERSTATED!
Iran involved in trying to take over Jordan. It is an enemy of Jordan & Israel.
Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah behind attacks on Israel.
Egyptians have been involved in the transfer of weapons via the tunnels to Hamas. A friend of Sisi’s has been involved smuggling weapons and people out of Gaza for financial gain. This is a big business in a poor country. Egypt wanted this business to continue. This is one of the reason’s Egypt objected to Israel taking over Rafah plus the Philadelphia Road running between Egyptian Rafah and Egyptian Rafah.
Egypt also does not want large amount of Gazan’s moving into Egypt. They do not want the financial burden for one. Two they had their own Muslim Brotherhood problem and do not want Hamas (Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood) causing problems inside of Egypt.
Jordan’s King & Queen are involved in bad mouthing Israel but still cooperate on security with Israel due to mutual need. Jordan involved in shooting down drones sent from other countries including Iran during Iranian attack on Israel.
Jordan also allowed foreign air-forces to use Jordanian airspace to knock down Iranian drones and missiles during attack. Mudar disputes this but I personally do accept his version of events things. Numerous foreign reports (including Israeli reports) contradict Mudar’s version of events.
Egypt and Jordan are not friend’s of Israel to be understated. However, they are interested in functioning and continuity of Israel for mutual needs. I do not find it credible that they were involved in planning the October 7 attacks.
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202404084424