By Ted Belman
The US is embracing fundamentalist Islam. First, she embraced Sunni Muslim Brotherhood and now its the turn of Shiite Iran. The US certainly doesn’t want to take the side of the Sunnis against the Shiites. And she is tired of taking the side of Israel against both the Shiites and the Sunnis. That’s why the US, especially under Obama, has been undermining Israel at every turn. That’s the new ME.
Israel and the Gulf states are imperiled by this reality. Fundamentalist Islam, what other kind is there, doesn’t accept the Balfour Declaration and the creation of Israel. It is dedicated to its destruction. The Arab Peace Initiative suggests they would be willing to accept Israel in ’67 “borders” but I wouldn’t count on it. Even if we accepted the ’67 lines they would still demand the right of return which is a euphemism for the destruction of the Jewish state. Clearly, if Israel falls or is weakened, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states will also fall and maybe Egypt too.
I don’t think the US sees this as a bad thing. After all, the oil money they have is too concentrated to help the Arab masses in Jordan and Egypt and Sunni Syria. This is a source of instability.
The only hope Israel has to avoid being emasculated, territory wise, or Jewish wise, is to form a mutual defense pact with Eqypt, Jordan and the Gulf States wherein they agree to back the annexation by Israel of most of Judea and Samaria and Israel agrees to come to their defense. Such a rapprochement would take years to achieve. The Gulf money, the Egyptian army and population with Israel in the lead would be more than a match for Iran and the shiites. The US would not take sides.
Anything less, such as bombing Iran’s facilities, would afford temporary relief only. Clearly Zionism is the biggest destabilizer of all. Israel must find acceptance by the Sunni Arabs.
Bert Said:
When I was 12 yrs old I was expelled from Sat School for advocating a violent responce to anti-semitism.
The amount of Jewish self hatred leaves me breathless and disgusted. From the beginning G-d has given us constant blessings. And from the beginning our Jewish leaders have too often rejected these blessings and trashed the teachings of our Torah. Deuteronomy Chapter 28 says that if we Jews obey the Torah then G-d will fight for us and we will be secure and prosper. But if we ignore the Torah, as our leaders are now doing, then we will be abandoned to our enemies and we will suffer dire consequences. History confirms both the promise and the warning but our corrupt leaders are incapable of ever learning from history.
Only among Jews would this even have to be said
We Jews have a real self-destructive streak. I find it amazing that this even has to be said, but Jewish Home MK Ayelet Shaked has asked Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai to cancel a ‘film festival.’ A naqba ‘film festival.’
Habayit Hayehudi faction chairwoman MK Ayelet Shaked implored Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai on Thursday to cancel an upcoming film festival focusing on the Nakba, the Arabic term meaning “catastrophe” that Palestinians and Israeli Arabs use to describe the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem during Israel’s War of Independence.
“I was shocked to discover that Tel Aviv Municipality was helping produce an anti-Zionist film festival at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque. A review of the event’s line-up clearly shows that the films represented at the festival are of an anti-Zionist nature,” said Shaked.
The festival at Tel Aviv’s art-house Cinematheque theater, titled “48 mm — International Film Festival on Nakba and Return,” began on Thursday. According to the theater’s website, the purpose of the festival is to “show films dealing with the Palestinian Nakba and the return of refugees.”
The festival is showing both full-length films produced domestically by Palestinians and abroad, as well as a series of short films produced by Israelis and Palestinians, covering themes related to the Nakba. It will run until Saturday.
Israel’s municipalities get funding from the central government. Tel Aviv ought to lose as much as this ‘film festival’ cost. This is disgraceful.
Ted,
A alliance of convenience is certainly possible. But Arabs brainwashed by anti-Semitic incitement are never going to see the Jewish State as a friend.
Any mutual interests will be expedient and of limited duration.
For the moment, both Israel and the Sunni Arabs share a mutual fear of Iran. That doesn’t mean they’re falling in love.
And whatever the outcome of events with Iran, Israel will still face the fact the Arab World is disintegrating on demographic, economic and social levels. The future of the Middle East is an uncertain one.