Despite public appearances to the contrary, Saudi Arabia and Israel have been having quite an intimate honeymoon for several years now. Saudi media is favorable to Israel, and the Israel lobby no longer fiercely opposes Saudi-U.S. arms deals.
The cause of this new romance is Iran – a common enemy of Israel and the House of Saud. Israel perceives Iranian nuclear capability as an existential threat directly or indirectly (by leading to mass emigration by fearful Israel leaving under nuclear hostility) while the House of Saud frets that an energized and emboldened nuclear-armed Iran will once again – as during the reign of the Shah – dominate the Persian Gulf which Saudi arrogance entitles, under U.S.-patronage of course, to the Kingdom.
This common enemy has a common narrative in Saudi and Israeli propaganda: Israel is no longer the enemy of the majority-Sunni Arabs, but, rather, Persian Shia Iran is now the enemies of both. Thus for, at least, strategic purposes the Arabs and Israel must unite to face down Iran plans for regional dominance and chaos.
This narrative is bogus and besides the corrupt oil princes and dictators has no buyers. Arabs see daily images of Israeli brutality against Palestinians and fellow Arabs while Iran has not behaved aggressively against Arab (although Iran has engaged some in unfortunate acts that play into its enemies hands). On the contrary, many Arabs admire the Iranian regime for its unabashed championing (albeit, maybe, cynical) of the Palestinians and its rebuking of U.S. regional imperialism in stark contrast to the submissive nature of their client rulers.
Only in the delusional world of Zionism (especially of the American variety) would the Arabs ignore Israeli crimes and join hands with it against a fellow Muslim state. It is incredible that Israelis even make this argument with a straight face consider Israel has bombed four Arab countries in the last two years (Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Sudan) and killed over 4,000 innocent Arabs. But Israelis do try.
And so do their corrupt Saudi friends. The propagandist Saudi media has been promoting the Israeli narrative for sometime now, and sometimes even invites the most right-wing of Israelis to do it themselves. The Saudi daily al-Sharq al-Ousat recently ran an editorial by the Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon (part of Avigdor Lieberman’s fascist party that threatens even Israel’s 1.3million Arab citizens with lost of citizenship if they do not sign a loyalty oath) making precisely the above argument (he added the “threat” of global warming too – did you not know that fascists are often environmentalists?). If you can read Arabic, read the comments underneath this editorial to see a reflection of Arab public opinion that is entirely opposed and dismisses these Saudi-Israeli joint-propaganda efforts.
And Ayalon is no not just signing editorials in Saudi propaganda sheets, but is busy hugging the the former head of Saudi intelligence who still wields enormous power Prince Turki:
Because of the public embarrassment of the handshake – and Israelis are always desperate to shake hands with people who despise them – Saudi Arabia claimed that the handshake was not a shake symbolizing relations between the two nations; but, rather, Ayalon had come over and shook the hand of Prince Turki in order to apologize for offenses against the kingdom:
In al-Arabiya interview, Prince Turki al-Faisal says Israeli deputy foreign minister expressed his regret over remarks he made about Saudi Arabia. According to official, he told Ayalon, ‘I accept your apology, on the Turkish ambassador’s behalf as well.’ Ayalon denies apologizing.
This is a lie. And Ayalon is right. Saudi Arabia needed an excuse to justify the warm handshake and to save face with their people and other Arabs/Muslims and so they claimed that it was really a moment of Saudi honor because they were accepting an apology from the Zionists and that entails having to suck it up and shake hands. In reality, there was no apology and it is a moment of Saudi collaboration and dishonor and humiliation.
And now Saudi Arabia is trying to censor footage of that handshake, if you live and Saudi Arabia and seek to see the above YouTube this it what you’ll get:
And now the Saudis are desperate to save face and in that cause are issuing pro-Arab, pro-Palestinian pronouncement to ‘prove’ their Arab/Muslim credentials:
The Saudi government on Monday urged a firm stance by the international community regarding what it called threats by Israel against Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinians.
“(The cabinet) appeals to the international community on the need for a rigorous position about these (Israeli threats) and to step up efforts to end the continuous inhumane Israeli practices against the Palestinian people,” the cabinet said after its weekly meeting chaired by King Abdullah.
Saudi Arabia has in recent years ignored the Palestinian cause – so this is all phony posturing by a desperate government in a futile search for credibility. An elaborate charade in which the U.S. and Israel are in on. They only issued this in light of the handshake-gate.
They know the Saudis are playing a dual-game which they encourage: say the right things to Arabs so that behind the scenes you can continue to be our obedient client.
All a Saudi Shame.
