The Israel / Palestine Thread

I'm starting to become an expert on the Arabian Gulf region. :ROFLMAO:

But seriously, if Saudi does this, that will be absolutely huge and even if Biden's in office, that is a Trump win.

KT special: Israeli minister optimistic about Saudi Arabia signing peace deal next

Israel’s foreign minister Gabi Ashkenazi is optimistic about Saudi Arabia signing the Abraham Accords next, after the UAE and Bahrain.

“Saudi Arabia is a major player in the region. It is a very important country in the region and we are the first to recognise it, and I think it will be significant if they join,” Ashkenazi, Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, told Khaleej Times in an exclusive interview on Thursday.

“I am very optimistic about it because they are already very supportive, they support the UAE decision, they support the Bahraini decision."
Click to expand...

As I've said from the beginning, the UAE and Bahrain didn't sign the Abraham Accords without Saudi buy-in.
 
So apparently there is opposition to the UAE arms deal in the Senate: Opinion | The U.A.E. Needs U.S. Arms to Ward Off Iran

Senate opposition to the proposed U.S. arms sales to the United Arab Emirates reflects a dangerous reversion to the Obama-era understanding of the Middle East. While opponents of the deal claim that the Emirates have misused other U.S. weapons in Yemen, the real issue is much broader.

A Senate vote on legislation to halt the $23 billion arms deal is expected in days. While opposition will likely fail—even if the bill passes, supermajorities would be needed to override the expected presidential veto—the thinking behind it foreshadows an ill-advised Biden administration policy toward Iran.

The Iranian threat to regional peace and security has altered the strategic reality of the Middle East since the misbegotten 2015 nuclear deal. Arab states increasingly fear Tehran’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, but also its support for terrorism in Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, as well as its conventional military activities. The decision by Bahrain and the U.A.E. to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel shows how Iran’s increased—and largely unchallenged—belligerence has realigned the Middle East’s correlation of forces.

Many of these shifts stem from the nuclear deal, which released between $120 billion and $150 billion in frozen assets and freed Iran from arduous economic sanctions, providing Tehran the resources to expand its military and clandestine capabilities. Iran’s Quds Force used its share of the windfall to beef up support for Iraqi Shiite militias, Syria’s Assad, and Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria. In response, the Emirates and other U.S. friends rightly want more-advanced arms.
Click to expand...
 
At some point tomorrow I'll.... "rest up" and offer my thoughts on the post above...for whatever those are worth.

Short version: Senate opposition to progress made in the ME in the last few years is...

fucking stupid.

<3's!
 
My thoughts, worth what you paid for them.

Any opposition, and I do mean any, to UAE and even the Gulf arms sales amounts to tacit support of Iran. Iran is a major player in the region and anything, ANYTHING, to weaken countries not named Iran is shortsighted or borderline criminal. Iran is a supporter/ facilitator/ enabler of terrorism throughout the region. The Harris-Biden presidency taking a soft line w/ Iran will embolden Iran and give them an ally far in excess of Qatar. Even suggesting a loosening of sanctions empowers the mullahs IMO.

One could argue the UAE has eclipsed the Saudis as our strongest ally in the Gulf. Human rights violations or not...and how many of our partners have questionable histories...The UAE is stable, pro-West, and most importantly? Location, location, location.

Selling F-35's to the UAE isn't just a message, it is a strategic imperative. Israel allowing (it can't support it and there's a difference) is so "yuge" that I doubt 99.9999% of Americans understand the implications. I know the Harris-Biden administration will fuck this up based upon some of the prospective cabinet appointment's comments.

Set side the nuke question. Iran is a major player in the Gulf and will soon, if not already, have the ability to strike Israel via TBM's. If China is Cold War 2.0, then Iran is a DLC to Cold War 2.0. An update and a patch to the Game of International Relations.

The US, and other nations, cannot and should not allow anything to improve Iran's position in the world. Iran needs internal regime change free from direct outside influence. Until then, it is just another terrorist organization.
 
I has the psychics or something...

US Congress allows F-35 sale granting UAE major military upgrade

A bill that would have blocked a $23 billion arms sale to the UAE failed in the US Senate on Wednesday, thereby granting the country 50 F-35 Lightning II aircraft.

The vote on the bill proposed by Bob Menendez, a Democratic senator, flopped by 47 to 49.
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Democrats who have had a mad-on for fucking over Israel now want to block the sale because it...could harm Israel.

The Orange Man is so bad we'd suck Iran's dick to rebuke his policies.
 
AWP said:
Democrats who have had a mad-on for fucking over Israel now want to block the sale because it...could harm Israel.

The Orange Man is so bad we'd suck Iran's dick to rebuke his policies.
Click to expand...
Domestic policy same same: inflict pain on ALL voters until they, both living and dead, vote the way they’re “supposed to”.
 
Well, that's interesting:

Jordan is scrambling to affirm its custodianship of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem after a meeting between Israeli and Saudi leaders raised fears in Amman that the fate of one of Islam’s holiest sites could be up for grabs in a normalisation deal between the two countries.

Jordan scrambles to affirm its custodianship of al-Aqsa mosque
 
Marauder06 said:
Well, that's interesting:

Jordan is scrambling to affirm its custodianship of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem after a meeting between Israeli and Saudi leaders raised fears in Amman that the fate of one of Islam’s holiest sites could be up for grabs in a normalisation deal between the two countries.

Jordan scrambles to affirm its custodianship of al-Aqsa mosque
Click to expand...

Odd story and angle, even if it is true. BUT...

The "para-dig-em" (an old Office Max commercial) has shifted in the ME and I think countries like Jordan are slow to accept the "new normal" to borrow a COVID term. Countries are starting to wake up to the fact that the Saudi-UAE relationship is the one that matters and older, traditional country's patronage is on the way out. Practically overnight Jordan went from being a player to played. The Abraham Accords are kind of a Berlin Wall moment in '89 because once those dropped, the world (in the ME) changed dramatically and almost overnight.

The Biden administration could find itself as an odd man out though. If Saudi gets on board and formally recognizes Israel while the Harris-Biden White House tries to placate Iran....yikes. The UAE will go along to get along for F-35's and when that deal is done, whoever is in the WH could find themselves with some frigid "allies" in the Gullf region.

I hate to say this, but it really looks like the UAE and Saudi have a long game, chess style, while we're playing checkers in the Gulf.

Oh, maybe I posted earlier, I forget, but Abu Dhabi announced the discovery of 22 billion barrels of land-accessible oil. That's 40 trillion-ish in oil in today's dollars. A country few have heard of is/ will be a regional player to respect.
 
AWP said:
Oh, maybe I posted earlier, I forget, but Abu Dhabi announced the discovery of 22 billion barrels of land-accessible oil. That's 40 trillion-ish in oil in today's dollars. A country few have heard of is/ will be a regional player to respect.
Click to expand...
Oil is going for around $50 a barrel these days...I don't think 22 billion barrels will get you to $40 trillion...
 
AWP said:
I hate to say this, but it really looks like the UAE and Saudi have a long game, chess style, while we're playing checkers in the Gulf.
Click to expand...
We've always played checkers. We're about results right now rather than consequences in the future. Look how OEF is/was fought. One year at a time for most conventional forces. Six months at a time for SOCOM elements. The only continuity is the big dog at the top who eventually rotates out only to turn over to someone that has a different plan, following the direction of new administration with their own ideas.

Shit, you could say we don't even play checkers, it's more like Jenga.

Grandiose ideas are just that when you can't pave the architectural path to get there.
 
AWP said:
Odd story and angle, even if it is true. BUT...

The "para-dig-em" (an old Office Max commercial) has shifted in the ME and I think countries like Jordan are slow to accept the "new normal" to borrow a COVID term. Countries are starting to wake up to the fact that the Saudi-UAE relationship is the one that matters and older, traditional country's patronage is on the way out. Practically overnight Jordan went from being a player to played. The Abraham Accords are kind of a Berlin Wall moment in '89 because once those dropped, the world (in the ME) changed dramatically and almost overnight.

The Biden administration could find itself as an odd man out though. If Saudi gets on board and formally recognizes Israel while the Harris-Biden White House tries to placate Iran....yikes. The UAE will go along to get along for F-35's and when that deal is done, whoever is in the WH could find themselves with some frigid "allies" in the Gullf region.

I hate to say this, but it really looks like the UAE and Saudi have a long game, chess style, while we're playing checkers in the Gulf.

Oh, maybe I posted earlier, I forget, but Abu Dhabi announced the discovery of 22 billion barrels of land-accessible oil. That's 40 trillion-ish in oil in today's dollars. A country few have heard of is/ will be a regional player to respect.
Click to expand...
It's always been interesting to me how tolerant Israel is of other people running the Temple Mount complex and management of certain parts of the Old City. The Temple Mount is the home of the holiest site in Judaism. Jews literally pray towards the Temple Mount, the same way that Muslims pray towards Mecca (Muslims used to pray towards the Temple Mount too, but that's a different story...). The Western Wall that is so familiar to people who know about Jerusalem and is so important to Judaism is part of that site. Yet they allow a non-Israeli NGO, that is funded and directed by a foreign government, to run the place administratively.

The Israelis not only left the mosque and shrine on the Temple Mount intact when they took the city, they ultimately allowed the status quo administrative control. That allowed the Saudis to control the #1 and #2 sites in Saudi Arabia, and the Hashemites/Jordanians control of the Islamic holy sites in the #3 most-significant Islamic site, and to control most of what is the holiest site in Judaism.

I get why they do it, and that Israel ultimately has security control over the site, but they choose to give up administrative control to the waqf. Like I said, interesting to me.

(deliberately not addressing the Christian aspects of Jerusalem in this post)
 
Honestly, the POTUS has done more shit to secure this country from Islamic Terrorism than many before. Getting relations normalized with Israel and most of the Arab world will lead to a significant reduction in radicalized Muslims becoming terrorists as they will lose their whole reason to exist.

For as much as he tweeted, he gets shit done. And I'm very fearful that the Democrats will fuck this country into oblivion when Biden takes over.
 

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