A lesson we should have learned after 9/11.
Americans and Israelis tend to suffer from ‘delusions of diplomacy’ when it comes to the Muslim world.
Some Israelis in particular have the conviction that because they have back channels to Muslim nations and private talks with them that they’re on track to a better relationship. A few months earlier there was a lot of happy talk about the growing relationship with Erdogan’s Turkey, and of course the conviction of normalization with Saudi Arabia.
Sorry, no. Here’s the bad news direct from Al-Arabiya.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman urged all nations during an extraordinary BRICS summit on Tuesday to cease weapon exports to Israel.
MBS reiterated the Kingdom’s rejection of Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip and demanded an immediate halt to them.
He said that the “brutal crimes” unfolding in Gaza demand a collective effort to bring them to an end.
Insider types will rush to claim that there are mixed messages here. And yes there are. MBS is saying this at a BRICS summit. Who’s shipping weapons to Israel from BRICS nations? And the Al-Arabiya article, unusually, notes that the war began when Hamas massacred Israelis. For those who want to read angles into everything, they will anyway.
But it really is time for people to remember that Saudi Arabia isn’t Israel’s friend or America’s friend. A lesson we should have learned after 9/11.
Yes, MBS has made some reforms that bring the country a little more livable for younger Muslims of his generation. Mostly women. And guys who like to party.
The Abraham Accords, impressive as they are, are still based around an alliance against Iran in a region where everyone is simultaneously an ally and an enemy. I’ll take MBS over Qatar and Khashoggi’s handlers who’d like to go all-in on Al Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood and ISIS, as the lesser of evils, but let’s not forget the big picture here.
The Saudis are not our friends and they will never be our friends. Buyer beware.
Wellington says
Actually, no nation is the friend of another nation because nations don’t have friends, only interests. Friendship among nations is an illusion. The closest example to refuting this is the cooperation in WWII between America and Britain and even this was fraught with many tempestuous elements which tried the patience of people like Eisenhower and Churchill.
But I gather Greenfield’s point and agree with it overall with the proviso I stated above. Some nations should be distrusted more than others. Certainly all majority-Muslim nations should be even though we have to work with some of them in this very imperfect world in which we live. In the final analysis, never trust the Islamic world, the Leftist world or the traditional authoritarian world. All three are enemies of liberty, true justice and an enlightened morality.
CogitoErgoSum says
I remember from a few years ago that the Vatican was working on an agreement with the Saudis which would allow for the building of a Catholic church in Saudi Arabia. So … still no construction work started yet? That’s a real surprise. ?
H North says
I doubt it would ever be built, since sharia law forbids it in the KSA. But good news: there’s an LDS chapel (that looks like a mosque) in Dubai, with a temple also announced! (I wonder how long before they’re burned down…)
Peacelover says
Some people Never learn.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Yeah, the optimism I had about that country when MbS was new is more or less now a thing of the past. Unless he flips completely the next time Trump takes over
abu taleb says
To be more precise, any muslim is not your friend. The only “muslim” who can be your friend is the one who doesn’t understand Islam and doesn’t practice Islamic teaching.
James Lincoln says
In other words, abu, a muslim who is not devout.
Shalom says
Buyer beware!!! I like that. Thanks for that Daniel, now all my hopes have been totally crushed.