Editorial in Times of Israel

The enemy of my enemy is my frenemy

Who is my friend? Who ismy enemy? It’s no longer clear in the Middle East. Today the Saudi-led quartetwhich includes the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain have boycottedQatar, previously an ally. The wealthy nation state seems to have gained toomuch power and influence. Its Al-Jazeera news station, the quartet says,promotes "extremism" and even antisemitism said a top UAE official ina televised interview last week.

Qatar is accused ofpromoting "anti-semitic violence by broadcasting sermons by spiritualleader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Yusuf al-Qaradawi." No kidding!Moreover, the quartet accuses Qatar of a "policy aimed at destabilizingsecurity in the region." Its increasing voice and financial influence evenin Europe is threatening Saudi hegemony in the region.

Some have said theshifting desert sands are the result of the changing of the guard in Washingtonand evolved from Trump's anti-terrorism conference in Riyadh. But more likely,Qatar has become more aligned with Iran and everyone in the Middle East fearsIranian expansionism. Buoyed by the nuclear deal in which it earned a bonanzaof cash, Iran has strengthened its military assets, continues silently todevelop its nuclear program and most disconcerting, practically rules Iraq,Syria and soon Lebanon through its affiliate, Hezbollah.

The Saudis have demandedthat Qatar cut ties with Iran, but shortly after the severing of ties – Iran'spresident called the emir of Qatar to reassure him that trade between the twocountries would increase. With Iran now leaning on Israel's back door throughits encroachment with Hezbollah in the North, these two old enemies (SaudiArabia and Israel) suddenly find themselves as frenemies. 

In addition to thequartet's criticism of Al-Jazeera, to the advantage of Israel, the Saudis wenta step further on their Middle East course correction by outing Hamas. ItsAmbassador to Algeria, Sami Bin Abdullah Salih, said last week in an interviewthat Hamas is a terrorist organization - "of course… it certainly is, ifit seeks to create and cause problems." Going further and taking aimat Qatar for its harbouring of Hamas leaders – the Ambassador went on to accusethe Hamas leadership of sitting in five star hotels instead of being one withtheir people and "trying to advance the issue."

More significantly, TheNational, an Abu Dhabi UAE publication, reported recently that the Red CrescentChief admitted that Hamas betrayed them: "Hamas, which controls the GazaStrip fired upon Israelis from the hospital they were operating at, provokingretaliation from the Israelis." According to the article, this wascontrary to the arrangement Red Crescent had with Hamas – but now it’s an openand long suspected admission (which benefits Israel) that Hamas uses humanshields (even from hospitals) to gain international sympathy.

If as the saying goes,"the enemy of my enemy is my friend," it’s clear that an accidentalalignment between Israel and the Saudis is taking place. Perhaps there is achanging pragmatic attitude about Israel in general, which was reinforced lastweek by India's Prime Minister Modi's successful visit to Israel and their $2billion trade deal. As one Arab newspaper put it - "Israel hadachieved a series of victories without firing a bullet… Waves of extremism inthe Arab world have caused untold calamities, creating a long bullet-list ofissues and conflicts… this time Arabs did not feel only envy, but sensed utterdefeat for failing to catch up with the developing world.”  

For now, a frenemy isbetter than an enemy and perhaps it might even become a friend. 

Shabbat Shalom,

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Avi