It was bound to happen.
Israel and Saudi Arabia have a mutual interest that may well supersede any historical differences. Both Israel and Saudi Arabia are looking at a common enemy that is seeking hegemony over both of these countries and which neither of these countries can tolerate.
Yes, were talking about the world's largest sponsor of terrorism, radical Islamist terrorism, and that would be the Islamic Republic of Iran, a Shiite Islamic state.
Retired Saudi general Anwar Majed Eshki and former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Dore Gold publicly announced that since the beginning of 2014, representatives from Israel and Saudi Arabia have had five secret bilateral meetings to discuss Iran in India, Italy, and the Czech Republic.
“We’re both allies of the United States,” Mr. Gold told The New York Times after the presentation. “I hope this is the beginning of more discussion about our common strategic problems.”
The fact that Israel and Saudi Arabia have been talking clandestinely for almost a year and a half says a lot for their determination to put Iran in its place.
Israel sees Iran’s nuclear program as a threat to its existence. It believes that Iran is building an atomic bomb.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is unhappy with Iranian expansionism in the Middle East. Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran are in constant competition for influence in the region, via proxy conflicts in Iraq, Syria, and most recently Yemen.
I would argue that Saudi Arabia has just as much interest in preventing Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon as does Israel, although Israel feels its very existence depends upon a nuclear weapons free Iran, whereas Saudi Arabia sees Iran in a slightly different role of the hegemon over the entire Middle East.
If the Obama administration fails to negotiate a legitimate agreement with Iran that will limit Iran from continuing to produce high grade fissile material, I fully expect to see Israel engage in some kind of military action to cripple Iran's continuing development of a nuclear weapon. I further expect Saudi Arabia to assist Israel, but in action behind the scenes. Saudi Arabia still has to live in the neighborhood and understands that they cannot overtly be seen as close allies with Israel.
A very revealing AP poll showed the following, which is monumentally significant.
The Associated Press reported on Thursday that an opinion poll, conducted in Saudi Arabia by the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, an Israeli college, found that 53 percent of Saudis named Iran as their main adversary and only 18 percent picked Israel. A quarter of the respondents also said Israel and Saudi Arabia should join forces to fight Iran.
No comments:
Post a Comment