SAUDI/ISRAEL COOPERATION? THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY? DON’T BANK ON IT..NOTE
This is such a tidy scenario that could fool someone, but the Saudis are perfectly happy to use Israel for the time being….since they can’t count on Obama and Clinton’s feeble finger wagging. The House of Saud is an Islamothugocracy….whose “hudna” with Israel and Jews is a very temporary accommodation to save them so that they can finish implementing Sharia in every major institution in the United States….rsk
February 17, 2010
In today’s Political Diary
How Iran Is Becoming the eHarmony of the Mideast
“The Saudis have two big worries,” we once heard a senior U.S. policy maker say. “One is that Israel is going to attack Iran. The other is that Israel is not going to attack Iran.”
On Monday, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal gave a hint as to where the balance of his fears now lies. Appearing alongside Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Saudi prince gave short shrift to the Obama Administration’s preferred strategy of applying new sanctions to Iran. “Sanctions are a long-term solution,” he said. “But we see the issue in the shorter term because we are closer to the threat. We need immediate resolution rather than gradual resolution.”
Prince Faisal gave no indication of what “immediate resolution” might entail in his view. In classic Saudi fashion, he also called upon Israel to give up its own nuclear arsenal for the sake of a nuclear-free Middle East. In private, however, the Saudis are considerably more grateful that Israel has the military wherewithal — including its own nuclear force to deter reprisals — to contemplate a strike on Iran. That’s especially true as the Saudis conclude that the Obama Administration probably lacks the stomach for military action. Even this month’s widely publicized deployment of advanced Patriot anti-ballistic missile batteries to Gulf states is an initiative that dates back to the late days of the Bush Administration.
Behind the scenes, there is more cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Israel than either party is willing publicly to admit. Former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is known to have met with her Saudi counterparts around the time of Israel’s war with Hezbollah in 2006 — a war in which the Saudis were almost openly cheerleading the Israelis.
Well-source rumors have also pointed to Saudi-Israeli cooperation on covert ops, including the 2008 assassination of Hezbollah’s military commander, Imad Mughniyah, in Damascus. All speculation, of course, but it raises a question of whether the Saudis might also be cooperating with Western intelligence agencies, including the Mossad, to prevent Iran from going nuclear. Case in point: the “disappearance” of Iranian nuclear scientist Sharam Amiri during a pilgrimage last year to Mecca.
The Saudis, of course, deny all knowledge or involvement.
— Bret Stephens
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