Secretary of State Antony Blinken, 60, has received a predicable cold shoulder when he asks Arab leaders like 38-year-old Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman.to condemn Hamas terrorism. Just like the Ukraine War, not all countries are comfortable, for whatever reason, with condemning 70-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine Feb. 22, 2022. President Joe Biden, 80, and Blinken spend too much time getting foreign leaders to denounce Putin and now the same thing with Hamas. Surely Biden and Blinken know that Bin Salman, and other Arab leaders, deal with Islamic radicals in their countries, leaving them vulnerable to terrorist attacks at home. No one knows more about terror attacks than Bin Salman who’s faced relenless Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacks on Saudi Arabia with Iran made rockets-and-drones since 2015.
Blinken’s office complained that when he tried to meet with Bin Salman over the Israeli-Hamas War yesterday, Bin Salman kept Blinken waiting until today, where Blinken asked Bidn Salman to condemn Hamas attacks. Whether Bin Salman was ready to normalize ties with Israel is anyone’s guess. What’s know for sure is that the faces tricky diplomacy, approving anything with Israel publicly that meets with a response from the radical fringe in the Kingdom. Blinken should have more savvy to know that Bin Salman walks a fine line advertising his past or growing ties with Israel. It wasn’t that long ago when Biden said he wouldn’t recognize Bin Salman for his alleged role in the Oct. 2, 2018 killing of Washington Post Journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Now Blinken wants the Bin Salman to condemn Hamas publicly knowing possible repercussions in the Kingdom.
When it comes to Arab-Israeli relations, they dramatically improved in the Trump administration with the 2020 Abraham Accords, where Israel opened diplomatic relations with sever Arab states. Going to war against Hamas in Gaza never plays well in the Arab world, if, for no other reason, it reminds the Arab world of past wars with Israel, defeating several Arab states. So, asking Bin Salman to condemn Hamas doesn’t jibe with the global press community posting gruesome images of Israeli bombing of already ramchackled Palestinian territory. Hamas and the Palestinian Authority portray Israel to the Arab and international press as the aggressor. No one in the press tells the truth about what the Arab world calls “Israeli occupation.” All Arab countries know that Israel doesn’t occupy Palestinians lands. If Israel didn’t seize territory in 1967 from Egypt and Jordan, there would be no land for Palestinians.
Palestinians occupy the Gaza Strip and West Bank because of Israeli spoils of the 1967 Six Day War. Yet if you listen to the press, you’d think all of Israel is Palestinian land. Before Yasser Arafat formed the Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO] in 1964, Arabs in the Holy Land were not called Palestinians. Palestine was the name given by the Ottoman Empire and British to the Holy Land, something they controlled for more that 500 years. When the U.K. deeded the British Mandate of Palestine to Jews in 1948, Palestinians revolted. Islamic countries simply couldn’t fathom the Holy Land in Jewish hands. If the course of 75-years, Jews morphed a wasteland into one of the U.N’s most prosperous democracies in the the Middle East. Yet when Palestinians look at their development in Gaza and the West Bank, it’s primitive by comparison to the remarkable accomplishments in Israel.
All Palestinians would prosper from a peace treaty with Israel in which Hamas and Palestinian Authority would renounce terrorism as a means of achieving political goals. Hamas thinks its Oct. 7-8 Nazi/ISIS-like genocide on Israeli civilians helped their cause. Hamas and other Arab states have boasted how they blindsided Israel, killing 1,400 civilians and taking 150 hostages. So, when it comes to Netanyahu declaring war on Hamas, Bin Salman isn’t going to rub it in Palestinians face. But Bin Salman and other Arab leaders know that Hamas pays a draconic price for genocide against Israeli citizens. Biden and Blinken must go about their diplomacy quietly, not expect Arab states to condemn Hamas for egregious acts of genocide. Leaders like Bin Salman have enough problems containing terrorism in Saudi Arabia to openly inflame an already volatile situation.
Calling for Israel to end its war in Gaza, Bin Salman panders to other Arab states that have restive Palestinian population, like Lebanon and Kingdom of Jordan. Leaders for Arab capitals in the Gulf States or North Africa know the long-standing narrative against Israel in the Arab world. Only Shiite Iran likes to play Sunni Arab states by threatening Israel, all because they know they wouldn’t dare attack the Jewish State. Netanyahu wouldn’t hesitate for bomb Iran for fueling state-sponsored terror around the Middle East. Biden has let the world know that while he doesn’t want Israel to occupy the Gaza Strip, he doesn’t want Israel to stop its current war against Hamas. Biden knows with Hamas in charge of Gaza, the prospects of a Mideast peace are slim-and-none. Biden agrees with Netanyahu that a new government must be set up in Gaza if Palestinians have any future.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
