The enemy of my enemy is my friend
While the MSM, the Europeans and the UN have been calling for an instant cease fire, because they all crave the untenable , violence-ridden status quo, things are a bit different in the Arab world. Unlike the others I named, who are caught in the PLO/Israel trope, which sees Israel as a demonic, imperialist bully, the Arabs, who are next to the action, recognize that Iranian-backed Hezbollah is the real threat. This has resulted in a situation where the Arab nations, while still using their reflexive anti-Israel, anti-Jewish talk, are backing Israel in the current war.
Daniel Pipes explains this reversal at length here. Just a limited quotation from his article will reveal how we’ve been plunged into a mirror image world, with Arabs supporting, rather than denouncing Israel:
On July 15, the Saudis and several other Arab states at an emergency Arab League meeting condemned Hizbullah by name for its “unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible acts.” On July 17, Jordan’s King Abdullah warned against “adventures that do not serve Arab interests.”
A number of commentators began to take up the same argument, most notably Ahmed Al-Jarallah, editor-in-chief of Kuwait’s Arab Times, author of one of the most remarkable sentences ever published in an Arab newspaper: “The operations of Israel in Gaza and Lebanon are in the interest of people of Arab countries and the international community.” Interviewed on Dream2 television, Khaled Salah, an Egyptian journalist, condemned Hassan Nasrallah of Hizbullah: “Arab blood and the blood of Lebanese children is much more precious than raising [Hizbullah’s] yellow flags and pictures of [Iran’s Supreme Leader] Khamene’i.”
A leading Wahhabi figure in Saudi Arabia even declared it unlawful for Sunni Muslims to support, supplicate for, or join Hizbullah. No major Arab oil-exporting state appears to have any intention to withhold its oil or gas exports out of solidarity with Hizbullah.
Many Lebanese expressed satisfaction that the arrogant and reckless Hizbullah organization was under assault. One Lebanese politician privately confided to Michael Young of Beirut’s Daily Star that “Israel must not stop now … for things to get better in Lebanon, Nasrallah must be weakened further.” The prime minister, Fuad Saniora, was quoted complaining about Hizbullah having become “a state within a state.” A BBC report quoted a resident of the Lebanese Christian town of Bikfaya estimating that 95 percent of the town’s population is furious at Hizbullah.
It just goes to show that, when you stir the pot, you don’t always end up with the dish you expected. (A statement that’s also true for my frequently variable cooking results.)
