Posts Tagged ‘Dore Gold’
Official Intelligence Secret Talks between Saudi Arabia and Israel
In five covert meetings, old foes have planned against a common enemy (Iran? All the Arab countries not allied with Saudi Arabia? Palestinians? Syria? Iraq? Yemen?).
Now they officially met in Washington DC and took photos.
By Eli Lake
Since the beginning of 2014, representatives from Israel and Saudi Arabia have had five secret meetings to discuss a common foe, Iran.
On Thursday, the two countries came out of the closet by revealing this covert diplomacy at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington.
Among those who follow the Middle East closely, it’s been an open secret that Israel and Saudi Arabia have a common interest in thwarting Iran.
But until Thursday, actual diplomacy between the two was never officially acknowledged. Saudi Arabia still doesn’t recognize Israel’s right to exist. Israel has yet to accept a Saudi-initiated peace offer to create a Palestinian state.
It was not a typical Washington think-tank event.
No questions were taken from the audience.
After an introduction, there was a speech in Arabic from Anwar Majed Eshki, a retired Saudi general and ex-adviser to Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the former Saudi ambassador to the U.S.
Then Dore Gold, a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations who is slotted to be the next director general of Israel’s foreign ministry, gave a speech in English.
While these men represent countries that have been historic enemies (That’s the biggest lie disseminated by the western countries), their message was identical: Iran is trying to take over the Middle East and it must be stopped.
Eshki was particularly alarming. He laid out a brief history of Iran since the 1979 revolution, highlighting the regime’s acts of terrorism, hostage-taking and aggression.
He ended his remarks with a 7-point plan for the Middle East.
Atop the list was achieving peace between Israel and the Arabs.
Second came regime-change in Iran.
Also on the list were greater Arab unity, the establishment of an Arab regional military force, and a call for an independent Kurdistan to be made up of territory now belonging to Iraq, Turkey and Iran.
Gold’s speech was slightly less grandiose. He, too, warned of Iran’s regional ambitions. But he didn’t call for toppling the Tehran government.
“Our standing today on this stage does not mean we have resolved all the differences that our countries have shared over the years,” he said of his outreach to Saudi Arabia. “But our hope is we will be able to address them fully in the years ahead.” (There have never been difference between Israel and the Saudi monarchy)
It’s no coincidence that the meetings between Gold, Eshki and a few other former officials from both sides took place in the shadow of the nuclear talks among Iran, the U.S. and other major powers.
Saudi Arabia and Israel are arguably the two countries most threatened by Iran’s nuclear program, but neither has a seat at the negotiations scheduled to wrap up at the end of the month.
The five bilateral meetings over the last 17 months occurred in India, Italy and the Czech Republic.
One participant, Shimon Shapira, a retired Israeli general and an expert on the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, told me:
“We discovered we have the same problems and same challenges and some of the same answers.”
Shapira described the problem as Iran’s activities in the region, and said both sides had discussed political and economic ways to blunt them, but wouldn’t get into any further specifics.
Eshki told me that no real cooperation would be possible until Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, accepted what’s known as the Arab Peace Initiative to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The plan was first shared with New York Times columnist Tom Friedman in 2002 by Saudi Arabia’s late King Abdullah, then the kingdom’s crown prince.
Israel’s quiet relationships with Gulf Arab states goes back to the 1990s and the Oslo Peace Process.
Back then, some Arab countries such as Qatar allowed Israel to open trade missions. Others allowed an Israeli intelligence presence, including Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
These ties became more focused on Iran over the last decade, as shown by documents released by WikiLeaks in 2010.
A March 19, 2009, cable quoted Israel’s then-deputy director general of the foreign minister, Yacov Hadas, saying one reason for the warming of relations was that the Arabs felt Israel could advance their interests vis-a-vis Iran in Washington.
“Gulf Arabs believe in Israel’s role because of their perception of Israel’s close relationship with the U.S. but also due to their sense that they can count on Israel against Iran,” the cable said. (Keep counting on your existential enemy of Israel)
But only now has open cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Israel become a possibility.
For Gold, it represents something of a sea change.
In 2003, he published a book, “Hatred’s Kingdom,” about Saudi Arabia’s role in financing terrorism and Islamic extremism.
He explained Thursday that he wrote that book “at the height of the second intifada when Saudi Arabia was financing and fundraising for the murder of Israelis.”
Today, Gold said, it is Iran that is primarily working with those Palestinian groups that continue to embrace terrorism.
Gold went on to say that Iran is now outfitting groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon with precision-guided missiles, as opposed to the unguided rockets Iran has traditionally provided its allies in Lebanon.
He also said Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps forces propping up the Bashar al-Assad regime are now close to the Israeli-Syrian border.
A few years ago, it was mainly Israel that rang the alarm about Iranian expansionism in the Middle East. It is significant that now Israel is joined in this campaign by Saudi Arabia, a country that has wished for its destruction since 1948.
(It was Saudi monarchy that staunchly supported the creation of Israel and had close cooperation with the Zionist movement since 1920)
The two nations worry today that President Barack Obama’s efforts to make peace with Iran will embolden that regime’s aggression against them. It’s unclear whether Obama will get his nuclear deal. But either way, it may end up that his greatest diplomatic accomplishment will be that his outreach to Iran helped create the conditions for a Saudi-Israeli alliance against it.
مين كان بقول و الله
The accents of the Israeli team
For many, following all the ins and outs of the Israeli-Palestinian saga can be confusing. Hamas did that, the Israeli army did that.
They started the war. No, they started the war. They broke the ceasefire. No, they broke the ceasefire. Hummus belongs to them. No, it belongs to them.
It is all very overwhelming. One thing is glaringly clear.
American journalists seem to have a much easier time having conversations with Israeli officials than they do with their Palestinian counterparts. The reason is obvious.
All of Israel’s official mouthpieces speak perfect unaccented English. And why wouldn’t they? After all, they are not from Israel.
Amer Zahr published this August 6, 2014:
Zahr is a Palestinian American comedian, writer, and speaker living in Michigan. He is also the editor of “The Civil Arab.” Email Amer Zahr.
Here are the cast of characters acting as Israel’s cheerleaders to the American public.
1. Peter Lerner is the foreign press spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces. He was born in London in 1973. He immigrated to Israel in 1985.
Hebrew, one of the two official languages of Israel (yes, Arabic is an official language too, because Israel is a democracy), is his second language. You might have wondered why Peter Lerner sounds more like a spokesperson for the Queen than he does for Israel. Why wouldn’t he? He is, after all, a foreigner in the land of Israel.
2. Dore Gold is a diplomat who has served in many Israeli governments. He was once Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations. He is currently the president of an Israeli think tank in Jerusalem. He was born in Connecticut, attended high school in Massachusetts, and earned a BA, MA, and PhD from Columbia University in New York City.
He has appeared on television numerous times during Israel’s latest offensive defending and explaining the policies of the Netanyahu government. As you might expect, his English is perfect. Mr. Gold lives in Jerusalem.
He might even live in a house that once belonged to Palestinians: trust me, in Jerusalem, it’s a safe bet. You might have wondered why Dore Gold sounds like a Yankees fan. Why wouldn’t he? He is, after all, a foreigner in the land of Israel.
3. Mark Regev is the official spokesman of the Netanyahu government. In 1960, he was born in Australia, where he grew up and finished college.
He immigrated to Israel at the age of 22, when he began his graduate studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has remained in his adopted homeland ever since. Hebrew is also his second language.
You might have wondered why the official Israeli spokesman sounds like Crocodile Dundee. Why wouldn’t he? He is, after all, a foreigner in the land of Israel.
4. Michael Oren was most recently Israel’s ambassador to the United States. He was born in upstate New York. He earned his MA and PhD from Princeton University in New Jersey. He immigrated to Israel in his mid-twenties. He has lectured at dozens of American campuses.
He articulately defends Israeli policies on American televisions across our great country. Well, he is usually articulate, if you don’t count his recent interview on MSNBC when he suddenly (and quite conveniently) couldn’t hear Andrea Mitchell when she asked him about reports that Israel had eavesdropped on John Kerry last year.
But even when he flusters and fumbles, he speaks eloquent East Coast English. You might have wondered why Michael Oren sounds like an American university professor. Why wouldn’t he? He is, after all, a foreigner in the land of Israel.
5. Micky Rosenfeld is the Israeli police spokesperson to the foreign press. He speaks English flawlessly. That’s because he is English. Yup, he was born in England and grew up there. He is blond and blue-eyed. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course. He grew up with Duran Duran, the English Premiere League, and bland food.
The garlicky cuisine of his new homeland must have come as a bit of a shock to him. You might have wondered why Micky Rosenfeld sounds like Piers Morgan. Why wouldn’t he? He is, after all, a foreigner in the land of Israel.
6. Ron Dermer is Israel’s current ambassador to the United States of America. He has been all over CNN in recent weeks. He attended the University of Pennsylvania before moving to Israel is his twenties. He was born in 1971 in Miami Beach, where both his father and brother were once the mayor there.
He is one of Netanyahu’s closest advisers, writing many of his speeches, in English I assume. He is highly educated, yet for some reason he still sounds obnoxious and rude during just about every interview. You might have wondered why Ron Dermer sounds like a whiny kid from Florida. Why wouldn’t he? He is, after all, a foreigner in the land of Israel.
Now I don’t really mind that all of these Israeli messengers speak perfect English in American, Australian, and British accents. However, I do mind that with all that Western education they still can’t pronounce “Hamas.”
They insist on continuing to say “Khamas.” This is just offensive. Hamas is already frightening enough with its crappy rockets, ancient rifles, and hooded militants.
Do they really have to add that chilling “kha” sound?
Do they do that with all “h” sounds?
It would make some nursery rhymes seem just downright scary. “Khumpty Dumpty sat on a wall” just sounds alarming. C’mon guys. It’s “Hamas,” like “happy.” Just think that. Hamas. Happy. Hamas. Happy. See, it works.
In any case, this is the cast of characters acting as Israel’s cheerleaders to the American public.
Justifying racial supremacy, ethnic cleansing, and indiscriminate bombing campaigns definitely sounds better when it’s done in an accent we can all relate to.
But I’m sure every American listening to them still wonders why all these Israelis sound like the next door neighbor. Why wouldn’t they? They are, after all, foreigners in the land of Israel. Foreign colonist settlers.
Adonis Diaries 