If the fighting between Hamas and Israel illustrates one thing, it is the incompetence of the Arab World and the lack of will to make a fist toward Israel and enforce a - lasting - solution. The Gazans are merely paid lip service, while the Israelis get a carte blanche. At the same time, instigator Iran calls the shots in the background and decides what is good for the Arab World.
By Arthur Blok
For over 40 years, the regime in Tehran has implemented an agenda of instability and chaos in the Arab World via their proxies, Hezbollah (Lebanon) and Hamas (Palestine). All with the publicly disclosed goal to advance the radical Islamist ideology of the Iranian religious -Shiah - clerics and fight a war against Western influence in the region.
A region they do not even belong to themselves.
With some exceptions, most Arab countries found common ground and opened up to the West. Including when it comes to softening their stance against Israel. This led to the signing of the Abraham Accords (normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrein, and later followed by Morrocco and Sudan) and talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
The Abraham Accords did not get the attention it deserved in the West. It was an absolute historic breakthrough and the first time since 1994 when Jordan and Israel signed a similar peace treaty with the Israelis that Arab states.
Western mainstream media ignored it mainly because of its initiator, former president Donald Trump. The hatred toward Trump was (is) so significant that the importance of this agreement was downplayed. Ironically, the Abraham Accords are playing a pivotal role in the recent wave of violence, both in Gaza and in Southern Lebanon.
The process of normalization of relations with Israel is a thorn in the eyes of Iran. Sabotaging this process is the ultimate goal of the Iranian proxy involvement in the Middle East. No matter how many civilian lives are lost.
Iran was never included in the Arab rapprochement and remained a pariah state. No matter how hard it tried. It was also embarrassed on the international stage, like an animal backed in a corner.
It goes without saying that the peace rhetoric has been gone since the start of the hostilities on October 7. Since that moment, most Arab leaders have used big words against the devastating and disproportional Israeli retaliation.
They condemn it in the strongest form.
Bold statements (initially directed at both sides) to cease the hostilities. After more than 11,000 Gazans, at least 42 journalists and media workers, and over 1,200 Israelis were killed. Still, no action has been taken.
Arab leaders only use empty words that do not protect innocent civilians from being killed. At the same time, they have a lot of power in their hands. Suppose they were more severe in their condemnation and had a genuine will to stop Israel’s blind fury against Hamas.
Call an OPEC meeting and put an oil embargo on the agenda or something in that range. Such a simple measure, or the threat of it, could get the West that refuses to call for a cease-fire on its knees in a matter of days.
A cease-fire could be easily enforced.
There is no real will to do that.
The Arab world also wants to get rid of Hamas and its main sponsor, the Iranian regime. A regime that is powerful enough to create chaos in a region is proxies without being directly involved. That is a modus operandi all Arab leaders eagerly want to get rid of, just like most Western countries.
No matter at what cost, that is evident by now.
Despite Western and Arab sanctions, Iran succeeded in establishing and fortifying a network of alliances in the Middle East, positioning itself as an essential player and exerting a constant threat to its adversaries.
For those who missed the point, except for Iran, the Hamas operation plunged the whole region into the dark. Gaza is being destroyed, thousands of innocent lives are lost, and the crisis is on the brink of expanding far over its current borders.
The United Nations Security Council once again proved it’s a lame duck. As the war rages on more than one month after it began, diplomats at the UN still appear more focused on seizing the political narrative than passing resolutions that have any impact on the ground.
While millions of people around the world gather weekly on the streets of their cities, and anger is the common denominator in the hearts and minds of the Arabs, Tehran is washing its hands in innocence.
The strengthening of ties between Hamas and Hezbollah under the Iranian umbrella in recent years, the financing and military support provided by the Islamic Republic to both movements, the dramatic nature of the attack, and its timing during the Israel-Saudi rapprochement are a slap in the face.
To say the least.
Whether the Arab World likes it or not, they have proven to be incapable of curbing Iran’s influence in their countries. That is the painful reality. It is Iran that decides what is good for the Arab world and no one else.
Very good article with factual logic.
In the mean time the killing of civilians is not stopping and the Arabs are not the only people to point the finger at, all
Most of the European governments who have invented the concept of human rights are the ones not lifting a finger and letting things be!
Is it to spite putin in Ukraine or is it their fear of being dragged into a scene where zionists control their wealth and they prefer not to utter a word that can alter their e comical stability! Leaders of the free world were there to set the example that we were taught in school, don’t they know that the lowest standard they exhibit is the highest they can expect from us watching them do? Instability will not come but from people who will seek Justice enough to create a chaos for a worthy revolution. Humanity is dead otherwise! Rabelais wrote: “ Science without conscience is only ruin of the soul”. This is exactly where we are: no conscience no soul: Animal kindgdom (though some animal are more worthy and with conscience than many of our leaders)