U.S., Israel and several Gulf states are out of the closet

 

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Dear stan, The presidential election of 2020 is inching closer by the day, and naturally, Israel is a major beneficiary of the political jockeying that is taking place.  Given what we already know about this administration it’s not completely fantastical to think that it might resort to the very worst and that if it did so Israel would be a large factor in it. Actually I think it’s interesting how the further isolation of Iran is not a much bigger talking point among analysts when they discuss Israel’s new agreements with the autocratic Persian Gulf states of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Shared enmity of Iran is the driving force behind Israel’s (now disclosed) relations with these two states, as well as others; the humiliation of Palestinians, while an awful betrayal, is much less a goal of the Gulf states than it is a consequence they are willing to accept. Even if every neocolonial western-backed regime in the Middle East decided to recognize Israel it wouldn’t solve Israel’s true existential issues.  Anyway, the U.S., Israel and several Gulf states are out of the closet as a front, and they are the “good guys,” while Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas and whomever else “they” want to demonize are the “bad guys,” and it seems like we lived through something very similar not all that long ago. The international order may not be a Hobbesian-like anarchy but it is ruthlessly rational in its amorality and inhumanity. In this regard Israel has shown itself to be a great success.  During this holy week of contemplation, it’s worth asking if a Jewish State in the Levant that was founded against the will of the majority of the people who lived there and that has defined itself in opposition to the flora and fauna of the region, has been worth the costs. Thanks for reading and happy new year, Scott Roth  Publisher, Mondoweiss