Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently returned from a surprise, secret, one-day trip to Oman, where he engaged in talks with Sultan Qaboos. The 70-year-old Qaboos has largely stayed out of the Middle Eastern conflicts. Oman never went to war with Israel, and it was one of only three Arab states not to break relations with Egypt after Sadat signed the Camp David Accords. Nor has it been involved in the Sunni-Shi’a conflict, for 75% of Omanis belong to Ibadiyya Islam, a third branch of Islam, found only in Oman and in a handful of oases in Algeria. It is much too complicated to detail the theological differences and similarities of Ibadis with Sunni and Shi’a Muslims, but we ought to mention the political quietism of Ibadiyya Islam, and the comparatively good treatment that Ibadis have historically provided to Christians and Jews living amongst them. The Ibadi sect’s emphasis on tolerance and moderation is underscored by the accommodations that Oman’s leadership provides the 25 percent of the population that is not Ibadi. Unlike any other country — except Israel — in the region, Oman’s legal system offers extensive protection to religious minorities (Sunni and Shiite Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Buddhists). Oman is, in its advocacy of religious pluralism and social inclusion, far ahead of its Arab neighbors. The Ibadis are a tiny minority in the world of Islam. 90% of Muslims are Sunnis, a little more than 9% are Shi’a, and fewer than 1% are Ibadis, so tolerance for both Sunnis and Shi’a in Oman is a way to ensure tolerance for Ibadis outside of Oman..
Why did Netanyahu and Qaboos get together just now?
Many reports claim that the Israelis are using Oman as a back channel to Iran. For the Omanis maintain cordial relations with Iran, just as they do with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and every other state in the Gulf, and this may be a way for Israel to communicate with its archenemy.
The visit has come after months of negotiations between Israel and Oman. Could the timing of the visit to Oman also be related to the Khashoggi fiasco? No reports have mentioned this as a reason for Netanyahu’s visit to Muscat, but the Israeli leader has a stake in the political survival of the Saudi Crown Prince. Muhammad bin Salman has formed a tacit alliance with Israel against Iran, their shared mortal enemy. Furthermore, the Crown Prince has become friends with Jared Kushner, offering advice as the latter worked on his “peace plan” for Israelis and “Palestinians.” This plan, not yet revealed, is reputed to be far more favorable to the Israeli position — and has the Crown Prince’s approval — than any previous peace proposals by administrations in Washington.
And what about Sultan Qaboos? He has been under great pressure from the Saudis to join their anti-Qatar coalition, which now consists of Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E,, Bahrain, and Egypt. The Saudis are opposed to Qatar both for its links with Iran and for its support of the Muslim Brotherhood, a group whom the Saudis regard with horror for its promotion of “Islamic democracy” that would mean the end of the Saudi and other Gulf monarchies. Sultan Qaboos prefers to remain neutral, and despite Saudi pressure has not joined the anti-Qatar coalition. Nor has he taken any position on the Sunni-Shi’a war right next door, in Yemen. On the other hand, he did back Saudi Arabia when that country cut off relations with Canada for “interfering” in its domestic affairs. When Saudis arrested several activists, including Samar Badawi, the sister of Raif Badawi, a prisoner of conscience, Chrystia Freeland, the Canadian foreign minister, tweeted about how appalled she was at news of these arrests, and the next day the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called for the Saudis to “immediately release” those they had just arrested. The Saudis were furious. They expelled the Canadian ambassador, called back their own ambassador from Ottawa, cancelled contracts with Canada, and pulled thousands of Saudi students out of Canadian colleges and universities. Sultan Qaboos immediately took the Saudi side, declaring that Oman supported Riyadh’s view that nations should not interfere in the domestic affairs — i.e., arrests of human-rights activists — of other nations.
But Qaboos continues to remain aloof from the anti-Qatar coalition and, furthermore, continues to maintain friendly ties with Iran.
Though there were months of negotiations with Oman, could the timing of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s secret, one-day visit have been suggested to him by his friend the Crown Prince? Perhaps the visit, originally meant to serve as a backchannel to Iran, became something else. For during these months of preparation for the visit, Iran has shown no signs of curbing its proxy war against Saudi Arabia in Yemen. It has not halted, either, its attempts to acquire bases in Syria, and to supply Hezbollah with advanced weaponry, both meant for use against Israel. Perhaps establishing a “backchannel” was no longer plausible, given Iranian intransigence, and the visit became something quite different.
cornelius says
Hugh seems to be hinting that Nentanyahu may have been sounding out Sultan Qaboos on Oman’s potential reaction to a strike on Iran. Perhaps. But Oman is a bit-player….Omani airspace is not needed for the strike (assuming the Saudis are game)….and therefore, it would be odd for Israel to tip its hand (Iran would likely get wind of Israeli intentions from sympathetic elements within the Omani government).
It could be that the optics of the meeting were the impetus. Anytime Israel finds diplomatic acceptance in the Arab world, it is a public-relations bonanza. Of course, that doesn’t account for Oman’s motives.
But assuming Hugh is right, it could be that Netanyahu is calculating the imminent fall of the Saudi Crown Prince over the Khashoggi affair and a corresponding change in Saudi strategic policy away from Israel. Ergo, Oman’s stock rises correspondingly. Even so, if the primary issue involved in an Israeli attack on Iran is access to adjacent airspace, what is the benefit of the use of Omani airspace if it can’t be accessed by flying over Saudi Arabia?
Mac-101 says
Back to the original question. Why does the MSM want to overthrow the Crown Prince when it has an overwhelming Jewish composition. Why do they constantly strengthen the Muslim Brotherhood?
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Why do they show zero concern for the dozens of Mexican and Hispanic journalist that are murdered just south of the border?
mortimer says
I sincerely hope Oman can deliver as ‘honest broker’ between the warring parties.
When will the Arab governments give up their charades against Israel? The Koran itself orders Jews to dwell in the land of Israel and rule over it.
Israel is thus ‘Islamicly-authorized’.
Shy Guy says
Your conclusion is incorrect. See Robert Spencer’s 2009 article, “A recurring source of false hope”:
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/03/a-recurring-source-of-false-hope
mortimer says
Thank you, shy. I am indeed aware of the countervailing arguments that some Muslims hold. They speak with a forked tongue. Allah said what he said, but HE REALLY MEANS THE OPPOSITE.
That is one of the prevailing arguments of Muslims whenever they find an anomaly in the PRIMARY TEXTS.
Muslims are constantly arguing that ALL IS THE WORST COMMUNICATOR EVER and that Muslims know more than Allah, so the Muslims are the only ones who know why Allah SEEMS TO CONTRADICT himself … hundreds of times.
gravenimage says
Grimly true, Shy Guy.
Buraq says
It’s beginning to look like certain Arab States recognize that the ‘smart money’ is on Israel. Long term, Israel is going to come out on top. They can see that clearly now. So, perhaps Qaboos is getting off to a flier, taking pole position in the race to embrace Israel as the ancient and rightful home of the Jewish people. That’ll put a few terrorist noses out of joint. But who cares!
jewdog says
I tend to favor the view that self-interest is the greatest human motivator, and that the warming of relations between Israel and the Sunni states is mostly explained by their fear of Iran, the MB and other nasties. Judging by the Sultan’s support for Saudis one may speculate that despite his seemingly secure position and “friendship” with Iran, he probably is a bit insecure, being a monarch. He’s hardly a leader in these matters though, but, after all, he is a Qaboos.
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
The alliance of wicked people in the middleast sponsored by treacherous evil United States comprising fascist evil Zionist State of Israel, evil Saudi monarchs and their cohorts is drowning with murder of khashoggi.The wicked bastard crown prince Bin salman is finished and evil Zionist State cannot save him. so, the visit by leader of all evils Netanyahu to Oman is just waste of time, Oman is too weak to save idiot bastard Ibn salman. wicked scums of evils!!
gravenimage says
I thought Ibrahim itace muhammed loved murdering journalists? Mohammedans are so fickle…
James Lincoln says
Ibrahim, unfortunately, has two brain cells barely held together by a spirochete.
He has posted two sentences – and has use the word evil six times. Projection on steroids.
IQ probably less than 85, reasoning with him is a waste of time.
A very sad case.
JM says
True, but “leader of all evils” Netanyahu and “idiot bastard ibn salmam” are (no doubt unintentionally) very funny phrases. Ibrahim is a tragi-comic individual. As you say, his likely IQ of less than 85 precludes any argument or reasoning with him.
His rambling and incoherent rants are always good for a laugh, though.
mortimer says
Hey Ibrahim, I bet you would take an entry VISA to the US in about 10 seconds if one were offered. Your hate of the US is so hypocritical.
You’re a big fraud Ibrahim. Your family and acquaintance don’t even respect you. You’re a windbag, Ibrahim.
You pretend to support human rights, but you’re actually in favor of GENOCIDE of kafirs.
FYI says
Ibby#1 or Ibby #2 ,one or else split personality,anus obsessed or anal retentive…it doesn’t matter:a violently antisemitic,antichristian,illiterate,misogynistic,naive,loveless, bigot.
Just like muhammed himself:islam’s fake psychopath “prophet”.
islamic trolls are easy to spot.
Any intelligent person would know by know the truth about allah the great deceiver with his fake “prophet” and his “perfect” koran that has more metaphorical theological holes than a Swiss cheese.
Wicked smelly mithraist scums of islamic evils!
They do show you how the apologists for islam are beyond logic and reason.
Still,they are always good for a laugh:like allah”s “perfect” koran that has no errors in it{except for ALL the enormous theological ones..}..with its howlers……
“WE shall make thee read o muhammed so that thou shalt not forget”
koran 87 v 6
muhammed can’t READ.
allah forgot didn’t he?
{koran 7 v 157…muhammed “can neither READ nor write”}
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
FYI, you don’t know that all devout mithraist christians are suffering from mental delusioned due to possession by the satan you call Holy Spirit the homosexual who emits horrible bad smells into their bodies? Look at savage mad devil Trump, he looks like wild animal. you are doomed going to hottest lake of hellfire swimming in the excrements being emitted by your satan god you call Holy Spirit the father of all evils and bad smells. shits!!
gravenimage says
Ibby is spamming again..
Anjuli Pandavar says
Fascinating report and comments.
gravenimage says
Hugh Fitzgerald: Why Did Netanyahu Go to Oman? (Part One)
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I wouldn’t really expect much out of this one way or the other. Dealing with Muslims seldom gets anyone very much.
Rezali Mehil says
Salaam Graven
How are you and Dennis? all is well I trust, despite having to cook for only one other.
I am happy today as Hugh has written this most interesting article; where he is practically acknowledging that by and large Islam IS a religion of peace …he says…
It is much too complicated to detail the theological differences and similarities of Ibadis with Sunni and Shi’a Muslims, …. i.e. that it is very little difference …
and he goes on to mention…. the political quietism of Islam, and the comparatively good treatment that Ibadis Islam is providing to Christians and Jews living amongst them…
and historically …by enlarge so has the rest of Islam in Iraq, Syria, turkey et al.
By bringing a lot of kuffar soldiers to the ME continually …and particularly side lining the shia in favour of the sunni … the kuffar has sought to separate us more along these divisions when a lot of these did not exist …Modern communication , a lot of fake news has been used to try to get us to cause intolerance to the smaller minorities … but this won’t work. We are mostly in favour of looking after our minorities … if you want to talk about Aisi Bibi … it is most unfortunate … but I put it to you that Tony Robinson was treated in a very similar way in the free West.
The Ibadi sect’s emphasis on tolerance and moderation is underscored by the accommodations that Oman’s leadership provides the 25 percent of the population that is not Ibadi….
and yet they are all ruled by muslims…and that is the point isn’t it Hugh.
Oman’s legal system offers extensive protection to religious minorities (Sunni and Shiite Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Buddhists). Oman is, in its advocacy of religious pluralism and social inclusion….
And it has been like that in other muslim countries too… Pakistan , India, Indonesia, Maldives, even Iraq.
It is the politicising and fake news that causes so many problems… yes we have our problems .. but they are being slowly addressed… sothank you for this article Hugh
More Later …
Rezali
gravenimage says
Rezali Mehil wrote:
Salaam Graven
How are you and Dennis? all is well I trust, despite having to cook for only one other.
……………………………
My husband–whose name is not Dennis–and I have a loving marriage–something Rezali Mehil is incapable of understanding.
More:
I am happy today as Hugh has written this most interesting article; where he is practically acknowledging that by and large Islam IS a religion of peace …he says…
It is much too complicated to detail the theological differences and similarities of Ibadis with Sunni and Shi’a Muslims, …. i.e. that it is very little difference …
……………………………
How is that saying that Islam is a religion of peace? Many sects of Islam are similar to each other–none of them are peaceful.
More:
and he goes on to mention…. the political quietism of Islam, and the comparatively good treatment that Ibadis Islam is providing to Christians and Jews living amongst them…
……………………………
He actually says no such thing–what claptrap. Does Rezali Mehil think that no one here has read the above piece?
More:
and historically …by enlarge so has the rest of Islam in Iraq, Syria, turkey et al.
……………………………
Well, this is just grotesque. Were Christians treated well in Turkey during the Armenian Genocide of a hundred years ago, where an estimated 1.5 Assyrian, Armenian, Greek, and Levantine Christians–almost the entire surviving population of Christians–where slaughtered there?
And right now Christians are facing genocide in Iraq and Syria, and may well disappear from there in our lifetimes.
And Iraq and Syria expelled most of their Jewish populations seventy years ago–and there were horrifying massacres of Jews in Iraq before this.
That *this* is what Rezali Mehil is holding up as a model of Muslim tolerance is sickening.
More:
By bringing a lot of kuffar soldiers to the ME continually …and particularly side lining the shia in favour of the sunni … the kuffar has sought to separate us more along these divisions when a lot of these did not exist …
……………………………
What absolute tripe. Sunnis and Shia have been jockeying for power and slaughtering each other for 1400 years now–this has nothing to do with Infidels.
More:
Modern communication , a lot of fake news has been used to try to get us to cause intolerance to the smaller minorities … but this won’t work. We are mostly in favour of looking after our minorities …
……………………………
If by “look after” Rezali Mehil means oppressand murder, she is not wrong…
The claim that it is the West that is causing Muslims to persecute religious minorities in Dar-al-Islam is ludicrous–does she think we know nothing about the ugly history of Islam?
More:
if you want to talk about Aisi Bibi … it is most unfortunate … but I put it to you that Tony Robinson was treated in a very similar way in the free West.
……………………………
Is this a reference to Tommy Robinson? This is more bowing to Muslim demands. Rezali Mehil has demanded just this kind of dhimmitude herself.
More:
The Ibadi sect’s emphasis on tolerance and moderation is underscored by the accommodations that Oman’s leadership provides the 25 percent of the population that is not Ibadi….
and yet they are all ruled by muslims…and that is the point isn’t it Hugh.
……………………………
Oman is not as bad as some Muslim hell holes–but religious minorities *hardly* have equal rights. For instance, any apostate from Islam automatically loses custody of their children and has their marriage invalidated.
And Shia do not have equal status with Sunnis in Oman–Sunni clerics are paid by the state; Shi’ite clerics are not.
More:
Oman’s legal system offers extensive protection to religious minorities (Sunni and Shiite Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Buddhists). Oman is, in its advocacy of religious pluralism and social inclusion….
……………………………
If by “protection” Rezali Mehil means that Infidels are fairly rarely murdered outright in Oman, this is true…
Notice that she did not mention Jews–there is a reason for that.
While there is a long Jewish history in Oman, no Jews at all survive there today.
More:
And it has been like that in other muslim countries too… Pakistan , India, Indonesia, Maldives, even Iraq.
……………………………
As even Rezali Mehil has noted, Pakistan has a Christian woman under death threat for affirming her faith. When the court decided–after eight years–that there was not enough evidence against her, the Muslim mob began rioting, screaming for her death. Pakistan is now refusing to let her leave the country.
There are very few Christians, Hindus, and Sikhs surviving there today–despite there being a large population before Pakistan ceded from India.
And Rezali Mehil’s family had to flee Pakistan when she was a child because they were persecuted there as Shi’ites. She is now using the civilized West as a base.
Infidels are oppressed in Indonesia, and have been almost entirely wipe out in Iraq. Infidels cannot vote in the Maldives.
And–despite what Rezali Mehil pretends–India is *not* a Muslim nation.
So–none of her claims here hold up.
More:
It is the politicising and fake news that causes so many problems… yes we have our problems .. but they are being slowly addressed… sothank you for this article Hugh
……………………………
What “fake news” might it be that is causing Muslims to persecute and murder Infidels and other-sect Muslims? Muslims have been doing this for 1400 years–since long before Western media existed in any form.
And where is Western media urging Muslims to oppress and murder people? And why would Muslims feel duty bound to listen to the filthy Infidels, in any case? This is all hogwash.
As for the Muslim world addressing anything, this is pretty questionable. Overall, Dar-al-Islam with its increased Islamization is becoming *less* civilized.
More Later …
……………………………
Another threat…
Flavius Claudius Iulianus says
“Jewish groups call on UKIP to break up with ‘vile’ Alex Jones’ Infowars in anti-Semitism row”
https://www.rt.com/uk/443145-ukip-infowars-antisemitism-jewish/
Mac-101 says
I just read your RT Link. It appears very evident that Soros money is behind much of the instability around the world. Also the Deep State has proven it exists here in the USA and Trump can’t touch it. For some Satanic reason THEY are flooding Europe with Muslim’s and now we are to the point it is very unlikely that Europe will NOT be part of the Caliphate in 10 to 20 years. And you call out someone who is against the Deep State and Soros and call them an Anti-Semite?
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These same characters are workin to destroy Israel and Western Civilization as we read daily! This is as bad as makin it illegal to call out Islam and calling it Islamophobia!
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If the Donkeys gain the US House tomorrow, Trump will be neutered and the Deep State will be free to eradicate him workin with the Congress. Our future will NOT be Purdy!
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Lastly, I’ve been banned from Info Wars as well as about a dozen or so other sites; So I am NOT an Info War Groupie!
Kepha says
Israeli diplomacy has always seen acceptance by its neighbors as a sort of Holy Grail. I can’t say that I blame them or find such a quest strange.
Guy Forester says
Very interesting conjectures. However, I would like to offer a different opinion of what is going on.
1. Iranians are Persians, not Arabs. The animosity between these groups predates Islam and the Roman Empire. Like back to the time of Xerxes and Greece, if not longer.
2. Iran with nukes is a threat to any non shia neighbor. Shia Iran detests the Saudi Sunnis, and especially the Saudi claim to being the keepers and protectors of the Muslim Holy places (Mecca and Medina, currently). The Iranians would love to waltz into Riyadh and depose the Saudis and get control of the holy places. In order to do this, they need to roll through Israel or do a sea born invasion via the Persian Gulf.
3. It is in Oman’s best interest to avoid taking sides in Sunni and Shia squabbles. They intend to survive regardless of who is in charge of Mecca and Medina
4. Maybe Net was sharing some high level intel that Oman was going to be targeted by a Shia coup. There are plenty of radicals floating around, and Iran would be a willing supplier of what was needed to gain control of the West Side of the Gulf at a choke point.
Just some possible scenarios based upon how that part of the world seems to be working right now.
Baucent says
I suspect it’s mostly about photo opportunities for both leaders. The message both are sending is “I have more friends than you think.” I doubt if there is much in substance that will come from the visit.