My latest at PJ Media:
At the ceremony Tuesday on the South Lawn of the White House for the signing of peace deals between Israel, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates, President Trump declared: “We’re here this afternoon to change the course of history. After decades of division and conflict we mark the dawn of a new Middle East.” These “Abraham Accords” have already changed the entire landscape of the Middle East, as for the first time in decades, pragmatic considerations are taking precedence over the fixed ideas that have guided the foreign policy stances of all the Muslim and Arab countries regarding Israel.
Although this aspect of the conflict has been little noted and is still routinely ignored by foreign policy analysts, the Muslim world’s opposition to Israel has not been based upon conflicting claims for land or anything else, but upon core principles of the Islamic religion. As The Palestinian Delusion: The Catastrophic History of the Middle East Peace Process shows, the Qur’an commands Muslims to “drive them out from where they drove you out” (2:191). Even though it is a historical fiction that Israel actually drove Muslim Arabs out, this claim is a staple of pro-Palestinian propaganda, and hence it is a divine imperative, no more negotiable than the Ten Commandments are for Jews and Christians, that Muslims must destroy Israel and “drive out” the Israelis.
That means that as long as pious, believing, knowledgeable Muslims are in charge in Muslim countries, which is by no means always the case, no negotiated settlement will ever establish Israel securely and end the jihad against it. That in turn is why analysts ignore Islam when considering the conflict: People don’t like bad news, or problems that cannot be solved. Nonetheless, this is the reality of the situation, and no good can ever come from ignoring reality.
Why, then, did Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates normalize relations with Israel? Because it was in their interests to do so. The Islamic Republic of Iran has for years claimed Bahrain as Iran’s nineteenth province, and the UAE likewise feels the heat of being in close proximity to one of the world’s leading state sponsors of terror. In a certain sense, these deals with Israel are a byproduct of Barack Obama’s decision to send billions to the mullahs’ tottering regime: A newly secure and empowered mullahcracy threatens Bahrain and the UAE, and so it was in their best interests to look for assistance from a country that Iran also menaces.
There is much more. Read the rest here.
Wellington says
Trump deserves great credit here, but it should not be forgotten that Islam is an eternal enemy of the Jews and of all non-Muslims. Al walla wal bara (“all to Allah and hatred for everything non-Islamic” being a rough translation) is the key phrase to always keep in mind.
Islam is supremacist, control-freakish (very), highly ungracious, and ultimately holds all non-Muslims in contempt, though if a non-Muslim serves Islam’s purposes, no better example here than Adolf Hitler, such a person will “get a pass.” Rather as Hitler characterized his Japanese allies as “honorary Aryans.”
Never trust the Islamic world. Doing so is a huge mistake. Work with some Muslims against others and for other reasons but never trust the Islamic sphere of mankind. Never.
gravenimage says
+1
Terry Gain says
Wellington
Yes, President Trump certainly does deserve great credit for the two peace deals with Israel. I attach a link where he get credits from a very reliable source, namely Omar Ghobash, assistant minister of public and cultural relations for the UAE.
And I love the comment concerning the lack of cooperation from the hapless administration that preceded President Trump’s administration. It puts the difference between the Trump and Obama administrations in a clear light.
https://video.foxnews.com/v/6190749515001?fbclid=IwAR3COMv9VwslSzBzGqPgGHn5SzkJaMWgCbuKpUEif9gQKrCqGDc6rBnoHt0#sp=show-clips
Tony Naim says
Only if and when the Islamic religious establishment will decide to abolish the inherent contradictory teachings in the Koran (Meccan versus Medina) a true peace will reign. Primarily to repeal and annul the laws of Dhimmitude from Sharia, without which, the practice of religious freedom ( the most important of all freedoms) in the Arab world is impossible.
Until then, every peace treaty represents nothing more than a marriage of convenience, prone to dissolve on the first temptation.
gravenimage says
Sadly likely, Tony. Israel still needs to be cautious.
Wellington says
Don’t hold your breath, Tony.
Tony Naim says
I will continue to be hopeful for as long as the US will remain strong, and for as long as a republican president is in office!
Maybe one day a perceptive President will bring up the subject of Dhimmitude with the Islamic world to demand it must go.
curious george says
It’s not going to happen in our lifetime, that is changing the Qur’an.
I wonder what religion Hillary Clinton was thinking about in this video?
Oh, BTW, look closely at her eyes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj1T1gP4Q9M
gravenimage says
The Trump Peace Deals Won’t End the Jihad Against Israel, But They Help
…………………….
Yes–I think this is spot on.
Al says
Peace w/ islam is always a joke . It’s just a matter of how much more they can get out of the poor bankrupt US taxpayers . Geehad .
Ben says
I love your writing, Robert. You take a very complex subject and make it easy to understand. I wanted to be optimistic about these deals but was waiting to see what you thought, as I knew you wouldn’t sugarcoat it. Glad to see there’s cause for a bit of hope.
Mad Mac says
Old Arab saying, “The camel’s nose is under the tent.”
Trump is brilliant. In one stroke, he has made Palestine irrelevant and Iran impotent. The path forward to prosperity and strength for a pan-Arab nation is clear. Israel was never the threat. Even before Mohammed, Arabs hated Persians. Now their historical enemy can be put in its place with Israel as an ally.
Reziac says
Trump’s method for dealing with this sort is pretty simple: He tells them they’re wonderful people, then sets them up to have to live up to that. If they fail to do so, they lose face and look both foolish and incompetent. He understands that to a dictator, looking foolish is the worst thing that can happen (short of being deposed… and looking foolish makes getting deposed more likely, which most of ’em understand).
It’s basically the same technique a good father uses with a teenage son: Give the kid an example to live up to, then the carrot and stick are “I’m proud of you”, vs “I’m very disappointed in you”.
Also, one suspects there was a bigger stick behind the scenes: “Either you agree to behave like a civilized nation, or the foreign aid ends.” (Would you give an allowance to a teenage son who repeatedly destroys your neighbor’s stuff? Of course not. Why do so with these little tin countries?) This is why Honduras suddenly agreed to police their northern border, too.
James Lincoln says
Reziac,
Excellent analysis, my compliments.