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The Sunni-Shiite War, Pakistan, and Israel

Jan. 26 2016

Surveying the chaotic state of the Middle East, Yaakov Amidror sees an escalating conflict between Shiites, led by an Iran empowered by the lifting of U.S. sanctions, and Sunnis, led by a Saudi Arabia emboldened by the lack of American leadership. Further exacerbating the situation is Pakistan’s recent announcement that it would defend Saudi Arabia forcefully if the latter were attacked:

This declaration is of utmost importance, since [Pakistan] is the only Muslim country that has nuclear weapons. . . . . Thus far, Pakistan’s nuclear weapons have been [understood] as an element in the conflict between Pakistan and India, and now all of a sudden they’re [being threatened] in a Middle Eastern context, in a conflict between the Shiite superpower and the entity that wants to be perceived as its Sunni counterpart.

This is a real change in the balance of power throughout the entire Middle East. If Pakistan moves from a one-time declaration to actual intervention in these tussles, the regional balance of power will change. But past experience indicates that [Pakistan’s leaders] will be very careful about committing themselves.

What will be the ramifications of the intensifying conflict? First, it is quite clear that it will be much harder to deal with the war in Syria properly. That war is not just a civil war between different factions of Syrian society. It is a war between Shiites and Sunnis, with Iran standing behind one side and Saudi Arabia, the [other] Gulf states, and Turkey, to a certain extent, backing the other. . . .

The lesson Israel should learn from all these recent events is clear: Israel must not be drawn into such a complex and deep-running battle as the intra-Islamic conflict between Shiites and Sunnis, or [that] between the Arabs and Persians in the Gulf region. Israel must take care to safeguard its own interests, including taking risks if force must be exerted, but [only] after great consideration, without arrogance, and with precision.

Read more at BESA Center

More about: Iran, Israeli Security, Middle East, Pakistan, Politics & Current Affairs, Saudi Arabia, Shiites, Sunnis

The Summary: 10/7/20

Two extraordinary events demonstrate something important about Israel’s most fervent adversaries. One was a speech given at something called The People’s Forum (funded generously by Goldman Sachs), which stated, “When the state of Israel is finally destroyed and erased from history, that will be the single most important blow we can give to destroying capitalism and imperialism.”

The suggestion that this tiny state is the linchpin of a global, centuries-old phenomenon like capitalism goes well beyond anything resembling rational criticism. Even if Israel were guilty of genocide, apartheid, and oppression—which of course it is not—it would not follow that its destruction would help end capitalism or imperialism.

The other was an anti-Israel protest that took place in front of New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, deemed “complicit” in Israel’s evils. At organizers’ urging, participants shouted their slogans at kids in the cancer ward, who were watching from the windows. Given Hamas’s indifference toward the lives of Gazan children, such callousness toward non-Palestinian children from Hamas’s Western allies shouldn’t be surprising. The protest—like the abovementioned speech—deliberately conveyed the message that Israel is the ultimate evil and its destruction the ultimate good, cancer patients be damned.

The fact that Israel’s adversaries are almost comically perverse does not mean that they can be dismissed. If its allies fail to understand the obsessive and irrational hatred that it faces, they cannot effectively help it defend itself.

Read more at Mosaic