Israel Officially Refers to "Our Sunni Arab Allies"

Israel Foreign Ministry: Sunni Arab Nations Are "Allies"

The director general of Israel's Foreign Ministry, Dore Gold, called the Middle East's Sunni Arab nations "Israel's allies." 

Dore Gold is the first to publicly
refer to Sunni Arab's as allies

Referring to Iran, Gold said, "What we have is a regime on a roll that is trying to conquer the Middle East, and it's not Israel talking, that is our Sunni Arab neighbors - and you know what? I'll use another expression - that is our Sunni Arab allies talking."

His presentation [was] in New York, organized by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations...
(JTA)


Hizbullah Warns Arab States Against Ties with Israel
- Daniel Siryoti

Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned moderate Arab states against pursuing any type of cooperation with Israel. "Some Arab countries and some senior Arab officials have recently been talking with Israel and even negotiating with it. This may have disastrous results and dire consequences," Nasrallah said.

"The Zionist entity is taking advantage of the events in our region in a bid to normalize ties with several Arab states...and right now, there are some Arab countries that have taken Israel out of the circle of threats. This is something very dangerous." Attempts in the Arab world to normalize relations with Israel "must be countered. We must boost all forms of resistance against the Israeli normalization."  
(Israel Hayom)


We Must Confront Iran's Sinister Ambitions - Tzipi Livni

While much of the world celebrated the Vienna deal with Iran, deep concern has enveloped Israel, where there is harsh criticism, crossing party lines,

Tzipi Livni

involving central aspects of the agreement. The issues causing concern include inspections of Iranian facilities, the failure to dismantle Iran's nuclear infrastructure,  and the early lifting of sanctions.

I want to draw attention to the urgent need to make some critical complementary strategic decisions to confront Iran's destructive regional agenda - whether the U.S. Congress backs the Vienna agreement or not. It is hard to deny the strategic and regional impact of legitimizing Iran's status as a nuclear threshold state and allowing it to be empowered both financially and militarily, while it continues its aggression and sponsorship of terror throughout the region.

Both Israel and key Sunni states in the Middle East are gravely concerned that the deal risks sending the message that the international community is willing to live with Iranian regional aggression, to accept an unrepentant Iran as a legitimate regional power and, to some extent, to leave the task of confronting Iran's terror to the countries in the region that are its target.  

Responses to this argument would be more persuasive if there were a feeling that the world was truly willing to mobilize and confront Iran's regional aggression.

The reason Iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapon was considered so perilous was in large part because of the nature of the Iranian regime and its broader agenda. What is urgently needed is a joint hands-on commitment to combating Iran's destabilizing and destructive role across the Middle East.

The writer was Israel's minister of foreign affairs (2006-2009), leader of the opposition until 2012, and minister of justice (2013-2014).

(Newsweek)
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UPDATES: 

Israel Now Key Hub of Anti-ISIS Operations - Orlando Radice  

Advances by the Islamic State are pushing Egypt and Jordan to unprecedented levels of security cooperation with Israel.

"A new strategic map is being created in this part of the Middle East," said Oded Eran, a former Israeli ambassador to Jordan and senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. "The common threat is making this cooperation essential to the security of all three countries."

IDF Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Michael Herzog said: "Below the radar there is productive cooperation between Israel and key Arab countries, especially its neighbors Egypt and Jordan, focused on common security threats."

Over the past two years there have been reports that Jordan has allowed Israeli drones into its airspace for surveillance flights over its borders with Syria and Iraq.    
(Jewish Chronicle-UK)


Egypt Also Fears the Iran Nuclear Deal - Oren Kessler

Last week, both the Egyptian Foreign Ministry and the Al-Azhar religious seminary condemned Iran's "interference" in Arab affairs. Like Israel and the Gulf States, Egypt dreads the effect of a cash-flush and potentially nuclear-armed Iran on its interests and security.

Egypt is, with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf monarchies, a pillar of the Sunni Arab bloc opposed to the spread of Iranian influence in the region. Today, just 15% of Egyptians view Iran as having a positive influence in the world, and anti-Shiite and anti-Iranian invective is common in Egyptian media. 
The writer is deputy director for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. 
(National Interest)
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