Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has put his country’s worst religious extremists in jail, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has put his country’s worst religious extremists in his cabinet.
Netanyahu is trying to make Israel more like the worst of the old Saudi Arabia and M.B.S. to make Saudi Arabia more like the best of the old Israel.
M.B.S., with his laser focus on economic growth after several decades that he has described Saudi Arabia as having been “sleeping,” has unleashed the most important social revolution ever in the desert kingdom — and one that is sending shock waves around the Arab world. It has reached a point where the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are now putting the finishing touches on a formal alliance that could isolate Iran, curb China’s influence in the Middle East and peacefully inspire more positive change in this region than the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan ever did militarily.
The crown prince wants as peaceful a region as possible, and a Saudi Arabia as secure from Iran as possible, so he can focus on making Saudi Arabia a diversified economic powerhouse.
The result of Netanyahu’s alliance with the far right is that Israel can’t take advantage of the tectonic shift in Saudi Arabia — with its offer to normalize relations with the Jewish state and open a road for Israel with the rest of the Muslim world — because doing so would require Israel to pursue a pathway with Palestinians to create two states for two indigenous peoples.
@BrainyEggsGreen2wks2W
Right-wingers who "support Israel" as a proxy for their disdain of left-wing protesters are the functional equivalent of Libs who "support Ukraine" as a proxy for their disdain of Trump/MAGA. Brain-broken by Culture War monomania, which they stupidly displace onto foreign policy
People become weary and culture war battle hardened. They no longer question the things said by the thought leaders they have followed for years. They just fall into the comfortable formation they have been following for years because for years those thought leaders were most aligned with truth.
Times change.
@BrainyEggsGreen2wks2W
When you have no prism for viewing anything other than your monomaniacal contempt for domestic political enemies, you end up landing on positions like: "We must support Ukraine to spite Trump and his lover, Putin" and "We must support Israel to spite blue-haired college girls"
The US is a key player in all this. Unconditional support for Israel has created a moral hazard. It has caused Israel to move to the right, and it is paying for all the subsidies that Tom discusses.
The best thing that the US can now do for Israel is to cut off support, and force Israel to the realization that it must live at peace with its neighbors. That is the most pro Israel thing to do.
@M0derateWildfowlGreen2wks2W
Israel continues to burn bridges......as the religious extremists are driving the agenda.
Netanyahu is still intent on invading Rafa......and expanding West Bank settlements.
US aid to Israel must end. We are the only country vetoing legitimate UN sanctions and violations of international law. It brings shame upon us.
It seems to me in a very short time we have come a long way from accusing MBS of a murder to now hailing him as a reformer. The problem with monarchies is that it all hinges on one person. If something were to happen to MBS, there is no guarantee that Saudi Arbai won't go back on full-throttle religious conservatism.
And that's why democracies, however flawed they may be, are important.
@RightPorpoiseDemocrat2wks2W
You can be both a murderer and a reformer.
One of the things that prevents something from happening to MBS is his calculated ruthlessness. People fear him and this fear keeps them in check.
@SugaryDeerGreen2wks2W
"The reason that extreme views in Israel are politically viable - despite the obvious long term interests of the State, is the unconditional American support."
It is not just a Netanyahu problem. It is an Israeli public problem. The views of the public in Israel at this time are very radical and are not conducive to peace at all.
The reason that extreme views in Israel are politically viable - despite the obvious long term interests of the State, is the unconditional American support.
If normal geopolitical conditions applied to Israel, we probably would have had peace a long time ago in the Middle East.
In that sense our blind support to Israel hurts everyone in the Middle East, Israel included.
@ISIDEWITH2wks2W
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