The Neighbor as Python
I wish I could write two columns this week, because the anti-Semitism—let’s call it Jew-hatred—among professing Christians has reached alarming levels.
But I’ll save that for next week. This week we’ll discuss the squeeze being put on Israel by long-time two “peace” partners: Egypt and Jordan.
Israel’s miraculous victory in 1967’s Six Day War posed a significant problem for the Arabs of the Middle East. It finally dawned on them that they could not defeat Israel militarily. They had to go the political route. In this way, they succeeded.
A sinister American president, Jimmy Carter, schemed with Egypt’s Anwar Sadat, to pry the Sinai away from Israel. Sadat had succeeded General Nasser as Egypt’s strongman. Strategically, Sadat was much smarter. He wanted the Sinai back, lost in ’67. In the intervening 10 years, Israel had developed oil fields and communities there.
Carter and his Arabist advisors, including the State Department, told Israel that the only way to peace was through negotiation. Egypt (not an Arab nation, by the way, but hardcore Muslim) eventually signed a peace treaty forged at Camp David in 1979. Israel’s Menachem Begin agreed.
What emerged was a cold peace, and it has held for nearly a half-century.
Until this week. Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, a military strongman that became Egypt’s leader after a coup against Muslim Brotherhood monster Mohamed Morsi in 2013, El-Sisi took over. For the most part, he has been more reasonable than his MB political foe, has now felt comfortable enough—aided greatly by an increasingly vicious international community—to bare his fangs. This week, according to The Jerusalem Post:
“Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi referred to Israel as an ‘enemy’ during his closing speech at the Arab-Islamic summit in Doha earlier this week.
“Head of the Egyptian State Information Service, Diaa Rashwan, commented in a Tuesday TV interview that ‘The last time the word ‘enemy’ was used by Egypt’s top official, or by any state official, was before ‘then-president Anwar Sadat visited Israel and spoke at the Knesset in 1977.’”
An enemy. This is a dangerous escalation by Egypt.
Next, Jordan has fomented more violence.
“A Jordanian truck driver who was driving humanitarian aid is a suspect in the terrorist attack. Two Israeli soldiers were killed, according to reports. One terrorist was killed. An investigation was under way to determine if there were accomplices.
“The terrorist attack at the Allenby crossing on Thursday illustrates the increasing concerns Israeli officials have about threats from the Kingdom of Jordan over the past several years. The attack was very similar to one last September.
“There are three border crossings with Jordan: one in Eilat, one at Allenby Bridge near the Dead Sea, and one near Beit She’an in the North.
“The Allenby crossing is important for trucks and other items entering the West Bank. It is also a main crossing for Palestinians and some foreign nationals.”
Jordan and Israel have had an uneven relationship since the founding of the state of Israel. King Abdullah, in 1951, was reportedly prepared to recognize Israel. For that, he was assassinated on the Temple Mount, at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. He was the grandfather of the present King Abdullah.
For years, King Hussein of Jordan had a shall we say interesting relationship with Israel. The Jewish state protected Hussein many times, with Israeli intelligence thwarting coup attempts by the PLO. In 1970, the thoroughly violent PLO under the direction of Yasser Arafat, was kicked out of Jordan by Hussein.
It is not widely known that a few months before the Yom Kippur War, Hussein flew his own helicopter to the Negev and met with IDF officers. He warned them that Egypt and Syria were planning a surprise attack. For reasons unknown, Israel did not heed the warning.
When Hussein died, his son took over. That cold peace has basically held, the one negotiated by Hussein in 1994. In 1997, A Jordanian soldier, Ahmad Daqamseh, opened fire on a group of Israeli schoolgirls from the Fuerst School in Beit Shemesh who were on a field trip to the Island of Peace in Naharayim.
At the time, The Washington Post’s columnist hack Anthony Lewis wrote about the attack. After acknowledging it in the first paragraph, he spent the next 13 paragraphs blaming Benjamin Netanyahu. In the intervening years, King Abdullah has barely concealed his contempt for Israel. His wife, Queen Rania, is a Kuwaiti-born “Palestinian.” This duo has done what they could to delegitimize Israel. The Jordanians are not Israel’s friend. An attack this week hearkens back to the 1997 murders.
“’A security source reported that the terrorist who carried out the attack at the Allenby crossing is a Jordanian citizen hired by the Jordanian army to transport an aid truck from Jordan to the Gaza Strip,’ Ynet reported. ‘The terrorist began shooting upon his arrival at the crossing, before the truck underwent the required inspection.’
“Last September, three Israelis were killed in a similar attack. The terrorist was a Jordanian citizen.
“In April 2024, a Jordanian member of Parliament was arrested trying to smuggle weapons through the Allenby crossing.
“’Authorities said they found 12 machine guns and 270 other types of firearms, according to unverified video on Israeli social media,’ the BBC reported at the time.”
The Arab Python is seeking to curl around Israel.
The Muslim Nation in the Middle East has no intention of living in peace with the Jewish state.
The snake is still doing his evil in this sad old world.
We continue to pray fervently for the return of the Messiah.
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