IDF officer to Saudi paper: Israel has 'common language' with moderate Arab states

[DavidSling]

An IDF artillery gun fires a shell into Lebanon, after a roadside bomb exploded next to an IDF military border patrol near the Sheba Farms area near Kiryat Shmona, Israel, January 4, 2016.. (photo credit:REUTERS)

senior IDF officer told Saudi news outlet Elaph in a long interview that touched on regional security issues, that the Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah should not make a foolish mistake that will lead to a harsh Israeli reaction which would place Lebanese citizens' lives at risk.

Without specifying, the officer confirmed that Israel had secret relations and common interests with a number of Arab states besides Egypt and Jordan.

The item in Elaph was the second interview an Israeli official has given the Saudi paper in recent weeks.

Last month, in the Foreign Ministry’s first interview granted to a Saudi news outlet, the ministry's Director General Dore Gold told Elaph that Jerusalem would not allow the transfer of weapons from Russia to Lebanon, or attacks from Syria on Israel.

The IDF officer said that the changing face of the Middle East presents new challenges for Israel in particular in the military field. "Traditional warfare has ended, and we find ourselves today faced with a long term war of attrition and terrorism, missile threats upon us, and mortar attacks meant to harm our citizens," he said.

"Israel continues its policy of deterrence, that decreases the chances of confrontations in the region," he said. The officer, who serves in the IDF's Strategic Brigade, emphasized Israel's strategic depth that can prevent future attacks, giving the example of Israel preventing advanced weapons transfers from Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

On Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah's threats of revenge for the assassination of terrorist Samir Kuntar, which was credited to Israel, the officer said that the Israeli reaction to any potential Hezbollah attacks will be severe.

"We do not view Lebanon and the Lebanese people as enemies, but Hezbollah is interested to insert the Lebanese people and the villages [in southern Lebanon] into the conflict, which will result in the destruction of what took years to build," he said.

The officer presented a map of Lebanon and pointed to the village of Mahebeb in southern Lebanon, and said that the village, like 30 percent of the villages in the area acts as a weapons hideaway for Hezbollah rockets and disguise for the militant organization's outposts and that the local residents were human shields.

"From a military point of view, the civilians are the first to be harmed during a confrontation. Israel has full information about the villages in the South, where Hezbollah is hiding behind innocents," he said.

The officer said that Israel would try to avoid civilian casualties in a future war.

"Israel is ready for all confrontations with Hezbollah, and it is better prepared than it was in the Second Lebanon War in 2006. This is despite the fact that Hezbollah has 100,000 missiles. It won't be easy but the damage on the other side will be heavy in a way that has yet to be seen," he said.

The officer then outlined how he saw the different regional powers and Israel's place in the Middle East.

"The region is built on four different powers. The first is Iran and its supporters including Syria, Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen and other Iranian supporting groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. This power is not in a good situation and so it tries to start confrontations with others, including with Israel occasionally," he explained.

"The second power, and the most important one today, are the moderate countries such as Egypt, Jordan and the Persian Gulf states. Israel has a common language with these states. It has existing ties with Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority and the possibility for civilian and military cooperation exists."

"The third power is the Islamic Brotherhood who no longer has influence after failures in Egypt and Tunisia. The fourth power consists of jihadi groups such as Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra who fight everyone from Iran to the moderate states as well as the Muslim Brotherhood."

"We in Israel are an island of stability in this stormy sea. But there is a danger that the strife will reach us as well if the instability in the region continues for a long time," he said. "Therefore, we need to take advantage of the opportunity and work together with the moderate states to renew quiet in the region," he added.

The officer said that Israel was building its military strength as a deterrent, but that it was not attacking.

"We are not interested in war, but if our hand is forced we will act. Our capabilities are great," he said.

On the ongoing war in Syria, he said that Israel was not intervening in internal affairs there because it did not want to be attacked by any side involved. He emphasized that Israel had redlines and it would act to prevent the transfer of advanced weapons from Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon and it would act to prevent Lebanon from becoming a military outpost for Iran.

IDF officer to Saudi paper: Israel has 'common language' with moderate Arab states - Middle East - Jerusalem Post

 

[DavidSling]

Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Israeli angle

Former head of Military Intelligence says the reverberations from the diplomatic crisis will be felt around the region.

People protest in front of Saudi Arabia's embassy during a demonstration in Tehran January 2, 2016. Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi Embassy in Tehran early on Sunday morning as Shi'ite Muslim Iran reacted with fury to Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric.. (photo credit:REUTERS)

Jerusalem on Monday was closely monitoring the rapid breakdown in relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, knowing full well that ripples from that crisis will surely be felt in Israel.

Yaakov Amidror, the former head of the National Security Council and, before that, of Military Intelligence, told The Jerusalem Post there could be two immediate ramifications for Israel.

The first, he said, is that the crisis will prolong the Syrian civil war, in which Iran and Saudi Arabia are backing different forces, and the second is that the crisis with Riyadh will mean Tehran will have an additional front and point of friction to keep in mind when making decisions, including those having to do with Israel.

Referring to attempts to negotiate an end to the Syrian crisis, Amidror, who is now a senior fellow at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University, said: “Anyone who thinks he will be able to bring about calm here does not know where they are living. It is clear that so much oil has been poured on the flames now that I don’t know how long it will take to put them out.”

He sidestepped the question as to whether a continuation of the war in Syria was good or bad for Israel, saying that depended on how one looked at the situation on Israel’s northern border.

There are some who believe the current situation is bad for Israel since chaos in Syria provides an opening for various elements hostile to Israel to operate directly on the country’s borders.

Others, however, maintain that having Hezbollah and Iran embroiled in Syria’s conflict not only weakens them, but also keeps them from focusing on Israel. This school of thought maintains that the war has removed Syria as a conventional threat to Israel for the foreseeable future.

The second immediate fallout from the diplomatic crisis between Iran and Saudi Arabia is that the Iranians will now have to factor in another point of friction in their decision making, he said.

No country has infinite energy, he said, and Iran – when making its decisions – will now have to take into consideration their considerable conflict with Saudi Arabia.

“They will be busy with other things,” he said.

“That doesn’t meant they won’t do anything [toward Israel]. This doesn’t mean, for instance, that this will influence Hezbollah [backed by Iran] not to carry out revenge attacks against Israel. But it means that whenever there is something, there will be someone in Iran who will say that they have other problems to think about; we will not be the only issue they will be focusing on.

“The very fact that they have another source of friction is not bad for Israel,” Amidror said, adding that there were parallels between how this crisis may affect Israel, and how the crisis between Moscow and Ankara stemming from Turkey’s downing of a Russian fighter-plane impacted on Israel.

While stopping short of saying that the crisis with Moscow is what has led to a recent softening of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s position toward Israel, he said it was one of the elements leading to a change of tone because Turkey had to consider other sources of friction.

The same thing is likely to happen with the Iranians, he said.

Amidror added that another likely result of the current conflict will be that “when Saudi Arabia looks around and asks who their allies are, they will not find too long a list.”

Asked whether as a result of this he could imagine a scenario in which Saudi Arabia would turn to Israel for intelligence or logistical help in dealing with the Iranian threat, Amidror said he had “nothing intelligent” to say on that matter.

He did say, however, that he did not see how the current Iranian-Saudi crisis could have any impact on the diplomatic process with the Palestinians.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said in the past that a confluence of interests between Israel and the moderate Sunni states in the region could – by getting them to press the Palestinians into taking more flexible positions – have a positive impact on peace efforts with the Palestinians.

“There is a big gap between the sentiments in the [Arab] street [about the Palestinian issue] and the understanding of the [Arab] leaders [of the issue]. The understanding of the leaders, in all the Arab countries, is that the Palestinian issue does not impact at all on the real situation in the Middle East and all the countries in the Middle East, except perhaps for Jordan, where there are more Palestinians,” he said.

“But except for Jordan, there is not a state that thinks that what we do with the Palestinians will influence their fate, situation, problems, solutions and the sentiments on the street,” he said. “As a result, there will always be a gap between what the leaders can do in public, and what they can do [with Israel] under the radar.”

Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Israeli angle - Middle East - Jerusalem Post

@Natan @Solomon2 @500 @Adir-M

 

[Falcon29]

Israeli's are childish people, this person does not keep up with current events. Hence why a private paper interviewed him. Al-Arabiya is the state channel, correct me if I'm wrong. Of course it's in Israel's interest to lump Hamas and other Palestinian parties with Iran but reality tells otherwise. Hamas doesn't have ties with Iran. Even with IJ, Iran cut funding to them. IJ has neutral stance in regional conflicts. So to say they are 'with Iran' doesn't make sense. They don't have a cat in this fight. Israeli's are really desperate to get Arabs to oppose Palestinian parties but it won't work. Hamas is an independent movement that is doesn't take orders from Iran. I don't like it when Iran and Hezbollah are compared to Hamas. Iran doesn't fight Israel. Hezbollah is afraid of Israel or has more important things to worry out in the region. Hezbollah is a Shia movement that works primarily to defend Shia's of Lebanon but also advance Iran's religious agenda in the region which is a Muslim and not Israeli issue. Hamas is a movement that concerns itself with its peoples cause, is more brave than any other parties and surprises Western intelligence in how they are able to procure weaponry but also remain steadfast in the past 8 years of the blockade. So don't sign off Hamas's achievements to Iran. Hamas is more experienced in battle with Israel than anybody else today and has its own funding/tactics which it is responsible for. You have inferiority complex and refuse to recognize that the Palestinian people have found ways to counter the occupation. They destroyed your illegal settlements in Gaza and made you never think of occupying it again.

 

[Takaavar]

So don't sign off Hamas's achievements to Iran. Hamas is more experienced in battle with Israel than anybody else today and has its own funding/tactics which it is responsible for.

There have been no significant acheavement neither by Hamas (for whatever reason) nor neighbouring Arab states, unless we consider Arab blood cheaper than sea water. The only conflicts that one cannot claim Israel to be victorious is the ones against Hezbollah, who kicked out Israel from S Lebanon. Remember how they blew up Israeli convoy last time and Israeli didn't do sh!t. Tell me, what would they do should Hamas or any other faction blow up an Israeli convoy? Yeah, several thousands more Palestinian civilians... Now rethink about who fears who.

 

[Falcon29]

There have been no significant acheavement neither by Hamas (for whatever reason) nor neighbouring Arab states, unless we consider Arab blood cheaper than sea water. The only conflicts that one cannot claim Israel to be victorious is the ones against Hezbollah, who kicked out Israel from S Lebanon. Remember how they blew up Israeli convoy last time and Israeli didn't do sh!t. Tell me, what would they do should Hamas or any other faction blow up an Israeli convoy? Yeah, several thousands more Palestinian civilians... Now rethink about who fears who.

Israel can't sustain another occupation of another population which is why they pulled out. They got everyone in Lebanon to point guns at each other and left. There was agreement with Hezbollah too which led to withdrawal. You sound like an Iranian anti Arab supremacist. This hatred against Arabs is reason why I don't like your country anymore. Hezbollah itself is Arab as well, or do you believe otherwise?

Anyway in 2006 Israel had weaker air force and less firepower. Israel began ground invasion early on , it was easier for Hezbollah to mount casualties. Nowadays its not, Israel has air force many times more capable than before. They updated everything ، rocket defense, and tanks have systems which target anti armor projectile. So what Hamas was able to do was impressive considering they have budget , manpower, arms many less times than Hezbollah. Then we also consider topography situation. It's impossible for Hamas to achieve anything outstanding under occupation. Unless PA collapses and Palestinians arm them selves in West bank to expel the settlements and settlers like happened in Gaza. Their resilence however is unmatched.

Irans Shia militias are only good for attacking militants with US air support. They can't combat Israel. Hezbollah hasnt got in confrontation with Israel for very long time. Now that's perfectly fine. If their duty is to protect Lebanon. But Iran and Hezbollah keep claiming to champion the Palestinian cause and what not. When clearly this is rhetoric used to try gaining public support in the region. Never will Iran and Israel or Israel/Hezbollah get in war ever from now on. Mark my words. Irans agenda is anti Arab, its very clear by its statements and political agenda across region. All Hezbollah mentions nowadays is Saudi Arabia and how the Saudi regime will be toppled. Iranians have a grudge against Arabs. This is why your members here ask Egyptians if they consider them selves Arab. Because you have problem with Arab and want them to be Shia which you view as being non Arab apparently.

So all this rhetoric between Israelis and Iranians is moot. They talk all this talk but both are engaged in killing Sunni Arabs.

Back to point. You seem to understand things wrongly. The reason Israel goes to war in Gaza is because it doesn't expect Hamas to respond to its bullying attempts. Israel thinks Hamas is afraid of it but clearly it isn't. Hezbollah on other hand is afraid of Israel. This is why Israel doesn't go to war with Lebanon. They set off a little charge in the grass which means nothing in military terms and said they settled the score. Israel didn't respond at all. Because they both understand they are on cool terms with each other. Hezbollah did that just to shut up the locals and try not appearing to ignore its central proclamied cause. In reality it is concerned with Arab issues.

Had Hamas blown a convoy they would go crazy over it. Because they know Hamas means business and doesn't do bs to help Iran's image among Arabs. Hamas is in engaged in serious struggle for its people. Hezbollah just wants Iran to look anti Israel so they do one little explosion to gain credibility in Arab world. Israel likes that, because it gets to try presenting itself as victim of Iran. Because it doesn't want West to buy oil from Iran and eventually become security partner with it.

Anyway I'm on mobile. So don't want to go too much into detail. The point is I hate when people give Iran credit for our national resistance. Iran's militias attack Sunni Arabs and don't fight Israel. Palestinians are not pawns for Iran and Iran has no credibility in its imaginary struggle against Israel. Iran has sectarian stupid militias , Palestinians have professional military wings which are result of their resilience/hard work and not anybody else.

 

[Kaniska]

Israeli's are childish people, this person does not keep up with current events. Hence why a private paper interviewed him. Al-Arabiya is the state channel, correct me if I'm wrong. Of course it's in Israel's interest to lump Hamas and other Palestinian parties with Iran but reality tells otherwise. Hamas doesn't have ties with Iran. Even with IJ, Iran cut funding to them. IJ has neutral stance in regional conflicts. So to say they are 'with Iran' doesn't make sense. They don't have a cat in this fight. Israeli's are really desperate to get Arabs to oppose Palestinian parties but it won't work. Hamas is an independent movement that is doesn't take orders from Iran. I don't like it when Iran and Hezbollah are compared to Hamas. Iran doesn't fight Israel. Hezbollah is afraid of Israel or has more important things to worry out in the region. Hezbollah is a Shia movement that works primarily to defend Shia's of Lebanon but also advance Iran's religious agenda in the region which is a Muslim and not Israeli issue. Hamas is a movement that concerns itself with its peoples cause, is more brave than any other parties and surprises Western intelligence in how they are able to procure weaponry but also remain steadfast in the past 8 years of the blockade. So don't sign off Hamas's achievements to Iran. Hamas is more experienced in battle with Israel than anybody else today and has its own funding/tactics which it is responsible for. You have inferiority complex and refuse to recognize that the Palestinian people have found ways to counter the occupation. They destroyed your illegal settlements in Gaza and made you never think of occupying it again.

Thanks for the news...Even i was initially thinking Hamas and Hezbolla are same people...Sometimes it is very confusing with so many organization in the middle east who are fighting for various reasons...

 

[Daneshmand]

Of course!

 

[Hasbara Buster]

Moderate Arab puppets kissing Zionist ***.

 

[Naifov]

Elaph is an extreme Liberal news outlet. no wonder they are meeting israelis to present their liberal values.

 

[Darmashkian]

Israel can't sustain another occupation of another population which is why they pulled out. They got everyone in Lebanon to point guns at each other and left. There was agreement with Hezbollah too which led to withdrawal. You sound like an Iranian anti Arab supremacist. This hatred against Arabs is reason why I don't like your country anymore. Hezbollah itself is Arab as well, or do you believe otherwise?

Anyway in 2006 Israel had weaker air force and less firepower. Israel began ground invasion early on , it was easier for Hezbollah to mount casualties. Nowadays its not, Israel has air force many times more capable than before. They updated everything ، rocket defense, and tanks have systems which target anti armor projectile. So what Hamas was able to do was impressive considering they have budget , manpower, arms many less times than Hezbollah. Then we also consider topography situation. It's impossible for Hamas to achieve anything outstanding under occupation. Unless PA collapses and Palestinians arm them selves in West bank to expel the settlements and settlers like happened in Gaza. Their resilence however is unmatched.

Irans Shia militias are only good for attacking militants with US air support. They can't combat Israel. Hezbollah hasnt got in confrontation with Israel for very long time. Now that's perfectly fine. If their duty is to protect Lebanon. But Iran and Hezbollah keep claiming to champion the Palestinian cause and what not. When clearly this is rhetoric used to try gaining public support in the region. Never will Iran and Israel or Israel/Hezbollah get in war ever from now on. Mark my words. Irans agenda is anti Arab, its very clear by its statements and political agenda across region. All Hezbollah mentions nowadays is Saudi Arabia and how the Saudi regime will be toppled. Iranians have a grudge against Arabs. This is why your members here ask Egyptians if they consider them selves Arab. Because you have problem with Arab and want them to be Shia which you view as being non Arab apparently.

So all this rhetoric between Israelis and Iranians is moot. They talk all this talk but both are engaged in killing Sunni Arabs.

Back to point. You seem to understand things wrongly. The reason Israel goes to war in Gaza is because it doesn't expect Hamas to respond to its bullying attempts. Israel thinks Hamas is afraid of it but clearly it isn't. Hezbollah on other hand is afraid of Israel. This is why Israel doesn't go to war with Lebanon. They set off a little charge in the grass which means nothing in military terms and said they settled the score. Israel didn't respond at all. Because they both understand they are on cool terms with each other. Hezbollah did that just to shut up the locals and try not appearing to ignore its central proclamied cause. In reality it is concerned with Arab issues.

Had Hamas blown a convoy they would go crazy over it. Because they know Hamas means business and doesn't do bs to help Iran's image among Arabs. Hamas is in engaged in serious struggle for its people. Hezbollah just wants Iran to look anti Israel so they do one little explosion to gain credibility in Arab world. Israel likes that, because it gets to try presenting itself as victim of Iran. Because it doesn't want West to buy oil from Iran and eventually become security partner with it.

Anyway I'm on mobile. So don't want to go too much into detail. The point is I hate when people give Iran credit for our national resistance. Iran's militias attack Sunni Arabs and don't fight Israel. Palestinians are not pawns for Iran and Iran has no credibility in its imaginary struggle against Israel. Iran has sectarian stupid militias , Palestinians have professional military wings which are result of their resilience/hard work and not anybody else.

Thanks for the post sir. It was very enlightening

I always knew the difference between Hezbollah & Hamas
But I thought Hezbollah too was actively opposing Israel & getting involved in attacks/engagements against it & it's citizens like Hamas & other such groups.

But going by your post, it seems after the 2006 conflict ;Hezbollah has been in hibernation.

By the way,if you don't mind could you tell us all, what is the current combat status of the other Palestinian Militant groups?-->Islamic Jihad,PFLO(it's a Palestinian Christian Militant organisation, right?) etc against Israel?

Are they active like Hamas or in Hibernation? & are the Militant wings of the PLO content to remain at peace with Israel ? or Have they defected to join Hamas?

 

[Falcon29]

Thanks for the post sir. It was very enlightening

I always knew the difference between Hezbollah & Hamas
But I thought Hezbollah too was actively opposing Israel & getting involved in attacks/engagements against it & it's citizens like Hamas & other such groups.

But going by your post, it seems after the 2006 conflict ;Hezbollah has been in hibernation.

By the way,if you don't mind could you tell us all, what is the current combat status of the other Palestinian Militant groups?-->Islamic Jihad,PFLO(it's a Palestinian Christian Militant organisation, right?) etc against Israel?

Are they active like Hamas or in Hibernation? & are the Militant wings of the PLO content to remain at peace with Israel ? or Have they defected to join Hamas?

Hezbollah is Lebanese party. Today it is seen as protector of Shia's in Lebanon from Shia POV. Everyone has different POV depending on whether you ask Israeli, Arab or Iranian. I'm not familiar with Hezbollah's history/early days as much as some Lebanese may be. In 2006, they did operation on border to try exchanging Israeli soldiers for some of their Lebanese prisoners in Israel. It led to larger conflict. Hezbollah doesn't actively oppose Israel but is against it. Because there is Lebanese-Israeli dispute about Sheeba Farms(territory) and natural gas disputes. Other than that, there is not much between them.

The Palestinian-Israeli issue is something else. Palestinians are under active occupation so they actively oppose it. Israel keeps bringing in foreign Jews who later become known as 'settlers' into West Bank to try altering demographics there. In order to later annex the Palestinian territory. So Palestinians are in a race against time, they have to find a way to prevent that. US already stated it supports Israeli annexation efforts. So as far as Palestinian parties, PLO is long disbanded and not what it used to be. Today you have the PA(Palestinian Authority) led by Abbas in the West Bank which has no military arm. It controls some areas in the West Bank which Israel agrees to let them govern. The rest is controlled by the Israeli army.

PFLP had Christian leaders, has mixture of members. Some are Christian, Muslim or even atheist. They have political representatives and small military presence in Gaza/WestBank. Fatah also has small military presence in both areas, but the armed wing in Gaza doesn't have any form of ties to West Bank PA government. IJ is the second largest, it has its biggest presence in Gaza. Hamas has the largest armed wing which is also in Gaza.

 

[jamahir]

the op is a bunch of nonsense and disinfo !!

what does "moderate arab state" even mean??

 

[Solomon2]

the op is a bunch of nonsense and disinfo !!

Please be specific.

what does "moderate arab state" even mean??

Oh, you didn't read the article, just the headline?

 

[jamahir]

Please be specific.

Oh, you didn't read the article, just the headline?

i did a quick run through the op and the continuation below.

these are the points i want to start with...

1. the op describes syria as a vassal of iran and not as a independent system... clearly a lie... do you think the syrian army and the ndf ( especially the ladies in it ) would adopt the reactionary/religion-heavy system promoted by iran government??

2. the op describes "palestinian authority" as having ties, hinting at military ties, with the israeli state... this is to hide the fact that the plo exists in some form and is now establishing formal ties with the syrian government, as evidenced by even this nato source[1]...

Meanwhile, Abd Alsattar Qasim, Professor at Bier Ziet University in the West Bank, believes that the purpose of the visit is to deal a symbolic blow to Hamas in Gaza, and has little to do with politics in Syria.

"It's a question of scoring points to get back at rivals. As Hamas was accused of backing the [Syrian] opposition, Fatah felt it must back the other side, i.e. the regime of [President Bashar] al-Assad," Qasim told MEE.

additionally, the pflp-gc is a bunch of palestinians fighting in syria alongside the syrian government forces and against the nato-created "rebels"... the op wants to present non-hamas palestinians as being with the israeli state and against the syrian government.

3. how can egypt and the gulf states be grouped together??
​

----

[1] Why is Fatah re-establishing ties with Syria's Assad? | Middle East Eye

 

[Solomon2]

1. the op describes syria as a vassal of iran and not as a independent system... clearly a lie... do you think the syrian army and the ndf ( especially the ladies in it ) would adopt the reactionary/religion-heavy system promoted by iran government??

Your question doesn't apply, as a "vassal" is defined as an entity that pays homage and owes allegiance to another. There's no requirement for the vassal to ape its master, as you seem to think.

2. the op describes "palestinian authority" as having ties, hinting at military ties, with the israeli state... this is to hide the fact -

So your complaint isn't with the fact of military ties, but that highlighting them ignores a story that doesn't contradict the article but that you want to promote, yes?

3. how can egypt and the gulf states be grouped together??

Isn't it even more amazing that the P.A. also makes the IDF's "moderate" list?