The Israeli-Saudi Alliance Beating the Drums of War

- The Israeli-Saudi Alliance Beating the Drums of War
by Richard Silverstein, http://www.middleeasteye.net/
Netanyahu’s new alliance with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince might provide the military punch he needs to forge a successful series of attacks on regional enemies.
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Over the past 24 hours, the drumbeat of war in the Middle East has risen to a fever-pitch. Saudi Arabia has provoked both an internal domestic, and a foreign crisis to permit Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to realise his grandiose vision of the Saudi state.
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Internally, Salman suddenly created an anti-corruption commission and within four hours it had ordered the arrest of some of the highest level royal princes in the kingdom, including at least four sitting ministers and the son of a former king. The most well-known name on the list, and one of the world’s richest men, was Alwaleed bin Talal.
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Under duress
Just a few hours earlier, after being summoned to Saudi Arabia for consultations, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri told a Saudi TV audience that he was quitting his job due to “death threats” against him. Why the prime minister of a country would resign in the capital of a foreign nation is inexplicable.
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Coverage of Hariri’s statement noted that he spoke haltingly into the camera and looked off-camera several times, indicating that the statement may have been written for him and that he may have delivered it under duress.
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Given the strong-arm tactics used by bin Salman to both secure his own title as crown prince, and the subsequent arrest of scores of prominent Saudis deemed insufficiently loyal to him, it would not be at all out of character to summon the leader of a vassal state and offer an ultimatum: either resign or we will cut you off (literally).
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Middle East Eye editor David Hearst agrees: “It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that when he left Lebanon, Hariri had no intention of resigning, that he himself did not know that he would resign and that this resignation had been forced on him by the Saudis.”
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Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called Hariri “our prime minister” in his own address to the nation after the “resignation”. This doesn’t sound like a man who wanted Hariri out of power. Lebanon’s president announced he would not accept Hariri’s resignation till he returned in person to affirm it.
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Further, Saudi Arabia announced that Hariri would not be returning to Lebanon due to the so-called threats on his life. Something doesn’t smell right.
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