Israel Heats Up And Why

The stabbings, the rock throwing, a car blows up at a check point . . . . . . what's going on?

It's not Jews stepping on the Temple Mount.  Yeah, yeah, that's what you'll hear when interviewing Israeli Arabs.  What would you expect them to say, when Abbas tells them this, through Palestinian media which he's in control of?  He tells the Palestinians that the Jews are soiling the Temple Mount with their dirty feet.  How do you say anything more incendiary and more false than that?  You can't.

Jews going up to the Dome of the Rock is a straw man --- and for anti-Zionist, anti-Jewish, anti-Semities, it's about the best trigger around.  So why did Abbas decide to light this fuse.  We know he has his Palestinian police working with Israelis forces to foil anti-Israeli forces such as those of  Hamas.

In Abbas's double game, he works against the interests of Hamas to protect his own interests.  Polls of Palestinians show that Abbas is less popular than Hamas.  Without  the shield provided him by the IDF, he might have been already disposed of.  By the same token, having his police work with the IDF makes the work of the IDF considerably easier.

The other game Abbas is playing is to further the interests of Iran.  Iran compensates its allies handsomely.  Arafat died a very wealthy man.   Abbas and his clan are simply following Arafat's example.  Arafat diverted monies intended for the Palestinian people into his own pockets.  Abbas is doing the same thing.  But, if he can get a little extra from Iran, and in the process ingratiate himself with Iran, so much the better.

So what's Iran's interest in this?  In the struggle between Shiites and Sunnis, Sunni nations were beginning to see the merits of developing a closer relationship with Israel.  There has been considerable coordination between Egypt's Sisi and Israel.  Jordan has long understood the advantage of having Israel on it's western border.  And, now, it was beginning to appear that Saudi Arabia was coming to the realization that a relationship with Israel might further its interests vis a vis Iran.  Despite Saudi's public display of indignation at Israel taking out Iraq's nuclear facility, Wikileaks made it clear that privately the Saudis were overjoyed.  And, that was done with no coordination between Israel and Saudi Arabia.  Imagine what might be possible with a bit of coordination.

This movement in the attitude of Sunni nations as regards Israel did not go unnoticed by Iran.  How better to quash any rapprochement than by firing up religious hostilities between Israel and Muslims?

Israel is clearly paying a relatively high price for Abbas's cooperation with regards to Hamas.