TEHRAN- Recent bombshell revelations about clandestine meetings between senior Israeli, American and Arab military officials have sparked widespread outrage and suspicion in the Muslim world, particularly among Palestinian people who view such secretive discussions as a betrayal of their cause amid the Tel Aviv regime’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

US media have reported that Israel’s top general held talks with senior generals from several Arab militaries in Bahrain on Monday under the auspices of the US Central Command. 

According to Axios, General Herzi Halevi, the chief of the general staff of the Israeli military, and US CENTCOM Commander, General Michael Erik Kurilla, participated in the meetings. 

Citing two sources, the Axios report said Halevi met military officials from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and Bahrain in Manama as part of military cooperation between Tel Aviv, Washington and the Arab states. 

The US media outlet noted that the US and Israel and their Arab allies have kept mum on the meetings due to regional sensitivity.

“If true, it would be a scandal like no other: It shows the complicity of the US, the Zionist regime, and five US Arab allies in the region,” Professor Sami Al-Arian, a descendant of Palestinians expelled from Palestine following the establishment of the regime in 1948, wrote on X. 

US-backed Israeli genocide 

Anti-Israel sentiment has been on the rise not only in West Asia but also across the world over the regime’s brutal onslaught on Gaza which has claimed the lives of more than 37,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 7.

Resentment against the US over its support for Israel’s war on Gaza has also been growing in the Arab world. 

Over the past months, people in Arab countries that have overt and covert ties with Israel have held rallies to vent their anger at the regime’s brutalities in the Gaza Strip despite threats of arrest and intimidation.  

They have called on their governments to sever ties with Israel.

Bias towards Israel 

Nonetheless, Arab leaders who have publicly criticized Israel for its crimes in Gaza, have taken no action against the regime. This shows that they only pay lip services to distract attention away from their complicity in Israel’s appalling atrocities against the Palestinian people.  

The latest example of such bias toward Israel has been displayed amid a decision by Saudi Arabi to bar Muslim pilgrims from expressing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza during the Hajj pilgrimage which officially began on Friday. 

Saudi Arabia was considering establishing formal diplomatic ties with Israel before October 7. But the Kingdom had to suspend its normalization plans due to global outcry over the regime’s onslaught on Gaza. 

Bahrain and the UAE, which normalized ties with Israel in 2020, have tried to nip protests against Israel’s genocide in Gaza in the bud. 
Reports suggest the Egyptian and Jordanian rulers, whose countries have established formal ties with Israel, have launched clampdowns on pro-Palestine activists.

 Palestinians have repeatedly condemned normalization of ties between Israel and Arab states as a stab in the back to their cause. 

Post-war scheme 

The Axios report attaches significance to speculation that Arab states have prioritized relations with Israel over the lives of Palestinians. 

In fact, the Manama meeting shows that these Arab states have become pawns of Israel and the US in the face of their scheme for Gaza after the end of the war. 

Nearly 10 days after launching war on Gaza, Israel acknowledged that the regime’s Intelligence Ministry had drafted "a wartime proposal" to transfer the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million people to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

However, stiff resistance put up by Palestinians in Gaza seems to have foiled the Israeli plot. 

Dirty trick

The US is now spearheading plans to take control of the Gaza Strip with Israel and Arab states after the war.

The US has stressed that it does not want to establish military presence in Gaza. But it has helped Israel target Palestinians via a port it has built in Gaza under the pretext of distributing humanitarian aid. Earlier this month, Israel used the port as it massacred more than 270 people in the Nuseirat refugee camp as part of an operation to free four captives. 

Milking cow 

In line with efforts to keep its forces in Gaza, the US also needs Arab states as a milk cow. In fact, they have to fork over their petrodollars to ensure that Washington will keep supporting them. 

According to Middle East Eye, US officials believe Bahrain is willing to send peacekeepers to Gaza and has called to be more actively involved in post-war planning. This sheds light on the importance of choosing Manama for holding the meetings between the senior military officials of Israel, the US and Arab states. 

US stooges

The US has also called on the Palestinian Authority, which stands accused of ineffectiveness and corruption, to play a role in Gaza after the war.  

The Palestinian Authority, like some Arab states, has acted as a US stooge trying to smear the Palestinian resistance. 

In mid-October, the Wafa news agency cited President Mahmoud Abbas, as saying that “Hamas's policies and actions do not represent the Palestinian people, and the policies, programs and decisions of the (Palestine Liberation Organization) represent the Palestinian people as their sole legitimate representative."

Presently, it seems that Arab states, the Palestinian Authority, Israel and the US are forming an alliance to crush the Palestinian resistance and feed the war machine of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

Under the façade of friendship with Palestinians, Arab states are abetting Israel’s genocide and implementing the regime’s ethnic cleansing plans.