Netanyahu Envisions New Mideast Alliances

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is following last week’s President Trump’s gathering of the Board of Peace with his own vision: A group of like-minded Middle Eastern European, Asian, and African countries that would unite to form a counterweight to extreme Islamists. As this fall’s election in Israel nears, Mr. Netanyahu seems eager to bolster his foreign policy chops. His “vision,” laid out on Sunday, is an ambitious plan to deepen Israel’s economic and strategic alliances. “My vision is to build a comprehensive system, kind of a hexagonal of strategic alliances across the Mediterranean and the Middle East,” Mr. Netanyahu said Sunday at the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting at Jerusalem. “It will include India, Arab states, African partners, and also Mediterranean countries — Greece, Cyprus — as well as Asian countries that I’ll not yet name for now.”The goal, he added, is to “build a bloc that sees the realities, the challenges, and the opportunities clearly, and stands in direct opposition to both the radical Shiite axis, which we’ve hit very hard, and the emerging radical Sunni axis.” The allied counties, he added, can “unite behind a different agenda. Cooperation between us can be hugely fruitful. It can also, of course, guarantee our strength and our future.”One project that could prove a cornerstone of such an alliance is the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor. First pitched by New Delhi in 2023, it’s been endorsed by Washington. IMEC envisions a trade route that would carry goods by sea from Mumbai to Dubai, and from there via train over Saudi Arabia and Jordan to Haifa port in Israel. Ships from Haifa to Piraeus in Greece and the rest of Europe. “IMEC is an important project,” the Indian ambassador to Israel, J.P. Singh, told All India News Radio this week. “It will be connecting India” — the world’s fourth largest economy — “with the Gulf countries and Europe, and further towards the United States.” Ending Delhi HostilityPrime Minister Nerandra Modi’s visit to Israel this week is designed to take relations to the next stage. He overturned decades of Delhi hostility to the Jewish state, derived from India’s position as a pillar of an anti-Western “non-aligned” movement. Now, in contrast, “Delhi’s relation with Israel is irreplaceable,” an India researcher at Israel’s Bar Ilan University, Lauren Dagan Amoss, tells the Sun. In Operation Sindoor, the latest skirmish with Pakistan, the Indian military deployed the Barak 8 air defense system, developed in tandem with Israel, Ms. Dagan Amoss notes, adding that Pakistani news outlets displayed downed Israeli-made drones used by the Indian military.“Israel is a leader in anti-ballistic missile systems,” the executive editor at Hindustan Times, Shishir Gupta, writes, noting that last June Israel defense batteries intercepted 98 percent of Iran’s ballistic missiles. Delhi and Jeruselam “are on the same page on a host of political issues and speak in one voice against terrorism,” Mr. Gupta writes. The Indian ambassador, Mr. Singh, adds that “Israel is very good in innovation, science and technology,” and that the two countries will deepen integration of their “ecosystems.” New Delhi, though, also maintains strong ties with some Mideastern countries that are increasingly hostile to Israel, and IMEC’s biggest challenge is Saudi Arabia. Riyadh’s 180The Saudis increasingly seem less interested than they were prior to the October 7, 2023 war in joining the Abraham Accords. “The Saudis are getting cold feet,” the head of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, Yossi Kuperwasser, tells the Sun.A snippet from an interview posted by podcaster Tucker Carlson with the American ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, enraged Saudis and other Arabs. The ire relied on an out of context throwaway line, in which Mr. Huckabee indicated he’d be “fine” if Israel fulfilled a biblical promise to take over Mideastern countries “from the Nile to the Euphrates.” Israel has no intention to change its borders, Mr. Huckabee said, but Riyadh claimed his words “constitute a violation of international law, the Charter of the United Nations and established diplomatic norms.” The FoundationIsrael “has long been developing external relations to advance our strategic and economic interests,” Mr. Kuperwassersays. He compares the process of building those alliances to erecting a building, where the foundation must ensure that higher levels could lie atop. “Expanding the Abraham accords is the higher level,” he says, adding that if there is a regime change in Iran, it too can be added to the alliance. While Arab populations have been enraged in two years of one-sided broadcasts from Gaza, Abraham Accord members, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Bahrain and others kept tight relations with Israel. Several Muslim central Asian countries, including Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, also tightened relations.Israel became a pioneer in recognizing strategically-located Somaliland’s independence, much to the delight of Ethiopia. Other African countries, including Uganda and Tanzania, also maintain strong ties. Former Soviet bloc countries — Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic — are much more supportive of Israel than “Old Europe.” Meanwhile Greece and Cyprus increasingly prioritize Israel ties, as their neighbor, Turkey, vies to become a leader o Sunni Islam. The RadicalsThe “ring of fire” around Israel that the Islamic Republic has cultivated for decades is in shambles. Hezbollah is largely defanged. Last week, the Israeli Air Force killed the Lebanese terror group’s top missile commanders. Hamas, meanwhile, is weakened, but rebuilding and maintaining control over parts of Gaza. The Houthis and Shiite Iraqi militias vow retaliation against Israel if Iran is struck. On the Sunni side, Turkey and Qatar are allying over support for the Muslim Brotherhood. Saudi Arabia just signed a mutual defense treaty with Pakistan. Many could follow suit. A Major Shift?The Mideast could be on the verge of tectonic shifts. Commentators in Israel’s toughest enemy states, including Syria and Lebanon, are now hinting at agreements with the neighbor. Such hints could lead to real ties if the Tehran regime collapses.Saudi Arabia, which is lobbying against an American military action, fears such changes. It is much more comfortable with a weakened Iranian regime than a revived neighbor that could ally with the West. Yet if the regime falls, Riyadh too could bless an alliance like the one that Mr. Netanyahu envisions. The Islamic Republic’s collapse would be an impetus for the Saudis to join the Abraham Accords, Mr. Kuperwasser says: “If you can’t fight them, join them.”

Netanyahu Envisions New Mideast Alliances

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