Middle East experts say Iranian pressure has caused Sunni Gulf states to tighten ties with Israel • "Bahraini meetings and Gulf officials have arrived in Israel"
UAE fighter jet // Photo: Wikipedia
Haaretz newspaper published on Tuesday that Canadian executive planes have been matched with intelligence aircraft in Israel and transferred to the United Arab Emirates. If the reports are true, this is another exposure of the tightening military relationship with some of the Gulf states.
Haim Tomer, head of the Tevel Division at a former institution, says relations with the Gulf states have lasted for at least forty years and they have been pushed forward because of the tension with Iran.
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"These relations with the Gulf states, for example with Oman, are from the 1980s onwards. These countries have long chosen to make contact with Israel, but most of the time it was a secret relationship that was based on very weak but rich countries. So they chose their type of requests from Israel and Make a secret connection "
"The person responsible for this kind of clandestine ties is the Mossad, which has been quietly managing and liaising with the Gulf and Saudi Arabia for many years. Over the past decade, the Iranian threat to the Gulf states has become much more acute and tangible, and so they have intensified the relationship with Israel in many areas. Meetings in Bahrain and senior officials have visited the country. This is because of their fear of Iran and this is the impetus for all publications. These are still undercover relationships that can no longer be elaborated upon, "he concludes.
"Aid that Israel Would Never Give to an Arab State"
Prof. Uzi Rabbi, head of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle East and Africa Studies at Tel Aviv University, explains that the deep Israeli approach and assistance in problem areas also indicates the pressure that the Gulf states face on Iran. "Relations with the Gulf States have been secret for many years. Recently, however, Israeli activity is being seen and heard at another level, which is likely to come under great pressure from the Gulf states."
Rabbi explains, "Today there is a very large Israeli involvement stemming from the huge pressure that the Gulf states are facing Iran. This pressure also leads to the breakthrough of barriers that Israel itself would not have crossed in the past. The publications that come out talk about the kind of aid that Israel in the past would not give to an Arab state."
"It shows the convergence of Arab and Israeli interests vis-à-vis Iran and how much pressure there is on the issue and is a factor that pushes Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states to Israel even at the expense of their own rivalry for hegemony and even despite Israel being a non-Muslim state," Rabbi argues.
