The Dangerous New Iran-Qatar-Turkey-Hamas Alliance

Author: Published: September 30, 2020

by Khaled Abu Toameh

 

  • Abbas has already damaged the Palestinians’ relations with some Arab countries by condemning the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain for signing peace treaties with Israel…. Now it appears that the Palestinians are also headed toward ruining their relations with Egypt because of Abbas’s decision to make peace with Hamas and appease Iran, Turkey and Qatar.
  • “Qatar has provided Hamas with more than a billion dollars since 2012… Qatar did not provide these funds out of a humanitarian standpoint and to help the residents of the Gaza Strip. The Qataris did so to help Hamas and its leaders and to enable Qatar to establish a foothold in the region.” — Egyptian writer Hashem al-Fahkrani, Al-Youm7.com, September 21, 2020.
  • “Those who believe that Hamas’s first goal is to resist Israel are mistaken. Its first and only goal is to receive money. Hamas’s slogan is: Loyalty to anyone who pays the most.” — Hashem al-Fahkrani.
  • Yet, the Palestinian leadership and the international community appear distinctly indifferent the looming danger of this newest axis of evil. For them, the only fate worse than death is normalization between the Arabs and Israel. Abbas has once again pegged his hopes and those of his people on entities that would obstruct the Palestinians and destroy Israel.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s continued rapprochement with the Iran-backed Hamas is jeopardizing the Palestinians’ relations with Egypt. Abbas, however, seems determined to ignore the Egyptian warnings and is marching forward with full speed toward forming an alliance with Hamas and its masters in Iran, Qatar and Turkey. (Photo by Mohamad Torokman/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s continued rapprochement with the Iran-backed Hamas is jeopardizing the Palestinians’ relations with Egypt. Egyptian media outlets have resumed their scathing attacks on the Palestinian leadership in general, and the Islamist movement that has been ruling the Gaza Strip since 2007 in particular.

The Egyptian attacks came on the eve of a meeting in Turkey between leaders of Abbas’s Fatah faction and Hamas. At the meeting, held under the auspices of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Hamas and Fatah leaders discussed ways of ending their dispute and holding long overdue Palestinian presidential and parliamentary elections.

The Fatah-Hamas meeting in Turkey took place in the context of Abbas’s initiative to achieve Palestinian “national unity to confront Israeli and American schemes against the Palestinians.” The reconciliation efforts are also designed to thwart normalization agreements between Israel and some Arab states.

The Egyptian attacks, focusing mostly on Hamas, are aimed at sending a warning to Abbas against joining the extremist camp led by Iran, Qatar and Turkey. In addition, the attacks are aimed at reminding Abbas and the rest of the world that Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, continues to pose a real threat to Egypt’s national security.

Abbas, however, seems determined to ignore the Egyptian warnings and is marching forward with full speed toward forming an alliance with Hamas and its masters in Iran, Qatar and Turkey.

Abbas has already damaged the Palestinians’ relations with some Arab countries by condemning the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain for signing peace treaties with Israel. Abbas and his senior officials have accused both Gulf countries of “stabbing the Palestinians in the back” and betraying the Palestinian cause, Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque by signing normalization accords with Israel.

A sign of the growing rift between the Palestinians and the Arab world surfaced on September 22, when Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad Malki announced that the Palestinians decided to “relinquish” their right to preside over the Council of the Arab League at its current session, in protest of the decision of the UAE and Bahrain to normalize relations with Israel. “Since the decision to rush after [normalization] was taken in Washington, it does not serve any purpose to exert any more effort to sway [the Arabs] against normalization, particularly since they are not the decision-makers, regretfully,” Malki explained.

The decision marks the beginning of a divorce process between the Palestinians and the Arab world. The Palestinian leadership has been boycotting the US administration since December 2017, when President Donald Trump announced his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The Palestinians have also suspended their ties with Israel, including security coordination.

The Palestinians have, in addition, lost the support of several Arab countries because of their recurring condemnations of Arab governments and leaders who want to make peace with Israel.

Now it appears that the Palestinians are also headed toward ruining their relations with Egypt because of Abbas’s decision to make peace with Hamas and appease Iran, Turkey and Qatar.

Egyptian journalists and writers have joined the chorus of critics in the Arab world who are accusing the Palestinian leadership of lacking a clear strategy that would serve the interests of the Palestinians. The journalists and writers have also launched a scathing attack on Hamas for its involvement in terrorism and for throwing itself into the open arms of Iran, Turkey and Qatar. According to Egyptian writer Farouk Jweideh:

“The Palestinian issue is no longer at the forefront of Arab issues, and it has retreated in international forums and behind the scenes of the United Nations, and even in the Arab League… The Palestine issue was the first Arab issue in all situations. Nobody now knows Mahmoud Abbas’s future, because everyone has abandoned him.”

Jweideh held Palestinian leaders responsible for the “decline” of the Palestinian issue, and in particular the conflict between Fatah and Hamas.

“No one knows how Mahmoud Abbas thinks and what the considerations of Fatah, Hamas and the rest of the Palestinian factions are… The state of confusion and disintegration that afflicted the Arab world put the leaders of Palestine in a historic deadlock. No one is standing with the Palestinian issue and people now.”

Egyptian writer Abdel Mun’em Said accused Turkey, Iran, Qatar and Hamas of “using history profusely, selectively and tragically to impose appropriate political and strategic choices to maintain a state of tension, hostility and conflict in the region.” According to Said, the goal of the four parties is to infiltrate the Arab countries and obtain material and political gains in the region.

Egyptian broadcaster Basma Wahba noted that Hamas has a history of igniting strife in the region, with the help of Qatar and Turkey. “We lived in a great illusion that Hamas aims to fight Israel to liberate Jerusalem,” Wahba said.

“It is time for people to know the truth about this movement and its sabotage goals in this region. With the backing of Qatar and Turkey, Hamas has armed militias and plays a destructive role in the region. Hamas is present and involved in every Arab country. Erdogan has used the Hamas leaders to achieve his goals in the region, and many Hamas members have acquired Turkish citizenship.”

Commenting on Hamas’s hypocrisy and corruption, Egyptian writer Hashem al-Fahkrani remarked:

“Those who believe that Hamas’s first goal is to resist Israel are mistaken. Its first and only goal is to receive money. Hamas’s slogan is: Loyalty to anyone who pays the most.”

Al-Fakhrani was referring to the Qatari cash grants that have been delivered to Hamas in the past year. Noting that Hamas operates under the guidance of the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organization, he added:

“Hamas, founded on December 15, 1987 under the name of the Islamic Resistance Movement, is one of the wings of the international organization of the Brotherhood. Hamas aims to achieve the goals of the organization without taking into account other considerations.”

Al-Fakhrani pointed out that Hamas has condemned some Arab countries for normalizing their relations with Israel, while ignoring that the Qatari cash grants it receives were being delivered to the Gaza Strip with Israeli permission. “Qatar has provided Hamas with more than a billion dollars since 2012,” he said.

“Qatar did not provide these funds out of a humanitarian standpoint and to help the residents of the Gaza Strip. The Qataris did so to help Hamas and its leaders and to enable Qatar to establish a foothold in the region.”

Egyptian writer Mustafa Anbar denounced Hamas as a “satanic movement with a misleading history and constant support for terrorism.” He accused Hamas of serving the Turkish-Qatari agenda in the region.

“Day after day, the malicious goals and intentions of Hamas are revealed through its trading with the Palestinian issue in order to achieve unlawful gains at the expense of the Palestinian people… This is the agenda of Turkey and Qatar: supporting terrorism.”

Another Egyptian writer, Isra’a Ahmed Fouad, wrote that Hamas’s real goals have been exposed: While its leaders seek to enrich themselves, they are working to serve Turkish ambitions in the region. Noting that Hamas has committed many crimes against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and threatened Egypt’s national security, Fouad said:

“The Hamas bombing of the Ibn Taymiyyah Mosque in the city of Rafah was one of the most heinous of these crimes, as they destroyed the mosque with rocket launchers. After Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip, its members committed murders, kidnappings and torture. Its members also carried out many crimes by leaking poisonous gas into the cells of prisoners and detainees.”

Fouad quoted a Palestinian security officer as saying that “shameful acts” were being carried out inside the tunnels that Hamas built on Gaza’s borders with Egypt and Israel:

“In addition to smuggling operations, other immoral acts were practiced inside the tunnels, especially during the rule of the ousted [Egyptian] President Mohamed Morsi… Anyone who attempted to expose these acts was killed by Hamas. Hamas used to pump poisonous gas into the tunnels to kill those inside, and then it would claim that Israel had bombed the tunnels.”

The Egyptian newspaper Sout Al-Omma accused Hamas of abandoning the Palestinian cause and aligning itself with Qatar, which poured billions of dollars into its coffers to serve its own agenda and goals in the region. The paper quoted Egyptian MP Hammam al-Adli as saying:

“[Hamas] adopts an extremist ideology and has a close relationship with Qatar, which is a suspicious relationship that takes place within the framework of supporting armed terrorist organizations and planning sabotage and terrorist operations in some Arab countries.”

Hamas, he added, is serving the agenda of Qatar in return for the large financial funds that Hamas receives from the Qataris.

Another Egyptian MP, Mohammed Salim, said that Hamas has fallen into the arms of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood organization in Qatar. Hamas, he added, “supports their malicious goals and plans in the region, and the plans of incitement against Egypt and some Arab countries to destabilize their security.”

Were these allegations against Hamas published by Israel, they would have been dismissed by many in the West as “Israeli propaganda.” These accusations, however, are coming from Egypt, the largest Arab country that has a shared border with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The Egyptians are trying to sound an alarm bell to Abbas and the rest of the world about the dangers of the Hamas-Iran-Turkey-Qatar alliance that poses a threat to security and stability in the Middle East.

Yet, the Palestinian leadership and the international community appear distinctly indifferent to the looming danger of this newest axis of evil. For them, the only fate worse than death is normalization between the Arabs and Israel. Abbas has once again pegged his hopes and those of his people on entities that would obstruct the Palestinians and destroy Israel.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16553/iran-qatar-turkey-hamas

Hezbollah missile site revelations could trigger US sanctions

Author: Published: September 30, 2020

Netanyahu warned in his address to the UN General Assembly of secret Hezbollah arms depots in civilian areas of Beirut that could trigger yet another massive explosion.

By LAHAV HARKOV

SEPTEMBER 30, 2020 10:34
Three Hezbollah missle manufacturing sites in Beirut are highlighted alongside the site of the Beirut Port explosion. (photo credit: IDF)
Three Hezbollah missle manufacturing sites in Beirut are highlighted alongside the site of the Beirut Port explosion.
(photo credit: IDF)
Hezbollah use of civilian, residential neighborhoods to store and manufacture arms could trigger US sanctions against the terrorist group for use of human shields, experts said following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Tuesday night speech to the UN General Assembly revealing a weapons site in Beirut.

The authors of the 2018 “Sanctioning the Use of Civilians as Defenseless Shield Act,” which passed with bipartisan support, said Netanyahu’s address indicated Hezbollah fell under the law’s purview and the US should sanction the group for using human shields, which is a war crime in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said on Twitter that he was “deeply disturbed by Netanyahu’s UNGA presentation on Hezbollah’s use of human shields…It’s long past time for the administration to impose sanctions mandated by my 2018 human shields law.”

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisconsin) tweeted that “following @IsraeliPM’s UNGA speech, there can be no doubt that Hezbollah is using civilians as human shields. It’s past time for the Treasury Department to impose sanctions – mandated by my bill, the Shields Act – on anyone complicit in these war crimes.”

The Shields Act requires the president to submit a list to Congress of each foreign person involved in Hezbollah or Hamas’ use of “civilians protected as such by the law of war to shield military objectives from attack,” and to sanction those individuals.

Netanyahu warned in his address to the UN General Assembly of secret Hezbollah arms depots in civilian areas of Beirut that could trigger yet another massive explosion less than two months after a devastating blast at the Lebanese capital’s port killed 200 and injured thousands.

Among those sites was in the Janah neighborhood near Beirut’s international airport, where Hezbollah has an arms depot and precision-guided missiles (PGM) factory abutting gas canisters belonging to a gas company. The IDF released information soon after PGM component manufacturing and storage sites under residential buildings in the Laylaki and Chouaifet neighborhoods.

Orde Kittrie, a former US State Department lawyer and current Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, also said the evidence strongly supports imposing sanctions on Hezbollah pursuant to the 2018 law, especially the sites in Laylaki and Chouaifet, which are under apartment buildings housing 70 and 50 families, respectively.

In Kittrie’s assessment, the threat posed to Israel from the PGM factories makes them legitimate targets for the IDF.

Iran has been unsuccessful in sending PGMs to Hezbollah, in part because of Israeli attacks on its arms convoys, and has moved to a strategy of sending parts to the terrorist group to be assembled in Lebanon.

Kittrie said Hezbollah’s use of human shields puts civilians in danger of explosive accidents like the one that recently destroyed Beirut’s port and another in which a Hezbollah arms depot detonated in the village of Ain Kana.

“Yet Western countries have not yet responded by penalizing, prosecuting, or otherwise holding Hezbollah, other specific terrorist groups, their leaders, and material supporters accountable for using human shields,” Kittrie said.

“Despite considerable prior evidence of human shields use by Hezbollah and other terrorists, the administration has yet to impose any sanctions under the Shields Act, which became law nearly two years ago.  The exceptionally strong evidence released today should prompt it to act.”

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/hezbollah-missile-site-revelations-could-trigger-us-sanctions-643957

IDF Warns Israel Will ‘Operate Extensively’ Against Precision Guided Missile Sites in Lebanon

Author: Published: September 30, 2020
Site of Hezbollah’s precision guided missile manufacturing facilities, Janah and elsewhere

Lebanon’s citizens are once again being used as human shields, the IDF warned Tuesday night, following the address to the United Nations General Assembly by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which he revealed the exact locations of secret Hezbollah precision guided missile (PGM) factories and weapons warehouses embedded within civilian neighborhoods in Beirut.

In its own lengthy statement, the IDF provided additional information about the three Hezbollah sites being used to manufacture the precision guided missiles in the heart of Beirut.

Site of Hezbollah’s precision guided missile manufacturing facilities, Janah and elsewhere

“Lately, various explosions occurred in populated areas in Lebanese territory. Among these explosions is the one which occurred last week, in which a weapons warehouse located in Ain Qana (neighborhood) exploded,” the IDF said. “These explosions demonstrate how the Hezbollah terror organization is using Lebanese civilians as human shields.

“The explosion at the Beirut Port was HERE.”

“The PGM project which is being carried out by both Hezbollah and Iran includes the conversion of existing rockets into PGMS as well as a well-planned PGM manufacturing array, operating via establishment of manufacturing sites on Lebanese territory. This project is yet another proof of the exploitation of Lebanese civilians by Hezbollah, and the ongoing Iranian activity via the terror organization, aimed to sabotage Lebanon’s stability and civilians.

“Today, a PGM manufacturing site, located in the heart of Beirut, has been exposed alongside two additional sites. The following is information about the three exposed sites:

  1. A PGM manufacturing site in the industrial area of the Janah neighborhood. Two gas companies are located adjacent to the site: the first immediately west of the site, and the second approximately 50 meters from it. A gas station is located a few dozen meters west of the site.
  2. An underground PGM manufacturing site located in the Laylaki neighborhood. The site is located underneath a seven-story residential building, home to more than 70 families. The site has two entrances, eastern and northern. Both a medical center and a church are located approximately 130 meters from the site.
  3. An underground PGM manufacturing site located in the Chouaifet neighborhood. The site is located underneath a five-story residential building, home to approximately 50 families. There is a mosque located approximately 90 meters north of the site.

“The State of Israel and the IDF have reported these sites numerous times, both to the UN and additional diplomatic networks as well as via various media channels.

Hezbollah’s underground PGM factory in Chouaifet

“Hezbollah is illegally utilizing these sites, while putting Lebanese civilians at risk. The exposure of these sites today was made with the aim of calling the Lebanese government again, with the support of the international community, to intervene in the matter; and to allow Lebanese civilians to protect themselves from the risks caused by the entrenchment of the Iran-proxy Hezbollah in their country.

Precise IDF intelligence on Hezbollah’s PGM manufacturing sites.

“These PGM manufacturing sites, deliberately placed in the heart of populated areas in Beirut, are risking first and foremost Lebanese civilians. The disaster which occurred in the Beirut Port last August and the explosion in September showcase the extent to which the lives, security, and property of Lebanese civilians are at risk.

“The State of Israel, and the IDF in particular are monitoring these sites using advanced means and are very knowledgeable in regard to the PGM project. They will continue to extensively operate against it with various methods and tools,” the IDF said.

Macron Blames Hezbollah for Lebanon’s Current Failure
Speaking from Paris on Sunday evening, French President Emmanuel Macron blamed Hezbollah for the failure of Lebanese political parties to form a new reformist government, and for the swift resignation of a newly chosen prime minister, former Lebanese Ambassador to Germany, Mustapha Adib.

In his remarks, Macron said, “Hezbollah cannot operate at the same time as an army against Israel, a militia unleashed against civilians in Syria, and a respectable political party in Lebanon.

“It must not believe that it is stronger than it is. It must show that it respects all Lebanese. These last days, it clearly demonstrated the opposite.”

Macron Scolds Lebanese Leaders, Blames Hezbollah, Amal for Failure to Form Government

At the time the entire focus of Macron’s remarks was centered on the Iranian proxy’s unwillingness to forfeit control over the finance portfolio together with its Shiite ally, Amal.

However, in light of Tuesday’s revelations to the UN General Assembly by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the above information provided by the IDF, one is prompted to question whether Macron was among those to whom the State of Israel and the IDF “have reported these sites numerous times” as mentioned above, via the UN and diplomatic networks as well as through media.

Macron added in his remarks that he would look at “concerted sanctions” against Lebanese leaders if necessary, noting that setting up a government with Shiites at this point is not realistic “because today Lebanese leaders are afraid of Hezbollah.” One can well understand that fear, given the above information; but unless they can master their fear and take control of their nation before the situation deteriorates further, they may indeed have reason to be well and truly terrified.

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