IDF Chief Interviews With Saudi Media, Says Israel Ready To Share Intel

In a historic first, a Saudi newspaper published an interview with IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot on Thursday in which he said Israel is willing to share intelligence with the Gulf kingdom to combat Iran, “the largest threat to the region.”

No chief of staff of the Israeli military has ever been interviewed by Saudi Arabia, which has no diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.

Eisenkot told the London-based Saudi news site Elaph that Jerusalem and Riyadh are in complete agreement about the threat posed by Tehran. He said, however, that Israel has no interest in engaging in a war with Iranian proxy terror group Hezbollah despite recent escalations.

“With President Donald Trump there is an opportunity for a new international coalition in the region. There should be a major regional plan to stop the Iranian threat,” said Eisenkot.

“We are ready to exchange experiences with moderate Arab countries and to exchange intelligence to confront Iran,” he added. “There are many mutual interests.”

There have been many hints over the years that Israel has been sharing information with Saudi Arabia. There would be a single line in an article that Israeli general so-and-so had met with Saudi (fill in office) but with little or no information about what was discussed or why the meeting was held. Recently, there were mentions that some of Trump’s top people had met with high level Saudi officials. Again, no details. Then, a couple of weeks ago there was a massive purge of Saudi people. I speculate that those people were actively supporting terrorists. These were important, rich members of the Saudi family, who have been recently offered their freedom in exchange for their money.

The Saudis have, apparently, been playing footsie with the Israelis for a long time. But, before any real cooperation, and, say, joint military action, could commence, the Saudis had to clean house. They have done that.

For Saudi Arabia, this is the make or break moment. They must diversify their economy. To that end they have established a joint venture with Egypt and Jordan, but the key, unmentioned player will be Israel; probably supplying desalinated water and pipeline access to the Mediterranean.

Another thing they have to do is reform Islam. If they don’t then the Saudi government is doomed to be replaced by a regime that is likely to make Iran’s government look like it was designed by Disney. The Saudi king is the titular leader of Islam, so they theoretically have the power. However, built into the source code of Islam is a function that dictates death for anybody changing it. The recent legalization of women drivers is a clear signal that change is on the way.

There are other issues, but those are the top ones that will occuply Saudi Arabia for the next twenty years.

I quite agree that this is peculiar. Effective diplomacy and military/intelligence exchanges are not improved by being publicly known. So this implies an ulterior purpose.

And purging the royal family is just half the fight in Saudi. The other half are the recalcitrant and ambitious Wahhabi clergy. In past, when they have become troublesome, offering to overthrow the Saud, and the Saud used the threat of supplanting them with Sufi clergy, which would mean stripping the Wahhabi of their most profitable source of income: the holy cities as well as the mosques.

Just the threat of doing this usually makes the Wahhabis shake in their boots. But it is long past time when the Saud should have begun integrating other sects at the expense of the Wahhabi monopoly, using gradualism as their method.

The Saud promulgate Wahhabism around the world by supporting the Wahhabi oriented Madrassas schools in Pakistan, and by building mosques staffed with Wahhabi clergy from these Madrassas, which radicalizes them even if the congregation is of a less violent sect.

So the Saud need to change their policies. Support the other major sects equally to the Wahhabi, including the creation of other Madrassas that are not Wahhabi, to balance the clergy worldwide. Stop subsidizing so much of Wahhabism, and the equally obnoxious Salafism, which are the root source of terrorism in the world, mostly against other Muslims.

Again, tact and gradualism is key. It took many years to create this unmanageable and radical framework that threatens everyone, especially the Saud; so it will take years to make Islam more conservative and peaceful.

I assume the purpose of the Intel sharing is to get rid of those pesky Shias. I think this will provide a furtherance of Sunni/ Wahhabi Islamist agenda.

I hate feeling the US is the errand boy for Israel, and the KSA, but when the Israeli MOD says he prefers ISIS next door to Assad’s Secular Syria....

Would like to see the billions, as well as lives lost in regime changes going to improving infrastructure for USA.

Thanks RoosterRedux.

No chief of staff of the Israeli military has ever been interviewed by Saudi Arabia, which has no diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.

That's amusing, in a way. Other than in wartime, Israel and Saudi Arabia have always had backchannel diplomatic relations, just as Israel had always had with Jordan prior to the 1994 treaty. The late King Hussein even leaked to Israel the start date for the 1973 war (which the Gold Meir gubmint and intel agencies immediately ignored).

He said, however, that Israel has no interest in engaging in a war with Iranian proxy terror group Hezbollah despite recent escalations. "With President Donald Trump there is an opportunity for a new international coalition in the region. There should be a major regional plan to stop the Iranian threat," said Eisenkot. "We are ready to exchange experiences with moderate Arab countries and to exchange intelligence to confront Iran," he added. "There are many mutual interests."

BTW, President Trump is going to at least share the Nobel Peace Prize, and unlike Obama and Gore, will actually have earned it.

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