Warning: this post will be upgraded, at the guise of a thread of a forum. The older upgrades at the bottom. The newest at the top.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 3nd Edited 13 December 2015
Shia Iran & Russia involved in the manipulation of Sunni Islam already 150 years ago? ....May this have been the modern origin of today's ISIS & Al Qaeda?....
[from Wikipedia]
Sayyid Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī [1][2][3][4] (Persian: سید جمال الدین افغاني), also known as Sayyid Jamāl ad-Dīn Asadābādī (Persian: سید جمال الدین اسدآبادی ), and commonly known as Al-Afghani (1838/1839 – 9 March 1897), was a political activist and Islamic ideologist in the Muslim world during the late 19th century, particularly in the Middle East, South Asia and Europe. One of the founders of Islamic Modernism[4][5] and an advocate of Pan-Islamic unity,[6] he has been described as being less interested in minor differences in Islamic jurisprudence than he was in organizing a Muslim response to Western pressure.[7]
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As indicated by his his attributive name, "Afghani," he claimed to be of "Afghan" origin most of his life and until recently there was some difference of opinion among scholars as to whether that was the case. Although claimed by some older scholars such as Ignaz Goldziher and J. Jomier[8] that al-Afghan was born in Asadabad, a district of Kunar Province in Afghanistan,[9][10][11] false evidence shows that he was in fact born in Iran, in a village also called Asadābād, near the city of Hamadān.[1][3][12][13] Overwhelming documentation (especially a collection of papers left in Iran upon his expulsion in 1891) now proves that he was born into a family of Sayyids[2][3][11] [2][3] He was educated first at home and then taken by his father for further education to Qazvin, to Tehran, and finally, while he was still a youth, to the Shi'a shrine cities in Iraq.[11] It is thought that followers of Shia revivalist Shaikh Ahmad Ahsa'i had an influence on him.[14] An ethnic Persian, al-Afghani claimed to be an Afghan in order to present himself as a Sunni Muslim[14][15] and escape oppression by the Iranian ruler Nāṣer ud-Dīn Shāh.[3] One of his main rivals, the sheikh Abū l-Hudā, called him Mutaʾafghin ("the one who claims to be Afghan") and tried to expose his Shia roots.[16] Other names adopted by Al-Afghani were al-Kābulī ("[the one] from Kabul") and al-Istānbulī ("[the one] from Istanbul"). Especially in his writings published in Afghanistan, he also used the pseudonym ar-Rūmī ("the Roman" or "the Anatolian").[11]
............
At the age of 17 or 18 in 1855–56, Al-Afghani travelled to British India and spent a number of years there studying religions. In 1859, a British spy reported that Al-Afghani was a possible Russian agent. The British representatives reported that he wore traditional cloths of Noghai Turks in Central Asia and spoke Dari, Arabic and Turkish language fluently.[17] After this first Indian tour, he decided to perform Hajj or pilgrimage at Mecca. His first documents are dated from Autumn of 1865, where he mentions leaving the "revered place" (makān-i musharraf) and arriving in Tehran around mid-December of the same year.
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He was spotted in Afghanistan in 1866 and spent time in Qandahar, Ghazni, and Kabul.[2] He became a counsellor to the King Dost Mohammad Khan (who died, however, on 9 June 1863) and later to Mohammad Azam. At that time he encouraged the king to oppose the British but turn to the Russians.
However, he did not encourage Mohammad Azam to any reformist ideologies that later were attributed to Al-Afghani. Reports from the colonial British Indian and Afghan government stated that he was a stranger in Afghanistan, and spoke the Dari language with Iranian accent and followed European lifestyle more than that of Muslims, not observing Ramadan or other Muslim rites.[17] In 1868, the throne of Kabul was occupied by Sher Ali Khan, and Al-Afghani was forced to leave the country.[3]
He travelled to Constantinople, passing through Cairo on his way there. He stayed in Cairo long enough to meet a young student who would become a devoted disciple of his, Muhammad 'Abduh.[19] He entered Star of East Masonic Lodge in 7 July 1868 during staying in Cairo.[20] His membership number was 1355. He also founded the Masonic Lodge of Cairo and became first Grand Master of it. He had been excluded from the Scottish Masonic Lodge due to accusations of atheism and he joined the French Grand Orient and became Grand Master of it.
In 1871, Al-Afghani moved to Egypt and began preaching his ideas of political reform. His ideas were considered radical, and he was exiled in 1879. He then travelled to different European and non-European cities: Constantinople, London, Paris, Moscow, St. Petersburg and Munich.
In 1884, he began publishing an Arabic newspaper in Paris entitled al-Urwah al-Wuthqa ("The Indissoluble Link"[2]) with Muhammad Abduh. The newspaper called for a return to the original principles and ideals of Islam, and for greater unity among Islamic peoples. He argued that this would allow the Islamic community to regain its former strength against European powers.[citation needed]
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According to a report, from a man who must have been an Afghan with the local government, Jamal ad-Din Afghani was: "...well versed in geography and history, speaks Arabic and Turkish fluently, speaks Persian with an Irani accent. Apparently, follows no particular religion."[26]
In 1881 he published a collection of polemics titled Al-Radd 'ala al-Dahriyyi (Refutation of the Materialists), agitating for pan-Islamic unity against Western Imperialism. It included one of the earliest pieces of Islamic thought arguing against Darwin's then-recent On the Origin of Species; however, his arguments allegedly incorrectly caricatured evolution, provoking criticism that he had not read Darwin's writings.[27] In his later work Khatirat Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani ("The memoir of Al-Afghani"), he accepted the validity of evolution, asserting that the Islamic world had already known and used it. Although he accepted abiogenesis and the evolution of animals, he rejected the theory that the human species is the product of evolution, arguing that humans have souls.[27]
Among the reasons why Al-Afghani was thought to have had a less than deep religious faith[28] was his lack of interest in finding theologically common ground between Shia and Sunni (despite the fact that he was very interested in political unity between the two groups).[29] For example, when he moved to Istanbul he disguised his Shi'i background by labeling himself "the Afghan".[30]
URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamal_ad-Din_al-Afghani
Al-Afghani worked as a good agent of both Russian as well Shia imperialism, trying to to divert the enmity of Sunni towards Shia, re-directing it against the Western world, achieving in this way two goals: 1) arising enmity between the Western world and the Sunni Islam the Shia would then help to preserve the Shia letting it to emerge from a long lasting age of wars (as it happens today); 2) the same for Russian imperialism, whose path for the Indian Ocean is obstructed by the Sunni Islam. Stirring up Sunni against Western powers helped and is helping the long time scheduled plan of the Russian Czarism, to "wet the Russian boots in the Indian Ocean":
"....At that time he encouraged the king to oppose the British but turn to the Russians..."
Exactly what is happening today with ISIS in Afghanistan, where Shia Iran and Sunni Taliban are teaming up - and together with the Kremlin are staging a theatrical game of "terrorist escalation" in order to occupy Afghanistan by Russia & Iran, and to oust the today's 'British', the US occupation forces :
".....Exclusive 06.17.15 5:25 AM ET........don't worry, if Taliban are teaming up with Iran and Iran is teaming up with Russia, also Taliban are apparently enemies - but secretly brothers of the Kremlin, and they are only playing the role of the alibi:
Iran and the Afghan Taliban Teaming Up Against ISIS
The Iranians and Taliban used to be deadly enemies. But they’re finding common cause against the threat of Islamic State followers in Afghanistan.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/06/17/iran-and-the-afghan-taliban-teaming-up-against-isis.html
"....Afghan leader begs Putin to send gunships to fight Taliban insurgents in clear signal of worsening security in the war-torn country
Putin asked by Afghan government to help country fight the Taliban
President Ghani appealed to the Kremlin for help after recent violence
Afghan President asked for artillery, small arms and helicopters
Russian officials have said they are 'willing to help'
By Larisa Brown Defence Correspondent For The Daily Mail
Published: 00:54 GMT, 27 October 2015 | Updated: 07:32 GMT, 27 October 2015
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3290914/Afghan-leader-begs-Putin-send-gunships-fight-Taliban-insurgents-clear-signal-worsening-security-war-torn-country.html#ixzz3uEFS0vyo
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3290914/Afghan-leader-begs-Putin-send-gunships-fight-Taliban-insurgents-clear-signal-worsening-security-war-torn-country.html
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 2nd Edited 13 December 2015
Even more clear the role of RussIsrael in to transform Turkey in the cardboard Antichrist for the coreography of the Catho-Orthodox unification:
Close relation between Hizb ut-Tahrir, Ergenekon exposed
July 28, 2009, Tuesday/ 18:47:00/ MUTLU ÖZAY
http://www.todayszaman.com/national_close-relation-between-hizb-ut-tahrir-ergenekon-exposed_182248.html
A recent investigation by the counterterrorism unit of the İstanbul Police Department has revealed that suspected members of an outlawed fundamentalist organization, Hizb ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation), had close contacts with a number of individuals who are currently standing trial in a case against the Ergenekon terrorist organization, which is accused of planning a military coup against the government.On Friday Turkish police detained nearly 200 suspected members of Hizb ut-Tahrir in simultaneous raids in 23 provinces across the country. An investigation has revealed that Uğur K. and İsmail G., two of those detained, had in the past several phone conversations with a number of Ergenekon suspects, including Maj. Fikret Emek.
Ergenekon is known to have close links to a number of outlawed groups, including the Turkish branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir. The close ties between Hizb ut-Tahrir and Ergenekon were exposed in the second Ergenekon indictment. Dozens of Ergenekon suspects are currently standing trial, including retired and active military personnel, businessmen and journalists.
According to the Ergenekon indictment, Ergenekon leaders used terrorist organizations in Turkey from all backgrounds, worldviews and political ideologies for their ultimate aim to create chaos in the country, which they hoped would make it easier to realize their ultimate goal of triggering a military intervention.
The evidence suggests that the group had links to the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the extreme-left Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C), the fundamentalist organization Hizbullah, the ultranationalist Turkish Revenge Brigade (TİT), the Turkish Workers' and Peasants' Liberation Army (TİKKO), the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP) and Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Friday's detentions also revealed that the fundamentalist group was planning to hold an international conference on the Islamic caliphate on June 26. A number of documents confiscated during police raids also indicated the preparations for such a conference.
Hizb ut-Tahrir is an extremist group seeking to reinstate the Islamic caliphate.
A past raid at the house of Kemal Aydın and Neriman Aydın, two Ergenekon suspects, had revealed the terrorist organization's close ties with Hizb ut-Tahrir. Both suspects are accused of being in charge of Ergenekon's command centers or Karargah houses, where military cadets allegedly teach the ideology of Ergenekon to other cadets.
Hizb ut-Tahrir was founded in 1953 in Jerusalem by Taqiuddin al-Nabhani, an Islamic scholar. Since then the organization has spread to more than 40 countries and by one estimate has around 1 million members. The group has been undergoing restructuring for some time, which compelled police to closely monitor its suspected members. The Turkish branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir is mainly based in İstanbul's Bahçelievler district.
Police said the group was planning to stage a large attack in İstanbul on the anniversary of the abolishment of the caliphate. The Ottoman caliphate was abolished by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the modern Republic of Turkey, on March 3, 1924, following the founding of a secular state.
Hizb ut-Tahrir received orders from Israel
İstanbul police also said the leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir's Turkish branch, Cemalettin B., started to lead his group from Israel, where he settled after being released from prison in Turkey. Cemalettin B. was sending e-mails to his followers from his Israeli home and preparing his group for attacks in Turkey.
Turkish police are now focusing on the relations between the group's leader and Israel. Cemalettin B. has not been subjected to police follow-up or legal action in Israel since he settled there.
During Friday's raids police seized two handguns, a Kalashnikov, four rifles, more than 240 bullets, documents relating to the suspects to Hizb ut-Tahrir and around 550 T-shirts which bore the words “Single State Caliphate.”[end of article].
Notice on how the revelation of an alleged Israeli involvement in the terrorism within Turkey fits with the half confession of general Giora:
"....About 11 years ago, the head of a Russian research institute arrived in Israel. In his meeting with me as head of the National Security Council and other Israeli officials, he claimed that the biggest danger to world peace was the existence of ISIS. True, the name "ISIS" was not mentioned, but the phenomenon represented by ISIS was predicted in amazing accuracy. "
Sunday, December 6, 2015
THE KREMLIN "PREDICTED" 11 YEARS AGO BOTH ISIS & CALIPHATE. Perhaps "engineered"?
http://control-avles-blogs.blogspot.it/2015/12/the-kremlin-predicted-11-years-ago-both.html
Annexation of Israel by Russia:
Saturday, November 14, 2015
Pope Francis SJ, Supreme Primate of The Holy Roman Empire [ + EJP, another crony of Putin?]
http://control-avles-blogs.blogspot.it/2015/11/pope-francis-sj-supreme-primate-of-holy.html
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 1st Edited 13 December 2015
[edited]
@Servoxa
Do you know who started this Sharia/Khalifa concept? Ever heard the Prophet and his companion ever set their goal to established Islamic state? Now let us dig the innovators who started this deviant concept. in 1930 Mr. Taqyuddin Al Nabahani a Sufi declared that he would establish Sharia/Islamic state in 13 years but he failed. Do you know that Taqiuddin was a Baath party member? He was bork in Palestine and a follower of the communist ideology. Today we have "Hezbuttahrir" Al-Qaeda, Islamic Jihad in Egypt inspired by Sayeed Qutb etc are all following the same ideology of Taqyuddin. The Sufi existed before the advent of Islam and sneaked in to Islam in order to destroy it from within. The people in the ISIL/Al-Qaeda do not follow the sunnah of the prophet. Killing civilian and calling anyone Kafir whoever disagree with them. These are the Dogs of the hell fire. Less..
See video & comments at page:
Russian speaking ISIS fighter in Deir ez-Zur
Part of channel(s): Syria (current event)
ISIS fighter says that Jabhat an-Nusra is kafir, because it fights for democracy, not for Sharia. Also, he blames Jaysh Muhajirren wal-Ansar (another russian speaking group is Syria) for lie against ISIS.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=8ee_1402133660&comments=1
--------------[Edited - link]
As the case of the Islamic State pouring his spiritual agenda in the Western world involving also Christians who don't bow down to the Pope of Rome and to his call for an "united front of Christians against Islamic terrorism" (from which descends a culpability association for "religious intransigence" directed against Christians refusing to acknowledge the Catholic church as "salvation"), check also this important source of information, the blog The Syrian Intifada, about Fedayeen Saddam intended as not only religious but also military and intelligence parents of today's ISIS, especially appreciating their secular roots:
A Case Study of the Islamic State as the Saddam Regime’s Afterlife: The Fedayeen Saddam--------------[end of editing]
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on August 31, 2015
https://kyleorton1991.wordpress.com/2015/08/31/a-case-study-of-the-islamic-state-as-the-saddam-regimes-afterlife-the-fedayeen-saddam/
The video is of 2014. Notice the locality of Deir ez-Zour, known already from a recent post of Raqqa is being slaughtered silently ....:
"... On the other hand, ISIS has maintained contacts and some relations with the Ministry of the Syrian regime of oil, by keeping some of the staff who are still linked directly to the ministry mentioned, for example, he has kept the on the gas production of Deir ez-Zor and Homs fields and ensure the delivery of it to regime areas against the committed of these staff and some intermediaries to keep give money remittances continuously to safes of ISIS,...."...:
Bombing the oil sources of ISIS is not giving its results
Posted by: Sarmad Al Jilane in Raqqa news 30/11/2015 0 7,477 Views
http://www.raqqa-sl.com/en/?p=1568
and reported in my:
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
KREMLIN TO CONCEAL HIS CONTROL OVER ISIS BEHIND THE 'DEFENESTRATION' OF ERDOGAN
http://control-avles-blogs.blogspot.it/2015/12/predictive-programmin-in-name-of.html
Notice on how the deceptions of the Kremlin involved also the same locality of Deir ez-Zor:
.....above comment under my:avlesDecember 8, 2015 at 6:10 PM
From the article about Russian accuses:
"This satellite image was taken in the east of Syrian city Deir ez-Zor city. According to Russia, 390 oil tankers are seen in this image. But an explanation about the date of the image was not given. It is vague what Antonov wants to prove with this photo. Deir ez-Zor is currently partly in hands of the Assad regime in Syria and partly in Daesh's control."
" Russia's Foreign Ministry voiced concern Tuesday about the reported bombing of a Syrian army camp, without addressing a U.S. claim that Russia was responsible for the incident.
The Syrian government blamed aircraft from a U.S.-led coalition for targeting the army camp in the eastern city of DEIR EL-ZOUR on Sunday night, killing three Syrian soldiers and wounding 13. "
MOSCOW — Dec 8, 2015, 11:46 AM ET
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/russia-concerned-bombing-syrian-army-camp-35643496
ReplyDelete
Sunday, December 6, 2015
"ISIS tankers": Kremlin's Provokatsiya definitively exposed [2 articles]
http://control-avles-blogs.blogspot.it/2015/12/isis-tankers-kremlins-provokatsiya.html
See how ISIS fully confirm the Kremlin as operational military mastermind of Islamic terrorism in the Middle East (being the Jesuit Order the spiritual one, well over the Kremlin to which it is devolved the management of the subordinate logistic and military levels):
"We needed to instill a Nazi-style hatred for the Jews throughout the Islamic world," Andropov told Pacepa, "and to turn this weapon of the emotions into a terrorist bloodbath against Israel and its main supporter, the United States. No one within the American/Zionist sphere of influence should any longer feel safe." [by Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa, head of the DIE, the KGB's little sister in communist Romania]
............
A July 1997 article by Associated Press writer Anthony Shadid provides one measure of the impact of this Soviet KGB (and ongoing Russian FSB) strategy. The AP story, "Marxism Makes Way for Islam," profiles a number of influential Marxist-Muslim intellectuals. It begins with the observation that "on the bookshelf of Adel Hussein sits an odd collection for one of Egypt's leading Islamic thinkers." Titles like Socialist Integration, On Communism, and Planning in the U.S.S.R. by leading Marxists, notes Mr. Shadid, "speak more of class struggle than the hand of God." [both excerpts taken from The Real Terror Paymasters - Written by William F. Jasper and quoted in the below post:]
In: Monday, November 16, 2015
The Soviet Roots of Al Qaeda and ISIS [Viktor Bout, Putin's supplier of weapons for International Islamic Terrorism]
http://control-avles-blogs.blogspot.it/2015/11/the-soviet-roots-of-al-qaeda-and-isis.html
See also an open confession - well dressed up with an opportune veil of deceptive terminology - by an Israeli Intel functionary, confirming also that Israel, the "damsel of distress" has to be "saved" by the "White Russian Knight", allegedly not the today's Putin (too much spots on his political and spiritual figure) who, perhaps, is deemed to work out the dirtiest job (like Stalin & Hitler who later went purged from history), and when finished the task ordered to leave the clean stage for the incoming Jesuits' Czar:
Sunday, December 6, 2015
THE KREMLIN "PREDICTED" 11 YEARS AGO BOTH ISIS & CALIPHATE. Perhaps "engineered"?
http://control-avles-blogs.blogspot.it/2015/12/the-kremlin-predicted-11-years-ago-both.html
Bro, can you understand some words of this claimed ISIS fighter from Russia/Chechnya? see video ----> [i downloaded and saved it also]He has a strong accent and the wind makes it hard...
ReplyDeleteHe says first that some brothers are coming OR that he wants all muslim brothers to come (cant hear from wind). Then he says about the people in the trucks that they are europeans and (jokingly) that they are dangerous/kamikazes. Then at 3:10 he says seriously that he came to exalt the word of Allah. He then scolds other believers that they have been deceived like little children and that he doesnt know what they'll do later (probably when things start to get hot). Then the other guy comes and he starts translating for him "for those who dont understand Chechen" (must be because he knows there are many people from the republics - tajiks, uzbeks, kazakhs, etc who dont know chechen) : " why are some saying that there is no persecution/struggle here. We are fighting for the law of Allah and the ones against us against the law of Allah. Isn't that persecution? You are saying we muslims are killing muslims? But Jabhat al nusra are apostates, they want democracy. Anyone who loves secular law is againsт the law of Allah..." He then blames the other groups (AL nusrta and Jaysh,. . ) that they blabber lies (i think) and only fight and gain land to give the land to other unbelievers.
many thanks bro, so the video in itself is not important, rather it could be used for domestic propaganda in Russia. The comments are interesting.
DeleteIslamic Caliphate & Communist ideology:
ReplyDeleteClose relation between Hizb ut-Tahrir, Ergenekon exposed
July 28, 2009, Tuesday/ 18:47:00/ MUTLU ÖZAY
http://www.todayszaman.com/national_close-relation-between-hizb-ut-tahrir-ergenekon-exposed_182248.html
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/73206/islam-communism-today-geert-wilders
DeleteI added a third upgrade, about the 1900s and suspicions about Russian & Shia manipulation of Sunni alreadky
DeleteYes, we already heard about that, the role of the new threat. When Islam will be off as threat, enter on the stage: the Alien Invasion.
Delete""A specter is haunting Europe - the specter of communism." Today, another specter is haunting Europe. It is the specter of Islam. This danger, too, is political. Islam is not merely a religion, as many people seem to think: Islam is mainly a political ideology."
DeleteGeert Wilders, agent of deception.
Good stuff you have dug up.(al-Afghānī)
DeleteAdded two links of today's event which are confirming the Al Afghani work is still alive and kicking - from:
Delete"Al-Afghani worked as a good agent of both Russian as well Shia imperialism, trying to to divert the enmity of Sunni towards Shia, re-directing it against the Western world, "........etc.
Pretty much what the modern terrorist caliphate promoting iran-linked groups are doing (as per that guy (on saudi payroll?) Zakah)
DeleteI just realized ....ISIS is both the catalyst and the anti-catalist of the true caliphate. As long as it exists the sectarian violence of Syria will prevent a unification. But at the same time shia and sunni can unite in the end to eat up syria and iraq (according to shoebat), that is turkey and iran splitting the booty.
Deletehttp://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/russia-israel-and-syria-inconvenient-truth-1997898988
ReplyDeleteRussia, Israel and Syria: An inconvenient truth
Delete#SyriaWar
Sharif Nashashibi
Tuesday 8 December 2015 10:50 UTC
663 470googleplus10 2296
Topics:
SyriaWar
Tags: Putin, Netanyahu, Assad, HezbollahShow comments
The 'axis of resistance' is becoming ever-more reliant on Russia, a country whose relations with Israel are going from strength to strength
Throughout the Syrian conflict, the regime and its supporters have tried to portray opposition to the revolution as synonymous with opposition to Israel. The aims of this propaganda campaign are to attract support, undermine the uprising, and stymie widespread revulsion in the region at the Syrian regime's brutality and the direct military support it is receiving from its foreign allies (primarily Iran, Russia, and Lebanon's Hezbollah).
Such efforts suffered a blow when Hamas - the Palestinian component of the so-called "axis of resistance," comprising Hezbollah, Damascus and Tehran - publicly endorsed the revolution, saluting "the heroic people of Syria who are striving for freedom, democracy and reform".
Russia's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has further undermined his camp's anti-Israel credentials. Moscow's direct military involvement in Syria - setting up bases, sending troops and carrying out air strikes - is credited with saving a regime that by this summer seemed near collapse. It was initially portrayed by Assad supporters and Israelis alike as a potential threat to Israel's ambitions and room for manoeuvre in Syria.
DeleteHowever, Russia's direct involvement has actually served to highlight its increasingly close ties with Israel. This robust relationship is downplayed by Israel so as not to antagonise the US, by Russia so as not to alienate Damascus and Tehran, and completely ignored by the "axis of resistance" - now minus Hamas - so as to avoid embarrassment.
The alliance claims to be the champion of the Palestinian cause (while the Assad regime starves and bombs Palestinian refugees in Yarmouk). However, the alliance's key ally Moscow is also a key ally of the very country that the axis is supposed to be resisting (although this role of resistance has long been reduced to mere lip service as the alliance busily kills Syrians instead).
While Israel was slaughtering Palestinian civilians in Gaza last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said: "I support the struggle of Israel as it attempts to protect its citizens." Months earlier, Israel - like Iran, Lebanon and Syria - refused to condemn Russia's annexation of Crimea.
At a time of regional and international expressions of solidarity with Gaza against Israel's onslaught, Assad took a swipe at Hamas - which governs the territory - speaking of "amateurs who wear the mask of resistance according to their interests in order to improve their image or to consecrate their authority".
This from someone who - like Iran - has never directly resisted Israel, even against the occupation of Syrian territory and repeated violations of Syrian sovereignty (it seems Palestinian and Lebanese lives are more expendable in the service of resistance).
aign, which Netanyahu has not criticised (in October, a confidant of his told Reuters that "a Russian partnership with Iran and Hezbollah to save Assad is not necessarily bad for us").
DeleteImmediately after his meeting with Putin, Netanyahu said Moscow had given him assurances that it would not stand in the way of Israeli strikes on Syrian arms transfers to Hezbollah - something Putin did not deny.
Indeed, despite Russia deploying its most advanced air-defence systems to the Syrian conflict, Israel last week carried out several raids north of Damascus unhindered, reportedly targeting a four-truck regime convoy loaded with ballistic missiles. So much for Assad supporters' hope that Moscow would clip Israeli wings in Syria.
Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon summed up the situation between his country and Russia vis-a-vis Syria as: "We don't interfere with them, and they don't interfere with us." However, it goes much further than simply staying out of each other's way.
Amos Gilad, director of the political-security division in Israel's Defence Ministry, last month highlighted the "excellent security coordination" that "started right after the meeting between Netanyahu and Putin," which took place days before the launch of the Russian air campaign.
A hotline was set up, and joint air exercises have been carried out. After further talks with Putin at the end of November, Netanyahu announced increased military coordination regarding air strikes in Syria.
Turkey in the triangle
DeleteBoth Moscow and Israel have sought to make the latter a beneficiary of the spat over Turkey's downing of a Russian warplane. Putin has cited Israel as an alternative to Turkish imports, and Israel has expressed its willingness to fill the gap. It is also investing an extra $2.6 million in a campaign to attract Russian tourists following restrictions on their travel to Turkey and Egypt, which together accounted for a third of all Russian tourists last year.
In a clear and public display of political point-scoring following Turkey's downing of the warplane, Israeli officials said Russian fighter jets at times enter Israeli air space, but such incidents are resolved via communication.
Israel has enjoyed close relations with Russia under Putin. It was the first country he visited after his re-election in 2012, and as Haaretz correspondent Anshel Pfeffer points out: "Throughout his rule, he has made sure each year to meet with Israeli leaders." As of 2014, Russia is Israel's largest supplier of crude oil.
However, the seeds of those close ties were sown with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, which led to an influx of Jews from former Soviet states to Israel. They now comprise more than a million of Israel's 8.2 million citizens - the third-largest number of Russian speakers outside the former Soviet states, and the highest as a proportion of the total population.
Moscow has the largest Israeli expatriate community in the world, almost all of them native Russian speakers. The language is now the third most widely spoken in Israel after Hebrew and Arabic.
As such, close bilateral ties should come as little surprise. However, it is at best ignorant, and at worst deceitful, for the pro-Assad camp to portray Russia's deeper involvement in Syria as an obstacle to Israel's power and ambitions.
The "axis of resistance" is becoming ever-more reliant on a country whose relations with Israel are going from strength to strength - an inconvenient truth to which the alliance and its supporters continue to turn a blind eye.
- Sharif Nashashibi is an award-winning journalist and analyst on Arab affairs. He is a regular contributor to Al Arabiya News, Al Jazeera English, The National, and The Middle East magazine. In 2008, he received an award from the International Media Council "for both facilitating and producing consistently balanced reporting" on the Middle East.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
Photo: An artist stands next to effigies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin, during preparations for the Jewish festivities of Purim, on 10 February, 2014 in the Israeli central town of Jaljulia (AFP).
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/13/middleeast/syria-yarmouk-isis-shubert/'
ReplyDelete