Micah Halpern: Enemy of my enemy

Posted

I’m Thinking

By Micah Halpern

Issue of July 17, 2009 / 25 Tammuz 5769

When the Sunday Times of London reported that Israel has secured permission from Saudi Arabia to fly over Saudi airspace if and when it was necessary to attack Iran, the office of the Israeli Prime Minister denied the agreement. So did the Saudis.

While these heads of state may be attempting to keep the plan a secret, it is certainly no surprise. People who follow the goings on in the Middle East have been watching this plan unfold for a long time — even before the Obama administration became a part of the Israel/Iran mix.

A year ago, serious and reliable rumors surfaced that Israeli fighter aircraft were on the ground in Saudi air-force bases, allowing Israeli pilots to familiarize themselves with the Saudi terrain. It is also rumored that during Israel’s operation against Hamas in Gaza, Egypt and Saudi Arabia received almost daily recaps on relevant issues and important decisions. The sequence of this Middle East version of the game “telephone” is hard to tie down, but the calls probably went from Tel Aviv to Cairo to Riyadh, with Egypt relaying information with the blessings, if not at the behest, of Israel.

Now, this report asserts that the chief of Israel’s Mossad, Meir Dagan, has come to a very clear agreement with Saudi leadership about flying over Saudi Arabia. I am not suggesting that Israel is about to embark on an aerial raid on Iran, but I have no doubt that plans are in the works and include all varieties of access and attack points.

The United States has made no secret of the fact that they are not giving a green light to Israel. Sarkozy of France refers to such plans as cataclysmic for the region. The reaction of the international community to what may very well be an inevitable act by Israel is significant not only diplomatically, but also practically and militarily.

If Israel uses Saudi airspace to attack Iran it does not need permission from the United States and does not need US flight codes. Israel would only need to fly south and quickly east into Saudi Arabia, across the Persian Gulf and into Iran. Permission for Israel to use Saudi air space alleviates potential pressure that the US could apply on Israel not to act against Iran.

The fact that the Saudis are willing to give Israel permission to use their air space is in itself a blow to Iran. It sends a message to Iran that neighboring nations are willing to step up and help Israel stop nuclear proliferation. It tells Iran that its neighbors, other Arab countries whom it considered allies, view Iran as a greater threat than they view Israel. It is a critical announcement to the region. And Iran has received the message even if Israel and the Saudis deny the assertion.

That message was compounded last week when Egypt permitted Israel to bring its Dolphin series nuclear sub through the Suez Canal. Iran cannot deny that the powers of the Middle East are uniting against it. Iran has never been a country to just wait and watch. We must monitor how Iran counters these moves.

Micah D. Halpern is a columnist and a social and political commentator. Read his latest book THUGS. He maintains The Micah Report www.micahhalpern.com.