Editor’s note: This post originally appeared on David’s Tent, a ministry of Israeli believers Avner and Rachel Boskey. The Boskey’s have ministered at Tabernacle of David, and we consider them trustworthy and Biblically sound.
“The longer a blind man lives, the more he sees,” said Yiddish author Sholem Aleichem. Grandiose plans can lead to folly, and the blindness of politicians and kings may lead to disaster.
The recent peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) surprised the world’s media. Only the third country to enter into a political pact with the Jewish state, UAE is the first which has no contiguous borders with Israel. Two other countries – Egypt (1979) and Jordan (1994) – have U.S.-brokered peace deals with Israel, but those treaties are tenuous, dependent on the political and social stability of both Islamic countries. Egypt’s Camp David accords and Jordan’s Wadi Araba Treaty are labeled by political scientists as classic examples of what is ‘cold peace.’
Here is a pertinent example of this ‘tenuous cold peace’: When Muslim Brotherhood Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi came to power in 2012, Israel rapidly discovered that its ally was transforming into a jihadi Frankenstein’s monster. The same movement that birthed 9/11 and Osama bin Laden was now in charge next door. So peace treaties in the Middle East between Israel and her enemies are in the end only documents written on paper. Their staying power hangs on a very fragile balance of factors. What are the factors involved in this latest peace agreement?
Rule Britannia!
“Britannia rules the waves” – words from the British Navy’s famous patriotic song reflect her imperialist strategies in the 1700’s, when it set its lion’s paw on a handful of small sheikdoms in Northern Arabia bordering the Arabian Gulf. England’s ‘Divide and Rule’ policy homed in on the smallest possible political entities on the Gulf Coast and made a truce with each one in 1820. The original name for the British Protectorate established in that strip of Gulf territory (which included present-day Oman as well) was ‘Trucial Oman’ (Rosemarie Said Zahlan, The Origin of the United Arab Emirates, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1978). Rulers were set on thrones in each emirate: from the Bani Yas tribe – the Nahyan family in Abu Dhabi, and the Maktoum family in Dubai; and from the Qawasim tribe, the rulers of Sharjah and Ra’as al-Khaimah (Ono Motohiro, Reconsideration of the Meanings of the Tribal Ties in the United Arab Emirates: Abu Dhabi Emirate in Early ʼ90s; Kyoto Bulletin of Islamic Area Studies, 4-1&2; March 2011). The goal was to establish British centers of influence and control in an impoverished region whose main exports up to that time were pearling, fishing and date farming. The discovery of petroleum in Bahrain (1932) led to exporting abilities in Qatar (1949), Kuwait (1953) and Abu Dhabi (1962). Britain had literally ‘struck oil’ in its Gulf colonies.
In the 1960’s, in an effort to solidify UK access to intelligence, petroleum and political clout, the British secret service (SAS/MI6) replaced Abu Dhabi’s then Sheik Shakhbut bin Sultan Al Nahyan with his brother Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. In 1970 Timothy Landon (SAS) oversaw a bloodless coup replacing Sultan Said bin Taimur with his son Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said. The British GCHQ and later the NSA established sigint listening posts in the Gulf States. The UAE was now a strategically significant hub for geopolitics in general, and for Middle East events in particular.
Another example of ‘strange bedfellows’ is the neighboring Gulf State of Qatar, where the United States Central Command (USCENTCOM) has a forward HQ since 2002, now situated at Al Udeid Air Base. At the same time as serving the Americans, Qatar is the chief bankroller of much of the Middle East’s anti-American terror groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood and its offshoot Hamas, Al-Qaeda, Syrian Jabhat Al-Nusra and ISIS/Da’esh, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, extremist groups in Iraq and in Libya. U.S. official policy continues, ostrich-like, to hide its head in the sand about these matters.
Anti-Jewish roots
The Emirate of Abu Dhabi is the capitol of the UAE. The previous Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (died in 2004) held aggressively anti-Israel views. He founded the Zayed Center for Coordination and Follow-Up (1999), a ritzy think-tank for the Arab League. The list of speakers included political glitterati like U.S. former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, former Vice-President Al Gore, former Secretary of State James Baker, and former French President Jacques Chirac. Simultaneously the Center was a virulent platform for the dissemination of anti-American, anti-Semitic and extreme anti-Israel views. Here is a partial list of speakers and lecture topics at the Center:
- Muhammad Khalifa Al Murar, then Executive Director of the Zayed Centre, denied the Holocaust, describing Jews as “enemies of all nations” and “cheaters whose greed knows no bounds.”
- Dr. Umayma Al-Jalahma, discussed her article explaining how Jews use the blood of non-Jews for pastries for the Jewish holiday of Purim.
- PLO Ambassador Rami Tahboub, stated that Israel was trying to control the Palestinian population through lacing the water supply of Palestinian schools with “chemical drugs.”
- Michael Collins Piper, a Washington-based political writer and conspiracy theorist, claimed the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (an infamous anti-Semitic forgery created in the 19th century to vilify Jews) are “not a theory but a real fact,” that Israel is developing an ethnic bomb that will kill only Arabs, and that the Mossad was responsible for the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Watergate scandal and the Monica Lewinsky affair.
In 2003 after Western protests, Sheikh Zayed himself shut down the Center, one year before he passed away in 2004.
This deep anti-Jewish heart attitude is wrapped around UAE’s spiritual roots. It has never been acknowledged, repented of or publicly forsaken. Investigative reporting stays far away from this subject, especially when peace deals are being trotted out. But anti-Semitism in the UAE is something that should trigger intercession in the hearts of those who love the Jewish people and their state.
Tribes with flags
“Tribes With Flags” is a phrase attributed to Egyptian diplomat Tahseen Bashir: “Egypt is the only nation-state in the Arab world. All the rest – forgive me – are just tribes with flags.” Bashir’s pride in his country Egypt shines through, though it is worth remembering that the Bible describes Egypt as a Hamitic country and not as a Semitic or Arab one (Psalm 78:12, 43, 51; 105:23, 27; 106:21-22).
The history of the UAE’s inhabitants is living proof of this ‘tribes with flags’ proverb. UAE has a total population of 9,890,402, of which only 11.6% are Emiratis. The majority of the working population are expatriates – South Asian 59.4% (Indian 38.2%, Bangladeshi 9.5%, Pakistani 9.4%, other 2.3%), Egyptian 10.2%, Philippine 6.1%, and other backgrounds12.8%.
Today’s Arab Emiratis come from an original mix of 44 migrating tribes (today 67 in number) who moved in successive waves of population movement from Yemen and southern Nejd [Al Yamamah and Riyadh regions in modern Saudi Arabia] into Oman and what is today called UAE. The predominant tribe in modern UAE is Banu Yas, an Arab but non-Abrahamic tribe whose Qaḥṭāni forefather was Elhaf bin Quda’a. Since many people assume that all Muslims (or all Arabs, or all Bedouin) are descended from Ishmael, a clarification of this matter is in order.
Scholars of Arab genealogy recognize that the majority of the Arab peoples predate Ishmael, and that those descended from Ishmael are a minority. Arabs are usually divided into two groups:
- al-‘arab al-bâ‘ida, ‘the Extinct Arabs’ – ancient Arab tribes of prehistory
- al-‘arab i bâqiya, ‘the Surviving Arabs’ – the Arabs who continued to dwell in the larger Arabian peninsula
These ‘Surviving Arabs’ are furthered divided into two groups – those whose historical origins traditionally begin with Shem, and those whose appearance traditionally begins with Ishmael:
Al-‘arab al-‘āriba – ‘the Arab Arabs’/‘pure Arabs’ from Yemen, traditionally descended from Ya‘rub bin Qahtan, are called the Qaḥṭāni (or ‘Yamānī’) group
A popular Arab newspaper brings added insight that “the UAE wants to build a concrete axis against Turkey and Qatar” – both are major bankrollers of the Muslim Brotherhood and jihadi terror. Turkey, Qatar and Iran are conspiring together against UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt, Cyprus and pro-Western Libyan forces, using military proxies and threatening international shipping lanes and commercial activities.
From the geo-strategic angle, the United Arab Emirates have no common border with Israel. The native population of that country (apart from the 88% who are short-term workers) consists of desert Bedouin who migrated to that area of the Gulf Coast over the past millennium to engage in pearling, fishing and date farming. They are relative newcomers to the region now called the UAE. Why should they have been given a decisive say in determining Israel’s borders, and in causing Israel to step back from embracing the Land that YHVH promised to the sons and daughters of Jacob through the real ‘Abraham Accord’ – the Abrahamic covenant?
YHVH said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward. For all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered. Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you” (Genesis 13:14-17)
And He said to him, “I am YHVH who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.” It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. On that day YHVH made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite” (Genesis 15:7, 17-21)
Some ambitious politicians (to paraphrase the Eagles’ lyrics) are “trying to change this Middle Eastern water into wine” – trying to strengthen temporary military and intelligence connections between the Gulf States and Israel, thereby blocking the expansionist jihad of Iran, Turkey and Qatar. But at the same time these politicians are brushing aside God’s burning promises to the Jewish people; they are ignoring His sober threats against anyone who would lend a hand to dividing up the Promised Land.
There is an old Yiddish tale about an old beggar trudging along the country road with a heavy pack on his shoulders. A merchant came by with a wagonload of produce bound for the county market. He saw the old beggar, felt sorry for him and invited him to get into the wagon. After a few minutes of traveling together in silence, the merchant saw that the beggar was sitting quietly with the pack still on his shoulders. “Why don’t you put the pack down?” he exclaimed in surprise. The old beggar replied, “May the Highly Exalted One bless you! It’s enough that you’re carrying me! Do I have to burden you with my pack besides?”
When you offer a ride to the Jewish people, you need to be also ready to help them carry their ‘backpack’ – their covenantal promises. Israel has been carrying the blessed ‘backpack’ of these gifts and calling (one of these gifts is the Land of Israel; see Romans 9:1-5; 11:28-29) for millennia across the face of this planet. But be careful: the burden of the Land must be correctly carried! If not, the stone of Jerusalem (see Zechariah 12:2-3) can cause a painful hernia and bring damaging pain to any nation who picks up this burden carelessly.
In Deuteronomy 32:8-10 YHVH declares that He alone establishes the borders of all nations, and His decisions are based on His priority of heart for Israel. The complete opposite of this divine principle occurs when the nations of the world attempt to define Israel’s borders according to their own wisdom. And that is exactly what the ‘Abraham Accords’ are attempting to do. The Bible makes this point crystal clear: God is not at all pleased. Psalm 2 reveals His reactions and His coming responses: He laughs. He scoffs. He speaks to the nations in His anger and terrifies them in His fury. He will break them with a rod of iron and shatter them like earthenware (Psalm 2:4-9). We need to get ready for serious days ahead.
- Pray for divine Scripture-based understanding to be imparted to the leaders of this ‘peace process’
- Pray for Jewish people and believers everywhere to get a divine download about God’s perspectives regarding the Land and the international attempts to divide it
- Pray for the raising up of the Ezekiel 37 prophetic army among the Jewish people
Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.
In Messiah Yeshua,
Avner Boskey
BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA
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