Thomas Wictor

“Necessity is the mother of invention.” A truer epigram was never coined. While the American Nero fiddles, the Middle East is gearing up to solving its problems. There will be no World War III; instead, the Sunni Arabs and Israelis will stabilize the region by force. Impotent, dumb, pompous, vain Secretaries of State with faces made of mashed potatoes will be ignored.

Our press is so moribund that it barely reported that an Egyptian court had declared Hamas a terrorist organization. In response, Adnan Abu Amer—dean of the Faculty of Arts and head of the Press and Information Section of Al Ummah University Open Education—has written the most delusional opinion piece I’ve ever read.

Hamas reacts to potential Egyptian attack

Hamas never imagined that it would be classified as a terrorist movement by an Arab country — a classification that has dangerous political, media and perhaps military repercussions.

However, Egypt’s Court of Urgent Matters declared Hamas a terrorist organization on Feb. 28 against the backdrop of the proven movement’s implication in armed operations that claimed the lives of Egyptian officers and soldiers in Sinai Peninsula, after its members seeped through the tunnels into Egypt.

Why is this decision dangerous? Egypt is considered the only leeway for Gaza where Hamas is in control. Egypt’s classification of Hamas as a terrorist organization implies that all efforts are being made to cut off its arms supplies and funding by all means necessary. Moreover, whoever cooperates with Hamas is considered a criminal by law, according to a statement on March 4 by Egypt’s Minister of Justice Mahfouz Saber. The law stipulates seizing Hamas properties, arresting all its affiliated members and confiscating their funds and locations…

Hamas has started pulling diplomatic strings from behind the scenes with influential states in the region, such as Saudi Arabia, to pressure Egypt to take back its decision. Al-Monitor had previously quoted some of Hamas’ internal sources expressing optimism about Saudi Arabia’s new role under the reign of King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, hoping for a more balanced stance on the part of the kingdom.

Hamas is making regional calls to stop the Egyptian decision, but the problem is that its main allies in the region, notably Turkey and Qatar, have a bad and tense relationship with Egypt. Therefore, Hamas is mainly hanging its hopes on Saudi Arabia, which is the most influential player in Egypt.

Egypt’s decision against Hamas coincided with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s visit to Saudi Arabia on March 1…

Hamas has warned against expected repercussions on the ground with a possible military attack on the Gaza Strip, following Egyptian threats to attack Gaza on March 1, which were broadcast by the Egyptian media close to the regime’s security services…

Meanwhile, [Hamas spokesman Ismail] Radwan told Al-Monitor, “The Gaza Strip and Hamas will not take things lying down, although we don’t think the Egyptian army will get involved in massacres against Palestinians. Whoever is threatening Hamas should perhaps recall the bitter experience of the Israeli army in the face of [Izz ad-Din] al-Qassam Brigades.”

So much to unpack here.

As Amer admits, Hamas was proven to have been involved in terrorist attacks that killed Egyptian soldiers. What’s Egypt supposed to do? Hamas was banking on the shared hatred of Jews to keep the Egyptians from defending themselves, but Hamas miscalculated badly. Egypt has now created a one-kilometer-wide buffer zone where the Sinai Peninsula borders Gaza. All the houses in that zone were dynamited, and the residents told to hit the road. This is because most of the homes had entrances to smuggling tunnels.

Amer says that the Egyptian court decision came the day before Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi visited Saudi Arabia, but Hamas is confident that the Saudis will pressure Egypt into reversing itself. You know who Hamas’s patron was prior to Operation Protective Edge? Qatar. You know why the Qataris funded Hamas?

“For them, the war between Israel and Hamas is a proving ground to see how their investments in cyber systems have paid off,” [Aviad Dadon of Israeli cyber-security firm AdoreGroup] said. Qatar is very worried that one of its Gulf rivals — specifically Saudi Arabia — will use technology to attack it, and Qatar spends a great deal of money each year on shoring up its cyber-technology.

Politics is behind Qatar’s willingness to pay for Hamas’ cyber-system. The Saudis believe that Qatar is behind efforts to unseat the Saudi royal family — using social media and the Al-Jazeera satellite channel — and Riyadh earlier this year recalled its ambassador to Doha, after he refused to pledge that it would “not interfere in others’ internal affairs,” according to Eli Aviad, who formerly headed Israel’s Economic Liaison office in Qatar. Speaking on Israel Radio, Aviad said that “Israel and Hamas are a ‘playground’ for Qatar. Qatar already spends billions each year on cyber-security, and in recent years that spending has gone up substantially.” While they are primarily interested in cyber self-defense, Aviad said, they are also interested in assisting their Muslim Brotherhood allies — and hence their willingness to fund the Hamas terror program. Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood.

So Hamas thinks the Saudis will say, “Oh, absolutely! We’ll get those bad Egyptians off your back. Anything for you, O Arab brothers!”

After Operation Protective Edge, Hamas returned to its former sponsor: Iran. You know, the people racing hell for leather to get nuclear weapons so that they can dominate the region.

Hamas believes that Saudi Arabia will not only overlook Qatari patronage but will also discreetly ignore the terrorists’ connection to the universally destructive nation of Iran. As for the boasting that Israel had a “bitter experience” courtesy of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades—on which planet? The terrorist rockets, tunnels, and frogmen all accomplished exactly nothing. It’s shocking how insane Hamas and its supporters are.

And here’s how wrong they are.

While Egypt has been reluctant to admit any involvement in the airstrikes [on the Islamic State], there are reports that its newly formed Rapid Intervention Force, a group of some 10,000 commandos with airborne capability dedicated to counter-terrorism operations, has been involved in intelligence collecting operations in eastern Libya focused on Ansar al-Shari’a activities.

Did you know that Egypt has a Rapid Intervention Force of 10,000 commandos? I didn’t. But here they are.

The Iranians confirm their existence.

According to the report, Sisi and [Egyptian Central Command head Major General Tawfik] Abdel-Samei have handpicked 10,000 Egyptian commando fighters from the various army units to form a special airborne force.

The special airborne force, equipped with air transport and helicopters, is capable of reaching all parts of Egypt and its operations can be accompanied with tanks, self-propelled artillery and counter-terror measures.

Meanwhile, Sisi has reportedly been receiving colossal support from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates since he seized power last year, including from former Saudi spymaster, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid al Maktoum.

Read that last sentence again. “Sisi has reportedly been receiving colossal support from Saudi Arabia[.]”

Guess what al-Sisi is doing now?

Egypt looks to form all-Arab ‘rapid intervention’ force

Cairo’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry has announced that his country is looking to work on an Arab front to fight against [the Islamic State]…

Sensing that the danger is getting closer, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain also announced they will support any Arab initiative in the region.

On Tuesday, the Arab League welcomed the new trend with media speaker Morad Fathy saying, “The Arab League’s Secretary General Nabil Elaraby agrees to all the procedures and he has sent letters to all Arab foreign ministers calling for collective action through a joint Arab force to fight terrorism.”

Hey, look at that! Saudi Arabia’s on board! The Arab League will fight the Islamic State, while Hamas allows it to operate in Gaza, terrorizing Palestinians.

This is why rigidity is so deadly. Major change can happen at lightning speed. Take a good look at the photo below. My gut tells me that despite all the fiddling and mashed-potato faces, we won’t be seeing such images for very much longer.