Jordan, Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood

The looming crisis between Qatar and several Gulf states came as a shock to many. Before that, the Gulf Cooperation Council was viewed as a club of rich and stable Arab regimes. Nonetheless, Saudi Arabia is now leading a push to punish Qatar through isolation. This hsa generated much media attention and ‘expert’ focus by pundits of the Middle East. Still none of those seems to have hit the core of the subject: This crisis is deeper than what anyone guesses and it will have an impact on the entire region, including Israel.

To begin with, the main cause of the rift between Saudi Arabia and Qatar could be summed up in three words: The Muslim Brotherhood (MB). Saudis wants the MB gone, so does UAE and Egypt. Nonetheless, Qatar and Jordan are both pro-MB and have invested too heavily in the Islamist group to let it go easily.

Some may be perplexed by the claim that Jordan’s regime supports the MB. Jordan and Qatar both provide support for the MB. Jordan’s royal family, the Hashemites, have been in a full alliance with MB since the 1950s. The MB were the ones who supported the kingdom’s founder, Emir Abdallah, in annexing the West Bank. They also stood with the Hashemites in 1970 during their civil war with the PLO. This fact has been confirmed by Jordan’s king himself in a 2013 interview with The Atlantic magazine.

Further, Jordan’s regime’s alliance with the MB is deeper than generally realized.

In November 2012, Jordan witnessed the largest Arab Spring-style revolution. One million took to the street demanding that the king steps down. Despite overwhelming popular sentiment, the MB openly stood against the revolution and said: “We will never allow the king to fall.” While the MB is banned in most Arab countries, in Jordan, they are registered as a charity, a political organization, and a private business. While the king bans  secularists and liberals for a mere tweet, the MB owns its licensed satellite TV network and daily paper in which they consistently preach terrorism and death to America and the Jews.




In fact, the entire knife-intifada concept was launched by MB journalist Yasser Zaatreh who wrote an article demanding all Palestinian stab Jews and in one of Jordan’s major daily which is partially owned by the Jordanian government itself in June of 2015.

The Jordan monarchy’s marriage with the MB resulted in a polygamous marriage with Qatar’s regime. Qatar is the main financier of the MB group not only in Jordan but the world. Jordan’s MB members control Qatar’s owned Aljazeera, the General Manager, Yasser Abu Helalah, is a Jordanian MB member, a known Jordanian intelligence operative, and an outspoken loyalist to Jordan’s king.

Further, Jordan and Qatar have been very close in coordinating their stance on Syria as well as Israel. Both have worked through their intelligence agencies and media to sustain and expand the unrest in Syria with the concept that the more the unrest persists the more both can get away with sustaining and empowering their instrumental tool: The MB. They want the civil war to go one, and that is why when President Trump attacked Syria with Cruse missiles, both Jordan’s and Qatar’s media were against the hit.

As for Israel, both Jordan’s and Qatar’s royals have played both ends against the middle. They have incited the region’s regimes and public against Israel, then behind the scenes telling the Israeli leadership they are the only people they can talk to, and at times, even claiming they both control the situation in Syria. “Israel cannot afford to ignore us, we hold the strings” as one Jordanian stateman has said in secret.

Under Obama, these tactics worked successfully for Qatar and Jordan. Saudi Deputy Crown Prince, Mohammed Ben Salman, tried to convince Obama several times of the necessity to crack down on the MB and to designate it as a terror group. This only fell on Obama’s deaf ears.

But now, there is a new sheriff in town. From Day One President Trump was very clear in his stance on the MB and other terror groups stating, “We will wipe them from the face of the earth.”

I can confirm, from my Arab sources, that the Saudi-led move against Qatar came after talks with the US administration. Also, the move is not directed only towards Qatar, in fact, Jordan is on the US radar as the MB’s safe house. In fact, the MB’s HQ is only 4 miles away from the king’s palace.

Jordan’s regime has been trying to appease the Saudis in this fight, it downgraded its diplomatic representation with Qatar and closed Aljazeera’s office. This may fool some Western media, but not the Saudis. The king still won’t cut ties with Qatar and his very own intelligence officers are launching a relentless defamation camping through Aljazeera against Saudi Arabia and president Trump himself.

Both Qatar’s and Jordan’s state-controlled media are still claiming President Trump is on the verge of being impeached. Something Qatar’s Emir himself stated to his own official news agency, then claimed the agency was hacked and he never said those things. Google, on the other hand, confirmed Qatar’s News Agency was not hacked when it posted the Emir’s comments against both Trump and Saudi.

Further, a very well-connected Arab source confirmed to me that the US has already told Qatar: “Don’t expect any solutions before you drop the MB”.

Meanwhile, Qatar keeps hissing, fighting, and kicking. It cannot do this forever and it will have to give up the MB eventually. Once that happens, Jordan could face serious consequences, simply because “Jordan’s MB is a part of the Hashemite regime” as the king’s own Minister of Political Reform has said. Once the MB loses Qatar’s money and Aljazeera, the Jordanian regime itself will be further weakened and Jordan will be open to changes.

This crisis will have far-reaching outcomes and Jordan has already been influenced by it and will be the next place to watch for change if, or when, Qatar divorces the MB.

Arab States Are Taking Trump Very Seriously

As an Arab and a Muslim, I could authoritatively confirm Arab states are now taking the US very seriously. This was not the case at all under Obama’s administration. Nonetheless, some in the media think otherwise, an example of that was a recent article by an Israeli-American journalist, who claims America was now “the laughing stock” of Arab and Muslim states, suggesting President Trump was just following Obama’s policies.

Let’s examine facts on the ground, as they speak louder than journalists watching from afar.  

What could be the most pressing issue for Trump’s foreign policy, is the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. I reported months ago the administration had warned Hamas, PLO and their political partner, Jordan’s king, not to launch a third Intifada.  All three had been planning one.  It took a quick “warning” visit by the CIA’s director to the Palestinian Authority and Jordan, instantly, both stopped their calls for a third Intifada.

Further, a so-called reconciliation deal between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas was recently negotiated under Egyptian patronage, and American pressure. Some, claimed the Hamas terror group was receiving US endorsement and legitimization.  Little do they know that Hamas really handed Gaza to Egypt. 

That means America’s strong ally, President Sisi, is now Gaza’s caretaker. With him in position, Hamas can no longer conduct terror raids on Israel. In other words, the so-called reconciliation was a mere façade for this change for a de facto Egyptian takeover.

So, why did Hamas give in to Sisi? Our inside sources confirm the US Administration has authorized him to handle Hamas and even issued a threat: If Hamas begins another war with Israel; the US won’t stop Israel from going after Hamas to the end.

This is important; in 2014, Israel came close to annihilating Hamas but Obama stopped it. Trump won’t do that, to the contrary, he would bless Israel’s efforts. Hamas knows this, and many vocal journalists don’t.

If Hamas decides to rebel against Sisi, Israel would finish it off this time and the US won’t save Hamas.

Another allegation against President Trump is that he “had failed to protect the Kurds against the pro-Iran Iraqi government”. This could not be further from the truth.

The administration has been very supportive of the Kurds, and enabled their troops to establish themselves in huge areas in both Syria and Iraq which the US itself had liberated from ISIS. The US is wisely looking at gradual, de facto, Kurdish self-determination, through intelligence, military, and political commitments.

The US is against a premature Kurdish declaration of independence because it would be too risky to the Kurds themselves at the time, nonetheless, the US remains fully supportive of all the de facto mechanisms Kurdistan is executing. The sticking point appears to be in the “declaration” and not the right to self-determination, because a premature declaration destabilizes US plans that benefits the Kurds.  As the Iraqi state keeps failing – and this is not the US fault by any chance- it is only natural that a fully-functioning Kurdistan could become independent. Kurdistan is not there yet, but once it is, the US will be the most supportive.

Further, our intelligence sources confirm the US has already warned the Iraqi government against an attack on the Kurdish areas beyond Kirkuk.  And even pressured Iraq to use an unprecedented term: “the disputed areas with the Kurds”, now only Kirkuk is a “disputed area”, before that, Iraq’s government considered all of Kurdistan as a mere Iraqi governorate.  

A US Congressman, Duncan Hunter, is making a fuss about Iraqi troops using US tanks while waving Hezbollah flags. What he fails to understand is this: Iraq’s dependence on American arms puts the Iraqi military under the mercy of the US. The US could just stop spare parts supply to Iraq at any moment and those tanks would become junk.  This is why the US has just recently delivered more F16s to Iraq. Should Iraq bomb the Kurds with them, the US could stop spare parts supplies. An Iraqi source has confirmed to me: “Our spare parts supply is enough for our F16s operations for no more than two weeks, the Americans are very cheap with spare parts, they give us drop by drop”.  

In fact, the pro-Iran Iraqi government was so helpless that it had to “criminalize the waving of Israeli flags”. Meanwhile, the Kurds are still waving both the Israeli and Kurdish flags on their soil, more evidence Iraq has no power over Kurdistan. Nor has Iran.

On the other hand, Congressman Hunter began pushing for sales of lethal drones to Jordan’s king just weeks after a Jordanian airman executed three US Green Berets, and Jordan’s regime was officially and publicly defending the killer and blaming the American victims. Why is Hunter so two-faced? 

Meanwhile, many seem to swiftly overlook Trump’s biggest accomplishment: ISIS is almost gone! The very ISIS that had thrived under Obama’s nose

Without publicity and drama, and in his first month in the White House, President Trump deployed US special forces in cooperation with Egyptian and Kurdish troops to attack ISIS in Syria. ISIS has lost 90 percent of its area and thousands of fighters.

Also, Trump has deployed America’s military might to secure a ceasefire in Syria. Bloodshed has dropped to very low rates. No more epic massacres from either side. And while Russia is claiming victory, the US boots on the grounds are calling the shots, and the US has full control of Syria’s airspace.

Additionally, safe zones have been created and Syrian refugees are returning home, while the flow of those into Europe has dropped.

Why is this so avidly overlooked by the liberal and leftist media?

Trump’s war on ISIS did not stop with the military. The President took a trip to Saudi Arabia to meet Arab leaders and pressed Sunni states to cut all kinds of support to Islamist terror. Most of them welcomed the call, while others chose to keep supporting Islamists and are now paying for that.  For example, Qatar, is now under economic and political siege by most Arab countries, while Jordan’s king is isolated and shunned by most Arab states.

This could have never happened if Trump was not in office.

Even more, Trump has offered full support and cooperation to Saudi Arabia’s modernizing crown prince, Mohammed Bin Salman, who has allowed women to drive, as well as locked up all terror-inciters and radical preachers. Bin Salman is now advocating a 2030 vision for Saudi, where moderation and peace become the norm, with a window open for a just and lasting peace with Israel. As a result, most Arab states are now seeking regional peace with Israel. This is what the president’s peace envoy, Jason Greenblatt, has been silently and tirelessly working on, without the show off and noise.

Arab states are taking America very seriously now, they know there is a new, tough, decisive and strong sheriff in town. This is good for America, Israel and us, the Arab people too.

In the MidEast, America is great again!

Hamas Has Lost A Big Battle, But Not The War

While everyone in Israel and the Arab world was shocked with the sudden reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah, we have been aware of this being worked on since February. It was very expected by all insiders.  Nonetheless, journalists may sometimes build their analysis on what they see on the outside, and some second hand inside information they get, and therefore may end up with faulty conclusions.

In fact, we have seen some writers concluding that Hamas had “won”. Some went as far as suggesting that Hamas now has a freehand to fight Israel while Abbas gets the blame as Gaza’s ruler.  While these concerns may be justified when taking matters by their face value, realities on the ground maybe very different.

The first question everyone should ask is: why did Hamas hand Gaza to Abbas without him firing a shot? Didn’t Hamas take Gaza over by a bloody coup against the man in 2006?

The answer to that begins at the White House.  Our Arab sources confirmed to us that the Trump Administration made it clear, at the very beginning, that it was not going to tolerate any “nonsense” or “attacks on Israel” from either Hamas, Abbas or the Arab regimes supporting them, be those Qatar’s or Jordan’s. The presidential message was clear and reportedly conveyed by the head of the CIA himself: Any more provocation on Israel, a third Intifada for example, would bring severe punishment from the US to all of those involved.

The White House’s warnings were concurrent with direct cooperation with one of the very moderate regimes in our region, President Sisi’s. The Egyptian intelligence began communicating with Hamas early this year. Egypt convinced Hamas leaders that if they continue their pathway of doom, the US will not restrain Israel from destroying Hamas to fullest. In reality, and since 2008, each time Israel came close to annihilating Hamas, Obama openly stepped in to stop it and save Hamas at the last moment.  Operation Protective Edge was a good example of that; when an inside source in Gaza told me “most of Hamas tunnels have been destroyed”, and “Hamas won’t take one more month of this”, Obama’s administration suddenly stepped in and enforced a ceasefire.  Well, this will not happen under President Trump.

Also, this so-called reconciliation could have never happened was it not for pressure exerted on Hamas’ Arab supporters. Before neutralizing Hamas, the US administration made sure to cut its lifelines first. Qatar was put under political and economic siege by Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and a few other Arab countries. Qatar has been financing Hamas for more than a decade and has harbored its leaders.  

Neutralizing Qatar was the first step in castrating Hamas. This did not stop with Qatar though, Hamas leadership and control is actually in Jordan, not in either Gaza or Qatar; Hamas is  officially “The Muslim Brotherhood Palestine Chapter”, all of Hamas leaders fall under Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood.  

But who controls Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood?

The answer will shock many readers, but Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood is under the full control of Jordan’s king. By his own words, the words of his former Minister of Political Reform, and his former Deputy Prime Minister, “The Muslim Brotherhood is a part of the Hashemite regime”. This is a matter we have lavishly documented with evidence and our work o that is available for anyone to read and verify.

It is a fact that Jordan’s king has been using his influence over Hamas as a bargaining chip with both, the Israelis, and the Americans.  After Trump walked into the Oval Office, the king knew the administration would not tolerate nor forgive such extortion.  Our sources in Jordan, Cairo, DC and elsewhere confirm that both Abbas and Abdullah of Jordan have been warned that any stunts will result in them being personally held accountable.

With Jordan’s king and Qatar’s lines of support cut from Hamas, the US pressure was shifted to Abbas himself.  First, both Saudi Arabia and UAE had an alternative plan to save Gaza’s people and avoid any conflict, this was to introduce Abbas’ rival and archenemy, Mohammad Dahalan, as a leader of Gaza. Egypt was very supportive of this step and proposed it to Hamas as its only available bailout. Hamas agreed and its very own media began promoting the idea.  This is where Abbas felt he could end up losing the entire game.  A senior PLO member, whose late father was one of its founders, summed it up for us: “Abbas knew he was going to lose everything and be totally out of the game, therefore he approached the Israeli, the Egyptians, and Hamas, telling them: Why do you need Dahlan, I will do everything you want in Gaza”.

Nonetheless, according to the senior PLO source: “Abbas knew Hamas was not going to take him in easily, so he began pressuring it by blocking its public funds, pay for public servants in Gaza was frozen”, “He also refused to pay Gaza’s power bill, which has been causing painful outages to Gazans and a huge public backlash against Hamas”.  

All of this has resulted in Hamas giving in to Egypt and hand its entire executive powers in Gaza to Abbas. This by itself is not only a tactical defeat for Hamas, but also an ideological disaster. Hamas has always demonized Sisi, insulted him on its media, described him as the devil himself, and now, Hamas allows his photos to be displayed in public in Gaza, a sign of loyalty and even submission in Arabic political culture. Hamas has always portrayed Abbas as evil and “Anti-God”, labelled war against him and the PLO as “Godly Jihad”, how do you think the average Hamas member feels about their leader giving in to Abbas before the whole world?

It is safe to say this reconciliation has a been a publicly-humiliating, torturous and politically-devastating move for Hamas, which it would have never done was it not for the extreme pressure coming from all directions.  Whoever says Hamas has won, is wrong. Nonetheless, this story is not over yet.

Hamas has kept its guns and military ranks. Abbas’ military presence in Gaza is zilch. A PLO source inside Gaza told me: “Hamas did this because it had no other choice, Hamas has given in to Egypt’s patronage, and this shall hold for a while”, he adds: “Nonetheless, Hamas will go back to war and even kick Abbas out of Gaza again at the first minute they get a chance, but with Trump, Sisi, Saudi and UAE, this is not going to happen any time soon”.

With this reconciliation, it is safe to conclude Hamas has lost a major battle, and has been humiliated to the fullest. Sisi’s controls Hamas now, Qatar and Jordan’s regimes cannot do anything for Hamas, all sounds sababa, right? In fact not really; Hamas has lost a major battle, but not the war. Hamas could still make a very nasty comeback in the future.

The US administration would do us all good by keeping the pressure on Hamas and initiating a process by which Hamas would give up some of its firepower gradually, possibly under Egyptian management and with a generous “cash for guns”, Saudi and UAE’s patronage.

Change in Jordan, Easy, Cheap and Good for Everyone

Despite Israel’s desire to protect the Hashemite regime, and stay out of messy Arab internal politics, it is now public knowledge that the Israeli intelligence establishment believes that Jordan’s king’s fall is imminent, and Israeli officials have been whispering that in private for a while, desperately discussing ways to save king and keep him in power. Nonetheless, a well-calculated, carefully-ushered and engineered change in Jordan could pose a huge opportunity for US, Israel, our Jordanian people, and all of those who want peace.

No, we’re not seeking a total regime change in Jordan, in which the state itself is turned into nothingness, leaving a gap for Islamists to jump in and take over. That was Obama’s style at best, because Obama did not know better, or at worst, because he wanted the Islamists to take over.

The change we desire for Jordan will be simple: Seeing the already irrelevant king leave by a small and peaceful revolution that is protected by the army. The US does not and need not interfere, this will be an internal Jordanian affair. All the US should do is offer the king a safe exit while Jordan’s army and strong intelligence keep the country intact and the Islamists at bay. This was the case when Egyptians took to the streets against the Muslim Brotherhood, deposed Morsi and the army protected the people, and the outcome: Serendipity, and more secular and peaceful Egypt, under a strong and wonderful man, President Sisi. Worth-noting here, that Jordan’s king does not control the army or Jordan’s intelligence; therefore, he will leave in peace, the US, on the other hand, finances, trains and influences our army and intelligence and could help both secular and patriotic organizations to usher in a moderate interim government for Jordan.

The US and the region could obtain breakthrough advantages from change in Jordan. The first is destroying Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood. (MB). Jordan’s MB gets its power from the regime – so if the regime falls, the MB falls. Jordan’s own government believes this. This is important because Jordan’s MB is not just another terror group. The global MB HQ is based in Amman and controls Hamas and the global MB as well, especially Qatar’s. The US intelligence agencies are aware of this fact. If Jordan’s army -under US help and guidance- ushers in a secular anti-MB leader (like Egypt’s Sisi), that would be a major blow to the MB and the Western globalists forces who support them such as Soros.

The second advantage is ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; if a Palestinian-Jordanian leader becomes the head of Jordan’s interim government, and then Jordan’s president; this means that Jordanians from all backgrounds will have a home, and that 2.1 million Palestinians in Israel, all holding Jordanian passports, could find a place to call their state.

Next, once the king is out and his theft of public money stops, Jordan will become economically prosperous and attractive for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank itself. Meanwhile, Israel and the US should continue to apply pressure on the corrupt and terroristic Palestinian Authority, gradually putting them out of the business of killing our people, Israelis, and even other PLO figures. Defusing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be major blow to the globalists who have blackmailed the world for decades with it, and who remain united against President Trump and his advisor, Jared Kushner’s, effort to usher in real peace.

Another advantage is that a successful regime change in Jordan will put the region’s radical regimes on notice, Qatar for example. Those will need to end their hostility to Israel and to stop promoting radical Islamism, otherwise face the same music King Abdullah has. This also shall empower moderate regimes, and champions of change, such as the very pragmatic Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Ben Salman, and UAE’s Crown Prince, Mohammad Ben Zayed.

America’s deep and positive influence of Jordan’s army and security agencies means the country will remain safe during the transition, and so will its borders with Israel. In fact, it is this influence that keeps Jordan’s borders with Israel safe, and not the absentee landlord king who spends most of his time in Europe, with documented travel of 30 percent of the year, not counting his year-long private vacations. Basically, he is irrelevant to everything and anything in Jordan.

One a new interim leadership is in power, the first thing it should do is banning all Islamist groups, just like Sisi of Egypt did, and this will mean they won’t even have a chance of running for any public office, let alone for president.

Today, such positive change in Jordan will be embraced by several Arab governments who no-longer see Israel as an enemy and in fact would love to see an end to the expensive and obstructive conflict.

This sought change is the very reason my political party and I are proudly taking part in the Jordan Option Conference in Jerusalem in October.

The sweet music of change is playing loud, and we all better be listening.

Originally published in the Jewish Press.

Change is Coming to Jordan Whether the King Likes It or Not

Despite Israel’s desire to protect the Hashemite regime, and stay out of messy Arab internal politics, it is now public knowledge that the Israeli intelligence establishment believes that Jordan’s king’s fall is imminent, and Israeli officials have been whispering that in private for a while, desperately discussing ways to save king and keep him in power. Nonetheless, a well-calculated, carefully-ushered and engineered change in Jordan could pose a huge opportunity for US, Israel, our Jordanian people, and all of those who want peace.

No, we’re not seeking a total regime change in Jordan, in which the state itself is turned into nothingness, leaving a gap for Islamists to jump in and take over. That was Obama’s style at best, because Obama did not know better, or at worst, because he wanted the Islamists to take over.

The change we desire for Jordan will be simple: Seeing the already irrelevant king leave by a small and peaceful revolution that is protected by the army. The US does not and need not interfere, this will be an internal Jordanian affair. All the US should do is offer the king a safe exit while Jordan’s army and strong intelligence keep the country intact and the Islamists at bay. This was the case when Egyptians took to the streets against the Muslim Brotherhood, deposed Morsi and the army protected the people, and the outcome: Serendipity, and more secular and peaceful Egypt, under a strong and wonderful man, President Sisi. Worth-noting here, that Jordan’s king does not control the army or Jordan’s intelligence; therefore, he will leave in peace, the US, on the other hand, finances, trains and influences our army and intelligence and could help both secular and patriotic organizations to usher in a moderate interim government for Jordan.

The US and the region could obtain breakthrough advantages from change in Jordan. The first is destroying Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood. (MB). Jordan’s MB gets its power from the regime – so if the regime falls, the MB falls. Jordan’s own government believes this. This is important because Jordan’s MB is not just another terror group. The global MB HQ is based in Amman and controls Hamas and the global MB as well, especially Qatar’s. The US intelligence agencies are aware of this fact. If Jordan’s army -under US help and guidance- ushers in a secular anti-MB leader (like Egypt’s Sisi), that would be a major blow to the MB and the Western globalists forces who support them such as Soros.

The second advantage is ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; if a Palestinian-Jordanian leader becomes the head of Jordan’s interim government, and then Jordan’s president; this means that Jordanians from all backgrounds will have a home, and that 2.1 million Palestinians in Israel, all holding Jordanian passports, could find a place to call their state.

Next, once the king is out and his theft of public money stops, Jordan will become economically prosperous and attractive for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank itself. Meanwhile, Israel and the US should continue to apply pressure on the corrupt and terroristic Palestinian Authority, gradually putting them out of the business of killing our people, Israelis, and even other PLO figures. Defusing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be major blow to the globalists who have blackmailed the world for decades with it, and who remain united against President Trump and his advisor, Jared Kushner’s, effort to usher in real peace.

Another advantage is that a successful regime change in Jordan will put the region’s radical regimes on notice, Qatar for example. Those will need to end their hostility to Israel and to stop promoting radical Islamism, otherwise face the same music King Abdullah has. This also shall empower moderate regimes, and champions of change, such as the very pragmatic Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Ben Salman, and UAE’s Crown Prince, Mohammad Ben Zayed.

America’s deep and positive influence of Jordan’s army and security agencies means the country will remain safe during the transition, and so will its borders with Israel. In fact, it is this influence that keeps Jordan’s borders with Israel safe, and not the absentee landlord king who spends most of his time in Europe, with documented travel of 30 percent of the year, not counting his year-long private vacations. Basically, he is irrelevant to everything and anything in Jordan.

One a new interim leadership is in power, the first thing it should do is banning all Islamist groups, just like Sisi of Egypt did, and this will mean they won’t even have a chance of running for any public office, let alone for president.

Today, such positive change in Jordan will be embraced by several Arab governments who no-longer see Israel as an enemy and in fact would love to see an end to the expensive and obstructive conflict.

This sought change is the very reason my political party and I are proudly taking part in the Jordan Option Conference in Jerusalem in October.

The sweet music of change is playing loud, and we all better be listening.

What You Do NOT Know About The Qatar Crisis

The looming crisis between Qatar and several Gulf states came as a shock to many. Before that, the Gulf Cooperation Council was viewed as a club of rich and stable Arab regimes. Nonetheless, Saudi Arabia is now leading a push to punish Qatar through isolation. This hsa generated much media attention and ‘expert’ focus by pundits of the Middle East. Still none of those seems to have hit the core of the subject: This crisis is deeper than what anyone guesses and it will have an impact on the entire region, including Israel.

To begin with, the main cause of the rift between Saudi Arabia and Qatar could be summed up in three words: The Muslim Brotherhood (MB). Saudis wants the MB gone, so does UAE and Egypt. Nonetheless, Qatar and Jordan are both pro-MB and have invested too heavily in the Islamist group to let it go easily.

Some may be perplexed by the claim that Jordan’s regime supports the MB. Jordan and Qatar both provide support for the MB. Jordan’s royal family, the Hashemites, have been in a full alliance with MB since the 1950s. The MB were the ones who supported the kingdom’s founder, Emir Abdallah, in annexing the West Bank. They also stood with the Hashemites in 1970 during their civil war with the PLO. This fact has been confirmed by Jordan’s king himself in a 2013 interview with The Atlantic magazine.

Further, Jordan’s regime’s alliance with the MB is deeper than generally realized.

In November 2012, Jordan witnessed the largest Arab Spring-style revolution. One million took to the street demanding that the king steps down. Despite overwhelming popular sentiment, the MB openly stood against the revolution and said: “We will never allow the king to fall.” While the MB is banned in most Arab countries, in Jordan, they are registered as a charity, a political organization, and a private business. While the king bans  secularists and liberals for a mere tweet, the MB owns its licensed satellite TV network and daily paper in which they consistently preach terrorism and death to America and the Jews.

In fact, the entire knife-intifada concept was launched by MB journalist Yasser Zaatreh who wrote an article demanding all Palestinian stab Jews and in one of Jordan’s major daily which is partially owned by the Jordanian government itself in June of 2015.

The Jordan monarchy’s marriage with the MB resulted in a polygamous marriage with Qatar’s regime. Qatar is the main financier of the MB group not only in Jordan but the world. Jordan’s MB members control Qatar’s owned Aljazeera, the General Manager, Yasser Abu Helalah, is a Jordanian MB member, a known Jordanian intelligence operative, and an outspoken loyalist to Jordan’s king.

Further, Jordan and Qatar have been very close in coordinating their stance on Syria as well as Israel. Both have worked through their intelligence agencies and media to sustain and expand the unrest in Syria with the concept that the more the unrest persists the more both can get away with sustaining and empowering their instrumental tool: The MB. They want the civil war to go one, and that is why when President Trump attacked Syria with Cruse missiles, both Jordan’s and Qatar’s media were against the hit.

As for Israel, both Jordan’s and Qatar’s royals have played both ends against the middle. They have incited the region’s regimes and public against Israel, then behind the scenes telling the Israeli leadership they are the only people they can talk to, and at times, even claiming they both control the situation in Syria. “Israel cannot afford to ignore us, we hold the strings” as one Jordanian stateman has said in secret.

Under Obama, these tactics worked successfully for Qatar and Jordan. Saudi Deputy Crown Prince, Mohammad Ben Salman, tried to convince Obama several times of the necessity to crack down on the MB and to designate it as a terror group. This only fell on Obama’s deaf ears.

But now, there is a new sheriff in town. From Day One President Trump was very clear in his stance on the MB and other terror groups stating, “We will wipe them from the face of the earth.”

I can confirm, from my Arab sources, that the Saudi-led move against Qatar came after talks with the US administration. Also, the move is not directed only towards Qatar, in fact, Jordan is on the US radar as the MB’s safe house. In fact, the MB’s HQ is only 4 miles away from the king’s palace.

Jordan’s regime has been trying to appease the Saudis in this fight, it downgraded its diplomatic representation with Qatar and closed Aljazeera’s office. This may fool some Western media, but not the Saudis. The king still won’t cut ties with Qatar and his very own intelligence officers are launching a relentless defamation campaign through Aljazeera against Saudi Arabia and president Trump himself.

Both Qatar’s and Jordan’s state-controlled media are still claiming President Trump is on the verge of being impeached. Something Qatar’s Emir himself stated to his own official news agency, then claimed the agency was hacked and he never said those things. Google, on the other hand, confirmed Qatar’s News Agency was not hacked when it posted the Emir’s comments against both Trump and Saudi.

Further, a very well-connected Arab source confirmed to me that the US has already told Qatar: “Don’t expect any solutions before you drop the MB”.

Meanwhile, Qatar keeps hissing, fighting, and kicking. It cannot do this forever and it will have to give up the MB eventually. Once that happens, Jordan could face serious consequences, simply because “Jordan’s MB is a part of the Hashemite regime” as the king’s own Minister of Political Reform has said. Once the MB loses Qatar’s money and Aljazeera, the Jordanian regime itself will be further weakened and Jordan will be open to changes.

This crisis will have far-reaching outcomes and Jordan has already been influenced by it and will be the next place to watch for change if, or when, Qatar divorces the MB.

 

Operation Jordan Is Palestine, Can it Happen?

“Building On History Will Help Establish A Palestinian Jordan While Ensuring Israel’s Sovereignty Over All of Its Soil”  

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

INTRODUCTION:

Operation Jordan Is Palestine (OJIP) complies with the Trump Administration’s proposed Executive Order(s) that dealing with Terrorism, Terrorist Supporters and Human Rights, as well as the UN relative to the Palestinian Authority (PA), while bringing new thoughts and options to the Middle East Peace Process. Overall, OJIP supports a two state solution based on current international agreements and actions, and will not only provide secure and safe borders for the State of Israel, but will provide Palestinian people with land, education, jobs and economic security. Additionally, it will usher in important governmental changes in Jordan, including the elimination of a Dictatorship that tortures, oppresses and restricts his own subjects while supporting terrorist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood. Additionally, it will eliminate a Dictatorship that clearly violates Western Interests by supplying America’s enemies with money, heavy equipment and military supplies. As such, OJIP will save lives and taxpayer money, eliminate terrorism and increase democracy.

HIGHLIGHTS: a few examples 

  • OJIP complies with the Administration’s proposed Executive Order that will cease support for entities that support in terrorism or violate human rights.
  • OJIP complies with the Administration’s proposed Executive Order that ends financial support for UN programs that allow full participation by the PA.
  • OJIP recognizes that Jordan is the legitimate Arab state for Palestinians and accepts Israel’s identity as a Jewish state with full sovereignty over all of its soil west to the River Jordan including the West Bank/Judea and Samaria.
  • The OJIP plan aims to provide a practical, cost-effective, and feasible solution that leads to peace based on international treaties by which both the Jewish and Palestinian Arab existence and sovereignty are secured.
  • A recent poll shows that 63% of Palestinians in the West Bank would like to move or relocate somewhere else due to the bad economic and inhumane conditions brought by the Palestinian Authority
  • OJIP recognizes that the Muslim Brotherhood is openly operating in Jordan, and is an avid business partner of the Hashemite royal family, not a competitor.
  • Once the interim government is in the palace, it shall enhance the economy through transparency and simply not stealing the country’s funds.
  • OJIP has been created on the belief that the plan’s tenants will (and can) be accomplished without any new expenditures by the US and her allies (re-categorization or allocation of existing monies, combined with a phase out schedule is all that is needed).
  • The US has provided more than $20 billion on economic and military aid to the Jordanian Monarchy since 2000, as well as several billions to the Palestinian Authority. None of this money has brought peace any closer to reality, let alone enhanced the livelihoods of Jordanians and Palestinians. [http://mondoweiss.net/2015/11/spends-billion-foreign/ ]
  • Economically, the OJIP plan will create jobs, expand the economy, and ensure that Foreign Aid money is spent properly, saving taxpayers money.
  • This plan will help restore the Arab Palestinians right to Jordan, which has been ruled by an outsider family of 88 people from Saudi, the Hashemite’s.
  • OJIP protects American political, military and business interests in Jordan, while seeking to expand (and include) any and all parties’ that Jordan’s allies see fit to use in military, intelligence, and counter-terrorism cooperation operations.
  • OJIP does not change Jordan’s governmental structure(s). Rather, OJIP removes the royal figureheads while keeping the government and military bodies intact. This avoids any form of Arab Spring drama from happening.

 

OPERATION JORDAN IS PALESTINE – OVERVIEW

Main Document

 

OVERVIEW: Operation Jordan Is Palestine (OJIP): A Pathway to a Lasting Peace in the Middle East

Historically, achieving peace in the Middle East has been difficult and elusive and has negatively affected all interested parties in the region socially, politically, and economically.  Needless-to-say, all previous attempts to establish peace between the Palestinian Arabs and the Jews have failed costing the US and her allies huge amounts of funds as well as lives wasted on both the Palestinian and Israeli sides.

The OJIP seeks the implementation of the original historical agreements, which recognize 78% of British Mandate of Palestine as an Arab State, which is today’s Jordan and 22% of as a Jewish state, which is Israel, including all of the West Bank. [http://maurice-ostroff.tripod.com/id350.html]  And it does this through reforming Jordan and providing it with a leadership that will follow and comply with international law while creating a humane state with zero-Islamization.  As a result, OJIP is not seeking a regime change in Jordan, but simply an evacuation of the palace occupants, replacing the 88-member Hashemite family with a new leadership, while keeping the Jordanian regime, government structure, army, and all public bodies intact. This will re-establish Jordan as a reformed country and an economically and politically attractive homeland to Palestinians all over the world, including those in Israel (and the West Bank) and thus secures Israel’s sovereignty over all soil West to the River Jordan, including the West Bank.

The OJIP plan aims to provide a practical, cost-effective, and feasible solution that leads to peace based on international treaties by which both the Jewish and Palestinian Arab existence and sovereignty are secured. To accomplish this, the OJIP builds on the historical fact that both today’s Israel and Jordan are parts of the original British Mandate for Palestine. British Colonial Powers designated these lands as the future Jewish homeland in the 1917 Belfour Declaration. They were later reauthorized by the Faisal-Weizmann agreement, a covenant by which Arabs agreed to as the full “Judaization” of the land West to the River Jordan and the Land East to the river Jordan to become a homeland for the Arabs.

Therefore, OJIP recognizes that Jordan is the legitimate Arab state for Palestinians and accepts Israel’s identity as a Jewish state with full sovereignty over all of its soil west to the River Jordan including the West Bank/Judea and Samaria.  This plan also recognizes that most of today’s Jordanian population identifies as Palestinians. In fact, based on a US Embassy-Amman cable, Palestinians make more than 80% of Jordan’s population and all of those hold Jordanian passports. Additionally, Palestinians in the West Bank all hold Jordanian passports including all the Palestinian Authority’s leaders.  The Jordanian Citizenship Act, Article No.2, identities “all non-Jewish Palestinians” as natural-born Jordanians.  As a result, the majority of Palestinians in the West Bank travel with a Jordanian passport not a Palestinian one.  Taking this one-step further, thousands of Palestinian refugees in Syria hold Jordanian passports but are systematically denied ‘the right of return” to Jordan by King Abdallah, a matter that has brought international criticism on the King. [https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/08/07/jordan-palestinians-escaping-syria-turned-away] In addition, all Palestinian refugees in Lebanon could simply claim Jordanian citizenship by the Jordanian law itself; Article No.2, nonetheless, Jordan’s monarchy will not allow that.

Supporting this, a recent poll shows that 63% of Palestinians in the West Bank would like to move out or relocate somewhere else due to the bad economic and inhumane conditions brought by the Palestinian Authority. [http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Despite-surging-Hamas-popularity-Gazans-frustration-with-conflict-grows-405520]  Despite having Jordanian passports, King Abdallah II, restricts their entry to Jordan and harasses them upon even limited trips to their homeland, often forcing them to spend a day being interrogated by the Jordanian police.

As of today, Jordan’s Palestinians remain the majority in the country, with US Embassy-Amman cable confirming over 80% of 6.4 million Jordanian citizens. There are about 650,000 Syrian refugees registered in Jordan [https://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/country.php?id=107] and less than 200,000 Iraqis* (all have to register with UN or risk being deported upon any contact with Jordan’s authority, therefore the figures are accurate) despite the regime’s exaggerations of “millions of refugees already in the country”. In addition, those refugees have not shifted demographics against Palestinians, and cannot make any political difference because they are considered non-citizens who cannot vote. [*Jordan’s government “estimates that there are 500,000 Iraqi refugees in Jordan. An “unclassified” US Embassy Amman cable, which Jordan’s Opposition leader had worked on, in 2008, shows the actual figure to be less than 165,000 and many have returned home to Jordan then, UNHCR shows only 60,000 Iraqi refugees registered with it in Jordan, which confirms Jordan’s government is trying to exaggerate the actual number, most likely to get more aid].

Jordan’s royal family contains less than 100 individuals (88 to be exact), and for some unknown reason, they spend most of their time outside of the country. King Abdallah II, unlike his father, does not have much control or influence over Jordan’s army of intelligence. Those are under the direct, yet unpublicized, control of the CIA, The US Defense Intelligence Agency, the US Central Command, and the US Department of Defense. On top of that, the US subsidizes Jordan’s army to the tune of over $400 million a year. Additionally, the USA has just finished building “Jordan’s Great Wall”, a wall that runs along the country’s borders with Syria, Iraq, and Israel, who has almost finished a one-billion Dollar wall along the western Jordanian border.  With the king’s constant absence from Jordan, it has become fact that the royal family has nothing to do with Jordan’s security and the structure of the Jordanian state itself; in fact, their interests are focused on collecting taxes as absentee property owners. On the other hand, they are the reason Palestinians are still being called refugees, and the reason the Palestinians still don’t have a state of their own. Simply put, the Hashemite’s officially and openly call all 5.9 million Palestinians in Jordan as refugees “who must return to Palestine someday”.

On the other hand, Jordan’s Palestinians are not interested in “the right of return to Palestine”, as a US Embassy-Amman cable, titled “the Grand Bargain” explains they are interested in having civil rights in Jordan over return to Palestine. [https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/08AMMAN391_a.html]

Further, support for Jordan’s royal family has vanished, the East Bankers or what some call as “Bedouins” have led the protests the king since 2011. The international media have documented this numerous times. “East Bankers” despise the Hashemite regime, and this conflict has escalated into countless events of violence and unrest. All major “Bedouin” cities have rebelled against the regime at least once since 2011, and the king has failed to either bring peace or any form of satisfaction for those. Therefore, the “Bedouins” will not defend or stand by the royal Hashemite family if they leave the country.

At this point, we would like to make it clear that the OJIP Plan is not calling for “a regime change” in Jordan. That is because the Jordanian Opposition Coalition and their supporters believe that the Hashemite royal family is not the true regime and head of state for Jordan, unlike Libya and Syria. Rather, to millions, the ruling family in Jordan are viewed more as occupants of the palace and tax collectors who mistreat their subjects, while the important agencies – security and intelligence systems – run independently and effectively under the supervision of US.  This is very similar to what is going on in Egypt. When Mubarak was in power, he was a very strong president. Yet the security and military systems that were in place were never compromised when Mubarak left, nor could Morsi change those. And even when Morsi was toppled, the security and military bodies kept the country intact and the borders with Israel safe, simply because those are too close to US Intelligence and military, and so are Jordan’s security agency.

This plan sees the necessity to simply let Jordan’s royal family evacuate the palace and move somewhere else, but rather suggest that they “not return to Jordan” from one of their ‘vacations’ or almost-fulltime stays in the West.  The Jordanian “state” and “agencies” are to remain untouched and intact, only the Palace will be evacuated and new occupants shall be installed through an interim government ushered in by Jordan’s army, which falls under the full control of the US.

Additionally, despite $1.6 billion given to Jordan’s king by the US alone, very little seem to filter down to Jordanians and as for Syrian refugees; the king’s government does not give any form of handouts, welfare, or education for the Syrian refugees. In addition, despite the heaviest taxation of Jordanians in modern times, there are no free services of any kind provided, except of course for the most basic – education. This has not stopped the king and his family from raising prices and taxes on consumer goods to fund the king’s pet projects, like the maintenance of his fleet of private jets that are used by his family for fun and travel. This has led to a stalled economy with a debt ratio of over 90% to GDP and the king for some reason, demanding more financial help from the West that goes into his Swiss accounts and leaves millions starving, homeless, unemployed, and uneducated.

At the same time, the royal family has been systematically playing both ends against the middle. On one hand, they openly tell the west that they are working hard to fight terrorism; yet on the other hand, countless media reports have documented the Royal Family’s theft of US and British weapons, as well as heavy equipment. Additionally, the media has document the sale of these items to ISIS, and other rouge elements in addition to being one of the largest oil buyers of ISIS oil as confirmed by global media.  [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/27/world/middleeast/cia-arms-for-syrian-rebels-supplied-black-market-officials-say.html?_r=0], [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3682655/87-000-stolen-British-bullets-hands-jihadis-cache-ammunition-stolen-Army-training-camp.html].

What makes the situation intolerable is that they are using profits from the transactions to promote blaming everything on Israel/Jews, and thus are promoting anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, anti-American and pro-Jihadi incitement through their Muslim Brotherhood partners as well as the king’s state media. [http://www.jerusalemonline.com/news/middle-east/israel-and-the-middle-east/op-ed-jordans-king-promotes-anti-semitism-15772]  At this point, it is worth noting that the terrorist group Hamas, which has killed many Israelis and Americans falls under the direct administration of the Muslim Brotherhood of Jordan, in fact, Hamas is officially Jordan’s MB’s “Palestine Chapter”. The Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan is a part of the regime, a fact that is fully-detailed in this plan. [http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/jordans-king-supports-isis-yes-you-did-read-this-right/2016/01/19/]. That makes the royal family of Jordan not America’s allies.

Finally, this plan recognizes that the Muslim Brotherhood is openly operating in Jordan, and is an avid business partner of the Hashemite royal family, not a competitor. In fact, historically, the MB has supported the Hashemite regime through the so-called Arab Spring, especially during the largest revolution in Jordan’s history in 2012. This revolution was launched by Jordan’s seculars, [http://www.timesofisrael.com/preaching-the-gospel-of-liberalism-to-the-jordanian-street/]  particularly the JOC. Nonetheless, the MB stood against it and publicly announced: “We won’t allow the king to fall”.[ https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3464/jordan-trouble]  And to this day, MB supports the jailing and torture of seculars by the king’s government. On top of that, the king has allowed the MB to take over the Jordanian parliament through proven-rigged elections. As a registered charitable organization in Jordan, the MB operates their own TV station in Jordan (which calls for killing Jews and Americans), have the nation’s fourth largest licensed daily newspaper that promotes hatred, and has announced many times over the years that “we are against a regime change” and that “the king is the man for us”.  In fact, the king’s own minister of political reform, Bassam Hadaddeen, announced, “The Muslim Brotherhood is a part of the regime”. For the record, most of MB’s Board of Directors are Bedouin East Bankers, not Palestinians, while Palestinians in Jordan, despite their avid hatred for Israel, hate the MB more for its alliance with the king.

This plan seeks to execute a feasible two state solution where Jordan is the natural homeland for all Palestinians, and Israel becomes sovereign over all soil west to the River Jordan.  This could only happen if the corrupt, terror-supporting and double-speaking Hashemite royal family leaves Jordan. This could happen anytime, Jordanians often revolt against the regime and then the king’s police force quiets them down, simply because the much stronger army won’t announce support for the revolutions, and American media ignores the unrest in Jordan. This plan sees a peaceful “evacuation” of the palace could softly happen if the US influences the Jordanian army and security agency to stand with the revolution the next time it breaks out.  The security agencies and army are already securing the country without any influence from the king who is mostly abroad, and nothing would happen if he simply announces he will not return.  Once that happens an interim government of pro-peace with Israel seculars could be ushered in, as was the case with every single government in the Middle East that has had a revolution in the last 70 years. Only that the US in most cases has failed to use its influences to secure that the right people are installed in interim governments.

Once the interim government is in the palace, it shall enhance the economy through transparency and simply not stealing the country’s funds. Therefore, the economy shall thrive and the US would not have to spend a cent more than it already does in Jordan. With a thriving economy, Jordan’s interim government will simply enact the Jordanian laws allowing Palestinians in the West Bank to relocate to Jordan, specially that 63% of them already which to move somewhere else. Those shall have an interest in living and working in an economically thriving Jordan. Work opportunities as well as a rewarding benefits/welfare system will be made available to those by the new interim government. All Palestinians refugees around the world would be welcomed to return to Jordan upon mere inaction of the Jordanian citizenship act, which already recognizes all Palestinians as citizens of Jordan.

The interim government will also offer job opportunities and economic incentives to Jordanian East bankers AKA “Bedouins” and West Bankers/Palestinians as well to secure acceptance and content from both.

The low-to-mid-level public servants of the Palestinian Authority will be recruited to relocate to Jordan and work with the interim government with better salaries. The fact that President Trump could stop PA’s funding will make it go bankrupt and may not be able to pay salaries to its public servants. Those will relocate to Jordan, this will sustain the new Jordan’s position as Palestine and bankrupt the Palestinian Authority of its human capital and expedite its demise.

After Jordan’s economy begins thriving, the interim government will issue a counterterrorism act banning all Islamists and affiliates of radical Islamist organizations from running for any office. Sisi of Egypt did the same. This wills secure the Muslim brotherhood have zero chance in winning any parliamentary seats or running for office.

Parliamentary elections will be held, followed by presidential elections. The interim president is the most likely to win as he or she will have access to the state media and organizations to secure his victory. In addition, Jordanians, will vote for improvement of their economic condition and the interim president could bring that easily if he or she does not steal like the king does.

 

Chaos is already expected in the Palestinian Authority territories because of in-house fighting in the PLO. If President Trump and the UK stop funding the PA, it will collapse. Israel could begin taking over PA areas to secure them from unrest and terror acts, eventually taking over the entire West Bank. This will happen while the new Jordan is thriving and welcoming Palestinians from the West Bank with open arms and offering them jobs and help.  After the PA officially ends and the New Jordan’s position is empowered, Israel could announce full official annexation of the West Bank.

Per Jordan’s citizenship act, Israeli Arabs, who mostly identify as “Palestinians with Israeli passports”, are also Jordanian citizens eligible for citizenship. The new Jordan will welcome them and recruit them for jobs and the thriving economic opportunities that would become in the country once the royal family leaves and the money they steal is directed towards the economy. While Israel honors and values its Arab citizens, this plan intends to defuse the demographic problems straining peace by absorbing as many Arabs in Israel as it could.