An analysis by Jerusalem Post diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Saturday night speech about Operation Protective Edge observed that Netanyahu made a veiled reference “to key Sunni countries in the region, particularly Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.” The significance of this reference, according to Keinon, is that Israel’s shared goal of defeating Hamas with these countries could be the start of a tacit alliance to fight both Sunni and Shi’a extremism across the Middle East.

Keinon presents this tacit alliance as Israel’s long-term goal stemming from the current conflict. Keinon cites Walter Russell Mead:

This strange new band of brothers is Israel’s Plan B alliance in case the US folds on Iran. The Saudis and their Egyptian allies also hate and fear Hezbollah; from an Israeli point of view a successful war against Hamas could be the first step in cooperative action against Hezbollah and, beyond it, Iran. Israel wants this war to go well, because it could pave the way to more effective cooperation with the most populous and wealthiest of the Arab states.

This new alliance would not necessarily be based on friendship, but on the goal of fighting a common enemy, as Mead wrote last week.

The battle between Sunni Arabs and Israelis is no longer the most important issue on the table for key Arab governments as well as for Israel. While that old conflict has not disappeared, it has been eclipsed by the new conflict between a resurgent Iran and the leading Sunni Arab states.

Ynet published a similar analysis by Linda Gradstein, who quoted an anonymous Israeli official:

We have a huge common interest in regional stability and terror groups like Hamas are a common enemy. But this will never be spoken aloud. They will cooperate with us on specific issues when the need arises but it will be behind a curtain of official silence.

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