The Eagle Has Landed
The Delusion of Jewish Strength
Palestinians traveling through the re-opened Rafah crossing into Gaza receive the following stamp in their passports:
It’s stamped by the “Palestinian Authority” (and will apparently soon be changed to “State of Palestine”) and features its emblematic eagle. This might strike you as odd, given Bibi’s insistence that the PA will not be involved with Gaza.
And then there’s the official logo for the new National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG):
Does it look familiar? It should, because the main part of is identical to this:
That’s the official emblem of both the PLO and the PA.
Meanwhile, the eagle featured in this emblem is a heraldic eagle that also serves as the coat of arms in other Egypt, Iraq and Yemen. It is known as “The Eagle of Saladin,” after a carving on an Egyptian citadel built during his 12th century reign and believed to have been his emblem.
Saladin was the Kurdish Sultan of Egypt who was obsessed with jihad and led the Muslim fight against the Crusaders in Palestine. The Eagle of Saladin later became re-popularized in the Arab world following the Egyptian revolution against the British and its attacks on Israel. Arab leaders drew direct parallels between their own battle and that of Saladin in Palestine. It’s an important symbol for Arab victory, whether over Crusaders, British colonalists or Zionists. Israel protested the use of Saladin’s eagle in the NCAG’s emblem, but it’s still there.
None of this is particularly surprising. After all, Qatar is heavily involved. Trump praised the Qataris at the opening “Board of Peace” session for the NCAG as people who do “so much good” and just need better PR, but the truth is that they are Islamic fundamentalists who finance everything from Al Jazeera to Hamas. Consequently, as Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib pointed out, the NCAG is “filled by Hamas sycophants who literally cheered on the terror group's field executions and violent thuggery during the war and after the ceasefire. The Board of Peace continues to head in a troubling direction that'll ensure Hamas's continued rule and governance over Gaza, with zero prospects for disarmament, deradicalization, or demilitarization.”
Whatever happened to Bibi’s promises of “absolute victory” and no Hamas or Palestinian Authority involvement in Gaza?!
Well, all of that was clearly just another case of a politician making false promises. And it’s not difficult to see why it happened. Bibi was incapable of creating or even articulating a “day after” plan for Gaza (due to his coalition relying on people with delusional objectives), and so Trump and the Qataris stepped in. The hostages were only released because Trump imposed a “deal,” and Hamas went along with it because they realized that Trump would deliver their survival.
Clearly, Bibi is neither capable of delivering on his promises, nor the person who is as amazing for Israel’s security as he claims to be. (You’d think that people would realize that after the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, but apparently not everyone does.)
Meanwhile, on Bibi’s political right is a party called Otzma Yehudit, claiming to stand for Jewish Strength. One of its MKs just posted a photo of herself breaking the law and entering Gaza to plant a tree as an initial act of “settlement”:
This was met with a furious backlash from IDF soldiers who had to endanger themselves in order to extract her.
An MK endangering soldiers’ lives in a crime against the State of Israel is not an example of either “Jewish Strength” or even Zionism. But it is a perfect example of the anti-Zionism, anarchy, and reckless dangerous folly that is embodied by her party.
The idea that the current government is “good for Israel’s security” is delusional, even aside from it empowering the rapidly growing anti-Zionist charedi sector to collapse the economy and military.