Published in The Jerusalem Post 

I argue that there are no real alliances in the Middle East and those who believe in a simple story of Shia vs. Sunni or Israel and Saudi Arabia against Iran will be disappointed.

…According to a report by Jacki Hogi in The Jerusalem Post on February 27, Intelligence Minister Israel Katz also said the “cooperation is going to be significantly upgraded, because the US is going to lead. The goal will be to push Iran out of the area.”

All of this is cryptic, but Iran, Pakistan and other countries in the region are paying attention. Their media reports about Israel’s blooming relations with countries such as Saudi Arabia. The problem is that Israel is likely to be disappointed. There are no alliances in the Middle East. All the talk of an “Arab NATO” is premature. Abdulrahman al-Rashed at Al-Arabiya discussed it last month, noting that Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Jordan might work together against Iran. He noted that the weakening of US power in the region under president Barack Obama had led to a “vacuum” that Iran’s octopus-like foreign policy had slipped into….