Private and Public Faces: The Duality No Longer Exists

· Everything is on the table....there is no modesty in politics...and in the momentum of the Abraham Accords, that is how we watched and listened yesterday in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt, leaders and officials from more than twenty countries...showing President Trump all admiration for his personality that brought peace through force...through the extermination of the Palestinian people in Gaza Strip...and through granting Israel all kinds of superweapons...which Israel, in the American president's view, used well...even the Prime Minister of Pakistan volunteered by reintroducing President Trump's nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize...praising Netanyahu's earlier request for such a nomination...the return of the Israeli hostages to their families yesterday was the overwhelming event that delighted President Trump, and he transmitted that feeling of joy to those present in Sharm El-Sheikh who rejoiced greatly!

· Our people — the rulers and Arab and Muslim officials who attended yesterday's carnival in Sharm El-Sheikh....proved that this ruling people are in private exactly as they are in public: they plan for and support Israel, the occupier of Palestine, during the October 2023 extermination war, and before it, and continue to do so...this is what we used to feel from the overwhelming silence of most of our politicians while an extermination war was underway...in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank but we had hope for their return to the bonds of kinship....!

· In a reading of leaked documents...about Arab-Israeli security cooperation during the Gaza war.. the Washington Post — dated 11-October (10)...in an article by: David Kiner, provided exclusive information to the paper about these documents, revealing that military officials from Israel and Arab countries held meetings and joint trainings — organized by the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) — that addressed regional threats, Iran, and subterranean tunnel networks.

· Even at times when major Arab states were denouncing the war in the Gaza Strip, they were secretly expanding their security cooperation with the Israeli military, the leaked documents showed. Arab states expanded their cooperation with the Israeli military during the Gaza war

- Over the past three years, and mediated by the United States, senior military officials from Israel and six Arab countries met in planning sessions held in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, and Qatar.

- And on Wednesday, Israel and Hamas reached the first phase of a framework peace agreement leading to the release of all hostages held by Hamas, and a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. The United States announced on Thursday the deployment of 200 American soldiers to Israel to support the ceasefire agreement, to be joined by troops from a number of Arab countries participating in this security cooperation that has continued for years.

- Prior to that announcement, the Arab countries involved had expressed support for President Donald Trump's 20-point plan to end the Gaza war, which calls for Arab states to participate in deploying an international force in Gaza to train a new Palestinian police force there.

- In a joint statement, five of the six Arab states announced their support for establishing a mechanism “that ensures the security of all parties,” but they refrained from publicly committing to deploy military forces, while Qatar — whose capital Doha was hit by Israeli strikes targeting Hamas leaders on September 9 — was one of the countries that quietly strengthened its relations with the Israeli military!

- The documents show that in May 2024 senior military officials from Israel and Arab states met at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar — a major U.S. military facility — and that the Israeli delegation was scheduled to arrive directly at the base, avoiding civilian entry points to avert public exposure.

- The documents indicate that the Iranian threat was the main driver for formalizing these relations, under the auspices of United States Central Command (CENTCOM). One document describes Iran and its allied militias as the “axis of evil,” while an attached map shows missiles directed toward Gaza and Yemen, where Iran's allied forces enjoy wide influence.

- Five PowerPoint presentations prepared by CENTCOM — obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and reviewed by the Washington Post — document the creation of what is known as the “Regional Security Architecture,” which includes, alongside Israel and Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. The documents also indicate that Kuwait and the Sultanate of Oman were classified as “potential partners” who were briefed on the meetings' proceedings.

- The documents were distributed to regional partners and some to members of the “Five Eyes” alliance (the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand), and cover the period between 2022 and 2025, i.e., before and after the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023.

- The Washington Post verified the authenticity of the documents by matching their details with Department of Defense records, archived military documents, and other open sources, where the dates and locations of announced trainings and meetings aligned with official U.S. statements.

- Among the meetings mentioned was one held in January at Fort Campbell military base in Kentucky, during which partners trained to detect and neutralize threats from subterranean tunnels, a primary tool used by Hamas against the Israeli military in Gaza. Another document indicates the participation of officials from six countries in training on tunnel destruction without naming them.

- CENTCOM also led planning meetings to launch “information operations” aimed at countering the Iranian narrative that portrays Tehran as “the protector of the Palestinians,” and to “promote a narrative of partnership and regional prosperity.”

- Despite the expansion of security cooperation behind closed doors, Arab leaders continued to condemn the Gaza war. Leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia described the Israeli campaign as “genocide”. At the United Nations, the Emir of Qatar said in September that the conflict was “a war of genocide against the Palestinian people,” accusing Israel of being “a state hostile to its environment and participating in building an apartheid system.”

- Noting the political sensitivity, the documents affirm that this cooperation “does not constitute a new alliance” and that all meetings “will be held in complete secrecy.”

- Emile Hokayem, director of the Middle East Security Program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that the United States had long hoped the military cooperation would lead to political normalization between Israel and Arab states, but that working with military leaders away from the political arena “conceals the actual reality of tensions among the parties.” He added: “This tension became clear after the Israeli strike in Qatar. One of the main parties in the U.S. effort attacked another, while Washington is accused of complicity or turning a blind eye, which will erode confidence in its efforts for years to come.”

· In Quiet partnership, American military officials publicly acknowledged the existence of this partnership, but without discussing the extent of Israeli–Arab cooperation within it. In 2022, General Kenneth McKenzie, the former commander of United States Central Command, described these efforts to Congress as an extension of the “momentum of the Abraham Accords” that established diplomatic relations between Israel and each of Morocco, the UAE, and Bahrain!. At a 2022 security conference, Israel and the participating Arab states signed onto the plan, agreed to coordinate military exercises, and to purchase the equipment necessary to implement them. By 2024, CENTCOM had linked many of the participating countries to its systems so they could provide the U.S. military with radar and sensor data, and in return access the partners' shared data.

· One document noted that six of the seven participating countries were receiving a partial aerial picture of the area via U.S. Department of Defense systems, and that two countries were exchanging their radar data with the U.S. Air Force. These countries were also being integrated into a secure messaging system run by the United States to facilitate mutual communication, yet that defense system did not protect Qatar from the Israeli strike on September 9, as U.S. Air Force team member Derrick France stated that those satellites and radar systems “usually focus on Iran and other areas expected to originate an attack.” Qatar also announced that its radars likewise failed to detect the launch of the Israeli missiles!

- Despite the absence of formal diplomatic relations between Israel and each of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, CENTCOM's documents show the covert role these two powerful Gulf states played in this emerging partnership, and the May 2024 security conference at Al Udeid base confirmed the increasing level of cooperation, where Israeli officials held bilateral meetings with representatives of each participating Arab country.

- The conference also highlighted the diplomatic sensitivity of these meetings; a section entitled “The following is prohibited” stated that photographing or granting any media access is not permitted.

- A prominent note above the event schedule warned to respect the dietary restrictions of Jewish and Muslim participants: Serving pork or shellfish is prohibited.”!