Iran and the Islamic State (ISIS) are Saudi Arabia’s biggest enemies, according to a poll by Israel’s Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya.
The poll was conducted over the phone with Saudi natives, 85 per cent of whom said that Iran is their worst enemy. The Islamic State (ISIS) state was rated by 53 percent as enemy, but only 18 percent thought Israel is in the same category.
Significantly, 25 percent of the respondents would like to see Israel and Saudi Arabia stage a joint strike on Iran. Although a minority, the percentage is far higher than could have been imagined in recent years.
Saudi Arabia is one of the quietist of Muslim countries when it comes to anti-Zionist venom, unlike Turkey, the Palestinian Authority, Iran, Lebanon and Syria.
The kingdom often reiterates its wish for the Temple Mount to be Muslim-only. It occasionally utters the politically correct chant against the “Zionist entity” and favors kicking Israel out of most of Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, Judea and Samaria.
However, their officials almost never indulge in Israel-bashing for the sake of it.
The new poll reflects a tacit peace with Israel, something on the order of “good fences make good neighbors,” while the Iran nuclear threat and the frightening ISIS monster have become common enemies for Saudi Arabia and Israel.
The problem will be if the Obama administration tried to use the tacit peace as a stepping stone for an unwanted official peace pact. That would mean Israel’s agreeing to the Saudi 2002 initiative that has been adopted by the Palestinian Authority in its entirety, and it would mean Saudi Arabia’s having to deal with a new, inept, corrupt, confused, mismanaged and unmanageable Arab country.
The United States has bought almost all of the Saudi-Palestinian Authority demands, except for the transfer of several million foreign Arabs into Israel, and who knows if President Barack Obama won’t cave in on that issue as well?
Things are pretty quiet between Jerusalem, and Riyadh, and they might stay that way if Washington does not try to fix what isn’t broken.
