AhlulBayt News Agency: In recent years, the UAE has been one of the regional states that, using its economic strength and high military spending in the regional cases, sought to show off as an independent actor and most important rival to other regional powers. Like Saudi Arabia, the UAE builds the plans to augment its geopolitical and geoeconomic influence on siding with the American and the Israeli policies. This approach marks the point where the Emirati interests conflict with those of the Axis of Resistance, a bloc covering Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen.
In the past years, the issue of active presence in the Syrian crisis, assisting the anti-Iranian maximum pressure of Trump, and playing a role in the Yemeni war, crisis in Iraq and Lebanon, normalization of relations with the Israeli regime, and trying to facilitate Israeli toehold in the Persian Gulf mark the main points of confrontation with the Axis of Resistance.
In this confrontation, the duel over the Palestinian issue has now become the main arena of Abu Dhabi's attempt to deal a blow to the Resistance camp. Just contrary to other Arab countries and some of the Arab monarchies that kept their support to Tel Aviv secret, Abu Dhabi openly backed the Israeli occupation actions in Al-Quds (Jerusalem) and then the 11-war war on Gaza.
Even now, as world public opinion and international organizations call for the trial of Israeli leaders for war crimes and genocide and the Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza are praised as champions of defending the Palestinian cause and holy Al-Aqsa Mosque against the Israeli violations, and while the staunch supporters of the Israeli regime in the West have concluded that they need to establish diplomatic channels with Hamas, the Emiratis recently escalated their verbal attacks on the Palestinian movement and lashed out at the West for differentiating between Hamas's military and political wings.
"It’s very unfortunate that countries are more reluctant to talk about groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, or the Muslim Brotherhood in a clearer manner,” and that some governments designate as terrorist only a group’s military, not political, wing, while that same entity says there is no difference," UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin zayed Al Nahyan told an American Jewish Committee delegation that visited the Emirates to open its office.
Resistance actions shatter normalization plans
When images of Israeli forces attacking one of the holiest Islamic sites, Al-Aqsa Mosque, appeared on television and social media across the region, a sense of imminent defeat was felt by some Arab states, especially those promised the normalization of relations with Tel Aviv will soon end the suffering of the Palestinians. More than 212 people, including 61 children and 35 women, were killed and more than 1,500 were injured in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.
In fact, the signatories of agreement with the Israelis, especially the UAE and Bahrain, are now in a position nobody wants to be in. They told their public of the benefits of working with the Israelis in trade, tourism, medical research, environment, economy, and scientific development, but now they have to watch 24-hour live television broadcasts of the heavy bombing on Gaza, the threat of expulsion of Palestinians from their homes in Eastern Al-Quds, and the recent Israeli police raid on the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The normalization, which was plotted against the Resistance countries to corner them, all of a sudden was shattered by the Al-Quds developments and powerfull presence of the Gaza groups in support of the Palestinian people in West Bank and Al-Quds.
UAE duped by the US and Israeli regime
The change in the Palestinian equations, from another dimension, made Abu Dhabi and its foreign policy czar Prince Mohammed bin Zayed losers of a big American-Israeli game. While bin Zayed, confident to see Trump era continue, provided the time's American president with election campaign feeding as the latter had an empty record of achievements, with Trump departure now the Democratic administration is not appreciating the Emirati services and has no plans to realize the previous president's promises. Even as F-35 fighters deal was the only supposed achievement of the normalization, the White House is using it as a stick to make the Emirates join the Western ranks against China. While the UAE is thinking about expanding its strategic ties with the Asian economic giant, it may have to give up the only achievement of the totally profitless normal process.
On the other side, the Israelis, who took their profits from the thaw deal in the form of propagating their exit from the decades-long regional isolation and legitimacy in the occupied territories, have resumed their expansionist policy in Al-Quds in a show of ignorance to the UAE prestige and justifications of normalization. Now bin Zayed finds himself a loser of a Saudi-adopted policy of patience and waiting in the face of Trump pressures for joining the normalization.
In the middle of these conditions, adopting an escape forward policy and fruitlessly attacking Hamas and Hezbollah to fill the vacuum caused by lack of support for the normalization and also to exit the isolation area is the only trick bin Zayed knows at present.
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