Talking Point IL

How come Saudi Arabia, for as long as most of us remember, has always leaned toward the U.S.?
Diplomatically and economically.
Why for example- not Russia, or previously the USSR?

Spoiler: it has little to do with spiritual affinity to Western values.

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The vast majority of significant historical shifts take root in a series of events.
Not this one.

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How many of you have ever heard the name Karim Khakimov?
It was largely thanks to this man that, back in the 1920s and 1930s, the USSR was actually still leading the geopolitical race in the Arabian Peninsula.

He was a Soviet diplomat who managed to learn Arabic, immerse himself in the local customs of the newly unified kingdom, and become a personal friend of King Abdulaziz (Ibn Saud).

As a representative of the radically left-wing Soviet government, the guy was smart enough not to try to export the class struggle and the “oppressor-oppressed” narrative into Bedouin society, where it could not exist.
Instead, he operated in categories relatable to the King- honor, trust, and respect for local customs.

For Ibn Saud, who needed a counterweight to the British colonial presence, an alliance with the USSR- which in 1926 was the first to recognize his country's independence- became convenient.

However, this alliance came to a sudden halt not due to the interests of the two countries gradually parting ways, but due to a single decision taken in Moscow.

For those who are unfamiliar, the 1930s in the USSR were a period of extreme political upheavals carried out by Stalin.
Seven to eleven million Soviet citizens (!) are estimated to have vanished in that decade at the hands of their own regime.
One to two million of them- through official executions between 1936 and 1938, during what is called today “The Great Purge.”

Precisely during that period, in 1937, Khakimov was recalled to Moscow, and in January 1938 he met his end.

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Ibn Saud, a man of nomadic morals, took such treatment of his trusted friend very personally.
Enraged, he simply cut ties with the USSR.
A move that left a geopolitical vacuum.

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Enter the U.S.
To be fair, five years prior to this incident, the King had signed an oil concession with Standard Oil of California (known to some of you today as Aramco).
The reason for this agreement was the severe financial strain on the kingdom, the inability of the Soviets to provide a sufficient economical aid, and the fact that Ibn Saud preferred dealing with a distant American commercial company over British or Soviet entities, which he saw as imperialist.
I know some of you are chuckling right now.

However, only two months after Khakimov was gone, American geologists uncovered the true potential of the Saudi oil reserves, and the Soviets were already in no position to take part in the upcoming oil party.

Ibn Saud on the other hand, has also been left without much leverage in his negotiations with the Americans- due to lack of alternatives.

That being the case, the American dominance over Saudi oil was sealed in February 1945 with the Quincy Pact- effectively exchanging oil for money and military protection.
This status quo remains to this day.

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It appears that Khakimov’s life came at a price that keeps unfolding for Moscow to this day.

The worst example of thanklessness you’ll probably hear about- today.

In late 2004, a 21 year old woman from Gaza, suffered severe, life-threatening burns as a result of an accident involving a kitchen gas canister.

Since the hospitals in her city lacked the specialized facilities to treat outcomes of that severity, Israeli authorities granted her a humanitarian medical pass to cross into Israel.

She was admitted to the Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheva, where Israeli doctors and nurses spent months treating her and ultimately saving her life.

How did she thank them?

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On June 20, 2005 she was scheduled for a routine followup examination in that same hospital, which required her to cross back into Israel.
Counting on her medical paperwork- she thought she could hide a 10kg device under her traditional black robes and not get caught.

Luckily, the security guards on the border- have noticed that she was walking awkwardly and heavily, asked her to go through a detector and she got caught before reaching the hospital.

During the subsequent interrogation and later media interviews- she explicitly stated that her intention was to target the Soroka Medical Center.
Simply because she knew its layout and the most crowded spots.

When asked by journalists how she could justify targeting the doctors and nurses who saved her life, she stated that her commitment to the cause- took precedence over personal gratitude.

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Eventually she will be released in an exchange deal about 6 years later.

Upon her return to Gaza, she was greeted as a hero.
In a footage of her homecoming, she addressed a crowd of children gathering around her, explicitly urging them to follow her footsteps.
In later interviews, she repeated that she felt no remorse and still hoped for another chance to carry out her intentions.

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Coexistence…

I’ve been asked multiples times about the meaning of the cover photo on my page.

Since I was the one to take the photo- I can share with you not only its meaning, but also the story behind taking it.

During the Passover holiday, which celebrates the Jewish exodus from Egypt- interestingly, many Israelis choose to take a vacation in that same Egypt. The Sinai peninsula, to be precise.

But what are the chances that few of them make it to Mount Sinai instead?
That one Mount Sinai- with the Ten commandments.
And what if they are doing that- without entering Egypt?

A few years ago, this is the adventure that me and a friend of mine decided to go for.

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Desert. 55 km by foot within 48 hours, while carrying everything you need- with you.
Another 24 hours to explore the mountain, followed by a 9 km trek through unchanging scenery to the pickup point.
Hiking through places where, on an ordinary day, the vegetation is so sparse that the map explicitly marks the locations of individual bushes.
Where the flint cuts into the sole of your foot right through the shoe, and the only shade to be found is directly beneath that very shoe:
Lotz Cisterns - Mount Arif - Mount Karkom.

A route that gradually detaches you from civilization- moving from a crowded first-night campsite into the open, infinite desert that comes alive with nameless, dateless nomad burial sites and isolated wells alongside the foundations of ancient structures.

The bonus:
As the sun begins to set and you're still far from the next campsite, there is a reasonable chance that in the densely populated state of Israel, you’ve managed to find yourself completely alone within a 4 km radius.

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The final destination:
Mount Karkom.
A massive table mountain with a smooth, flat summit spanning about 12 square kilometers. Its abundance of rock art and shrines (ranging from 2,400 to 30,000 years old) makes it a playground for the imagination.

While there is no dispute that the mountain served as a major center of worship for thousands of years, some far-reaching archaeologists claim it is nothing less than Mount Sinai itself!

And indeed, many descriptions mentioned in the Torah- align perfectly with the findings on the ground.
For instance,
➡️ The fact that the mountain was sacred to other desert nations:

​Exodus 3:1
​"Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God."

Meaning long before the Exodus, the mountain was already recognized as a holy site ("The Mountain of God")- showing it had deep spiritual significance to the local nomadic desert tribes.

➡️ The remnants of numerous encampments at its base:
Exodus 19:2
​"After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain."

➡️ The complete absence of permanent dwellings on the mountain:
Exodus 19:12
​"Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, 'Be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to...'"

➡️ A water source located about a day's walk away (at least along the route we took):

That part is not as much a quote from the Torah (although Exodus 17: 1-3 and 5-6 tell a coinciding story), as it is a realistic necessity for a large group of people moving through the desert:
If you camp in a place with no water source- like Mount Sinai was described to be, you must have a water source not further than 12-15 km away. Otherwise it is not sustainable.

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And what about the rock art?
Amidst the ibexes and horses- the oldest of which date back to the 18th century BCE- you stumble upon word inscriptions up to 3,200-3300 years old- the approximate dating of the Mount Sinai gathering mentioned in the bible- that evoke, among other things, the name of God (Yahh, Yah, El) or alternatively, the Hebrew letters "Katz" (כץ)- Kohen Tzedek - “Righteous Priest”.

And that’s even before mentioning the imagination-stirring drawings of
➡️ A staff and a serpent (Exodus 4:2–3
​"Then the Lord said to him, 'What is that in your hand?' 'A staff,' he replied. The Lord said, 'Throw it on the ground.' Moses threw it on the ground and it became a serpent..."),

➡️ Or of two connected tablets divided into ten. (Exodus 31:18 “…He gave him the two tablets of the covenant law”…)
The ones that appear on the cover photo of my page.

Of course, this is an ambitious identification, and many scholars do not accept it, but at the very least, it is highly intriguing and adds an extra layer of fascination.
Especially when you visit during Passover. And especially when, to round out the full Exodus experience, the pickup point you arranged with your 4x4 shuttle driver is located right on the border fence.

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In the follow up post, I will list other sites that it is popular to believe them to be biblical Mount Sinai-
Along with arguments supporting and contradicting the possibility of that being the case.

For now you can find more photos taken on mount Karkom- in the comments.

Libels can be dangerous.
However some of those, are so ridiculous- that they cross into the realm of the hilarious.

In July 2009, a Gaza police spokesperson- provided one of those.
In a formal press briefing, he declared that Israeli intelligence services were smuggling a passion-boosting chewing gum and attraction-stimulant drops into the Gaza strip-
Apparently as part of psychological warfare aimed at “corrupting the young generation”.

Yeah. No punchline.

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Now, why would he even say something like this?
The answer is less entertaining but still is interesting.

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The “Fadeela” (virtue) campaign:

After taking total control over the Gaza strip in 2007, the new Gazan government began pushing for a more “Islamic” society.

Among other things, they deployed modesty patrols that were:
• Breaking up unmarried, mixed-gender groups sitting on beaches or in cafes,
• Enforcing that no women would be riding on the backs of motorbikes,
• Ordering shop owners to remove lingerie from storefront windows,
• Distributing posters warning against the “satanic industry” of pairing a headscarf with tight jeans,
• And more.

Of course, such actions were sometimes met with a degree of disobedience.

But what is the very well tested method the Palestinian leadership uses time after time against its political and ideological rivals?
Blaming them for cooperating with Israel.

While those who call out the Palestinian governmental corruption in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria are blamed for “cooperation with the occupier”,
Those who want some liberty, eventually face the same logic-
Just perhaps through a slightly more creative lens.

In June 2016, the president of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas- paid an official visit to Saudi Arabia.

During this visit he decided to present the Saudi King Salman with a rare, historic gift:
A framed, original front-page edition of the 1935 newspaper “The Palestine Post”.

The Palestinians and the supporters of their cause- love showing similar pre-1948 artifacts, with the name “Palestine” on them- to try and claim the Palestinian state infrastructure existed before to the modern state of Israel.

However, too bad Mahmoud Abbas’s office forgot to google the origins of this newspaper.

“The Palestine Post” was a pre-state Zionist, English-language newspaper founded in 1932 by Gershon Agron.
It was one of the largest media outlets for the Jewish Yeshuv (the pre-state community)- which explicitly advocated for the recreation of a Jewish national home.

In 1950, the paper changed its name to its current one: “The Jerusalem Post”.

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Bottom line:
The President of the Palestinian Authority has gifted the Saudi King- a leader in a country that does not recognize Israel to this day-
An artifact of early Zionist media history.

Here is an interesting statistic.

According to the “ACLED” Data Project:
➡️ During the first full month of the recent war in Iran ~150 exclusively anti-war protests were held in the U.S.

➡️ About 10 out of them, were held on school and university campuses.

On the other hand,
According to the CCC- Crowd Counting Consortium-
During the first seven weeks after October the 7th 2023:

➡️ 1869 anti Israeli demonstrations were held across the US.

➡️ 420 of them- during the first ten days. Before the ground operation has even began.

➡️ About 560 of the 1869, were held on U.S. universities and public schools campuses.

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I’m not an expert, but it is hard to miss such a staggering difference.

It seems that there are two players behind the anti-Israeli and anti-Western protests in the U.S. as a whole, and on the university campuses in particular- who are begging to be noticed.

➡️ Qatar.
The de facto MB state, has spent years investing very heavily in the American entertainment business and education.

The infrastructure built this way- was one of the enablers behind the campuses and other public spaces in the U.S. - erupting with protests against Israel during the war vs HMS (an offshoot of the MB).

During the war in Iran on the other hand- It wasn’t only Israel who was involved, but also, directly- the U.S.

Not to mention also that Qatar has been repeatedly attacked by the Islamic Republic over the course of March 2026.

Considering the said above, activating the mentioned infrastructure to defend Tehran- would have been a strange decision at best.

➡️ The regime in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
A less mighty player than Qatar- when it comes to soft power- yet, we should not forget about them as well.

The IR has been immersed in chaos.
Economically and logistically.
Especially since the beginning of March.

Now, while their online propaganda seems to function just fine- this is not the same as maintaining the ability to affect realities on the ground.

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Bottom line:
The massive anti-Israeli protests aren’t a spontaneous eruption of civil “empathy” and “morals”, but rather a result of a well directed, funded and coordinated effort.

Israel has earned the title “Startup Nation”- among other things by contributing to the world at least seven patents that at the time were new even as a concept.

• Drip irrigation.
• SPI (firewalls).
• USB. Disk on Key.
• Instant messaging. (ICQ).
The idea which today is behind Whatsapp and others.
• PillCam.
A much more friendly and effective alternative to an endoscope.
• ⁠Rewalk.
Enabling people with spinal injuries- to walk again.
• ⁠Mobileye.
The technology behind many of the autonomous vehicles.

That’s before we even start addressing other popular products and optimisations used worldwide.

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On the other hand, we might ask ourselves:
What inventions did the Palestinians contribute to the world?

If one looks up these “inventions”- they find a list containing 21-23 items.

10 of them are related to kinetic energy… if you know what I mean.

There are also:
• 8 craft and art related items.
• ⁠3 culinary related items.
• ⁠2 modern technology items.

However, even the three categories above include mainly either anachronistic things- which have very little, if at all- to do with the modern day Palestinians,
Or things that just aren’t inventions but an attempt (including a failed one) to optimise something that already existed.

Here are some examples:

➡️ “The Nablusi soap”.
Its invention dates back to the 10th century.
Too bad the Palestinians did not exist back then. The city of Nablus (Shkhem) was controlled by a Tunisian dynasty and inhabited by Samaritans and immigrants from the Arabian peninsula.

➡️ “Mother of Pearl Carving”.
An artistic designing of Oyster shells introduced to Bet-Lekhem in the 14th century.
Before the Palestinians were invented.
By pilgrims from what today is Italy.
When the land was controlled by a Sultanate originating in Egypt.

➡️ “Non-Invasive Microwave Cancer Treatment Device”

A startup that tried to modify a well known technology into a device.
The device was never clinically proven to be effective.
The startup was closed without ever bringing a product to the market.

➡️ “Mapless Autonomous Vehicle Driving System”

First of all, this is not an invention by any stretch of imagination,
But rather a small part of a highly competitive branch in robotics.

However, this is likely the only modern positively contributing “invention” on this list- that is actually up and running.

What’s the catch?
The initial platform for this startup was given by the Tel Aviv University- where the founder- Ghazali, earned his M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering. (Apartheid and all. You know).

Early backing and ecosystem support to the startup were given by an Israeli venture capital fund “Takwin Labs”.

The co-founders were another Palestinian and two Israelis.

The company offices are located in Haifa and in San Jose.

➡️ Keffiyeh.
Just like the Palestinian flag,
And even the name Palestine itself-
The keffiyeh was not invented in Palestine nor by the Palestinians.

Its origin is today’s central Iraq- Kufa.

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It appears that even the existence of the list of Palestinian “inventions”- like so many other things about this conflict- is an attempt to rewrite the history.

What can you do when international media outlets air “news” without doing even the most basic fact checking?

One option is to turn their carelessness against them:

Below is a list of baits planted by ordinary Israelis across social media- that large news networks, in their chase after a sensational headline- fell for.

Such list makes you wonder if they verify anything at all, before broadcasting it.

➡️ 2024. “The helicopter agent”
On May 2024, a helicopter carrying the Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, and several other high ranking Iranian officials- got caught in thick fog and crashed with no survivors.
A cause that was later confirmed by the Iranian experts as well.

Despite that- “independent” journalists and podcasters- especially pro Kremlin ones, expectedly pointed the finger at Israel.

As a response- Israeli internet users fed the social media space with the name Eli Copter- as the Mossad pilot who allegedly was in the cockpit.

While Eli, is a common Israeli name-
You’d expect the professional media outlets not to miss the strange “coincidence” behind Eli Copter flying a Helicopter.

But no.
i24News Francais fell for it.
Dragging the very prominent Russian state propagandist Vladimir Soloviev with them- who in all seriousness quoted the name on his show as a proof of the Anti-Israeli conspiracy.

➡️ 2022. “Agent SBD”

In June 2022 a drone strike targeted a vehicle in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan.
The Iranian state media immediately claimed that it has hit a senior Israeli intelligence asset.

As part of a usual response- Israelis went on the internet and claimed that the name of the asset was Assaf Lotz.
Assaf- is a relatively common first name in Israel.
Lotz- is a plausible surname.

However when said together, it sounds like “Asa flotz”. Which literally translates from Hebrew as “he has let off steam through his rear end”…

Who were the ones to take the bait this time?-
Prominent Iranian state news agencies “Fars” and “Mehr”, who have published official reports celebrating the liquidation of a “Senior Mossad commander- Asaff Lotz”.

The articles stayed up for hours,
Giving the Israelis a chance to remember him as the “Silent but deadly” agent…

➡️2024. “Born to be an ‘Assassin’”.

In July 2024, the political leader of HMS- Ismail Haniyeh, was eliminated in a secure guesthouse in Iran.

Naturally, and this time maybe even rightfully so- all fingers pointed at Israel.

But while everyone were scrambling for details- the Israeli users “leaked” the name of the Mossad agent behind the operation. Amit Nakesh.

Once again,
Amit is a popular Israeli name.
Nakesh is a plausible surname.
But when said together- “Amitnakesh” literally translates from Hebrew as “the Assassin”.

Sure enough there were multiple large media outlets who fell for it.

This time it was the turn of the Turkish ones.
“Akdeniz Gercek Gazetesi”, “Usak Olay” and “Haber Global”-
Came up with entire profiles detailing the career of this “agent”.
One of them even went further and speculated about his “Indo-Jewish” origins as Amit is also a popular name in India.

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Jokes aside,
These are excellent demonstrations of the media “echo chambers” when it comes to reporting anything about Israel.
The media outlets understandably want to be “the first on the scene”, so during high profile incidents they rely almost blindly on their open sources to give immediate results.
However, those sources aren’t necessarily (to put it mildly)- objective or truthful.

And just as large media outlets fell for the playful trolling by the Israelis- they repeatedly fall for much less harmless tropes, without properly questioning their sources.

Let’s review the common accusation claiming that “Israel is ‘grabbing’ land from Lebanon”.

To do that, we should simply look at the negotiations that are being held between Israel and the government of Lebanon.

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The basic assumption of these negotiations:
➡️ Israel will eventually withdraw from Lebanon entirely.

Not exactly something being agreed upon by someone trying to “grab” land.

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What are the conditions that Israel is putting forward in order for that to happen?

➡️ All armed factions in Southern Lebanon should be disarmed and their place should be entirely and irrevocably taken by the LAF (the national military of Lebanon).

➡️ Lebanon should eventually recognise Israel’s right to exist. (Amazing. Thank you).

➡️ Lebanon should eventually establish diplomatic relations with Israel.

That’s it.

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Israel is not demanding anything humiliating.
➡️ Nobody even asks Lebanon to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. (Which also is a basic fact, but whatever).

➡️ Nobody is asking Lebanon to revoke their recognition of Palestine.

➡️ Israel doesn’t demand the LAF to limit the number of its soldiers, nor types of equipment, nor its area of presence.

➡️ On the contrary- the LAF should be able to enforce itself as the only armed entity in the area.

Generally nothing that would limit country’s sovereignty as long as the reasonable conditions above are met.

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In other words, nobody is putting forward any extraordinary conditions:
• Please be a normal country and make your national army- the only armed entity in it.
• ⁠Please, one day- recognize our right to exist. (🤦🏻)
• ⁠Please, one day- have diplomatic ties with us.

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By the way,
Pretty sure that the one to benefit more from the peace agreement, would be Lebanon.
Among other things- because if the LAF remains the only armed entity in the country- others won’t be so hesitant to invest in it.
As the main obstacle until now was the fear of the money and technology ending up in the hands of the Iranian regime- whose proxies are the cause of the vast majority of the armed conflicts in Lebanon in the last decades.

In case you have missed it:
On May 11th, the New York Times has published an ‘opinion’ column accusing Israel, among other things- of letting trained dogs to “violate bodily autonomy” of detainees.
If I rephrase it politely…

You did not misread that.

After you are done laughing (or crying), I perhaps should remind you that it is by far not the first time that Israel was blamed for controlling the animal kingdom.

The list below is for your entertainment and perhaps reassessment of the credibility of some mainstream outlets.

⁠➡️ 2010 “Assault Sharks”:
The BBC quoted an accusation alleging that Israel is behind the shark attacks in Egypt.

⁠➡️ 2013 “Spy Kestrel”:
The BBC reported of a Kestrel “detained” in Turkey and X-Rayed for Israeli espionage equipment.

➡️ 2014 ⁠”Sabotage boars”:
The Palestinian News Agency WAFA, Reported accusations against Israel of using wild boars against the Palestinians.

➡️ 2015 “Mossad Dolphin”:
The BBC quoted a report about “Seizing an Israeli spy dolphin by the shores of Gaza”.

➡️2018 “Intelligence reptiles”:
⁠The Times of Israel quoted Iran’s ex military chief blaming Israel for using lizards and chameleons to spy on the Iranian nuclear facilities.

➡️2019 “Hyena squads”:
A Palestinian NGO coalition- indirectly funded through partner NGOs by the EU, and named “Stop the Wall”- accused the Israeli authorities of “setting hyenas” on the Palestinian populations.

⁠➡️ 2021 “Surveillance cattle”:
The Palestinian newspaper “Al Quds” published a story about Israelis “training cattle” to spy on Palestinians.

➡️ 2022, “Zionist Bees”:
The Gaza-based “Shehab” news agency,
Reposted claims by pro Palestinian NGOs that Israel uses genetically modified bees and drones disguised as bees- to monitor activities in Gaza.

Also, one should also not forget about the
• “Zionist poison-resistant rats” brought up by mainstream Palestinian news agencies in 2008 and 2023.

• ⁠The Islamic Republic of Iran “detaining” 14 squirrels in 2007.

And other cases of detaining “Zionist spy” vultures and eagles in Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.

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Apparently claims that would normally be considered ridiculous- for many people become very plausible once the word “Israel” is attached to them.