On September 29, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke about an "Israeli" plan for a "New Middle East" in a press conference.
The arrogance of power was evident as he spoke and explained, through maps, how the occupying entity would form the "New Middle East" according to its whims between two axes; "evil" and "moderation", after the Zionist entity had been begging the Arab countries, since this term was first introduced in the nineties, to recognize it as a state within the Middle East.
The reason for Netanyahu's arrogance and vanity was his perception, after assassinating the Secretary-General of "Hezbollah" Hassan Nasrallah, and many leaders of the party, the movement and "Hamas", and bombing Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, and Iran, that eliminating the resistance forces would be followed by "Israeli" hegemony and building a "New Middle East".
Because of his pride and arrogance following the victory over Hezbollah, his discussions about the new East were tied to changing the balance of power in the region. He hinted that after striking Hezbollah, Hamas, and Iran, Israel's influence would extend throughout the entire Middle East, according to Reuters.
On the other hand, Netanyahu spoke about establishing new alliances in the region; that is, normalization with the Arab countries; because then, Israel will be victorious, according to his claim. Netanyahu did not limit himself to speaking with the logic of force; that is, subjecting the Arab countries and the Middle East to the dominance of the Zionist entity, after changing the balance of power, but he also included the teachings of the Torah in his talk; which confirmed that the battle is religious and existential; as he resorted to the Torah to justify and explain the aggression launched by Israel on Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Iran, threatening to change the equations in the region.
He said: “As it is written in the Torah, I will pursue my enemies and I will destroy them,” stressing: “We are working systematically to change the strategic reality in the entire Middle East.” Netanyahu has repeatedly talked about the new Middle East and changing the region using religious terms several times since the “Al-Aqsa Flood” on October 7, 2023. On September 2, 2024, he spoke about the time of the Messiah (the awaited Messiah from the lineage of David) coming to establish the Kingdom of the Jews, and he preached to the “Israelis” that they will be victorious because the time of the Messiah will come.
Before this, he claimed in a televised speech on October 25, 2023, that he would fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah, by destroying the Palestinians and Arabs and describing them as the sons of darkness, and the “Israelis” as the sons of light.
Netanyahu and his military staff, in their quest to achieve a new Middle East in which they will have supremacy and dominance, are acting as if they are on a path to victory, to eliminate Hezbollah, then the rest of Iran’s arms in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, and eventually to lure Iran into a clash that will allow the occupying state to open war against it with the participation of the United States and Western countries, and to destroy its nuclear and military capabilities.
Internal Challenges
It was clear that Netanyahu's proposal of a new concept for the "Middle East" was related to the conflicts and crises facing many countries in the region and the resistance forces, in addition to the occupation army achieving tactical breakthroughs in the war with "Hezbollah".
The Zionist entity sought to exploit these internal conditions in the Arab countries, to reshape the political or geographical system of the Middle East according to the new logic of military power, which came amid the euphoria of temporary victories over "Hezbollah" and the extermination of Gaza, and tried to exploit what it called "Israel's" victories; to threaten the Arab countries that have not normalized relations or still consider it an enemy, that if they do not submit to the hegemony of the occupation (within this new Middle East), they will be bombed.
Cairo suffers from being under the weight of a series of threats from all strategic directions; in the south, it suffers from the repercussions of the Sudan war, and the dangers of Ethiopian arrogance and haughtiness after building the "Renaissance Dam" and imposing a fait accompli on Egypt and threatening its water and national security.
In the West, it suffers from instability in Libya and the conflict between the governments of Tripoli and eastern Libya, which threatens to reignite the war again.
It is threatened from the East by the Houthis’ attack on hostile ships in the Red Sea, which has led to a decline in Egypt’s most important income from the Suez Canal by $6 billion annually, which it desperately needs.
The Israeli occupation of Palestinian Rafah and the Salah al-Din (Philadelphi) axis and the violation of the Camp David Treaty with this occupation, amid strange Egyptian silence, has increased internal pressures and threats in Egypt.
In addition to the severe economic crisis, which has reached the point where Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly hinted for the first time at resorting to a “war economy” if the crisis expands.
Netanyahu is trying to exploit these internal Egyptian challenges by imposing a new equation in the border area based on severing Egypt’s relationship with Gaza (closing the Rafah crossing and establishing the “David” corridor), and further subjugating it before the Zionist project.
This Egyptian dilemma and Israel's exploitation of it was expressed by Amos Yadlin, the former head of the Zionist military intelligence, who said: "We will not allow the presence of an army on our borders except according to the standards we set for the Egyptian army and the Jordanian army, claiming that both of them do not move except under strict orders from our state!"
The same restrictions shackle Jordan, which suffers from economic and security crises and internal pressures due to the Gaza war, and the subsequent proposition of aggressive ideas by Zionist parties such as the file of displacing the West Bank, demolishing Al-Aqsa Mosque and other files, which have a direct impact on Jordan and its balance.
The editorial of the newspaper "Haaretz" on October 7th spoke about moderate Arab voices offering peace to "Israel". It criticized the absence of these moderate voices in the "Israeli" government. The newspaper criticized the Netanyahu government's efforts to occupy the Middle East under the pretext of October 7th and rejecting peace.
The Hebrew newspaper called in its editorial on moderate voices in "Israel" to join moderate voices in the Arab world, to strengthen the anti-Iran axis, which passes through the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside "Israel". A report by the "National Interest" newspaper on October 7 also hinted at the failure of the Netanyahu government to achieve regional integration with moderate Arab countries as a new strategic necessity.
The newspaper stated that this approach, by linking mutual interests to peace and stability, provides the Zionist entity with the best opportunity to secure its future in an increasingly uncertain world, warning "Israel" that there is a need to diversify its alliances with Arab countries and reduce its dependence on Western powers, as it did with the "Abraham Accords", to build an economic partnership, reduce political tensions and create mutual benefits.
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