Miko Peled, the author of “The General’s Son: The Journey of an Israeli in Palestine,” and of "Injustice: The Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five,” asserted to Loud & Clear hosts Brian Becker and John Kiriakou that Iran is only brought up by Washington when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “needs some kind of a smokescreen” or when he needs to “shift attention.”
“I don’t think that this is a coincidence. I think these things are all related,” he said, speaking of Israel’s peace deal with the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Joint Statement of the United States, the State of Israel, and the United Arab Emirates pic.twitter.com/oVyjLxf0jd
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 13, 2020
Peled claimed that it would appear as if Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was doing the work of Netanyahu when he gave his recent notification to the UN Security Council, per Resolution 2231 which endorsed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal, that the US wished to place sanctions on Iran for its alleged violations of the agreement.
New reports from the Axios news portal suggest the UAE on Friday pulled out of a planned trilateral meeting between Washington, Abu Dhabi and Jerusalem because Netanyahu criticized reports of a possible US-UAE F-35 deal.
Following a Monday meeting with Netanyahu, Pompeo expressed that the US would be open to selling arms to the UAE, but also has to respect its commitment to provide Israel with an “edge” over its neighbors.
"The United States has a legal requirement with respect to qualitative military edge. We will continue to honor that," he told reporters on Monday.
“I think this is all part of an election campaign, both on Netanyahu’s part and Trump’s part,” Peled told Becker and Kiriakou on Tuesday.
He said that Netanyahu and Trump are using Iran as a “scapegoat” and benefit politically by framing Tehran as the “bad guy.”
Regarding the UAE, Peled explained that the Emirati interpretation of the UAE-Israel agreement allowed both participants to purchase arms from the US, as long as Israel maintained its “edge.”
Despite the UAE pullout from the trilateral meeting, Peled does not believe the actual future implementation of the Israel-UAE agreement has been hindered.
