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<h1 class="page__title title balance-text" id="page-title">Why has
Israel embraced al-Qaida’s branch in Syria?</h1>
<header class="node__header">
<p class="node__submitted">
<span class="field field-author"><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/rania-khalek"
typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel"
datatype="">Rania Khalek</a></span>
<span class="field field-publisher"><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/electronic-intifada"
typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel"
datatype="">The Electronic Intifada</a></span>
<span class="field field-publication-date"><span
class="date-display-single" property="dc:date"
datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2015-06-16T15:44:00+00:00">16
June 2015<br>
<b><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/why-has-israel-embraced-al-qaidas-branch-syria/14619">https://electronicintifada.net/content/why-has-israel-embraced-al-qaidas-branch-syria/14619</a></small></small></b><br>
</span></span> </p>
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<p>During his 2014 <a
href="http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Full-text-of-Prime-Minister-Netanyahus-UN-speech-376626">address</a>
to the UN General Assembly, <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/benjamin-netanyahu">Benjamin
Netanyahu</a> declared that “fighting militant Islam is
indivisible.”</p>
<p>The Israeli prime minister’s crude attempts to conflate <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/isis">ISIS</a> with <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/hamas">Hamas</a>
should not be allowed to conceal an important truth: Israel aids
the forces of “militant Islam” when it is considered opportune to
do so.</p>
<p>The most egregious example of such aid in recent times has been
Israel’s support for <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/jabhat-al-nusra">Jabhat
al-Nusra</a>, <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/al-qaida">al-Qaida’s</a>
franchise in <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/syria">Syria</a>,
as witnessed by UN peacekeeping forces stationed in the occupied <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/golan-heights">Golan
Heights</a>.</p>
<p>Israel’s collusion with al-Qaida has been virtually ignored by
the American media, with a few exceptions. For example, <em>The
Wall Street Journal</em> <a
href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/al-qaeda-a-lesser-evil-syria-war-pulls-u-s-israel-apart-1426169708">reported</a>
in March that Israel has been treating wounded al-Nusra fighters
and then sending them back into the Golan to battle <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/hizballah">Hizballah</a>
and the Syrian army.</p>
<p>Other media outlets have danced around the issue.</p>
<p><em>The Washington Post</em> columnist David Ignatius, a frequent
conduit for information from official sources, <a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-new-cooperation-on-syria/2015/05/12/bdb48a68-f8ed-11e4-9030-b4732caefe81_story.html">mentioned</a>,
in passing, last month that “<a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/jordan">Jordan</a> and
Israel have developed secret contacts with members of the Jabhat
al-Nusra group along their borders.” But he failed to elaborate.</p>
<p>In a video report released by Vice News in December — in which
Israeli soldiers are shown transferring wounded Syrian opposition
fighters to an Israeli hospital — the narrator <a
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G785kB8OKcU">acknowledges</a>
that the fighters could be affiliated with al-Nusra.</p>
<p>Israeli media has been slightly more open about Israel’s embrace
of al-Qaida. The news website <em>Ynet</em> has posted <a
href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4655669,00.html">footage</a>
of Israeli army medics treating wounded Syrian opposition
fighters, noting, “It is likely that most if not all of these
nationals are rebels from the rival jihadist Islamic State and
al-Nusra Front groups.”</p>
<p>This raises questions about the legality of sending members of
one of the world’s most notorious and active armed extremist
groups back into battle, especially since this particular group
has been the primary target of a global war for more than a decade
led by Israel’s greatest benefactor, the United States. (To be
fair, though, the US is no stranger to <a
href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/03/us-isis-syria-iraq">backing</a>
al-Qaida and ISIS to undermine its adversaries.)</p>
<p>A US Defense Department spokesperson declined to comment for The
Electronic Intifada about Israel’s apparent alliance with
al-Qaida. The <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/state-department">US
State Department</a> did not respond to a request for comment.</p>
<h2>Material aid</h2>
<p>As Israel’s neighbors absorbed millions of displaced Syrians
fleeing a war that, according to UN Secretary-General <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/ban-ki-moon">Ban
Ki-moon</a> has <a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/world/syria-220000/">killed</a>
more than 220,000 people, the Israeli government has <a
href="http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/09/12/syrian-shells-land-in-golan-heights-as-israeli-hospitals-treat-victims-of-war/">painted</a>
its medical care for those wounded in Syria as altruistic. But
only a third of the 1,500 treated by Israel have been women and
children, according to the March report in <em>The Wall Street
Journal</em>.</p>
<p>The rest have been fighters who Israeli officials admit are not
screened and likely belong to al-Nusra.</p>
<p>Once it became undeniable, Israel confessed it was treating
fighters, but claimed that they were moderates.</p>
<p>But after al-Nusra captured and ejected UN peacekeepers in the
Golan Heights last August, there was no longer any doubt that
al-Nusra was the dominant force among opposition fighters in the
area.</p>
<p>Since then, <em>Ynet</em> has resorted to whitewashing
al-Nusra’s connections to al-Qaida. Citing unnamed Israeli
officials, the publication <a
href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4659618,00.html">claims</a>
that al-Nusra’s members are “simply local residents who joined the
organization to benefit from the logistical and financial support
it offers them.”</p>
<p>Retired Brigadier General Michael Herzog, a former chief of staff
for Israel’s defense minister, told <em>The Wall Street Journal</em>
that “Nusra is a unique version of al-Qaida. They manage to
cooperate with non-Islamist and non-jihadi organizations in one
coalition … They are totally focused on the war in Syria and
aren’t focused on us. But when Hizballah and Iran and others are
pushing south, they are very much focused on us.”</p>
<p>Israeli soldiers have also been seen providing Syrian opposition
fighters dominated by al-Nusra with material aid.</p>
<p>Dozens of interactions between Israel and opposition fighters, as
far back as 2012, have been <a
href="http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/undof/reports.shtml">documented</a>
by the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), the peacekeeping
mission responsible for monitoring the 1974 ceasefire line between
Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights.</p>
<p>The UN has good reason to observe these interactions closely.</p>
<p>In August last year, al-Nusra <a
href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/11/us-syria-crisis-fiji-idUSKBN0H60C120140911">detained</a>
43 UN peacekeepers and seized their equipment, prompting the UN to
evacuate many of its soldiers to the Israeli-occupied side of the
ceasefire line.</p>
<p>Quarterly UNDOF reports since the pullback reveal an ongoing
pattern of Israeli coordination with those armed groups.</p>
<p>According to the December 2014 <a
href="http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_2014_859.pdf">report</a>,
UNDOF observed two Israeli soldiers “opening the technical fence
gate and letting two individuals pass from the [Syrian] to the
[Israeli] side” on 27 October. Unlike most fighters seen entering
the Israeli side, these individuals were not wounded and the
purpose of their visit remains a mystery.</p>
<p>UNDOF “sporadically observed armed members of the opposition
interacting” with the Israeli military across the ceasefire line,
the report states.</p>
<p>The next UNDOF report, released in March, <a
href="http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_2015_177.pdf">notes</a>
that UN forces witnessed Israeli soldiers delivering material aid
to armed Syrian opposition groups.</p>
<p>“During the evening of 20 January, in the area north of
observation post 54, UNDOF observed two trucks crossing from the
[Syrian] side to the [Israeli] side, where they were received by
IDF [Israeli military] personnel,” the report states. “The trucks
were loaded with sacks before returning to the [Syrian] side.”</p>
<p>The coordination between Israel and armed opposition groups
continued into May, according to the <a
href="http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2015/405">June
UNDOF report</a>.</p>
<p>Israel appears determined to keep the nature of these
interactions as low key as possible, something Sidqi Maqt, a Druze
resident of the Golan Heights, understands better than most.</p>
<p>In February, Maqt was <a
href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/04/curious-case-israel-al-nusra-facebook-spy-150420082913157.html">arrested</a>
by Israeli intelligence for posting photos and videos to his
Facebook page of Israeli army interactions with armed opposition
groups. Maqt paid particular attention to documenting encounters
he believed demonstrated the Israeli army’s alliance with
al-Nusra.</p>
<p>Released in 2012 after serving 37 years in prison for engaging in
armed resistance against Israel’s occupation of the Golan Heights,
Maqt is once again behind bars. He has been charged with
“espionage, assisting an enemy during wartime and contact with a
foreign agent,” according to Al Jazeera.</p>
<p>On top of providing al-Nusra with material aid and punishing
those who expose it, Israel has launched airstrikes almost
exclusively against forces fighting al-Nusra.</p>
<p>On 18 January, for example, an Israeli air strike on a convoy
near Quneitra <a
href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/1/24/hezbollah-seeks-revenge-not-war-over-israel.html">killed</a>
six members of Hizballah and a general in the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard.</p>
<p>Days later, rockets landed in the Golan Heights, according to
UNDOF. The Israeli army retaliated by shelling a location it said
was the source of the fire.</p>
<p>A Syrian army official, however, told the UN that “terrorists”
had fired the rockets and that the Syrian army planned to target
their positions. The UN relayed this message to the Israeli army,
which responded with airstrikes against two Syrian army artillery
positions.</p>
<p><a href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/bashar-al-assad">Bashar
al-Assad</a>, the Syrian president, has <a
href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/interviews/2015-01-25/syrias-president-speaks">said
that some in Syria joke</a>, “How can you say that al-Qaida
doesn’t have an air force? They have the Israeli air force.”</p>
<p>While Assad’s policies, including the bombardments that have
devastated cities and towns forcing millions to flee their homes,
have contributed to the chaos and vacuum that has enabled
extremist groups to flourish in some areas, Israel’s actions on
behalf of those groups grant credence to his claim.</p>
<h2>Cheering on ISIS</h2>
<p><a href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/amos-yadlin">Amos
Yadlin</a>, a retired Israeli general, has offered a candid
explanation for Israel’s partnership with al-Nusra.</p>
<p>“There is no doubt that Hizballah and <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/iran">Iran</a> are the
major threat to Israel, much more than the radical Sunni
Islamists, who are also an enemy,” he told <em>The Wall Street
Journal</em>. “Those Sunni elements who control some two-thirds
to 90 percent of the border on the Golan aren’t attacking Israel.
This gives you some basis to think that they understand who is
their real enemy — maybe it isn’t Israel,” he reasoned.</p>
<p>Hizballah, which is aligned with Bashar al-Assad’s regime, has
been fighting al-Nusra in the Golan Heights with Iranian support.
Given Hizballah’s growing capacity and proven willingness to
defend against Israeli aggression, Israel appears to favor
al-Qaida on its northern front and to view the destruction of
Syria as an opportunity to incapacitate Hizballah in southern <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/lebanon">Lebanon</a>
by draining its resources in Syria.</p>
<p>This does not mean Israel wants Assad to fall. On the contrary, <a
href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/06/israel-syria-hezbollah-netanyahu/">Israel
prefers a region fractured into small sectarian enclaves</a>
that are too busy fighting one another to unite against it. It is
for this reason that Yair Golan, the Israeli army’s deputy chief
of staff, recently <a
href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.659180">celebrated</a>
the conditions on Israel’s northern border as “better than ever.”</p>
<p><em>The Jerusalem Post’s</em> security correspondent, Yossi
Melman, has echoed Golan, <a
href="http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Analysis-With-Syria-crumbling-Israels-security-situation-has-never-been-better-404909">depicting</a>
Syria’s descent into chaos and fragmentation as a strategic boost
for Israel.</p>
<p><a href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/gilad-sharon">Gilad
Sharon</a>, son of late Israeli prime minister <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/ariel-sharon">Ariel
Sharon</a>, has gone even further by arguing that an ISIS
takeover in Syria would offer an opening for Israel to acquire the
Golan Heights permanently.</p>
<p>In the event of an ISIS takeover, Sharon <a
href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4656097,00.html">wrote</a>
last month, “There would be no international pressure for Israel
to give back the Golan Heights either — and that’s a very good
thing. The Golan will remain an important part of Israel forever.”
He added that Israel could rely on the West’s so-called anti-ISIS
coalition to defeat a victorious ISIS next door, allowing Israel
to bask in its newly annexed territory without lifting a finger.</p>
<p>Israel would not necessarily “welcome the presence of the Islamic
State lunatics on our border,” Sharon wrote, “but it’s certainly
no worse, and may even be better, than the presence there of
Hizballah, which is the Lebanese proxy of the Iranian regime.”</p>
<p><a href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/naftali-bennett">Naftali
Bennett</a>, Israeli education minister and leader of the
ultra-nationalist party <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/habeyit-hayehudi">Habeyit
Hayehudi</a> (Jewish Home), appears to be following Sharon’s
advice.</p>
<p>Speaking at the Herzliya conference, a key event in Israel’s
political calendar, this month, Bennett <a
href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4665886,00.html">called</a>
on Israel to invoke the threat of ISIS expansion to compel
governments around the world to legitimize its annexation of the
Golan Heights.</p>
<p>“Who do they want us to give the Golan to? To Assad? Today, it’s
clear that if we listened to the world we would give up the Golan
and ISIS would be swimming in the Sea of Galilee. Enough with the
hypocrisy,” said Bennett, agitating for expanding the number of <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/settlers">Israeli
settlers</a> in the Golan from 20,000 to 100,000 in the next
five years.</p>
<p>Support for al-Qaida in Syria, then, serves at least two purposes
from Israel’s perspective: sapping the strength of the foe it
fears most — Hizballah — and solidifying its occupation of the
Golan Heights.</p>
<p>In addition to sowing chaos and bloodshed, Israel’s machiavellian
schemes — as its decades of meddling in Lebanon show — have a poor
record of achieving their goals.</p>
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