It has been said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The Middle East seems to be a very beautiful place – especially to superpowers, to asset management firms, and to military and petrochemical industries. Why are tycoons and moguls so attracted to the Islamic world? What draws them to Riyadh, to Doha and to Abu Dhabi?
The essence of beauty
Four-star U.S. General and former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO Wesley Clark once spoke bluntly, “The truth … about the Middle East is, had there been no oil there, it would be like Africa. Nobody is threatening to intervene in Africa” (General Wesley Clark, 92nd Street Y Cultural Center, New York City. 27 Feb 2007). NY Times journalist Thomas Friedman once commented in a similar vein, “We are the addicts. The oil producers are the pushers” (attributed in Commodities: 50 Things You Really Need To Know).
The ‘beauty in the eye of the beholder’ in the Middle East involves some of the planet’s biggest supplies of petroleum and natural gas buried beneath the shifting sands of Iran, Qatar and Saudi Arabia (three of the top five suppliers).
Bob Dylan spotlights this dynamic on his Grammy-award winning album, where the song ‘Slow Train Coming’ won the 1980 GMA Dove Award:
- “All that foreign oil controlling American soil
Look around you, it’s just bound to make you embarrassed
Sheiks walkin’ around like kings, wearing fancy jewels and nose rings
Deciding America’s future from Amsterdam and to Paris
And there’s a slow, slow train comin’ up around the bend”
In an article titled ‘The Fall Of The House Of Saud’ (May 2003, The Atlantic), Bob Baer explains:
“Not all the wishing in the world will change the basic reality of the situation:
- Saudi Arabia controls the largest share of the world’s oil and serves as the market regulator for the global petroleum industry.
- No country consumes more oil, and is more dependent on Saudi oil, than the United States.
- The United States and the rest of the industrialized world are therefore absolutely dependent on Saudi Arabia’s oil reserves, and will be for decades to come.
- If the Saudi oil spigot is shut off, by terrorism or by political revolution, the effect on the global economy, and particularly on the economy of the United States, will be devastating.
- Saudi oil is controlled by an increasingly bankrupt, criminal, dysfunctional, and out-of-touch royal family that is hated by the people it rules and by the nations that surround its kingdom.”
The Islamist oil wars
Problems arise when the eyeglasses of the West get smeared with Gulf oil; it clouds political vision, resulting in compromised and fuzzy ethical decisions. This was why Baer titled his 2004 book ‘Sleeping With the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude.’ One analyst has stated: “For bankers, the most important thing is to keep the channels of international finance open, no matter what the human cost.”
The violent jihadi ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood is not changing any time soon. And Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, Qatar, Turkey, the Houthis, etc., are all on board for the very bumpy ride.
“Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil!” (Jeremiah 13:23). The Deputy Head of Hamas’ Political Bureau Moussa Abu Marzouk agrees with Jeremiah, noting in 2006 that “Hamas changes neither its skin nor its principles and it will deal with the West on this basis” (JP Thurs Feb 2 2006, page 6). Hamas Chairman and Politburo Chief Khaled Mashaal stressed that same point in March 2017: “We were and we still are in an open war with the criminal enemy [Israel] . . . [Hamas] insists on the choice of jihad and resistance – Hamas’s greater and first strategy . . . Hamas is not changing its skin.”
It is instructive to hear the perspective of Ephraim Halevi, former head of the Mossad (Israel’s equivalent to the C.I.A.), in his article ‘Rules of conflict for a world war’ (JP, Fri July 8 2005). Halevi now heads the Center for Strategic and Policy Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem:
- “We are in the throes of a world war, raging over the entire globe and characterized by the absence of lines of conflict and an easily identifiable enemy. There are sometimes long pauses between one attack and another, consequently creating the wrong impression that the battle is all over, or at least in the process of being won … With the passage of time, our memories fade and we return to our daily lives, forgetting that the war is still raging out there and more strikes are sure to follow. It cannot be said that…we can see its conclusion. We are in for the long haul and we must brace ourselves for more that will follow. The ‘Great Wars’ of the 20th century lasted less than this war has already lasted, and the end is nowhere in sight … International cooperation…cannot replace the requirement that each and every country effectively declare itself at war with international Islamist terror … This war is already one of the longest in modern times; as things appear now, it is destined to be part of our daily lives for many years to come.”
Desert deception
King Solomon cautions his listeners to beware of neighbors with evil agendas: “One who hates disguises it with his lips, but he harbors deceit in his heart. When he speaks graciously, do not believe him, because there are seven abominations in his heart. Though his hatred covers itself with deception, his wickedness will be revealed in the assembly” (Proverbs 26:24-26).
The deceptiveness of oil politics has formed cataracts on Western eyes. The jihadi world is diligently pulling strings, manipulating Western (and even some Israeli) fears, trying to force all resistance to jihadi strategies to come to a shuddering halt. But jihad – Islamist holy war – is not a low-grade fever which can be blithely ignored by paying a hefty ransom to its perpetrators. Western media paint a picture for their listeners, that the Arabian Gulf oil barons are threatening an oil-based ‘jihad-Mafia option.’ To paraphrase U2’s Bono: “Just give us what we want, and no one gets hurt!”
Here are three mini-quotes from Bob Dylan which speaks to this above dynamic:
- World leaders are lacking backbone: “We live in a political world, where courage is a thing of the past.”
- Beware of false promises of peace and prosperity, Bob warns us in ‘Slow Train Coming’: “Big-time negotiators, false healers and woman haters – masters of the bluff and masters of the proposition. But the enemy I see wears a cloak of decency . . . And there’s a slow, slow train comin’ up around the bend”
- Dylan cautions about giving in to political and spiritual pressure: “He got a sweet gift of gab, he got a harmonious tongue. He knows every song of love that ever has been sung. Good intentions can be evil. Both hands can be full of grease. You know that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace” (‘Man of Peace’, words and music Bob Dylan © 1983 by Special Rider Music).
A good name is better than good oil, says the Preacher, the son of David, in Ecclesiastes 7:1.
The passions of God
While the world may seductively offer great power, wealth and reputation in exchange for toeing the line, Messiah Yeshua shows us another way:
- “Again, the devil took Him along to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, ‘All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.’ Then Yeshua said to him, ‘Go away, Satan! For it is written: “You shall worship YHVH your God, and serve Him only.’” Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to serve Him” (Matthew 4:8-11)
The nation that chooses God’s heart and His priorities, that runs after His passions – that nation will be blessed with peace and prosperity. Pray for the leadership of your nation, that they will receive a revelation of YHVH’s heart and priority passion for the Jewish people; that they will shape their Middle East policies based on a biblically informed heart – protecting and blessings the sons and daughters of Jacob.
- “In all their distress He was distressed, and the Angel of His presence saved them. In His love and in His mercy He redeemed them, and He lifted them and carried them all the days of old” (Isaiah 60:9)
- “Now a centurion’s slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die. When he heard about Yeshua, he sent some Jewish elders to Him, asking Him to come and save the life of his slave. When they came to Yeshua, they strongly urged Him, saying, ‘He is worthy for You to grant this to him; for he loves our nation, and it was he who built us our synagogue’” (Luke 7:2-5)
- “The sons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you, and all those who despised you will bow down at the soles of your feet. And they will call you ‘the City of YHVH, Zion of the Holy One of Israel’” (Isaiah 60:14)
- “And He has lifted up a horn for His people . . . for the sons of Israel, a people near to Him. Hallelu YAH!” (Psalm 148:14)
How shall we then pray?
- Pray for revelation and courage to be given to international leaders in political, intelligence and military spheres – to understand and counteract strategies against Israel, the apple of God’s eye (Zechariah 2:8) – as jihadi armies gather at Israel’s borders.
- Pray that enemy strategies against the Jewish people and their state, against Middle East Christians and other minorities – will be confounded, and that a great harvest would take place in all of these areas!
- Pray for the protection of Israeli and Jewish people from the assaults of jihadi terror organizations and their Western fellow-travelers, and the return of the Jewish people to both the Land and the Messiah of Israel
- There are approximately 20 living Israeli hostages remaining, kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, PFLP/PLO and the Mujahideen Brigades. Hamas is also holding on to approximately 70 Israeli corpses as cold storage bargaining chips. Pray for the speedy release of all the hostages, and for YHVH’s justice to be brought on the heads of the Islamist kidnappers
- Pray for the raising up of Ezekiel’s prophetic Jewish army throughout the earth
Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.
In Messiah Yeshua,
Avner Boskey
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