Peloni: Highly recommended video. Mike Pregent offers insights and perspectives which are rarely addressed in his analysis of the threat emanating from Qatar, and it insidious, systemic and systematic influence over the West and particularly American leaders, not the least of which has included Trump’s man Friday, Mideast Envoy Steve Witkoff. He also addresses the duplicity of Al Jolani and the threat from Turkey, as well as just touching on the Israeli Qatargate issue.
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https://tinyurl.com/4ys2jrz7
This is really discouraging but perhaps it is better to know the facts than to be unaware. It is not that I didn’t wonder about Witkoff based upon his comments about Qatar, when he was part of the transition team, now I realize there is something off in Trump’s Israel stance, especially in light of some off-putting messages during the White House briefing with Trump and Bibi. One of these was his comments about Erdogan that were worrisome. For Bibi, it is one thing to defend Israel against the terrorists in the Syrian government. It is another thing to deal with Erdogan, because if Israel attacks Erdogan’s positions, Erdogan can call in his NATO ALLIES and ask them all to attack Israel! So for Trump to cavalierly say he likes Erdogan and would help Bibi with Erdogan if need be, as long as there was a reasonable need to do so. That really was not reassuring for those of us who love Israel.
Previously I had no reason to question his being very pro-Israel. After this video interview and discussion, I now do question Trump’s judgment vis a vis Israel.
Here are the concerns I have:
1. On the one hand I think it is a good idea to have an envoy (cutting out the CIA and Intel Community and the silo operations of the government) AS LONG AS THAT ENVOY CARRIES OUT AN EFFECTIVE PRO-ISRAEL POLICY. Witkoff has been paid off by Qatar precisely to undermine his loyalty to Israel. This is disturbing that Trump would hire Witkoff to be his envoy who is so compromised re: Qatar. It makes me think Trump himself wants to please Qatar and Israel at the same time, and I don’t think that is going to work out well for Israel. I think we should move our base out of Qatar. Period.
2. I think it is a mistake to negotiate with terrorists. It is a double mistake to negotiate with terrorists and have a mediator that is also an Islamist radical regime! It is one thing for the feckless Biden administration to do this, quite another for Trump to engage in this.
3. I think it is a mistake to negotiate with Iran. The same reasoning applies. You cannot negotiate with terrorists who have a long and sordid history of lying to your country. That precludes any honest negotiation. To engage in negotiating with terrorist or terrorist states like Iran MAKES TRUMP AND THE US LOOK VERY WEAK.
4. Trump puts Israel and Bibi in an untenable position by favoring whatever Witkoff wants to do, given that Witkoff is compromised.
5. Witkoff needs to go but I see no sign that Trump realizes that, and that means to me that Trump’s Israel policies could be compromised by Witkoff.
If I have misunderstood what Pregent said, or if any of you have a different take on this issue I would like to know how you view this. This is a very important issue.
It is one thing, as Pregent says, for Marco Rubio to run Middle East policy. As it turns out Rubio is far more pro-Israel than Witkoff has shown himself to be. Maybe Rubio has not taken millions of dollars from Qatar.
What I see now is there are telltale signs of a politician who takes money from Qatar and Witkoff has them: praising them for doing “God’s work” and being involved in negotiating with terrorists and not seeing any problem with this.