The Story of the Naked King and the Jewish Tailor: What Do Arab Leaders Gain from Normalization with Israel?

It is told that a great king in a faraway land was approached by two deceitful conmen who claimed they could weave him a magical royal garment with unique properties. The fabric, they said, could only be seen by the intelligent; any fool would be unable to see it.

The king was intrigued by the idea and instructed them to make the garment so that he could use it to distinguish his clever ministers and followers from the fools in his kingdom. The conmen persuaded the king to give them enormous amounts of gold to weave this supposed garment, and the king went along with it, afraid to admit that he might be seen as a fool. His entire court, fearing the same, also praised the garment, even though none of them could actually see it.

The king then decided to wear the nonexistent garment and parade through the streets to show off his newfound ability to identify the intelligent. As the king paraded, all of his subjects were too afraid to admit the truth, fearing they’d be seen as fools. They praised the “garment” to avoid humiliation, until a young boy in the crowd shouted, “The king is naked! The king is naked!” At that moment, everyone realized they had been deceived.

This is a story from German children’s literature – “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”

Arab leaders have similarly rushed to normalize relations with Israel. They arrived in droves, eager to stand before the Jewish tailor, hoping he would weave for them garments of illusion, visible only to them. These leaders preferred to serve in the army of their enemy rather than be soldiers for their own people. They came with high hopes, believing that the Jewish tailor would weave them a red carpet to the White House, shields and weapons against Iran, and a future filled with dreams. Once the meeting was over and the photos were taken, it didn’t take long before the young man in the heart of Tel Aviv shouted, “The king is naked!” as he took up arms and stood alone against the occupiers for nine hours, defying their armies, kings, and false courtiers.

Beyond the literary allegories and the symbolism of the event, let’s examine the reality. When we discuss Israel with those who have embraced the ideology of defeat, we must ask: Does this entity truly hold the keys to the world’s wealth, as those who normalize relations with Israel seem to believe?

The reality proves, without a shadow of a doubt, that this entity is in crisis, living through its worst decades. Since 2000, Israel has failed to decisively win a single battle. Since its withdrawal from Lebanon in September 2000, the setbacks have piled up for the occupying state. The Second Intifada, which Israel failed miserably to control until 2007, and the subsequent four rounds of conflict with Gaza, have seen resistance rockets reach every corner of the occupying state, from the sea to the river. Not to mention the 2006 war with Hezbollah, which exposed the fragility of the Israeli military. This military, which the Arabs admire for its security systems and purchase at enormous cost, has yet to defeat resistance forces in the besieged Gaza Strip. This strip of land, which is surrounded geographically and under constant siege, has forced Israel to accept conditions, using blood, iron, and fire.

What Do Arabs Who Normalize Relations Want from Israel?

This is the crucial question. When we try to answer it, we are perplexed, because all the answers seem illogical. If the Arab leaders want a relationship with the U.S., it is already at its peak of absolute subordination, with the White House’s approval for its obedient servants. Moreover, America’s political focus is shifting from the Middle East to Eastern Europe, Russia, and the Ukrainian crisis, which seems set to reshape the world and bring about a multipolar balance, thereby gradually withdrawing from the Middle East, which is now securely under the U.S. umbrella.

If the goal is weapons, global arms markets are open to the petrodollars of the Arab world. Billions of dollars from the Arab nations have been flowing into Western arms factories for decades, both out of necessity and diplomacy. The global arms market has shown its superiority over Israeli weaponry. Israel’s Iron Dome has been neutralized by resistance rockets, and the Merkava tank has failed catastrophically in Lebanon and Gaza. This failure occurred not against a regular army but against semi-organized, besieged forces. Even worse, the Palestinian resistance has destroyed this hollow idol with its self-made strength.

If the Justification Is a Military Alliance Against Iran

The Israeli military doctrine says unequivocally, “A Jew does not fight under the banner of the non-Jews.” Israel cannot, and will not, send a single soldier or aircraft to fight alongside non-Jews. Israel has never fought for others, even abandoning allies such as the South Lebanese Army when it withdrew from Lebanon without firing a shot in their defense. Similarly, it left its Kurdish allies to face their grim fate against Iraq.

Thus, the baffling rush towards normalizing relations with Israel can only be understood as an alliance of the oppressors against the oppressed. All the Arab regimes, deep down, know they are occupying their own people for the benefit of their enemy. The relationship between Arab security forces and Arab citizens is no different from the relationship between Israeli security forces and the Palestinian people. It is simply an alignment of powerful oppressors uniting against the weak, the oppressed, and the downtrodden.

In this framework of collaboration, the occupying power has managed to convince the Arabs of its false strength, weaving garments of illusion that offer no protection from the sun, the moon, or even the wrath of their own peoples or enemies. And in the end, a young man, like the boy in the crowd, will cry out, “The kings are naked, and the tailor is a fraud.”