Comment by bawolff
4 days ago
I think you could argue that the political reality has changed a lot over the last 50 years. Having Israel & Palestine fighting was much more useful to surrounding arab states in the early cold war than it is now. In modern times it is very useful to Iran but not so much US-aligned Arab states who want the trade benefits and are allied with the same people Israel is allied with.
Internationally, a certain amount of friendliness towards the US is beneficial to Arab states aligned or not, but internally, appeasing the "death to America/Israel" portions of the population which are quite large is both necessary and often advantageous to encourage. Having an enemy brings people together, and a wise Machiavellian prince will take every advantage of this.
Arab leaders who don't strike this balance correctly will find themselves deposed by their own people or a Western coalition trying to bring "freedom".