"Odd Bedfellows"

16 Kislev 5774

That is the descriptor that sprang to my mind while thinking about the new alliance between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and French President Francois Hollande. The term "odd bedfellows" means "...two people...are connected in a particular activity though they are very different and would not usually have the same opinions...."

Jews want to think that suddenly France is our "friend." Ironically, it was the former French General and President Charles DeGaulle who is credited with the famous quote: "No nation has friends, only interests."  

In fact, President Hollande lost no time proving this in yesterday's speech to the Israeli Knesset when he "demanded an end to Jewish settlement activity and told the Israeli parliament Jerusalem must one day be the capital of two states."

So, then the question is - what French interest is served by supporting Israel against an Iranian nuclear threat? I think it harks back to the same reason President Hollande was so prepared to support US President Obama's near attack on Syria.

According to an August 30, 2013 report in The Guardian:

...So what was this unfolding strategy to undermine Syria and Iran all about? According to retired NATO Secretary General Wesley Clark, a memo from the Office of the US Secretary of Defense just a few weeks after 9/11 revealed plans to "attack and destroy the governments in 7 countries in five years", starting with Iraq and moving on to "Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran." In a subsequent interview, Clark argues that this strategy is fundamentally about control of the region's vast oil and gas resources.

...These strategic concerns, motivated by fear of expanding Iranian influence, impacted Syria primarily in relation to pipeline geopolitics. In 2009 - the same year former French foreign minister Dumas alleges the British began planning operations in Syria - Assad refused to sign a proposed agreement with Qatar that would run a pipeline from the latter's North field, contiguous with Iran's South Pars field, through Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and on to Turkey, with a view to supply European markets - albeit crucially bypassing Russia. Assad's rationale was "to protect the interests of [his] Russian ally, which is Europe's top supplier of natural gas."

You'll recall that in January 2009, Europe was plunged into an energy crisis when Russia suddenly cut back its gas supply:

'Without prior warning and in clear contradiction with the reassurances given by the highest Russian and Ukrainian authorities to the European Union, gas supplies to some EU member states have been substantially cut,' the EU said in a statement.

...Around 80 per cent of the gas European Union countries receive from Russia comes through Ukraine.

While Germany and France are much more exposed, it is reckoned in some estimates that 15 per cent of Britain's supplies come from Russia through pipelines into the UK's east coast.

Given the recent Financial Times report that Israel is emerging as the new Middle East energy power, I think we are beginning to get a clearer picture. The next question is - if Israel trades support for it's war against Iran for an alternative supply of gas to France, how will Russia react to Israel becoming its market competitor?