# The Arab states and the Gaza war > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "The Arab states and the Gaza war," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/arab-states-and-the-gaza-war/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *John Kiriakou's country-by-country reading of how the Arab governments positioned themselves after October 2023, the Gulf states ranked by their fear of Iran, Jordan caught between its border and its population, Egypt sealing Rafah to prevent a repeat of earlier refugee flows, and his conclusion that every one of them is calculating damage to itself first and the Palestinians second.* - **Saudi Arabia:** Hates and fears Iran regardless of restored relations - **Bahrain:** Fears and hates Iran more than the Saudis do - **Kuwait:** 'Want to just be left alone' - **United Arab Emirates:** Prefers business ties to Israel, willing to step back - **Qatar:** 'Pro-Hamas, period, they always have been' - **Oman:** 'The diplomats of the peninsula' - **Jordan:** A long Israeli border and a half-Palestinian population - **Egypt:** Has sealed the border and done 'really nothing' Asked what the Arab and Muslim states would do if an Israeli–Iranian war broke out, [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) accepted the host's characterisation of their posture as *"wishy-washy"* and then went through them one at a time.[1] ## The Gulf *"The Saudis, regardless of their new relations with the Iranians, [the Saudis hate the Iranians](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/saudi-iran-diplomatic-rivalry) and they fear them. The Bahrainis fear them and hate them even more than the Saudis do. The Kuwaitis want to just be left alone. The Emiratis prefer strong business ties to Israel, but they're willing to take a step back over the course of this conflict. The Qataris are pro-[Hamas](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/hamas), period, they always have been. The Omanis are the diplomats of the peninsula, so they want everybody just to get along."* The transcript renders the fifth of these indistinctly; it is read here as the Qataris, that being the one member of the six-state enumeration otherwise unaccounted for.[1][2] ## Jordan, Syria and Egypt Jordan he describes as caught between geography and demography: *"they worry about the Israelis because they share such a long border with Israel, but at the same time fully 50 per cent of Jordan's population is Palestinian, and so they have to stand up for Palestinian rights and Palestinian human rights."* Of Syria: *"it goes without saying, they are constantly wronged by the Israelis."*[3] Egypt he judges most harshly, and explains rather than merely condemns. *"What have the Egyptians done since October 7th? The Egyptians have done really nothing to help the Palestinians. They've sealed the border, because what's the thing that the Egyptians want the least? They want an open border where Palestinians are going to stream across it and have to be placed in refugee camps in Sinai. That's happened before. They don't want it to happen again."*[3][4] ## The common calculation *"The bottom line is that all of these Arab countries are taking this unfortunate wait-and-see attitude, thinking: what position can I take that is going to cause the least amount of damage to my own country? And then their thoughts of the Palestinians are secondary to that."*[5] ## See also - [Saudi-Iran diplomatic rivalry](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/saudi-iran-diplomatic-rivalry) - [Hamas](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/hamas) - [October 7 attack](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/october-7-attack) - [Proposals to relocate the Palestinians](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/proposals-to-relocate-the-palestinians) - [Expulsion of Palestinians from the Gulf](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/palestinians-in-the-gulf) - [Gulf security bargain](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/gulf-security-bargain) ## Sources 1. Iran-Israel Possible Open War (2024-04-18), at 17:27. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXpQfO_oTsQ&t=1047s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-04-18-dr-david-oualaalou-iran-israel-possible-open-war/ 2. Iran-Israel Possible Open War (2024-04-18), at 17:58. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXpQfO_oTsQ&t=1078s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-04-18-dr-david-oualaalou-iran-israel-possible-open-war/ 3. Iran-Israel Possible Open War (2024-04-18), at 18:30. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXpQfO_oTsQ&t=1110s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-04-18-dr-david-oualaalou-iran-israel-possible-open-war/ 4. Iran-Israel Possible Open War (2024-04-18), at 19:01. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXpQfO_oTsQ&t=1141s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-04-18-dr-david-oualaalou-iran-israel-possible-open-war/ 5. Iran-Israel Possible Open War (2024-04-18), at 19:32. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXpQfO_oTsQ&t=1172s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-04-18-dr-david-oualaalou-iran-israel-possible-open-war/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. 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