What Need Is There of Mecca Joint Defense Agreement Of Saudi Arabia, Turkey Or Pakistan?

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                  

Erdogen of Turkey                               Salman of Saudi Arabia              Pakistan  Army chief Field                                                   Marshal                                                                                    Marshal  Asim Mun

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan have signed mutual defense pact called the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement. The pact is modeled on NATO’s Article 5 principle that an attack on one member is considered an attack on all. 

The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement belongs to three nations: Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan. It was signed on August 7, 2026, in Mecca by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif

1. Saudi Arabia is the holdout on the Abraham Accords of which the UAE (United Arab Emirates) belongs to as well as Israel, USA, Bahrain, Morocco, Jordan, and almost Sudan where Normalization is widely opposed in Sudan, and fighting between rival military factions has delayed the signing. Kazakhstan is a possible member since  in early 2026, Kazakhstan formalized its entry into the Abraham Accords, marking the first expansion of the framework into Central Asia. The formalization established a structured strategic partnership with Israel focusing on cybersecurity and water management, while maintaining support for a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict which has been dropped since October 7, 2023.  That's not going to happen in our life-time;  they have squashed any chance of that.  Egypt could also join the pact.  Hedging and Diplomacy: Rather than joining the Israeli-aligned security architecture, Saudi Arabia has pursued alternative regional balancing, such as joint defense frameworks with regional powers like Turkey and Pakistan.

The chance of Egypt formally joining the Abraham Accords is very low. Egypt already signed a historic peace treaty with Israel in 1979. Cairo views the newer Abraham Accords as redundant for its bilateral relationship with Israel, and prediction markets like Polymarket price the probability of Egypt signing before 2027 at under 10%. 

Saudi Arabia refuses to join the Abraham Accords without a credible, irreversible roadmap toward Palestinian statehood. This stance has hardened significantly following the war in Gaza, making formal normalization with Israel a major political hurdle for Riyadh.Iranian officials argued that the agreement would not protect Saudi Arabia.

2. Turkey's relationship with Israel today is bad.  Turkey's relationship with Israel is at a historic low point, defined by severed trade, severe diplomatic hostility, and deep strategic rivalry across the Middle East,  

Turkey completely cut off all bilateral trade and economic ties with Israel. Ankara closed its airspace to Israeli aircraft.  Turkish leadership routinely accuses Israel of genocide and sabotaging peace efforts in Gaza.  Israeli officials increasingly label Turkey a primary regional threat and rival. 

Regional and Strategic Clashes

Syria: Turkey seeks to expand its influence following regime changes, while Israel fights to maintain operational freedom for its air force.  Turkey, in my opinion, has dreams of grandeur of the old Ottoman Empire which they were for over 400 years.  
New Alliances: Turkey joined Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in signing the Mecca Joint Defense Pact, a move viewed in Israel as a challenge to its regional posture. 
Eastern Mediterranean: Ankara opposes Israeli-led energy and security alignments with Greece and Cyprus.
3. Pakistan:  Pakistan and Israel have no official diplomatic or formal relations. Pakistan does not recognize Israel as a sovereign state, and its official stance prohibits Pakistani citizens from traveling to Israel. Relations remain deeply hostile, characterized by sharp political rhetoric and mutual strategic opposition,

Resource:

israel AM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Accords

Can Netanyahu Lead The Board Of Peace Away From Harm?

 Nadene Goldfoot                                       

Netanyahu has seen combat.  He has been raised in war times.Respect his knowledge of what will happen in Gaza under Trump's plan.

Prime Minister Netanyahu publicly rejected the Board of Peace’s 15-point Gaza roadmap on Sunday, saying Israel would not carry out any IDF withdrawal from the Strip before Hamas is fully disarmed. The roadmap calls for a gradual Israeli withdrawal in parallel with partial stages of Hamas disarmament, rather than requiring Hamas to fully disarm before any withdrawal begins. Cabinet Ministers also criticized the disarmament, saying that the weapons would simply be transferred to Palestinian custodianship, and could then still be used against Israel. As of now, the IDF holds about 70% of Gazan territory.

      Left: Ajay Banga; Center:  Marco Rubio:  Steve Witkoff right ???

15-20 men backed by money and who has ever been a General?  Who has served in an army?  They are men backed by money.  They have no idea what war is like today in the Middle East with today's weapons and communication systems.  This is not the war of late.  All these men are following are Trump's lead.

Take Marco Rubio.  No, Marco Rubio has never served in the army or any branch of the armed forces. His career has been entirely in law and politics, serving as a local commissioner, state legislator, U.S. Senator, and U.S. Secretary of State.

Take President Donald Trump:  No, Donald Trump never served in the United States military.

Take Steve Witkoff: Steve Witkoff has never served in the United States Army or any other branch of the military.

                        On the Israeli Side along with his cabinet

Take Netanyahu:   Benjamin Netanyahu served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from 1967 to 1972 as a team leader and captain in the elite special forces commando unit Sayeret Matkal, and returned from the US to fight in the 1973 Yom Kippur War .

Benny Gantz  Benjamin "Benny" Gantz is an Israeli politician and retired army general.

President Donald Trump's Board of Peace is an international body created to oversee post-war governance and reconstruction. The query about a 15-member group likely refers to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG)—the 15-member Palestinian technocratic committee on the ground—or the foundational Executive Board, rather than a fixed 15-country limit, as over 20 nations have joined. 

They all have jobs elsewhere other than to sit on this board which would take work, one would hope.  How can they possibly give any of themselves other than money?

Executive Board Members

The high-level executive team managing the initiative includes: [1]

Marco Rubio: U.S. Secretary of State
Steve Witkoff: U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East
Jared Kushner: U.S. Advisor and Trump's son-in-law
Tony Blair: Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Marc Rowan: CEO of Apollo Global Management
Ajay Banga: President of the World Bank Group
Robert Gabriel Jr.: American political and security advisor
Nickolay Mladenov: High Representative for Gaza and former UN envoy [1, 2, 3, 4]

Governance on the Ground

Right now Israel's IDF holds about 70% of Gazan territory that has come to them with their own blood and guts.  Gazans are still fully armed.  To reduce IDF in any amount reduces their % of protection for those remaining and the proposal gets worse as time goes by, with less and less IDF remaining.  

Weapons would simply be transferred from one Gazan to the other remaining Gazan as the facade continues.  Netanyahu is not going along with such an unwise proposition.  Israel's cabinet ministers, all army people, for all civilians have been serving their country in Israel and have been raised under war conditions, know that this is ridiculous.  

Trump really is making a fool out of himself, unfortunately, in this matter;  a man who has never served in any service for his own country---he dares to take the lives of Israelis now, and I note, after he has already played badly with the youth of Iran who were promised help and yet, 16,000 of them were machine-gunned down in their very own streets by their Ayatollah government ! 

I hand it to these men of honor and prestige and money;  they are in a position to help financially to bring about Trump's  dream to make Gaza a place of fun and games and honoring him,  but it seems to me that they are out of their element. Be wiser and heed Netanyahu's advice.