2. Tirana, Periphery of Tel Aviv

 

by Ali Azzali

(Translated from the original Italian article “Tirana, periferia di Tel Aviv” published in Eurasia - Rivista di Studi Geopolitici)

 

 

According to Zbigniew Brzezinski's theory, the United States' hegemonic position hinges on its ability to dominate the Rimland — the vast coastal region surrounding Eurasia. However, today this strategy is not confined to the use of coercive force, ranging from aircraft carriers to autonomous weaponry. Instead, it operates through a sophisticated fusion of investment funds, geopolitical real estate, “weapons of mass migration” (as seen in Ceuta) and transregional alliances, all of which are aimed at securing control over maritime and commercial flows. The luxury tourism mega-project on Sazan Island in Albania, promoted by Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners fund, is more than just real estate speculation. Rather, it signifies a collaboration between the Washington–Tel Aviv axis and Arab capital, as they move northward to economically colonise the strategic nodes of the European Rimland and contain China's expansion. In effect, it serves as a geographic extension of the Abraham Accords.

 

 

1.

“I don’t believe in that,” Kushner said.

“You don’t believe in what?” Bannon responded.

“In history,” Kushner said. “I don’t read history. It bogs you down.”¹

 

Drawing inspiration from Malaparte’s Technique of the Coup d’État, the Scottish scholar Shaykh Abdalqadir as-Sufi analyses the early signs of political power being gradually usurped by the global investment banking system. The archetype of this process unfolded in 1875 with the capitulation of Isma’il Pasha’s Egypt, which was overwhelmed by a public debt whose interest payments exceeded state revenue. Under pressure from a transnational financial oligarchy, Egypt ceded sovereignty over the Suez Canal and became an "empty shell." As Shaykh Abdalqadir as-Sufi observes: “Egypt, the new nation, already burdened by a series of debts at outrageous interest, with a new 1872 loan of thirty two million pounds, still tottered on the edge of disaster, and by 1875 the public debt had reached a hundred million in the money of the time. The annual interest to the banks was more than the total annual income of Egypt. France and Britain, as political entities, saw themselves as the protagonists and antagonists of the Canal venture. Behind them stood the growing network of investment banks which took on themselves the task of commissioning the great projects. Pressure on the Khedive soon made it clear that he would have to sell or mortgage his Canal shares. In Paris the banking brothers Dervieu and Edouard and in Alexandria the banker André began to manoeuvre to get their hands on the shares. They were closely linked to the massive financial institution Société Générale. At the same time the Crédit Foncier, through their agents the Anglo-Egyptian Bank, made their move. One of its associates, Henry Oppenheim, revealed the Dervieu plan to the British Government. Lord Derby proposed that the British Government should buy the shares. D’israeli, the new Conservative Prime Minister, dined every Sunday with Baron Lionel de Rothschild. As he said, ‘At his house there is ever something to learn.’ The Cabinet decided in principle that the purchase should go ahead. Despite all the intrigues the Khedive came down in favour of letting the British Government buy, should he sell. In the end Lord Derby was able to telegraph: ‘The Khedive’s offer is accepted. Her Majesty’s Government agree to purchase the 177,642 shares of the Viceroy for four million pounds Sterling, and to recommend Parliament to sanction the contract.’ [...] The actual procedure, which secured the loan which bought the Canal, most perfectly reveals this pivotal change in power that was to mark the beginning of a new relationship between a talking Assembly and a buying and selling Investment Bank. When the authorisation of the loan to purchase went through, Parliament was not even in session. If it had been, the deal could not have been secured. D’israeli said, ‘We could not call them together for the matter, for that would have blown everything to the skies, or to Hades.’ So it was that D’israeli raised the loan, unsanctioned by the Mother of all Parliaments. D’israeli asked the Rothschilds. The matter went like this: in Westminster, Montague Lowry-Corry, later Lord Rowton, waited outside the cabinet room. Once the principle of the purchase was decided the Prime Minster shot his head round the door and said, ‘Yes.’ At this, Corry went straight to Baron de Rothschild and informed him that the Prime Minister wanted four million pounds. Rothschild asked, ‘When?’ He was told, ‘Tomorrow.’ The banker picked up a large grape, chewed it, then spat out the skin. ‘What is your security?’ He replied, ‘The British Government.’ Within a few days the money had been transferred at a commission rate of two and a half percent, which amounted to an average interest rate of thirteen percent per year. From then on a triangle of relationships was to develop between the members of the great banking houses of Europe, their heads of state, and the prime ministers of their parliaments and assemblies. From then on until this day, for example, an intimate financial and social relationship has existed between the English branch of the House of Rothschilds and the House of Windsor. […] All these relationships have continued, not weakened but strengthened, by the series of terrible wars which have shaken the continent. In less than a hundred years, in 1956, the Canal secured by D’israeli was to be invaded by Britain and France, and this time the collaborating agent was Israel itself, another appropriate transformation. From then on, through every major technological project from the building of the Baghdad Railway to the series of national gas and then electricity installations and the vital central act of any national state, its armament spending and purchase, an increasing evolution and expansion of banking procedure and power can be measured and a diminution of the power of the State debating chamber or Parliament.”²

It is no coincidence that a famous American writer – the daughter of a banker who chaired the American Jewish Committee from 1941 to 1943, and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner – interpreted the acquisition of the Suez Canal as the opening event of a period of imperialist expansion which, following the Convention of Cyprus in 1878, would incorporate into the British sphere of influence ‘the historic area between the Nile and the Euphrates, staked out by the Lord for Abraham.’ Barbara Tuchman concludes: “‘Zeal for the greatness of England,’ said Lord Salisbury on Disraeli's death, ‘was the passion of his life.’ As Alroy ³ had been his ideal ambition, England was his ideal Israel. Odd that, by acquiring the Suez Canal for England, he should have started the Intermediary Power [the British Empire, regarded as an ‘agent’ or ‘material vehicle’ for achieving long-term geopolitical objectives] on the path that was to reopen Palestine to the real Israel.”⁴

 

2.

“We were on our friend Nat [Nathaniel⁵] Rothschild's boat⁶. We got picked up in Montenegro and then we started sailing over to Corfu and we spent a couple days in Albania. One of the nights their Prime Minister Rama came to the boat. I had not met him when I was in government, but I was very, very impressed with his vision for what he wanted to do with Albania.”

Jared Kushner⁷

That same mathematical violence which, in the Victorian era, manifested itself in the 13 percent interest rate imposed by the Rothschilds, is now found in the strategies of private equity firms like Affinity Partners.⁸ This fund, established to channel Gulf investments towards companies and projects supporting Israel—thereby strengthening the geopolitical bloc without compromising the legitimacy of the investing states—does not deal in sovereign debt, but instead exploits the markets’ structural dependence on foreign capital. This dynamic forms part of the expansionist agenda of the Washington–Tel Aviv axis in the eastern Mediterranean, where Israel’s significant influence within the EMGF (East Mediterranean Gas Forum) and the massive investments by US corporations such as Chevron in the Leviathan natural gas field⁹ are transforming the Levantine energy resources into a pure instrument of hegemony. Underwater extraction, originally militarised as part of the EastMed gas pipeline – a project born of the Nicosia–Athens–Tel Aviv axis with an explicitly anti-Turkish function and aimed at replacing and eliminating Russian gas supplies to Europe – now serves as the backbone and geostrategic shield for the entire trade corridor controlled by the bloc. This geopolitical architecture finds its logistical integration in the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), as highlighted by the structural analysis of the original infrastructure (2023):

“The corridor was conceived as a multimodal spine—combining maritime shipping, rail, road, fiber-optic cables, and energy pipelines—connecting India’s western ports to Europe through the Gulf and the Levant. Its two-part structure comprised an Eastern Corridor linking India to the Arabian Gulf by sea, and a Northern Corridor carrying goods overland through Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Israel to Haifa Port, from which short-sea shipping would complete the journey to terminals in Greece, Italy, and France. The strategic logic was threefold. First, IMEC offered a direct counter to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), providing participating governments with a values-aligned alternative connectivity framework anchored in US–India–Gulf–European cooperation. Second, it encourages practical cooperation between Israel and Arab countries. By focusing on infrastructure such as railways, ports, and energy links, it creates space for economic and strategic ties even where full political normalization is still developing. Third, for the Gulf states—particularly Saudi Arabia and the UAE—IMEC aligned with Vision 2030 diversification objectives, positioning them as global logistics hubs rather than purely as energy exporters.”¹⁰

From Jared Kushner’s plans for ‘New Gaza’¹¹ to the projects for Sazan Island and the coastal resort of Zvërnec in the Narta Lagoon, the commercial façade of luxury tourism conceals deep colonial ambitions aimed at financial privatization and the control of global logistics and energy hubs.  In Albania, these projects are being implemented by Affinity Global Development—the real estate arm of Kushner’s fund led by CEO Asher Abehsera,¹² through a special purpose vehicle, Atlantic Incubation Partners LLC, to which the Rama government has granted ‘strategic investor’ status.¹³ It should come as no surprise that: “Affinity’s business broker in the region is the former US ambassador Richard Grenell, who served as Trump’s special envoy for Serbia and Kosovo peace negotiations between 2019 and 2021. According to the New York Times, while Grenell was special envoy, he pushed a related plan that Serbia and the US jointly redevelop the former defence ministry. He has since joined forces with Kushner on the new development deal, and is now a partner in Affinity. (Kushner told me it was Grenell who first suggested he invest in Albania.)”¹⁴

Just as the Suez Canal served as a critical bottleneck for the British Empire, the island of Sazan is far more than a pristine beach; it is a veritable fortress island. Guarding access to the Strait of Otranto—a passage historically vital for control of the Adriatic—it features over 3,600 bunkers alongside a dense network of underground tunnels and fallout shelters.¹⁵ The construction, at a strategic chokepoint, of a large tourist resort “with port facilities and communications infrastructure creates ‘dual-use’ capability. Ostensibly civilian infrastructure can be rapidly adapted for military or intelligence purposes: a private port monitors Adriatic traffic; communications infrastructure intercepts signals; helicopter facilities conduct surveillance; restricted-access resorts house operatives. [...] Once infrastructure is built and operational under foreign control, it becomes difficult for the host country to reclaim that control without creating an international incident. This is how strategic dependencies are built gradually over time.”¹⁶

This strategy echoes a historical precedent: as early as 1935, the British Zionist journalist Leo Elton had identified the Vlorë region as the ideal starting point for the creation of a Jewish state as an alternative to Mandatory Palestine, owing to its strategic maritime position and agricultural potential.¹⁷

 

3.

Its role as an outpost disguised as a tourist destination is revealed by several converging strategic factors, foremost among which is the island’s proximity to the subsea route of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), an asset vital to Europe’s energy supplies. The pipeline “transports Azerbaijani gas from the Shah Deniz II field to Europe: it starts at the Greek-Turkish border, crosses Greece for over 550 kilometers and Albania for a further 215, enters the sea and runs for approximately 105 kilometers along the seabed of the Strait of Otranto, before coming ashore at San Foca, in the municipality of Melendugno, in the province of Lecce; from there, the gas enters the Italian network operated by Snam, one of the main shareholders in the TAP consortium.”¹⁸ Downstream, the new onshore terminal located in the Gulf of Vlorë will connect to the Albanian national network via the Fier–Vlorë pipeline. The future Ionian-Adriatic Pipeline (IAP) will branch off from this Fier hub, traveling northward along the coast for over 500 kilometers to extend TAP’s reach by carrying gas to Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia, with planned secondary branch lines like ALKOGAP intended to extend this supply inland to Kosovo. Concurrently, the GR.ITA 2 project—a new high-voltage electricity link between Italy and Greece—is under development. Crucially, this project also lands in Melendugno, the very same municipality where TAP makes landfall. This electricity infrastructure complements the Great Sea Interconnector scheme, a €2 billion plan designed to link the electricity grids of Greece, Cyprus, and Israel via the world’s longest and deepest subsea cable.¹⁹

Further confirmation of the gulf’s strategic importance came in March 2021, when the government in Tirana signed an agreement with the American companies ExxonMobil and Excelerate Energy. The agreement initiated a feasibility study for a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) in Vlorë, alongside the conversion of the city’s thermal power plant to natural gas.²⁰ On April 28, 2026, a definitive turning point occurred in Tirana with the signing of a 20-year, €6 billion commercial contract between Albania's state-owned gas company, Albgaz, and AKTOR LNG USA, a subsidiary of the prominent Greece-based AKTOR Group. Backed strongly by the United States government, this landmark trilateral agreement secures stable supplies of American liquefied natural gas (LNG) to solidify the regional infrastructure network, positioning Albania as the primary energy hub of the Western Balkans.²¹ With this in mind, the plans set out in Albania’s ‘Gas Master Plan’ envisage a strategic interconnection between this network and the future EastMed gas pipeline. In this scenario, the axis formed by TAP and IAP will function as a major energy highway, capable of collecting and distributing across the Western Balkans and Northern Europe a portion of the gas from the fields in Israel (Leviathan and Tamar) and Cyprus (Aphrodite). This flow will pass through Greece and, in part, head north towards the Vlorë hub, before the main line of the EastMed project joins the Poseidon subsea corridor, heading for Otranto.

Overlapping this energy network is the island’s strategic position along the routes of the India-Middle East-Europe (IMEC) Economic Corridor, which, starting from the Haifa terminal — managed through a partnership between the Indian Adani Group and the Israeli company Gadot²² – connects the Indian coast directly with the port of Trieste.²³ This exceptional logistical position, combined with the absence of any real State control, explains why Albania now also serves as a hub for the flows of the black economy: from opium and heroin, originating from Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan along the Balkan route, to cocaine from Latin America, channeled toward Europe mainly via the port of Durrës.²⁴

 

4.

Overlooking the Albanian coast, on the Italian side of the Adriatic, this economic and territorial expansion finds a clear parallel in the case of Ostuni (Brindisi), more specifically in the district of Mogale. Here, a €100 million investment to build a 9-hectare luxury resort is being led by the Israeli property holding company Omnam Investment Group.²⁵ The project is headed by Israeli financiers Yaniv Medalsy and David Zisser through an Italian proxy company called Merletto Srl. The project is being carried out in strategic partnership with the Four Seasons hotel chain, an entity in which Bill Gates holds a controlling stake of over 71 percent through his personal holding company, Cascade Investment. Although the name of the Microsoft founder dominates the local and national media, Israeli capital is the real driving force behind the purchase of the land and the push for construction. The situation in Ostuni mirrors the modus operandi employed by Affinity Partners in Serbia²⁶ and Albania in an attempt to sideline local institutions in favor of international capital. Bypassing the local Superintendency and the Puglia Regional Government—which had issued negative opinions—the developers appealed directly to the compliant government in Rome. Through the instrumental use of the Single Special Economic Zone (ZES Unica) structure, they successfully obtained ‘Single Authorization No. 423’. However, administrative appeals and fierce protests by local committees have triggered an institutional deadlock, leading the Puglia Regional Authority to escalate legal action alongside environmental groups against the development.²⁷

Compounding this situation is the presence, in the center of Lecce, of the Israeli property development company Coral 37 (also known as Studio Lev). Founded by entrepreneur Orit Lev Marom and inspired by “a community-based vision” as well as “visionary thinking and innovative projects,” the company proposes “to create an ‘Israeli colony in Salento’: a sustainable and self-sufficient settlement, where agriculture, tourism and essential services such as schools and healthcare are combined.”²⁸ The plan for an “Israeli Colony in Salento” has alarmed local political bodies, who are “concerned about a significant precedent, namely what happened in Cyprus. In the south of the country, in fact, since 2021, more than 4,000 properties have been purchased and subsequently turned into fenced-off enclaves with schools, synagogues and health centres. According to Cyprus’s main opposition party, AKEL,²⁹ this is not just any form of migration, but the construction of a ‘backyard’: a satellite enclave of Israeli influence, economic power and a potential intelligence infrastructure, situated just beyond the range of missiles, yet close enough to be significant.”³⁰

 

5.

“We need super luxury like a desert needs water.”

Edi Rama³¹

 

On the diplomatic front, the Albanian government has been laying the groundwork for some time, as demonstrated by the signing of three important Memoranda of Understanding focusing on military cooperation and cyber defense in 2023, medical innovation in 2025, and agricultural development in 2026.³² In line with this approach, during President Isaac Herzog’s official visit to Tirana on 12 September 2024 – at the height of the genocide in Gaza – the two leaders issued a joint statement to the press. During the meeting, the Albanian Prime Minister stated: “We are here with open arms to welcome all Israelis who want to come, whether they are tourists or entrepreneurs, artists, writers, people who deal with high technology, or even the elderly who want to have their home here in the heart of Europe, on the coast of two seas, surrounded by many rivers, in a nature where you can find everything in a very small space in a country as small as Albania. The economic cooperation between the two countries has a huge potential for rapid development. The trends are quite encouraging and visible, but of course, it is obvious that we can do much more.”³³ In the wake of the event, Israeli Ambassador Galit Peleg told the Jerusalem Post: “Traditionally, Albania has a very positive attitude toward Israel, which is also expressed in the international arena. It’s a small country but a very brave one. It’s a permanent member of the Organization of Islamic Countries; in 2023, it was a member of the United Nations Security Council, and now it’s a member of the UN Human Rights Council. In each one of these forums, Albania expresses very clear positions on fighting antisemitism and standing by Israel. Because Albania wants to join the EU, it aligns itself with EU positions. Albania will stand on our side if the EU does not reach a joint position on an Israeli matter. After October 7, Albania expressed its support of Israel unequivocally. But even a year before, when the OIC passed another anti-Israeli resolution, the Albanian representative declared that it did not reflect the spirit of his country and left [the hall where the delegations were meeting].”³⁴ This stance perfectly encapsulates the logic of the Israeli “Periphery Doctrine” as applied to the Western Balkans. This approach, which “emerged in the mid-1950s in the thinking of David Ben Gurion and his close advisers — particularly Reuven Shiloah, who founded the Mossad, and Iser Harel, who headed both the Mossad and the Shin Bet (Israel’s domestic intelligence,”³⁵ is an Israeli foreign policy strategy devised to overcome geographical and diplomatic isolation through strategic alliances with non-Arab, pro-Western nations and ethnic minorities on the margins (periphery) of the Middle East.³⁶ Today, the profound redefinition of geopolitical frameworks has prompted Israeli analysts to broaden this scope, extending it “to include Romania and India. Others would list the Central Asian ‘stans’ of the former Soviet Union. Some insist on looking farther west into Europe, toward Albania and even Italy, in search of a Mediterranean identity.”³⁷

 

6.

A tangible symbol of the “historic Albanian-Israeli friendship”³⁸ is the construction of the Albanian Jewish Museum right in the heart of Vlorë, a high-profile project entrusted to the award-winning Kimmel Eshkolot architectural practice in Tel Aviv.³⁹ Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama himself spoke with pride and anticipation about the project’s inauguration during his memorable address to the Knesset on 26 January 2026: “Our young people, and the many guests who come from all over the world to visit our beautiful country, where the number of Israeli tourists last year grew far faster than from any other nation,⁴⁰ will see there with their own eyes and hear with their own ears how small Albania was always a safe refuge for Jews,⁴¹ long before our era.”⁴² According to Edi Rama, this spirit of hospitality and tolerance stems from the historic Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini: a “medieval code of honour” typical of the country’s mountain communities and now an unwritten law of local organised crime, by virtue of which “The house of the Albanian belongs to God and the guest.”⁴³ “This is why,” Rama continued before the Israeli parliament, “for many years now, Albania has offered protection to several thousand Iranian citizens whose opposition to the butchers of Tehran placed their lives in grave danger.” This refers to the approximately 3,000 members of the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) organisation, “the exiled Iranian opposition group that was previously on the U.S. and EU terrorist lists,”⁴⁴ which has been hosted since 2016 in the fortified compound of Camp Ashraf-3 near Manëz, in the prefecture of Durrës. Loyalty to the time-honoured “code of honour” and firm strategic alignment with the Washington–Tel Aviv axis have, however, entailed risks: “Some years ago,” Rama continues, “Albania suffered a massive cyberattack directed from Iran, aimed at destroying our entire digital public infrastructure. We resisted it. They did not prevail. […] We gave Iranian embassy personnel twenty-four hours to leave the country and severed even the thin ties we had with the Khomeinist Republic, which I will never describe as Islamic, because Islam is love and humility, while Khomeinism is hate and death.”⁴⁵ It was precisely Tehran that the Prime Minister seemed to be alluding to when, months later, he denounced the “exploitation” of the protests against Affinity Partners’ tourism projects as part of a “hybrid war” orchestrated “by the enemies of Israel and Albania,” aimed at spreading the claim of “a hidden deal between me and Bibi Netanyahu through Jared Kushner.”⁴⁶  However, the fact that there is, if not an agreement, then at least a common strategy between the government in Tirana, the Israeli Prime Minister, and Donald Trump’s son-in-law is confirmed by Rama’s own words in Jerusalem. These reveal how Affinity Partners’ investments in Albania should be interpreted as an indirect extension of the Abraham Accords, aimed at strengthening the geopolitical axis linking Washington, the Gulf states, India (“the great ‘Indo-Abrahamic’ alliance”⁴⁷), southern Europe and Tel Aviv in an anti-Iranian and, ultimately, anti-Chinese capacity. For its part, Beijing is not taken in by Kushner’s ‘ecumenical’ rhetoric and regards the expansion of the Abraham Accords as a pre-emptive move by Washington aimed at containing China’s geopolitical expansion and “restructuring the regional security system to serve American hegemony, and encircling Beijing’s economic and security interests in the Middle East”: “Chinese intelligence and military circles analyze the Abraham Accords between the Gulf states, the Middle East, and Israel as not merely peace treaties but rather the infrastructure for a technological and military alliance linking advanced Israeli technologies with Gulf financial capabilities under an American umbrella, aimed at countering China. […] Beijing fears that this Israeli-Gulf axis, operating under the auspices of the Abraham Accords, could provide Washington with a robust regional intelligence network capable of monitoring Chinese military and technological movements, particularly along vital maritime routes and in ports. […] Beijing understands that the normalization of Gulf-Israeli relations under the guise of the Abraham Accords opens up alternative trade routes, infrastructure, and logistical networks, such as the planned Israeli-Gulf-Indian-European connectivity projects, like the (India-Israel Corridor), which would connect the Middle East to Europe. This could marginalize China’s Belt and Road Initiative and counterbalance and weaken China’s diplomatic influence […] Trump’s call for the Gulf and the Middle East to join the Abraham Accords with Israel⁴⁸ is seen as political and economic blackmail aimed at forcing Gulf states to choose between expanding investment and technological partnerships with China or submitting to the American-Israeli security umbrella.”⁴⁹

The political exploitation of the Abraham Accords as a means of diplomatic blackmail is confirmed by the conditions imposed by Washington on Saudi Arabia for the signing of the civil nuclear agreement. Access to nuclear energy and US technology is, in effect, conditional upon the normalization of relations with Israel. In this regard, on July 23, 2026, Donald Trump stated: “There will be no enrichment of material!… [The US] is not opposed to Civil (Non-Enriched) Nuclear Facilities… but [the deal] is totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords.”⁵⁰

 

7.

In a recent article published in The Guardian regarding the brief truce between Iran and the US-Israel axis, analyst Daniel Levy states that “Donald Trump doesn’t have a plan. Benjamin Netanyahu does.”⁵¹ Netanyahu’s ultimate goal is said to be the realisation of “Greater Israel.” According to Levy, this project is generally interpreted as a “purely territorial concept,” that is, limited to the occupation of Palestinian territories and parts of neighbouring Arab countries⁵² for alleged reasons of national security. However, this perspective overlooks the profound geopolitical and strategic dimension inherent in the very idea of a “Greater Israel”: “something both more ambitious and more sophisticated than the simple control of territory – a project of dominion that is made up of new alliances, underwritten by hard power dependency.” In order to consolidate Israel’s status as a “dominant regional power” – Levy argues – it was necessary “not only collapsing Iran but simultaneously weakening the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – and making them dependent on Israel for security and energy export routes.” From this perspective, “the war’s spillover impact of GCC states being hit by Iranian drones and missiles can be seen as an intentional design feature for Israel, not a regrettable side-effect.” Supporting this argument are the words of the Israeli Prime Minister himself, who, in a video statement on 20 March 2026, said: “Instead of going through the chokepoints of the Hormuz Straits and the Bab-al-Mandab Straits in order to have the flow of oil, just have oil pipelines, gas pipelines going west through the Arabian Peninsula right up to Israel, right up to our Mediterranean ports, and you’ve just done away with the chokepoints for forever. That is definitely possible. So I see that as a real change that will follow this war.”⁵³  This plan could be described as an update of the ‘Yinon Plan’ (1982), the strategic document aimed at ensuring Israel’s survival and superiority through the balkanization of the Arab world.⁵⁴

However, the contemporary evolution of this plan is not confined to the Middle East. The geopolitical dimension of Tel Aviv’s ambitions emerges clearly from Netanyahu’s public statements regarding Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit. In this context, “the special relationship that has been forged over recent years between Israel and the global power that is India” must be understood in the light of the geostrategic and ideological implications of the IMEC project. Announcing Modi’s mission to the Knesset, the Israeli Prime Minister stated: “I want to say something regarding the diplomatic aspect: In the vision I see before me, we will create an entire system, essentially a 'hexagon' of alliances around or within the Middle East. This includes India, Arab nations, African nations [Horn of Africa⁵⁵], Mediterranean nations (Greece and Cyprus), and nations in Asia that I won't detail at the moment. […]  The intention here is to create an axis of nations that see eye-to-eye on the reality, challenges, and goals against the radical axes, both the radical Shia axis, which we have struck very hard, and the emerging radical Sunni axis.⁵⁶ All of these nations share a different perception, and our cooperation can yield great results and, of course, ensure our resilience and our future.”⁵⁷

This strategic convergence and the central role envisaged for Israel emerged strongly during the special session in honour of Modi, where references to the Abraham Accords and the IMEC corridor became even more explicit: “We are developing together the IMEC initiative, this is a maritime and land corridor that will connect India, through the Arabian Peninsula, to the Port of Haifa, and from here to the Mediterranean and Europe. IMEC, this maritime-land corridor, can only exist and flourish if it passes through stable and secure countries. And there are no countries stronger and more secure on this axis than India and Israel. Therefore, I welcome your commitment to Israel being a connecting link between Asia and Europe through the Port of Haifa! In this visit of yours, we will also implement agreements in tourism, culture, agriculture, water, and desalination. And in the spirit of the 'Abraham Accords' and peace, we will continue the revolution of new alliances, of increasing regional stability, of strengthening resilience, progress, and prosperity. I want you to notice: we are not just reacting to reality. We are shaping reality, out of a closeness and trust greater than ever!”⁵⁸

8.

 

“A MOMENTUS TURNING POINT today! Historic Peace Agreement between our two GREAT friends, Israel and the United Arab Emirates!”

Donald J. Trump⁵⁹

 

In light of the above considerations, an examination of the Albanian Prime Minister’s address to the Knesset reveals a further key development. Rama, in fact, enriches his historic speech with a solemn celebration of the “stunning peace agreement between Israel and the UAE, in which a one-of-a-kind world leader such as Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed broke with long ages of conflict and taught the world by example that […] under heaven’s eye we are all on the same side of peace.” The “new window of opportunity” offered by the Abraham Accords would represent the “Florence moment” of the Middle East: “What is happening in your neighborhood resembles, in my eyes, what occurred in Europe when visionary leadership inspired by modernity and beauty turned Florence into the cradle of the Renaissance.” Within the historical framework evoked by Rama, it would therefore not be far-fetched to name the accords—the result of Jared Kushner’s diplomacy—after Machiavelli rather than Abraham. Now, in fact, “Israel is no longer alone in seeking transformation, innovation, and global leadership for the future in this part of the world.”

At this point, it is worth noting that the three main investors (accounting for 99% of the capital) in Affinity Partners are the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia—with an initial investment of $2 billion—the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), and Lunate of the United Arab Emirates (with its registered office in Abu Dhabi), which subsequently injected a further joint tranche of $1.5 billion into the fund.⁶⁰ “The fund itself,” comments Margherita Furlan, “also owns almost ten per cent of Phoenix Holdings, Israel’s largest insurance and financial group, which is in turn involved in financing infrastructure in the West Bank settlements and on the Golan Heights.”⁶¹ And it is precisely to these financiers that Rama is addressing when he states: “From the streets of Riyadh to the green oases of Abu Dhabi and the vibrant waterfronts of Doha, one can feel a mesmerizing wind of change that has little to do with the old caricature of gilded spectacle in the desert. Saudi Arabia, under its driven and visionary young leader, whose traits recall Lorenzo the Magnificent of Florence, is changing at breathtaking speed. The UAE has placed itself at the forefront of global leadership on the green agenda, while Qatar, led for over a decade by its young and farsighted Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, has made an extraordinary leap onto the world stage and, thanks also to a role model woman, his sister, Sheikha Al Mayassa, is becoming a major laboratory for next-generation urban and lifestyle transformation. Today’s common denominator among your Arab neighbors is a drive to modernize in every direction and to beautify at every step, and together they are making Europe’s old and marvelous playground look suddenly grim and dim.” This bright future, “written with the unleashed power of hopes and dreams in the desert,” is nevertheless threatened by “a trap capable of swallowing in its dark gut the very greatness now being built around it.” But thanks to the efforts of Jared Kushner, architect of the Abraham Accords, founding member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Peace, and sole owner and CEO of Affinity Partners, there is hope “that peace can lift all peacemaking nations almost as a miracle within the realm of the Abrahamic faiths.”⁶² The Albanian Prime Minister thus demonstrates consummate linguistic diplomacy. To avoid any misunderstanding, in his references to peace he uses the language of the “terror of the settlers”⁶³ who occupy the West Bank and quotes “the words of a Jewish martyr for peace, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin⁶⁴”: “From the depths of our hearts, we call upon all citizens of the State of Israel, certainly those who live in Judea, Samaria [sic], and the Gaza Strip, as well as Palestinian residents, to give the establishment of peace a chance, to give an end to acts of hostility a chance, to give another life a chance, a new life.”

In this context, Rama declares himself firmly ready “to participate, together with our Arab brothers and others, in the forthcoming international stabilization force in Gaza.” Just ten days earlier, on 16 January 2026, President Donald Trump had sent an official letter to Edi Rama, formally extending an invitation to Albania to become a founding member of the Board of Peace. 

 To shed light on the real motives behind the decision, Mark Gojcaj comments: “When U.S. President Donald Trump invited Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama to join the newly created Board of Peace on Gaza, the decision looked odd on its face. Albania has no border with Israel or Gaza, no troops on the ground, no financial firepower to rebuild a shattered enclave. Yet in Washington’s current logic, geography is secondary. Alignment is everything. […] Trump is not assembling a geographically representative body. He is assembling a coalition of dependables — states that will not equivocate on Hamas, will not complicate demilitarization, and will not insist on procedural multilateralism before action. In that respect, Tirana checks every box. Under Rama, Albania has been one of Europe’s most predictably pro-American governments. A NATO member since 2009, it has consistently aligned with U.S. military and security priorities, often quietly and without hedging. On Gaza, its position has been unusually stark by European standards: Hamas framed not as a resistance movement but as a terrorist organization incompatible with any future Palestinian governance. Israel’s right to self-defense endorsed without rhetorical gymnastics. Two-state solution affirmed — but only after the removal of armed militants.”⁶⁵

Edi Rama provided ample evidence of his strategic alignment with the United States and of the close private economic ties he had forged with the President’s inner circle (Kushner in particular) in February 2026, during the first official summit of the Board of Peace at the Donald Trump US Institute of Peace in Washington. On that occasion, Rama opened in true Trumpian style, saying: “Thank you for inviting me to be part of this journey, Mr. President. The fully aligned bipartisan vote of support this initiative received in our parliament speaks for itself about how honored Albania is to be a founding member of this new organization. Many in Europe say the Board of Peace is meant to substitute the United Nations. It does not look to me like an attempt to replace the UN, but if it helps shake that agonizing giant and inshAllah wake it up, then God bless the Board of Peace."⁶⁶

The Albanian analyst Skënder Minxhozi notes in Fjala that: “only 12 days ago the world was introduced to a panel of men and women seeking the attention of US President Donald Trump in the family photographs in Washington. It was the Board of Peace being pompously presented to the world, while behind the scenes America and Israel were preparing for war. Only twelve days have passed since that moment, yet it feels like an eternity. It also seems a bitter irony that a president who establishes a parallel UN ‘to resolve conflicts,’ who ran in the last presidential election under the slogan ‘President of Peace’ and who has been calling for the Nobel Peace Prize from dawn till dusk, finds himself today at the head of an armed assault of this magnitude, with profoundly dangerous consequences for the entire globe. The Board of Peace began its activities with an act of war!”⁶⁷

Footnotes

¹ Bradley Hope, Justin Scheck, Blood and Oil, New York, 2020, p. 144 (digital edition)

² Shaykh Abdalqadir As-Sufi, Technique of the Coup de Banque, Palma de Mallorca, 2000, pp. 71–5.

³ See B. Disraeli, The Wondrous Tale of Alroy (London, 1833). The work forms part of the proto-Zionist literary canon alongside Tancred (1847) by Disraeli himself and Daniel Deronda (1876) by George Eliot. The text recounts the fictionalised story of David Alroy (Menaḥem ben Solomon, c. 1100–1160), also known as Ibn ar-Ruhi or David El-David, a Kurdish Jew with messianic pretensions and a devotion to the occult, whose life story curiously echoes that of the later Sabbatai Zevi. Alroy led a revolt against the Abbasid Caliph al-Muqtafi in order to lead the Jews to Jerusalem, overthrow the Caliphate of Baghdad and have himself crowned king. Regarding the work and the author’s identification with the protagonist, Cecil Roth observed: ‘The young Benjamin identified himself with his hero; he, too, in his more imaginative moments, looked upon himself as the predestined leader of a movement which should win back the Land of Promise for his people by force of arms’ (C. Roth, Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield [New York, 1952], pp. 62–63). The novel reads: ‘‘Sire,’ I replied, ‘bear with me. If I speak with fervour, it is because I feel deeply. If you ask me what I wish, my answer is, a national existence, which we have not. If you ask me what I wish, my answer is, the Land of Promise. If you ask me what I wish, my answer is, Jerusalem. If you ask me what I wish, my answer is, the Temple, all we have lost, all for which we have sighed, all for which we have fought; our beauteous country, our holy creed, our simple manners, and our ancient customs’’ (B. Disraeli, Alroy, in The Novels and Tales of Benjamin Disraeli, 12 vols, London, 1927, iv, p. 215).

⁴ B. W. Tuchman, Bible and Sword: England and Palestine from the Bronze Age to Balfour (New York: Ballantine Books, 1984), p. 134, digital ed.

⁵ Nathaniel 'Nat' Philip Victor James Rothschild, 5th Baron Rothschild.

⁶ The Planet Nine is a 73.2-metre (240-foot) exploration superyacht, capable of sailing to the world’s most remote regions without compromising on the utmost luxury.

⁷ Jared Kushner, “Can Investment Ensure Peace Through Prosperity?,” interview by Richard Attias, FII PRIORITY Tirana, FII Institute, May 17, 2025, YouTube video, 14:22, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLT-sgdszZ0.

⁸ Dion Nissenbaum, Rory Jones, ‘Jared Kushner’s New Fund Plans to Invest Saudi Money in Israel’, “The Wall Street Journal,” wsj.com, 8 May 2022. See also: Casey Michel, ‘They Went to Jared’, “Mother Jones,” motherjones.com, July–August 2026.

⁹ https://www.chevron.com/newsroom/2026/q1/chevron-takes-final-investment-decision-on-leviathan-gas-expansion.

¹⁰ Afaq Hussain, Maisoon H. Kafafy, A network of corridors is the only reliable hedge against Middle East chokepoint disruptions, “Atlantic Council,” www.atlanticcouncil.org, 30 June 2026.

¹¹ “A slideshow presented in Davos by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner imagined a futuristic dreamscape of gleaming apartment blocks and office towers, with neat industrial parks and residential districts – and even an airport. The territory had a slice taken off it to create a buffer zone along the Israeli border, and was treated as blank slate, ignoring the property rights of generations of Palestinians.” Julian Borger, Trump’s Gaza plan is a rebuff to Israeli extremists, but will soon be put to the test, “The Guardian,” theguardian.com, 22 January 2026.

¹² The Californian real estate developer Asher Abehsera, a business partner of Jared Kushner and CEO of Affinity Global Development, established his professional reputation in New York through his work with Kushner Companies. A descendant of the prominent Sephardic rabbinical Abuhatzeira/Abehsera dynasty—a clan deeply involved in the practice and teaching of Kabbalah (which includes the well-known Baba Sali)— he shares with Kushner a close connection to the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.

¹³ “PM Edi Rama’s decision to grant strategic investor status to Donald Trump’s son-in-law on the eve of his inauguration, without a full business plan and feasibility study, is seen by experts as a move to secure the support of the Trump administration.” Marsela Musabelliu, Albania political briefing: Investing in Albania – from strategic and foreign, to local and oligarchic, “China-CEE Institute,” Vol. 2, No. 1, February 2025.

¹⁴ Marzio Mian, Sold to the Trump family: one of the last undeveloped islands in the Mediterranean, “The Guardian,” www.theguardian.com, 24 June 2025.

¹⁵ “Sazan Island sits in the Strait of Otranto, the 72-kilometre-wide passage separating Albania from Italy that connects the Adriatic Sea to the Mediterranean. This is one of Europe's most strategically significant waterways. For NATO's southern flank, maintaining freedom of navigation through the strait is foundational. The strait is the primary exit from the Adriatic, bordered by Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Albania. Any power with strong influence over positions in the strait can monitor, restrict or potentially interdict shipping and naval traffic. For Russia, establishing presence or influence in the strait has been a long-term objective. Russian naval vessels operating in the Mediterranean must pass through these waters. Any foothold represents leverage over NATO's access to the eastern Mediterranean. For China, the strategic infrastructure of the Mediterranean and Adriatic represents both commercial interest and long-term positioning in a region where Chinese naval presence has historically been minimal. China is gradually expanding its presence in Mediterranean ports and infrastructure, with the Adriatic representing a key expansion area.” Why the Sazan Island Resort Is Bigger Than a Beach Development, “Wanted in Rome,” www.wantedinrome.com, 7 June 2026

¹⁶ Ibidem.

¹⁷ Nir Hasson, Albania could have become the state of the Jews: tolerant inhabitants and fertile land, but Tirana has no ..., “Politiko,” politiko.al, 29 August 2021.

¹⁸ Margherita Furlan, op. cit.

¹⁹ Kaki Bali, Greece-Cyprus-Israel subsea power link faces major obstacles, “DW”, dw.com, 17 September 2025.

²⁰ Excelerate Energy, ExxonMobil, and the Republic of Albania Agree to LNG Terminal Study, “Excelerate Energy,” excelerateenergy.com, 12 March 2021.

²¹ EWB, Albania, the US and Greece sign an energy deal worth 6 billion dollars, “European Western Balkans,” europeanwesternbalkans.com, 29 April 2026.

²² Indian oligarch Adani takes over Haifa port, “Asia News,” www.asianews.it, 18 July 2022.

²³ “Trieste is set to become the European terminal of a corridor stretching from the Adriatic to India, passing through Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Presented as a commercial infrastructure project, the IMEC plan actually has a clear strategic function: to ensure a Western-controlled corridor linking the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, bypassing the routes dominated by China and Russia.” Giuseppe Gagliano, Trieste, da porto franco a perno strategico della NATO, “InsideOver,” it.insideover.com, 15 September 2025.

²⁴ “As SPAK (Albania’s special anti-corruption unit) targeted anyone who asked Rama tough questions, Rama doubled down on both real estate schemes and apparent money laundering with drug cartels. Here, the mechanism was his decision to legalize marijuana cultivation. As soon as marijuana fields began to flourish, so did the cocaine trade from Latin America and West Africa, as well as the opium trade from Afghanistan and Turkey. The Italian coast guard regularly intercepts cocaine shipments into Albania; ironically, Rama’s coast guard does not.” Michael Rubin, Albania protests are about more than Jared Kushner, “Washington Examiner,” www.washingtonexaminer.com, 13 July 2026.

²⁵ www.omnamgroup.com.

²⁶ “In Belgrade, Affinity had its sights set on the former headquarters of the Yugoslav Ministry of Defence – the building bombed by NATO in 1999 and never rebuilt, a monument to Serbian mourning. In May 2024, the government had approved a 99-year concession to a company linked to Kushner to build a $500 million Trump Hotel. […] It would have been the first Trump-branded complex in Europe, running parallel to the development on the Albanian coast. […] In December 2025, the company linked to Kushner withdrew, immediately following the indictment of the Serbian Minister of Culture and three other officials. At the heart of the matter was a document: the then acting director of the Institute for the Protection of Monuments, Goran Vasić, admitted to having falsified the expert report that had allowed the site’s protected status to be revoked, paving the way for its demolition.” Margherita Furlan, op. cit.

²⁷ Andrea Pizzuto, Ostuni, il Governo si sfila dal mega resort israeliano: «Decida la Regione Puglia». E non si placano le proteste, “La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno,” www.lagazzettadelmezzogiorno.it, 14 July 2026.

²⁸ Diletta Bellotti, “Una colonia israeliana nel Salento”: il progetto dell’immobiliarista Orit Lev Marom è un caso. E dopo le minacce interviene la Digos, “Il Fatto Quotidiano,” www.ilfattoquotidiano.it, 6 October 2025.

²⁹ “The increasing number of Israeli citizens acquiring property and residence rights in the Greek Cypriot administration establishes a new form of influence over Cyprus. In recent years, a growing number of Israeli citizens have gained golden visas through investments. The numbers are said to be around 20,000. […] The main opposition party, the Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL) leader Stefanos Stefanou, described the situation as a planned settlement strategy and warned that ‘Greek Cyprus’ is slipping away. Furthermore, AKEL has not hesitated to describe the current situation in the Greek Cypriot administration as a new country occupied by Israel. A dispute over the Aphrodite gas field between Israel and the Greek Cypriot administration already exists, which has the potential to flare up. Tel Aviv’s claim that the block containing the Aphrodite field overlaps with its jurisdiction exposes the fragility of the bilateral agreements. In any case, Greek Cypriots and Israel are in deep collaboration more than ever, based on the perception that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. As Türkiye has taken a tough stance against Israel due to the genocide it commits in Gaza, Israel has turned to the Greeks on the island, who have been waiting for such an ‘ally’ to counter Türkiye and the Turks on the island.” Yücel Acer, Israeli-Greek Ties: Growing Shadow of Zionist Colonialism in Cyprus, “Seta”,www.setav.org/en , 15 October 2025.

³⁰ Diletta Bellotti, op. cit.

³¹ Vladimir Karaj, Albanian PM Accused of Allotting Island to Trump’s Son-in-Law to Win Favour, “Balkan Insight,” balkaninsight.com, 22 January 2025.

³² The Agreement on Agriculture, Food Security, and Innovation, signed in Tirana in June 2026, governs the transfer of Israeli agri-food technologies to Albania. The agreement provides for the deployment of 12 Israeli companies to Albania for field projects and the establishment of a regulatory framework for the employment of Albanian seasonal agricultural workers in Israel. See: Deal with Israel on Agriculture, Food and Security, “Albania Daily News,” albaniandailynews.com, 3 June 2026.

³³ “Prime Minister Edi Rama welcomes the President of Israel, Isaac Herzog,” kryeministria.al, 12 September 2024.

³⁴ Eldad Beck, Herzog visits Albania to honour WWII heroes who saved Jews from the Holocaust, “The Jerusalem Post,” jpost.com, 21 September 2024.

³⁵ Yossi Halpher, Periphery: Israel’s Search for Middle East Allies, Maryland, 2015, p. 16 (digital ed.)

³⁶ “Israel had to broaden its regional reach, go beyond the circle of hostile Arab states surrounding it to the periphery of the region (periphery, from an Israelo-centric point of view), and enter into close security relations with states and minorities there that shared Israel’s threat assessment regarding the Arabs.” Ibid.

³⁷ Ivi, p. 9.

³⁸ Eldad Beck, op. cit.

³⁹ Jewish Museum of Albania, Vlorë, “e-architect”, www.e-architect.com, 26 August 2022.

⁴⁰ Edi Rama announced the official launch of direct flights between Tirana and Tel Aviv in a post on X: “Encouraging Israelis to discover Albania’s breathtaking landscapes, its vibrant traditions and its growing economy will undoubtedly foster stronger friendships and partnerships. A shared future built on cooperation and mutual respect can lead to incredible opportunities for both countries. Here’s to many unforgettable memories and a flourishing friendship! With gratitude to an exceptional man, an inspiring leader and my dear friend [Isaac Herzog] for bringing an outstanding group of Israeli entrepreneurs to Albania and for his words of encouragement to the Jewish business community, urging them to view Albania as a brotherly land rich in opportunities.” Edi Rama (@ediramaal), “It is wonderful news that direct flights between Tirana and Tel Aviv have officially begun...”, X, January 8, 2025, x.com/ediramaal.

⁴¹ This narrative overlooks the 21st Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS “Skanderbeg” (albanische Nr. 1), which participated in the persecution by rounding up and deporting Jews in 1944. See Bernd J. Fischer, Albania at War, 1939–1945, Purdue University Press, 1999.

⁴² Address of the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama to the Knesset Plenum January 26, 2026. https://m.knesset.gov.il/EN/activity/Documents/SpeechPdf/rama.pdf

⁴³ Ibid.

⁴⁴ Eldar Mamedov, The Kushner-Israel nexus behind the Flamingo Revolution, “Responsible Statecraft,” responsiblestatecraft.org, 15 June 2026.

⁴⁵ According to Edi Rama, “true Islam”, alongside the networks of pro-Israeli Fethullah Gülen’s organization (FETÖ), is represented by the “Shi’a-Zionist” model embodied by Edmond Brahimaj (Baba Mondi), a former military officer who proclaimed himself head of the Bektashi Community of Albania in July 2011. Mondi, who “has been accused by Bektashi followers of being a secret service spy and is suspected of having a criminal record currently under investigation by SPAK (Special Unit against Corruption and Organised Crime), has not distanced himself from his ties with Israel.” On the bizarre proposal put forward by Rama and Mondi at the United Nations General Assembly to establish a sovereign Bektashi state in Tirana, see: Olsi Jazexhi, Is Bektashism Becoming a Tool of Israel Against Islam, Iran, and Turkey in the Balkans?, The Long View 7, no. 1, Islamic Human Rights Commission, ihrc.org.uk, May 7, 2025.

⁴⁶ Rama alleges ‘hybrid war’ behind protests against Kushner-linked coastal development, “Euronews,” www.youtube.com/@euronews , 5 June 2026.

⁴⁷ “The agreement [India–Israel bilateral summit, February 2026] strengthens and revitalises the IMEC project – the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor – which represents the true alternative to Beijing’s authoritarian Silk Road, and lends strength and substance to the free trade agreement recently signed between India and the European Union. IMEC is a project with extraordinary potential, which will bring the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean closer together, creating a single, vast region with enormous economic and development potential. […] The new link between India and Europe is essentially based on two pillars: Israel and the United Arab Emirates, both of which are now strategic partners and allies of Indian democracy. What is about to emerge is a great ‘Indo-Abrahamic’ alliance, which is committed to peace and stability in the Gulf, aims to extend the Abraham Accords to new countries, and seeks to forge a political and military alliance between the democracies of India and Israel, the Sunni monarchies of the Gulf and the European countries of the Mediterranean.” Gianni Vernetti, L’accordo storico fra India e Israele ridisegna il Medio Oriente (e sfida Cina e Iran), “Linkiesta,” www.linkiesta.it, 26 February 2026.

⁴⁸ Doina Chiacu, Humeyra Pamuk, Trump links Abraham Accords to any Iran deal, “Reuters,” www.reuters.com, 25 May 2026.

⁴⁹ Nadia Helmy, China analyses Trump’s push for Gulf and Middle East expansion of the Abraham Accords, “Modern Diplomacy,” moderndiplomacy.eu, 30 May 2026.

⁵⁰ Timothy Gardner, Bhargav Acharya, Jacob Bogage, US says Saudi nuclear deal off without Israel recognition, “Reuters,” www.reuters.com, 23 July 2026.

⁵¹ Daniel Levy, What Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli right really mean when they invoke “Greater Israel,’ “The Guardian,” theguardian.com, 13 April 2026.

⁵² The territory stretching between the Nile and the Euphrates, comprising the whole of Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and parts of Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait and Egypt.

⁵³ Netanyahu transcript: We have to be more powerful than the barbarians, or they will crash our gates, destroy our societies, “The Times of Israel,” www.timesofisrael.com, 20 March 2026.

⁵⁴ Oded Yinon, The Zionist Plan for the Middle East, trans. and ed. Israel Shahak, Special Document No. 1 (Association of Arab-American University Graduates), Belmont, MA, 1982.

⁵⁵ Dina Lamloum, Israeli Military Bases in the Horn of Africa: Strategy of Influence and Redrawing Power Balances in the Red Sea, “Shaf,” shafcenter.org, 30 June 2025.

⁵⁶ “The War of Redemption has positioned Israel as a central force shaping the Middle East agenda. The new Sunni alignment is a temporary response to what these states perceive as a threat: a U.S.-backed Israel leading a ‘new Middle East’ defined by an expansion of the Abraham Accords, a land corridor linking India and Europe, and Israeli security-economic primacy in the region.” Gabi Siboni, Erez Winner, The Emerging Axis: Sunni and Shiite Alignment Against Israel and a “New Iran,” “The Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security,” jiss.org.il, 26 February 2026.

⁵⁷ Prime Minister Netanyahu’s remarks at the start of today’s Cabinet meeting, “Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” www.gov.il, 22 February 2026

⁵⁸ Remarks by Prime Minister Netanyahu at the special Knesset session in honour of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” www.gov.il, 25 February 2026. In the course of the speech, Netanyahu defines the common enemy: “Israel stands, has stood, and continues to stand at the forefront of civilization against radical Islam. And the home base of radical Islam is the Middle East, but the lava that has erupted from the volcano of this fanaticism is spreading rapidly to every continent, to every country. India, like Israel, has known terrorist attacks, severe terrorist attacks that claimed the lives of innocents”. Ibid.

⁵⁹ Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter, August 13, 2020, 9:50 AM..

⁶⁰ Lunate, QIA invests USD 1.5 bn in Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners, “EnterpriseAM,” enterpriseam.com, 23 December 2024.

⁶¹ Margherita Furlan, op. cit.

⁶² “The Abraham Accords were sold as a framework for delivering regional  peace and stability. They have delivered the opposite. It should have been clear at the time that any ‘peace plan’ premised on sales of arms and repressive technologies to authoritarian regimes was bound to fail. The political conflicts that continue to bedevil the region will not be solved by force of arms, no matter what Washington’s ideologues say. ‘Even if the [Iranian] regime will be toppled tomorrow, it doesn’t matter,’ said Danny Citrinowicz, a former Israeli defence intelligence analyst. ‘The problem is the Palestinian issue.’” Matt Duss, Zuri Linetsky, How the Abraham Accords Stirred Conflict in the Middle East, “International Centre for Dialogue Initiatives,” dialogueinitiatives.org, 30 May 2026.

⁶³ Linda Dayan, Punish the State, Not Just the Settler: Israeli and Palestinian Activists Search for Solutions to Settler Terror, “Haaretz,” haaretz.com, 8 July 2026.

⁶⁴ Quick Facts: Yitzhak Rabin, “Institute for Middle East Understanding,” imeu.org, September 25, 2020.

⁶⁵ Mark Gojcaj, Why Trump Picked Albania — and What That Says About His Gaza Strategy, “The Kosovo Dispatch,” 18 January 2026.

⁶⁶ Edi Rama, Greeting address by Prime Minister Edi Rama at the inaugural meeting of the Peace Board 19 February 2026, “Albanian Government Council of Ministers,” www.kryeministria.al, February 19, 2026.

⁶⁷ Skënder Minxhozi, Nga Bordi i Paqes në Manzë, kur shpresa kthehet në frikë, “Fjala,” fjala.al, 3 March 2026.