In an interview with Maariv, Eyal Ofer, an expert on Hamas’s economy, addressed unusually blunt remarks made by US Senator Lindsey Graham, warning that they could carry significant regional and Israeli implications.
In an interview before his visit to Israel, Graham addressed media reports claiming that "Arab leaders support the ayatollahs remaining in power", telling journalists that "the era in which [Arab leaders] tell us one thing behind closed doors while publicly making opposing statements must end."
Ofer emphasized that Graham’s remarks represent a sharp shift in the usual approach to dealing with Arab states.
"Graham, who for 30 years has supported the US having close ties with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, acknowledged what even some of Israel’s best intelligence professionals have been misled by: the gap between what Arab leaders say and do publicly and the calming messages they convey in diplomatic discussions that are always held in secret," Ofer explained.
'Ignored what Arab leaders said publicly'
Ofer went on, noting that while Israel and the West hold what is said behind closed doors to a high standard, in the Arab world, public declarations are what hold significant weight.
"We have always convinced ourselves of the opposite: that Arabs ‘do not mean’ what they say publicly, and their assurances in secret represent the true agreement," he said.
Ofer linked this mindset directly to the October 7 massacre, claiming that "we [Israel] ignored what Arab leaders said publicly."
He brings the example of Yahya Sinwar, who "promised to return his people to ‘occupied’ Palestine," and Egyptian President Abdul Fattah El-Sisi, who repeatedly threatened to cancel the Israel-Egypt peace treaty and "denounces us on every possible international stage (in English and Arabic) as Egypt moves forces into Sinai, allows weapons smuggling into the Negev and Gaza, and refuses to absorb Gazans while accusing Israel of imprisoning them.”
“If, thanks to Senator Graham, the IDF General Staff also begins to understand that the drones being smuggled into the Negev and Gaza are not coming, as the IDF Spokesperson describes it, ‘from the western border,’ but from Egypt, and that we should listen to public declarations, perhaps one day we will finally learn that Arabs mean what they say, and not what we tell ourselves was said behind closed doors," Ofer concluded.