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President Obama's highly-touted Global Counterterrorism Forum will be unveiled next week at the United Nations summit, and there are already troubling signs that the multinational bureaucracy will placate Israel's opponents and make excuses for pro-terrorist stances among its membership in order to appear multilateral.
Israel-- the country in the world under most direct threat from terrorism and with arguably the most expertise in counterterrorism efforts-- will not be among the 30 founding countries of the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF).
Among the founding members are the following nations: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Indonesia, and the United Arab Emirates.
In particular, Turkey will play a large role in the GCTF, as it is scheduled to co-chair the inaugural meeting. It must be noted that Turkey's relationship with Israel has been under tremendous strain recently, as the Turkish government engages in direct talks with Hamas. In fact, its Prime Minister, Erdogan, defends the terrorist group, and has stated Turkey will send warships alongside the next "aid flotilla" that tries to break the Gaza blockade.
Despite some questionable membership, the U.S. State Department's website touts the GCTF mission as providing a:
"needed venue for national CT officials and practitioners to meet with their counterparts from key countries in different regions to share CT experiences, expertise, strategies, capacity needs, and capacity-building programs. The GCTF will prioritize civilian capacity building in areas such as rule of law, border management, and countering violent extremism."
It is not clear yet whether Israel was ever asked to be a founding member of the GCTF. However, the State Department website says part of the GCTF's plans include "the intention to create the first-ever multilateral training and research center focused on countering violent extremism, which would be based in the Gulf region."
As Israeli passports-- and even a foreign passport with an Israeli stamp inside-- can prohibit entry into Gulf States, it would appear unlikely Israeli politicians and experts would, or could, participate in the forum anyway.
(h/t CNS News)
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