Mshari Al-Zaydi’s column for Asharq Alawsat points out that there are many seeking to benefit from the calamity of Gaza, far beyond Israel and its politics.

Among those he cites as profiting from other people’s disasters are Iran, Qatar, the Muslim Brotherhood, and assorted ‘Islamists’ scattered across the globe. All seek to use Gaza to further their own agendas. But this is nothing new, he says. We can find similar practice going all the way back to the murder of the third Caliph, Uthman. As the title of this post suggests, the practice—and the need to ask the question—goes back considerably further.

Merchants of the Black Market
Mshari Al-Zaydi

Every crisis, no matter how bad it may be, has its beneficiaries. This is the case with the current Gaza crisis. Many have died as a result of the recent attacks on Gaza, mainly civilians, and people are suffering from fear, terror, and destruction at the hands of the Israeli army, including those defending peace and coexistence in the Middle East.

The recent attacks have caused heavy losses. There has been a humanitarian response on one hand and a response of impure political motives on the other.

This article is not about the position or role of Hamas in this war, the objectives of its policies and its opposing viewpoints, or about the significance of Iranian instigation from afar. Nor is this article about Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s comments about the obligation of martyrdom and struggle for the sake of Palestine until the last drop of Palestinian blood is spilt. There is as little good-intention in these comments as there was in Amr Ibn Hamiq, one of the men responsible for the murder of Uthman Ibn al Affan, the third of the four Rightly-Guided Caliphs. According to the historian Ibn al Atheer, ‘Ibn al Hamiq jumped on to Uthman and sat on his chest and with Uthman on the verge of death, Ibn al Hamiq stabbed him nine times. He said, ‘I stabbed him three times for God’s sake and six times because of the anger in my breast against him.’’ In a similar manner, the first few outcries by Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei regarding Palestine could be for the Palestinian cause indeed. The rest, however, are to quench Iran’s thirst for expansion!

This article is not about the victims of war in Gaza; it is the about the beneficiaries. There are beneficiaries to every crisis and disaster. Even in the most difficult of misfortunes such as the loss of a friend or lover, there are people who benefit such as those offering funeral services or those who are hired to lament and wail at funerals. What about in cases of more complicated issues?
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