China’s going all-in in the Greater Middle East, and they’re not playing games. They’re after the region’s oil, minerals, and the high-tech goodies. The U.S. slapped sanctions on most tech going from here to China, and that messed with China’s sophisticated tech scene.

So, China decided to buddy up with Saudi Arabia in their tech venture known as “Silicon Wadi.” Meanwhile, Israel is tech-savvy as heck and hangs out with American tech whizzes in Silicon Valley.

What’s China’s grand plan? They’re desperate to mesh their tech companies with the growing tech hubs in the Middle East. That’s why China brokered a peace deal between their buddy Iran and Saudi Arabia. They want to elbow the U.S. out of the region, score Iranian oil, and dive headfirst into Saudi Arabia’s tech boom.

In fact, this diplomatic move by China knocked the socks off the Trump Administration’s Abraham Accords. The Biden team tried to throw shade on those accords for the last three years.

Here’s the kicker: China doesn’t want to see the U.S. and Israel teaming up with Saudi Arabia to rain on their parade. That would be a real buzzkill for them.

They needed to block this supergroup of allies from forming in the Middle East because, let’s face it, Iran had that on its to-do list for a while.

China’s truce-making between Iran and Saudi Arabia was their first power move. The second one? When Hamas decided to shake things up by slamming Israel in a big way. It was basically “Israel’s 9/11,” where Hamas went all-out to strike fear into Israeli hearts, targeting women, kids, and old-timers in the Jewish neighborhoods near Gaza.

The plan? Get Israel to go all Hulk-mode on Gaza. And it worked.

Saudi Arabia then dropped a bombshell on Israel right after their Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told the United Nations that Israel and Saudi Arabia were becoming real BFFs in the region.

What did Saudi Arabia say? It was like a “Sorry, not sorry” call. They backed the Palestinians, making it clear that if Israel laid the smackdown on Gaza, the whole Israel-Saudi friendship thing would be over, and Israel would be out in the cold.

But Israel couldn’t just stand there. They had to hit back. It was the right thing to do, and they had to protect their turf. But Saudi Arabia, they’ve got a lot of Islamists in their own backyard, and they didn’t want to seem like they were ditching their Arab bros for Israel.

The result? Iran, through their buddies in Gaza, scored a slam dunk. They kept Israel from getting too cozy with Saudi Arabia, their other big rival in the neighborhood.

So, who steps in to play peacemaker? China. They’re all like, “Hey, let’s send some help to Gaza. Israel’s got them in a headlock. We’re gonna chat with Egypt, get a ceasefire going, and keep things cool.”

But that’s not all. China’s got big dreams. They want to fully encircle Israel and get the U.S. to let their tech companies party in Israel’s tech scene. It’s like they’re trying to get in through the backdoor after America locked it up.

The U.S. is evaluating if they can step up its game, not just to keep Iran in check but to make sure Israel and Saudi Arabia solidify that bromance Trump started with his Abraham Accords. They’ve got to do it before China and Iran make Israel their third wheel and leave Jerusalem counting on Beijing.