The global outrage being whipped up over the alleged grotesque murder and dismemberment of Muslim Brotherhood agent Jamal Khashoggi (whose cover story is that he was a "journalist" who contributed columns to the Washington Post) looks very different to the Sunni Arab states.  The leaders of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan have no illusions about the tactics the M.B. would use to grab power and turn peaceful nations into front-line jihad states.  Nor are they as shocked by the thought of political murders as most Americans.

A powerful implicit rebuke to the faction that wants to cripple the Sunni alliance with Saudi Arabia under the rule of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is underway in Egypt: joint military maneuvers.

Al Ahram reports:

Egypt welcomed on Wednesday delegations from a number of Arab countries for a major joint Arab military exercise set to take place from 3 to 16 November at the Mohamed Naguib Military Base in Egypt's northwestern governorate of Marsa Matrouh, according to a statement by Armed Forces spokesperson Tamer El-Refai.

 'Arab Shield 1' will involve land, naval and air, special forces, and air-defence exercises.

El-Refai said that eight Arab countries are participating in the drills including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, with Morocco and Lebanon as observers.

Reuters adds:

President Donald Trump's administration has been quietly pushing for Gulf Arab countries, together with Egypt and Jordan, to start putting together what some White House officials have called an "Arab NATO" of Sunni Muslim allies to stand against Shi'ite power Iran.

The importance of this Sunni Alliance against Shia Iran is clear to Israel, as well.  Reportedly:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reached out in recent days to senior members of the Trump administration and asked that the United States support the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman despite the controversy surrounding his involvement in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.

According to the report, Netanyahu and other Middle East leaders like Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi  argued that Bin Salman is "an important strategic partner in the region".

The Middle East is, as Golda Meir used to say, "a bad neighborhood."  Bad things happen, even at the hands of our allies.  But the naïve assumption that moral purity would lead to good results is too dangerous for us to allow that to be the sole criterion for our policies.