We are disappointed but not all that surprised by the report in Bloomberg News this week that tensions between Gulf states and Israel are rising, undermining the historic Abraham Accords.
Those Arab states point to concerns over Israel’s deteriorating relations with the Palestinians, typified (they say) by the recent raid on a refugee camp in Jenin and by the nationalistic rhetoric of some Israeli cabinet members. Ironically, the Bloomberg News Report comes within just days of a report that President Joe Biden dispatched several senior aides to Saudi Arabia in furtherance of his plan to secure a normalization deal between Israel and the Saudis. And therein lies an important tale.
The Abraham Accords were based on the perception that then-President Donald Trump, as leader of the most powerful and richest nation in the world, was one thousand percent in Israel’s corner; and Israel in turn was on the cutting edge of modern-day science, technology, industry, agriculture, and economic development, and a significant military power to boot. Israel was fully capable of guiding its Arab neighbors into the 21st century and serving as a bulwark against the notoriously predatory Iranian state.
In tandem, most of the Gulf States had had enough of Palestinian recalcitrance and came to the realization that the Palestinians were holding important collaborations with Israel hostage to their unrealistic world view.
Despite his claims to be looking out for Israel’s best interests, Mr. Biden has all but shattered the perception of there being no daylight between Israel and America. In recent months he has savaged its new and democratically-elected government, encouraged street protests to force changes in the government’s agenda, and questioned the notion of a shared value system between the U.S. and Israel, which he says is the bedrock of the close relationship between the two nations.
In recent weeks, he also declared war on settlement expansion.
It is no secret that he is lobbying the Saudis to make Israeli support for Palestinian statehood a condition for normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
It’s time the President kicked back and took stock of where he is taking our country and world opinion vis-à-vis the Jewish state. His giving with one hand and taking back with the other is fooling no one.
