JERUSALEM, Israel – With President Trump now in the Middle East for a 4-day visit, many are talking about the prospects that Saudi Arabia might join the Abraham Accords and just what that alliance has meant since the October 7th war began in 2023.
When Hamas attacked Israel 19 months ago, no one knew how Arab nations would react.
“I think a lot of people thought that after October 7th, it would be the beginning of the end of the Abraham Accords. And in fact, it’s been the opposite,” said Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s Special Envoy for Trade and Innovation.
“About a month after October 7th, the Arab League met, and they wanted to pass three boycotts against Israel and one against the United States. And it was the countries of the Abraham Accords that, in fact, vetoed the boycotts that the Arab League wanted to pass on Israel,” Hassan-Nahoum told CBN News.
When Iran launched some 300 missiles at Israel in April last year, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan all joined with the U.S. to defend Israel from the onslaught.
“But what’s really interesting about that is not that they helped, it’s that they admitted that they helped, because in the Gulf, it’s, you know, rhetoric and reality can be two different things. But the fact that they came out and they said, yeah, we were helping Israel. We were on the side of Israel. That’s momentous. That’s progress,” Hassan-Nahoum said.
When Iran launched a second attack a few months later, the Gulf States once again came alongside Israel with intelligence assistance, access to airspace, and other help.
“So I think it’s very clear that the Middle East is split into two. The countries that want peace and prosperity, and the countries that want radicalism and jihad. It’s very clear where the UAE and even Saudi Arabia is, and it’s very clear where the Islamic Republic of Iran is,” she explained.
Hassan-Nahoum said she can’t predict what will happen with the negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.
“But all of this is pushing the countries of the region that want peace and prosperity and want to push out the Muslim Brotherhood and the Shia fundamentalists,” she asserted.
The Abraham Accords are President Trump’s legacy from his first term in office.
Israel signed bilateral normalization agreements with the UAE and Bahrain in September 2020, paving the way for full diplomatic ties.
It was the first agreement with an Arab state since the 1994 peace accords between Israel and Jordan.
Later in 2020, Sudan and Morocco also joined the accords.
***Please sign up for CBN newsletters to ensure you receive the latest news.***
Saudi Arabia has been the question mark.
Publicly, the kingdom has stated that Israel must commit to a Palestinian state before it will join the Accords.
Hassan-Nahoum says Saudi Arabia will likely join the Accords to strengthen the alliance against Shia fundamentalists, but there are other reasons, such as the changing nature of the energy industry.
“They have this incredible 2030 vision that includes phasing out fossil fuels because they know it’s going to end, and they need innovation, green and clean energy. And who, of course, are the leaders of that in the world? Israel,” she said.
Hassan-Nahoum says it’s too soon to tell if the new leaders in Syria want to join the accords.
“Any country that has wanted peace with Israel has found peace with Israel. Jordan, Egypt, the Emirates, Morocco, Sudan, Bahrain, any country that has said we’re ready to make peace, Israel is ready to make peace with that country,” she noted. And so, I don’t think we’re going to not make peace if it’s genuine and if it’s sustainable and it’s real.”
