On Sept. 15, Israel and America celebrated the third anniversary of the Abraham Accords. I was personally working with both American and Israeli officials on celebrating the unprecedented agreements between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco at a ceremony in Israel. The actual event was supposed to take place this week.
The accords, which were brokered by the Trump administration, seemed to be spreading throughout the Middle East and the region. Sudan had signed on to the declarative portion of the Accords, Oman welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2018 and Saudi Arabia was close to joining the accords. On Aug. 28, Saudi Arabia allowed an Air Seychelles plane carrying 128 passengers, many of them Israelis flying to Tel Aviv, to land in Jeddah because of an electrical issue. This had never happened before and was a strong indication of the positive direction in which the two countries were headed.
On Sept. 26, Israeli Tourism Minister Haim Katz was the first Israeli cabinet member to visit Saudi Arabia. He was warmly received. “Normalization” talks were making real and significant progress. Arab leaders were beginning to realize that working with rather than against Israel would benefit Muslims worldwide and in their respective countries. They felt that partnering with Israel, and especially its high-tech sector, would yield immediate dividends, and it was doing so.
The Gulf states in particular are extremely fearful of a nuclear Iran and have moved closer to Israel and the West as a direct result. Ties with Israel, they know, will not only provide technological development but military protection. They were and still are convinced that Israel will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. Since Saudi Arabia has opened up its airspace for Israeli commercial flights, it has presumably given Israel the green light for military aircraft as well. This is crucial if Israel is planning to attack Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.
On Oct. 7, with the Iran-directed massacre by its proxy Hamas of 1,400 Israelis (the number continues to rise) and the abduction of some 250 men, women and children, the world has forever changed. Civilization has been forever stained and degraded.
Israel was busy making peace and Hamas was plotting destruction. Millions of dollars that went to Gaza for humanitarian purposes ended up being used for missiles, guns and cement for terror tunnels. Israel disengaged from Gaza in 2005 in order for the Arabs of Gaza to advance their lot in life. Millions of dollars poured in. Beautiful farms were handed over to them. Former synagogues were turned into horse stables. Farms were turned into launching pads for missiles. Instead of going forward, the Gazans went backwards.
Clearly, Iran and Hamas do not want peace with Israel. They seek only Israel’s ruin and annihilation.
Hamas’s rape and sodomization of women, their beheading of babies, their kidnapping and murder of Holocaust survivors and all their other crimes against humanity demonstrate their utter and absolute evil. Civilization cannot and should not tolerate evil.
Ultimately, Iran will have to be dealt with. First, Hamas must be brought to justice. This will happen soon. Then Israel can continue the business of peace with its Arab neighbors.
