As the fifth anniversary of the Abraham Accords approaches, Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) would “shudder to think” what the Middle East would be like right now without the accords.
“There’s an old saying. ‘The worst time to make friends is when you need them.’ You make friends before you need them,” Lankford, co-chair of the Senate Abraham Accords Caucus, told JNS.
The senator noted open communications lines with the Arab world that were available to Israel immediately after Oct. 7.
The U.S.-brokered accords, which U.S. President Donald Trump advanced in his first term, normalized relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain on Sept. 15, 2020. Morocco later joined, as did Sudan, though the latter’s pact with Israel never went into force.
Hamas has said that it attacked Israel on Oct. 7 in part to halt the momentum of Israel’s normalization with Arab countries. Israel and Saudi Arabia appeared on the verge of opening official relations.
Israel’s prosecution of its war against Hamas is very unpopular in the Arab world, but the accords appear to have held firm. But a senior Emirati official said last week that a plan, which Israeli officials have discussed, of applying sovereignty to Judea and Samaria would cross a “red line,” which would “end the vision of regional integration.”
That statement was as close as any from an Arab official to a warning that the accords could fall apart. Israeli officials appeared to become quieter in subsequent days about sovereignty.
The United Arab Emirates agreed to the accords, partly to halt sovereignty expansion by Israel, but stipulated it was only to last until the end of Trump’s first term.
“I think Israel is trying to be able to maintain its own unity as a nation, and to continue to protect its own sovereignty and to protect its own people,” Lankford told JNS. “That’s the first priority, and should be the first priority for any sovereign nation.”
“For other nations that have recognized Israel, rightfully so, they are also trying to figure out how to be able to balance their street and then also the economic and political realities that they have,” while pursuing economic development and military protection partnerships,” he said.
That delicate balance, as Lankford put it, led the United Arab Emirates to “speak out and to say, ‘Hey, we want to stay unified with you. We want to be able to find ways to be able to work together long term that have been very productive.’”
“They’re also looking at where is too far right now,” the senator said.
Israel has focused on maintaining the accords and, as it and Washington have encouraged, trying to convince other countries to join.
Membership in the accords has not increased since Trump assumed office in January, but Lankford told JNS that he doesn’t think accords expansion has been overhyped.
“It is very difficult to be able to expand the accords, but the legwork is being done for when there is some sense of settlement and resolution in Gaza,” he said. “The United States maintains this as a priority in all of our relationships around the world, to make friends who are also friends with Israel, and to be able to recognize not only Israel’s right to exist, but open mutual cooperation on multiple fronts with Israel, as well.”
The accords languished at the outset of former President Joe Biden’s administration, with officials reportedly loath to advance policies and causes that their predecessors favored.
Lankford told JNS that he was part of a group that sat down with Biden’s team “to say these were not the Trump Accords. These are the Abraham Accords.”
“They set a process into place that should be expanded over and over and over,” he said. “There are multiple nations that should participate in this.”
The Biden administration embraced the concept and developed the Negev Forum, which aimed to strengthen ties between accords members and Egypt and to increase regional cooperation overall.
Lankford told JNS that while the Trump administration favors accords expansion in concept, the accords must be nursed by the next administration.
“Oct. 7 dramatically changed the conversation in the region, and we still anticipate a day when there is peace and stability,” the senator said. “As long as I’m in the Senate, I’m going to continue to push whoever the next president is in three-and-a-half years to continue this process.”
“It was never designed to be just a few countries,” he said. “It was designed to be a global effort.”
