By Amy Zewe—
The recent, historic, and largely overlooked news story of Aug 2020 is the peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
Of course, when the announcement came out, Jews, Zionists, Christians, and many others including many Arabs, blew up social media with positive reaction—mostly because mainstream American news organizations did not cover it very well—other than when Joe Biden attempted to take credit for it. And, in a way, he did facilitate as I would think the Iran-Nuclear deal he helped broker is one of the catalysts for the UAE to decide normalization of ties and relations with Israel is a good thing for its people, Israel’s people, and the region.
Immediately after this news release on Thursday, Aug. 13, a few regional players shouted out their discontent: The Palestinian Authority and Turkey. And, of course, Iran is livid. News trickled out for serval days after, though, that Egypt, Omar, Bahrain, and even Sudan and Lebanon may be on track to follow the UAE’s lead in developing normalization of relations with Israel; or at least these nations have publicly acknowledged thus far that this peace agreement is good for the region and potentially good for them.
This is a logistical nightmare for BDS supporters. This new deal is breaking forth agreements on trade and tourism—including direct flights between the UAE and Israel and direct working relationships for things like COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, and other business deals including technology. Education collaboration as well as the arts is underway. Already an Israeli musician has been invited to perform in the UAE. This will make activists such as Linda Sarsour, Roger Waters, and others fume. Congresswomen Talib and Omar have already expressed their discontent with the peace agreement. As well, the sharing and collaboration of counter terrorism efforts will be good for the stability of the entire region and the safety of all the people, while offering a huge new obstacle for terrorists.
I am not going to get into any long term or prophetic analysis on the nature of this new agreement—which is in its infancy. While the deal is made for peace and relations, the details and the growth into tangible outcomes is still to come. The baby, just now, is being nurtured and guided to start taking some steps very soon. We are excited to see that the region has, with this leadership from The UAE and its willingness to work with Israelis, the outcome that Israel is recognized, valued, and to a point accepted. This also means Arabs are coming out of the shadow of the popular Arab-league mentality of hating Israel, refusing to accept its presence, denying it right to exist, which has only defeated potential prosperity and peace. The steps forward are going to be exciting to watch and certainly will be met with various setbacks along the way. But the very fact that the PA and Turkey are so angry is one indication that the agreement is revealing that the decades-old Palestinian problem and use of the people as pawns is being exposed as a farse. The saber-rattling of Iran is also one more reason that Arab leaders are realizing that Israel is an ally, not a foe. Neighboring countries are realizing that safety, peace, and prosperity can only come about through collaboration and partnerships, that will, as JFK put it, “create a tide that will raise all boats.”
We will keep watch on developments. Follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn as we will share information from trusted sources on this peace agreement and its outcomes as well as its inferences and connections to our fight to battle antisemitism and anti-Zionism.
Shavoa Tov, Have a great week.