Israel-UAE agreement reflects Trump’s success in restoring trust in US in Middle East

You know President Trump scored an extraordinary foreign policy win last week when the Washington Post ran the headline “Israel and UAE reach historic accord” and an op-ed by the liberal Post foreign policy columnist David Ignatius titled “Trump is right. The Israel-UAE agreement is a huge achievement.”

Even more incredible, notoriously anti-Trump New York Times opinion columnist Thomas Friedman published a similar op-ed titled “A Geopolitical Earthquake Just Hit the Mideast” in which he said “For once, I am going to agree with President Trump in his use of his favorite adjective: “huge.””

The Trump-hating mainstream media were forced to swallow their pride and admit the “Abraham Accords” are a huge win by the president because it is a major step toward peace in the Middle East. This is the first time in over 25 years that Israel and an Arab state agreed to normalize relations. Under the accords, Israel and the UAE will establish full diplomatic relations, including opening of embassies, trade and air travel between the two countries. Israel also agreed to suspend plans to annex portions of the West Bank.

The Abraham Accords are significant not just because they improved relations between Israel and one Arab state but because they could open the door to other Arab states, possibly Oman, Bahrain and Morocco in the short term, to similar agreements.  The result could be major gains in security cooperation and trade between Israel and Arab states as well as united opposition to Iran and Islamist terrorist groups.

So how did President Trump pull off this win?

First, despite constant criticism by his critics, the Abraham Accords are the latest indication of his sound and credible Middle East policies.  The President, supported by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Senior Advisor Jared Kushner, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, and special envoys Jason Greenblatt and Avi Berkowitz, have advanced U.S. and regional security by their efforts to destroy ISIS on the ground, and withdraw from President Obama’s disastrous nuclear deal with Iran.  Kushner and his team also have worked tirelessly to bring about a Middle East peace agreement.

Second, and most important, Israel and Arab states trust President Trump.  He has reversed the damage done to U.S credibility in the Middle East by President Obama’s appeasement of Iran and “leading from behind” policy with his strong embrace of Israel and effective diplomacy to build close relationships with Arab states, especially Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states.

And third, President Trump created new opportunities for peace in the Middle East by throwing out the diplomatic rulebook and defying the foreign policy establishment, especially concerning the Arab-Israel peace process.  He carried out pledges made but never fulfilled by former U.S. presidents to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights. In taking these decisions, he made clear to the Palestinians that the United States will no longer put up with their decades of obstructionism on a peace accord with Israel and embrace of violence and terrorism.

Trump’s message to the Palestinians has been “Time’s up. If you don’t want peace, the U.S. will move on without you.”  What was extraordinary about this approach is Trump officials correctly predicted that Arab also are fed up with the Palestinians’ lack of interest in peace and want to cooperate with Israel against a common enemy: Iran.

The Abraham Accords represent significant movement toward peace in the Middle East, but they also demonstrate the stark contrast between President Trump’s Middle East policies and the failed policies of the Obama-Biden administration with its bizarre attempt to partner with Iran and ignore the security interests of Israel and the Arab states.

American voters must consider this crucial security issue of American and international security when casting their votes for president this fall.