{"id":12271,"date":"2023-10-21T07:02:42","date_gmt":"2023-10-21T12:02:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whia.us\/?p=12271"},"modified":"2023-10-21T07:28:35","modified_gmt":"2023-10-21T12:28:35","slug":"israels-war-on-hamas-poses-major-test-for-us-led-abraham-accords","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whia.us\/en\/12271\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s war on Hamas poses major test for US-led Abraham Accords"},"content":{"rendered":"

WHIA- The Hill<\/strong><\/p>\n

Story by Laura Kelly<\/strong><\/p>\n

A<\/span>rab nations are publicly isolating Israel as it responds to Hamas\u2019s unprecedented terrorist attack, testing the boundaries of the U.S. led-Abraham Accords that was meant to usher in a new era of peace in the region.<\/p>\n

But American lawmakers argue the accords \u2014 brokered during the Trump administration that established ties between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in 2020 \u2014 are still an important step toward Israel\u2019s integration in the region. And they still think the ultimate goal, a breakthrough on ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, is possible.<\/p>\n

Democrats and Republicans are pointing to Iran \u2014 the financial and military backer of Hamas \u2014 as the overarching threat, the glue binding the countries that signed the accords, and potentially motivation for more countries to join.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single country said, \u2018Please don\u2019t leave us, we are worried about the threat from Iran,\u2019\u201d Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) told The Hill, about her experience leading the first-ever Abraham Accords caucus trip to Morocco, Bahrain, UAE, and Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe as we move on a little bit further, we will be able to work together because everyone is worried about that terrorist threat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) was in Saudi Arabia on the weekend of Oct. 7, the day Hamas launched its attack on Israel, meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about the future of a ground-breaking peace agreement with Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had left the meeting the night before with such optimism, and then when we found out about the attacks on Israel, it really struck us that this has just made our task that much harder,\u201d she told The Hill.<\/p>\n

Hamas\u2019s attack was\u00a0months in the planning<\/a>, reportedly consisting of detailed intelligence of secret Israeli army installations along the Gaza Strip and that culminated in the brutal killing of civilians at a music festival and in the communities in the area.<\/p>\n

Hamas is holding more than 200 people it took from Israel as hostages in the Gaza Strip. And Israel estimates 1,400 were killed \u2014 with bodies still being identified, some burned or mutilated beyond identification.<\/p>\n

Condemnations surrounding Hamas\u2019s assault quickly came out from the U.S. and other Western and democratic countries. And in a sign that the Abraham Accords had shifted things slightly in the region, the\u00a0UAE condemned Hamas publicly<\/a>\u00a0as launching attacks against Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me it is actually quite remarkable,\u201d said Ghaith al-Omari, a senior fellow with The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. \u201cIf you look at the statements of Abraham Accord countries, UAE and Bahrain specifically condemn Hamas. Morocco made a less explicit statement but a quick statement that was also quite strong, and that was a really marked difference from some of the other Arab countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

But al-Omari, speaking to The Hill Wednesday morning, warned that quickly changing developments on the ground often frustrate the best efforts at diplomacy.<\/p>\n

Later that day, an explosion occurred at a hospital in Gaza, killing and wounding hundreds. Arab nations surrounding Israel quickly and unequivocally blamed the Israel for carrying out an attack.<\/p>\n

Israel rejected blame and released intelligence assessments \u2014 which have since been supported by the U.S. \u2014 saying a misfired rocket launched from the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad landed on the hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody here believes that Israel is responsible for it. The Israeli army says it is not. But to be honest, try and find anybody that\u2019s going to believe it in this part of the world,\u201d Jordan\u2019s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi\u00a0said in an interview with CNN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Protests against Israel have intensified in the Middle East and worldwide as Palestinian civilian casualties from Israeli airstrikes increase, giving fuel to the entrenched, historical view in the region of Israel as an occupier and aggressor.<\/p>\n

After the Gaza hospital explosion, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, along with the leaders of Jordan and Egypt, called off a summit with President Biden the day before he was set to leave for the region, saying they could not participate in a meeting they didn\u2019t believe would end the war.<\/p>\n

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), a member of the Abraham Accords caucus, said the reaction from the Arab world was not \u201cunexpected.\u201d But he said the utility of the accords should not necessarily be viewed in terms of Arab support for Israel, but in Arab efforts to prevent Israel\u2019s war against Hamas from expanding into a wider conflict, in particular with Iran.<\/p>\n

\u200b\u200b\u201dEverything\u2019s relative here, right? So far, this hasn\u2019t expanded to a bigger conflict. And one of our goals here is to make sure that it doesn\u2019t, make sure that Iran doesn\u2019t get involved, that Hezbollah [in Lebanon], that this doesn\u2019t expand to a conflict in the north of Israel. And so far that\u2019s the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his prime-time address Thursday night, Biden made the case for U.S. leadership in supporting Israel and supporting Ukraine in its defensive war against Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of limiting the spread of a bigger war.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we walk away and let Putin erase Ukraine\u2019s independence, would-be aggressors around the world would be emboldened to try the same. The risk of conflict and chaos could spread in other parts of the world, in the Indo-Pacific, in the Middle East, especially in the Middle East,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran is supporting Russia in Ukraine, and it\u2019s supporting Hamas and other terrorist groups in the region. And we\u2019ll continue to hold them accountable, I might add.\u201d<\/p>\n

Biden has directed two U.S. carrier strike groups to the Mediterranean as a show of force to deter Iran and its proxies in the region from instigating a larger war with Israel as it focuses on eliminating the threat from Hamas.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Pentagon said Thursday<\/a>\u00a0that a U.S. navy destroyer had intercepted missiles and several drones shot by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen toward Israel.<\/p>\n

The U.S. has also\u00a0thwarted drone and missile attacks<\/a>\u00a0on its bases in Iraq, without assigning responsibility. But there\u2019s concern that Iranian-backed militias in Iraq are working to attack the U.S. for its support of Israel.<\/p>\n

Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he believes that rapprochement between Israel and its Arab neighbors \u201cstruck the match\u201d for the Hamas attack on Israel. Risch, along with other GOP lawmakers, have called out Iran as the party overall responsible for Hamas\u2019s terrorism.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Iranians are using Arab allies, namely Hamas and [Palestinian Islamic Jihad] and Hezbollah as their agents to foment this, there\u2019s no question about it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Risch had met with Crown Prince Mohammed earlier this year and said he has plans to meet with the Saudis again to talk about establishing relations with Israel.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia holds massive military, financial and spiritual influence in the region \u2014 as custodian to Islam\u2019s most holy city, Mecca. Establishing relations with Israel would lead to a tectonic shift in attitudes in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there is, and I think there will be eventually, normality between Israel and Saudi Arabia, this is going to put Iran on an island, and they can\u2019t stand that,\u201d Risch said<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KSA holds massive military, financial and spiritual influence in the region<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":11786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[142,199,128],"tags":[],"series":[1027],"coauthors":[238],"class_list":["post-12271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-most-important-topics-en","category-top-stories","category-updates-en","series-whia-synergy"],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/whia.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/\u0627\u0633\u0631\u0627\u0626\u064a\u0644-\u0628\u062d\u0631\u064a\u0646-e1693923746939.jpeg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/whia.us\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/whia.us\/en\/feed\/podcast\/whia-synergy","embedCode":"

Israel\u2019s war on Hamas poses major test for US-led Abraham Accords<\/a><\/blockquote>