TEL AVIV – When Benjamin Netanyahu won the general election in November, analysts wondered how the three Arab countries that normalized relations with Israel in 2020, Bahrain, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates, might react.
Netanyahu hammered out the deals when he was last in office, but his new far-right allies have a history of anti-Arab statements that some thought might prove too objectionable to the leaders of the three Arab states.
Before the election, Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Emirati Foreign Minister, met privately with Netanyahu and expressed discomfort over his alliance with the far-right, according to two people briefed on the talks who requested anonymity to speak. more freely.
But since the elections, that discomfort has become normal, at least for now.
In recent weeks, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have invited Itamar Ben-Gvir, one of Netanyahu’s most extreme allies, to their national day celebrations in Tel Aviv. Lawmakers from the left and right were invited, but the inclusion of Ben-Gvir — and a warm hug from the Emirati Ambassador — raised suspicions and grabbed headlines in Israel.
While other countries have avoided Ben-Gvir, who has been convicted in Israel of anti-Arab incitement, the Bahraini and Emirati missions have not. “Any change of government will not affect Bahrain’s approach to developing positive relations with Israel,” Khaled Al Jalahma, Bahrain’s Ambassador to Israel, said in a text message. But, he added, “as with any government, we will express our concern if the policies enacted are of a nature that could strain relations.”
That stance reflects the degree to which the 2020 Abraham Accords redrew the contours of Middle East geopolitics. Fears of a nuclear Iran, coupled with enthusiasm for better economic, technological and military ties with Israel, led signatories to the accords to prioritize relations with Israel over the immediate creation of a Palestinian state.
In Netanyahu’s new government, Ben-Gvir is poised to become Minister of National Security, a position that oversees the police. That has raised fears that his rule could spark even more confrontations with Palestinians, particularly in sensitive places like the Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, where Israeli police frequently clash with Palestinians in a holy site for both jews and muslims.
Despite these concerns, Mohamed Al Khaja, the Emirati Ambassador to Israel, warmly greeted Ben-Gvir at a gala hosted by the Ambassador in Tel Aviv—by shaking his hand strongly in front of several photographers.
Bahrain also hosted Isaac Herzog, Israel’s centrist President, in December, for the first visit to the country by an Israeli head of state.
The Moroccan government has avoided the Israeli far-right, but has signaled through other means that its ties with Israel will continue as normal.
Israel is working together with the Abraham Accord countries and the US to protect against Iranian missiles and unmanned drones.
Saudi Arabia has said it will not seal full ties with Israel before the establishment of a Palestinian state. But Netanyahu has repeatedly promised since his election victory that he will try to normalize relations with Riyadh.
“We can have a new peace initiative that is a quantum leap,” Netanyahu said recently on Al Arabiya, a Saudi-owned TV station. “Of course, I mean what could be a truly remarkable and historic peace with Saudi Arabia.”
Myra Noveck and Vivian Nereim contributed reporting.
By: Patrick Kingsley
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/6510233, IMPORTING DATE: 2022-12-28 20:50:08
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