Earlier this month, President Joe Biden threatened, in an interview with CNN news anchor Erin Burnett, that his administration would be halting U.S. military aid to Israel.
While it is true that an arms embargo imposed by the current government may constrain Israel’s militarily as it battles Iranian-backed terrorist groups, Biden’s foreign realignment also isolates the Jewish State in the diplomatic space by telegraphing to its recently embraced Arab allies that Iran’s integration in the region, remains a higher priority than preserving the spirit of the Abraham Accords.
Since October 7, the 2020 historic agreements signed by Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and later Morocco have remained intact despite undergoing periods of strain.
Given Saudi Arabia’s tacit support for the peace deals coupled with years of expanding security cooperation with Israel, it is reasonable to assume that the Kingdom may soon join the cadre of Arab nations normalizing relations with Israel.
With that said, the president’s decision to deny Israel the equipment it needs to defeat Hamas is the latest in a string of prescriptive efforts curated by this administration to undermine Israel before its new friends.
Biden’s conditioning assistance to Israel fits the president’s framework of sidelining the web of Arab-Israeli peace agreements forged under the stewardship of former President Donald Trump.
The Abraham Accords were founded upon creating a defensive alliance aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. By weakening Israeli Jews militarily, Biden believes he can diminish Israel’s regional credibility and thwart any future posturing against Iran.
It’s a paradigm under which the Jewish nation is left less attractive to the Gulf States, whose motivations for partnership were piqued by Trump, who worked with Middle East allies in uniting against a common enemy.
Moreover, Biden’s policy of treating foreign friends as dispensable entities reduces the likelihood that Arab nations like Saudi Arabia will regard an alliance with Israel as its gateway to the West.
The president’s resistance to punish the Islamic Republic with meaningful economic sanctions renders it highly implausible that his administration would ever confront the terrorist regime with military muscle. As such, the president is accommodating Iran to a degree that Israel’s Arab partners may begin forming unsavory power pacts and shift efforts away from strengthening bonds with Israel.
Mike Doran, senior fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Hudson Institute, revealed that in the hours following Biden’s CNN talk, “China’s stock went up in Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, and Doha.” A U.S. retreat in the region inevitably results in a power vacuum whereby leaders of rogue states will willingly wield influence and exert power over a region punctuated by a receding U.S. presence.
To their credit, Arab officials have to date managed to straddle domestic criticism of Israel with outrage over Hamas’s barbaric October 7 attacks. A day following last fall’s slaughter, a statement released by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs maintaining that it was “appalled” by the attack also called Palestinian actions the previous day a “serious and grave escalation.”
Just last month, a Saudi royal official, in an interview with Israeli Public Broadcaster KAN News, pointedly told the network that “Iran is a nation that endorses terrorism, and the world should have curtailed it much earlier.”
Still, Biden’s unprecedented demands may spur a repositioning of power structures and fuel instability in a neighborhood that was, until recently, characterized by new friendships wedded to shared challenges.
To counter such misguided maneuvering, Israel must respond with clarity and courage by reaffirming its commitment to defeating the Iran-backed enemies that it now faces on multiple fronts.
It is worth recalling that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 2015 address to Congress, in which he laid out his objections to the Obama-era Iran Nuclear Deal, proved integral to garnering the respect of Sunni-led countries who came to recognize that Israel harbored the will to tackle the Iranian threat.
Speaking to U.S. lawmakers, Netanyahu declared that the terms outlined in the agreement don’t “block Iran’s path to the bomb; it paves Iran’s path to the bomb.”
While his appearance disappointed some Democrats and stoked the ire of the American president, Netanyahu’s instinct to place Israel’s security above political expediency marked the start of what soon blossomed into a robust cohort of nations joining in a desire for a Middle East free of Islamic terror.
It bears mentioning that Netanyahu has recently displayed the same determination by maintaining that the country will “stand alone” should current challenges dictate a U.S. drift from Israel.
Also notable is that signatories of the Abraham Accords represent countries with a unique reverence for religion and are governed by leaders who respect those upholding religious creeds central to traditional values. Days ago, Prime Minister Netanyahu posted a picture of himself wearing Tefillin, which the Torah commands Jewish men to wear on weekdays and Sundays.
The published image is regarded as the first public photo of the Israeli leader partaking in the sacred ritual, which, according to sources, “signify the submission of one’s mind, heart, and actions to the Almighty, as well as the rule of intellect over emotion.”
Linking statements that challenge Biden’s criticism with depictions of devotion serve as potent reminders that the Jewish nation possesses the military and spiritual resolve to win its war against terror. Firm language, bolstered by religious piety, also offers a sharp contrast to an increasingly secularized America that, under current leadership, resists safeguarding international interests.
Israel and its Arab friends should build upon the Abraham Accords by refusing to indulge in the damaging policies of the Biden administration and recommit to enhancing relations by emphasizing their unique values and connected threats.
Irit Tratt is an independent writer residing in New York. She obtained her Master’s in International Affairs with a focus on the Mideast from George Washington University. She has worked as a legislative assistant for several members of Congress. She maintains her advocacy work through her involvement with organizations such as The Tikvah Fund, The Republican Jewish Coalition, and The Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA). Irit is a steering committee member on the Board of Fellows at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA). Ms. Tratt has been published in The Jerusalem Post, The American Spectator, The Algemeiner, JNS, and Israel Hayom. Read More of Irit Tratt’s Reports — Here.
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