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Benjamin Netanyahu is about to form a coalition with Israel’s far right and the Arab states that normalized in 2020 seem indifferent.
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By Patrick Kingsley
When Benjamin Netanyahu won the general election last month, analysts wondered how the 3 Arab countries that normalized relations with Israel in 2020 would react: Bahrain, Morocco, and the United Arab Emirates.
Netanyahu himself forged the deals in his last term, but his new far-right allies have a history of anti-Arab statements that some say might prove too reprehensible for the leaders of the three Arab states.
Ahead of the election, UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan met privately with Netanyahu and expressed discomfort with his alliance with the far right, according to two other people briefed on the verbal exchange who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely.
But since the election, that malaise has temporarily morphed into a more pragmatic approach: the prestige quo, at least for now.
In recent weeks, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates invited Itamar Ben-Gvir, one of Gvir’s top allies. Netanyahu, to the National Day celebrations in Tel Aviv. however, the inclusion of Mr. Ben-Gvir, and a warm embrace from the Emirati ambassador, raised eyebrows and made headlines in Israel.
While other countries, notably the United States, have distanced themselves from Mr. Ben-Gvir, who was convicted in Israel of anti-Arab incitement, the Bahraini and UAE missions did not.
“Any replacement of the government will not affect Bahrain’s technique to establish positive relations with Israel,” Khaled Al Jalahma, Bahrain’s ambassador to Israel, said in a text message that expired Thursday. “Bahrain’s position on converting the administration into Israel is the same as it would be with any other country. “
But, M. Al Jalahma added, “as with any government, we will express our fear if the policies followed are of a nature that can strain relations. “
This position reflects the extent to which the Abraham Accords, as the 2020 Accords were called, redrew the contours of Middle East geopolitics. For decades, the two Arab governments refused to formalize their relations with Israel until a solution to the problem was found. Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Open ties with Israel, not to mention its excessive top politicians, were out of the question.
The signing of the accords underscored how solidarity with the Palestinians had been eclipsed, for some Arab leaders, by national interest. Shared fears of a nuclear Iran, coupled with enthusiasm for a greater economy, technology and military with Israel, have led signatories to the agreements to prioritize with Israel the early creation of a Palestinian state.
Two years later, those fears and hopes also helped signatories settle for partners selected through Netanyahu, even as some of Israel’s longtime supporters, such as the United States, are taking a more cautious approach, analysts said.
“That’s what Israel is, and countries like the UAE have to deal with whoever the Israelis choose,” said Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, an Emirati political scientist. “There is no going back on this treaty, the Abraham Accords, and we are trapped. with someone like him,” Professor Abdulla added, referring to Mr. Abdulla.
Mr. Ben-Gvir’s acceptance has attracted specific attention because of his record of anti-Arab extremism. While he says he has recently moderated his views, up until 2020, Mr. Ben-Gvir showed a portrait of a Jewish gunman who in 1994 shot and killed. 29 Palestinians a mosque.
In Netanyahu’s likely new government, Ben-Gvir is expected to be the minister of national security, a role that oversees the police. Before the alliance officially took office, he tried to pass a law that would give Ben-Gvir greater leverage over policing activities.
This has raised fears that his mandate could further galvanize clashes with Palestinians, especially in sensitive places such as the Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, where Israeli police confront Palestinians at a site holy to Jews and Muslims.
Despite those concerns, the Emirati ambassador to Israel, Mohamed Al Khaja, warmly welcomed Mr. Ben-Gvir at a gala hosted by Ambassador Al Khaja in Tel Aviv this month and shook hands with several photographers.
The UAE Foreign Ministry declined to comment, but Mr. Ben-Gvir’s Foreign Ministry office took advantage of the meeting from its growing acceptance.
The UAE and Bahrain “recognize Ben-Gvir for what he is, that he is a leader of the Law and Order Party, not a racist leader, as advised in Western media,” said Yishai Fleisher, a spokesman for Ben-Gvir.
M. Al Khaja then visited Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right leader with an anti-Arab background. Smotrich and Ben-Gvir were invited to Bahrain’s National Day rite in Tel Aviv on Thursday night but, like many coalition lawmakers, did not attend due to political compromises in Jerusalem.
At the event, Bahrain’s Ambassador Al Jalahma said in a speech that the Palestinian cause remains vital for Bahrain. But the general tone of the evening, which Mr. Netanyahu gave the impression via video link, was that business was proceeding normally. This month, Bahrain also hosted Isaac Herzog, Israel’s centrist president, on the first stop in the country through an Israeli head of state.
The Moroccan government has moved away from the Israeli far right, but has signaled in other tactics that its relations with Israel continue normally.
This week, Morocco sent a senior army officer to participate alongside his Israeli, Bahraini and Emirati counterparts in an assembly in the United Arab Emirates on cybersecurity.
Last week, Morocco hosted a convention for school officials and academics from Israel and seven Arab countries, adding citizens from two countries, Oman and Sudan, that do not yet have full diplomatic relations with Israel. Participants discussed how to collaborate between their school formulas, adding an exchange formula for Israeli and Arab university students.
Several Israeli, Emirati and Bahraini participants watched the World Cup matches together, adding Morocco’s wonderful victory over Spain.
This kind of interaction highlights the complexity of Israel’s position in the Arab world: even as some Arab leaders deepen relations with Israel, polls show that this procedure remains unpopular among Arabs.
At the World Cup in Qatar, many Arab participants, and some players, in addition to the Moroccan team, came under pressure from the Palestinians and refused to speak to Israeli journalists covering the tournament.
“What happens at the most sensible level has nothing to do with what happens between people,” said Elham Fakhro, a researcher at the Centre for Gulf Studies at the University of Exeter in Britain.
Morocco’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the report. But analysts say the most sensible Arab leaders are content to forget about the protests of their citizens and Palestinians because their countries derive great advantages from the military and economic partnership with Israel.
Israel is competing with the Abraham Accord countries and the United States to oppose Iranian missiles and unmanned drones.
Israel’s Defense Ministry has signed public agreements with its counterparts in Bahrain and Morocco, facilitating coordination and exchange of military aircraft between the three countries, and quietly has an air defense formula for the UAE, according to satellite imagery released in October.
Trade is also flourishing. This month, Israel and the United Arab Emirates finalized a deal that will cover 96% of the bilateral industry – the most comprehensive industrial agreement between Israel and an Arab country.
“It was a pragmatic arrangement that they see as in their long-term strategic interests,” Dr. Fakhro said. “It doesn’t replace just because Ben-Gvir is now here. They will not replace those interests with the Palestinian problem.
Saudi Arabia has stated that it will not seal full ties with Israel until the status quo of a Palestinian state is reached. Analysts also believe it will not stick to the UAE in normalization with Israel unless it receives more help from the United States, adding the provision of more complicated weapons or aid for a nuclear program.
But Netanyahu has vowed since his election victory in November that he would try to normalize relations with Riyadh.
“We can have a new peace initiative that will be a breakthrough,” Netanyahu said Thursday on Al Arabiya, a Saudi TV channel.
“Of course, I mean what could be, in fact, a remarkable historic peace with Saudi Arabia,” he added.
Myra Noveck contributed reporting from Jerusalem and Vivian Nereim from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
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