Today, President Donald Trump signed the Abraham Accords, historic peace agreements that he coordinated to establish full diplomatic relations between the United States, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Israel. Liberty Counsel was represented at the White House signing ceremony by Founder and Chairman Mat Staver and Senior Counsel for Governmental Affairs Jonathan Alexandre.
The first accord reached between the United States, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on August 13, 2020, is an unprecedented and courageous step toward a more stable, integrated, and prosperous Middle East. As a result, the UAE formally abolished its 40-year boycott law, thereby allowing its companies and individuals to trade directly with Israel.
Israeli and Emirati ministers have already initiated their official discussions of cooperation in seven key areas: investment, finance, health, the civilian space program, civil aviation, foreign policy and diplomatic affairs, and tourism and culture. The result will be broad cooperation between two of the region’s most innovative and dynamic economies. In fact, the first Israeli passenger plane flew on August 31 to the Emirati capital carrying White House and Israeli officials. This was the first time an Israeli plane was given permission to fly through Saudi Arabian airspace.
President Trump said, “Now that the ice has been broken, I expect more Arab and Muslim countries will follow the United Arab Emirates’ lead.”
Then on Friday, September 11, President Trump brokered a deal to establish full diplomatic relations between Bahrain and Israel. The agreement makes Bahrain the fourth Arab country, after Egypt, Jordan and the UAE, to have full diplomatic ties with Israel. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are the first Arab nations to normalize relations with Israel in more than 25 years. It took Israel 72 years to form its first two peace agreements, and now there have been two more in less than one month.
Israel and Bahrain have committed to begin the exchange of embassies and ambassadors, start direct flights between their countries, and launch cooperation initiatives across a broad range of sectors. It further enhances their security while creating opportunities for them to deepen their economic ties.
The United States will continue to support the people of Bahrain as they work to counter terrorism and extremism, develop economically, and build new peaceful partnerships across the region.
President Trump noted the timing of the deal, coming on the 19th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks: “There’s no more powerful response to the hatred that spawned 9/11 than this agreement. The sand was loaded up with blood, and now you’ll see a lot of that sand will be loaded up with peace.”
The president also recently oversaw the signing of an agreement between Serbia and Kosovo that normalized economic relations between those two countries. That arrangement also included Kosovo recognizing Israel, and Serbia agreeing to move its embassy to Jerusalem — as the U.S. had done with its embassy in 2017.
