Hamas Couldn’t Kill the Abraham Accords
Iran’s attacks on its neighbors make the case for working with Israel.
By The Editorial Board
The Abraham Accords have survived.
That’s the message, more important than any United Nations speech delivered last week, from Thursday’s meeting in New York of the U.S., Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.
Joined for the first time by Kazakhstan, this was the original group’s first official meeting since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of Israelis.
It couldn’t be assumed there would be another meeting. Anti-Israel pressure has been enormous, auguring against the effort to normalize relations between the world’s 22 Arab or 50 Muslim states and their one Jewish counterpart.
But the logic of the accords has grown stronger.
Can anyone now claim Iran isn’t a threat to its neighbors, who don’t need to work together to protect core interests?
The meeting was hosted by the N7 Foundation, founded by Element Capital CEO Jeffrey Talpins and executive Oren Eisner.
The group has convened meetings since 2021, quietly advancing practical economic and other cooperation among Abraham Accords states.
On Monday the U.A.E. confirmed for the first time a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which took place Sunday.
Earlier this month Morocco and Israel agreed to resume direct flights, protect investments and move forward on exchanging ambassadors.
Most of the media coverage of the accords, forged in 2020 during President Trump’s first term, has since focused on the Saudis—will they join or not?
The Abraham Accords are a better offer than Saudi Arabia’s new Mecca pact with Pakistan and Turkey.
When the Saudis recently came under Houthi attack, they turned to U.S. Central Command and Israel for help.
Perhaps they saw what their neighbors won’t soon forget: When the U.A.E. was attacked by Iran, Israel came through with Iron Dome air-defense batteries and personnel to operate them.
The Emiratis also gave the most aid to Gaza during the 2023-25 war.
The two are no contradiction, and much more is possible.
The region has also noticed that there’s one country Iran fears to attack in this latest war: Israel.
Instead the regime has picked on the Arabs, knowing those states are less able to defend themselves and retaliate effectively.
Iran has even come to prefer to attack U.S. forces than to hit Israel directly.
There’s a lesson on deterrence here for Mr. Trump, and Gulf Arab leaders are taking away from the experience that they can’t allow their countries to be such easy targets.
Deepening ties with Israel, including in military and intelligence, is one way to change that.
Then the U.S. could be the convener rather than the policeman.
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