“The region is at a critical time regarding Iran. This is our time to deliver a strong and unified message — we will never allow Iran to go nuclear,” Hulata told the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Manama Dialogue security forum in Bahrain on Sunday. “Iran has made great strides in its UAV development and usage, but its nuclear development program is at the top of the threat list.”

The former Mossad officer warned that should Iran achieve its nuclear ambitions, “the region as we know it is no longer; the free world will face extreme threats it hasn’t faced before.”

“Iran will not make any concessions just because we ask them nicely. The Iranian issue is not just our problem, it’s a global problem,” Hulata remarked. “We support a unified global determination action. But at the same time Israel will be ready to defend itself if it needs to. We will make the preparations to do so.”

The comments come as stalled nuclear talks with Iran are scheduled to resume later this month in Vienna.

Hulata said that although the US and Israel may not agree on everything, “we share the goals of preventing Iran from ever being able to break out nuclear weapons and to limit the regional domination.”

Also speaking at the security forum, White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk reiterated that the US commitment to Israel’s national security is “ironclad and sacrosanct.”

McGurk stated that the US is “deeply concerned as should the entire world [be] … about the dramatic and increasing acceleration of Iran’s nuclear program since the prior presidential administration left the JCPOA.”

McGurk emphasized that although the Biden administration is committed to diplomacy, the US is also prepared to pursue other options should the efforts fail.

“If we need to use force we are prepared to do so decisively, we are not going to get drawn into tit for tat exchanges of fire with Iranian-backed proxy groups,” McGurk warned.

Hulata pointed out that his participation in the security forum coincides with the one-year anniversary of the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements signed between Israel, Bahrain, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates, and brokered by the US.

“These agreements have been a clear message across the region, that collaboration, innovation, and optimistic vision are the best driving forces for the better future of our peoples,” Hulata said.

Hulata disclosed that he would be traveling to the UAE later on Sunday to join Israeli Minister of Energy Karine Elharrar, who will be signing a declaration of intent with her Jordanian counterpart to build a large solar power plant in the kingdom. The deal also plan for the construction of a desalination plant in Israel to supply fresh water to Jordan.

Source: https://www.algemeiner.com/2021/11/21/we-will-never-allow-iran-to-go-nuclear-israels-security-adviser-tells-bahrain-summit/

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Prime Minister Naftali Bennett focused on Iran in a recorded address to the 5th annual Christian Media Summit on Thursday, saying Tehran was instigating terror that threatened Israel and other countries.

“As the world fights this invisible enemy,” he said, referring to COVID-19, “in Israel, we’re also fighting a very visible enemy — radical militant Islam that is sweeping across the Middle East.”

“The terror that begins in Tehran seeks to destroy Israel, dominate the world and drive it into a dark abyss,” he continued.

Bennett also cited positive developments for Israel, saying it was “facing a new dawn” after forging ties the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain last year.

“This conference commemorates the signing of the Abraham Accords, which have contributed greatly to regional stability, prosperity and peace between Israel and her neighbors,” he said.

He added that Israel is the only place in the Middle East “where the Christian community is growing, thriving and prospering.”

“Today, more than ever, Christians stand united with Israel,” he said. “And today, more than ever, Israel stands united with Christians.”

According to the host Government Press Office, over 150 news executives and opinion leaders in Christian media attended this year’s virtual gathering, which it said is meant to “better understanding and strengthen the friendship between Christians” and Israel.

Former prime minister and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu lauded the Abraham Accords, which were brokered while he was premier, during his speech to the summit.

He portrayed the peace agreements as a defeat for Palestinian rejectionism, calling it the “first time Israel made peace for peace.”

Netanyahu called this a “novel concept” and “the way of the future.”

“We removed the Palestinian veto,” Netanyahu said. “Palestinians don’t want peace with Israel. The Palestinians don’t want a state next to Israel. They want a state instead of Israel.”

Netanyahu added that Arab countries were also pushed toward Israel because of the specter of a nuclear Iran, which “wants to dominate and conquer all these Arab lands and turn everyone against these forces of moderation and the future.”

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, in his address to the summit, discussed “the important role Christian media plays in connecting Christians everywhere with Israel, and in strengthening the friendship between Christians and Jews around the world.”

He said that Christian Zionists could help expand the “circle of peace” and build upon the Abraham Accords.

“Israel is now entering a new era,” Lapid said. “An era of peace, friendship, and coexistence. An era based on the idea that what unites us is greater than what divides us. An era of peace between countries and between peoples.”

The summit included a session with Arab journalists from Abraham Accords countries, a talk on Black Christian Zionism, and messages from well-known rabbis and authors.

Source: https://www.timesofisrael.com/bennett-to-christian-media-summit-iranian-terror-is-sweeping-the-region/

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A year on after the first global cases of COVID-19 appeared in Wuhan, a number of countries have already begun implementing mass vaccination programs.

Around 50 countries around the world have already started vaccinating their people against COVID-19, barely a year after the first alert by China signaled the start of the epidemic.

A snapshot:

China leads the way

China, where the pandemic first emerged, was also the first to start vaccinations over the summer, without waiting for a vaccine to be formally authorized but targeting the most vulnerable.

To date, nearly five million Chinese people have been vaccinated. Beijing on Thursday granted “conditional” market approval to a Sinopharm vaccine with a reported 79 percent efficacy rate against COVID-19.

Vaccine products are packaged at the Beijing Biological Products Institute Co., Ltd, a unit of state-owned Sinopharm in Beijing. – Source: AAP

Russia followed on December 5, rolling out vaccinations for those considered high risk with its contentious Sputnik V vaccine, which has since been approved in Belarus and Argentina, which launched their vaccination campaigns on Tuesday.

Algeria is set to follow them in January.

Britain first in West

Britain led the way in the Western world, authorizing the vaccine made by US-German pharma alliance Pfizer-BioNTech. Its vaccination campaign started on December 8 and by December 27 close to 950,000 people had received their jabs, according to official figures published Thursday.

Britain was also the first on Wednesday to approve the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. It will be administered for the first time on January 4.

Canada and the United States started their vaccination drives on December 14, Switzerland on the 23rd, Serbia the 24th, the vast majority of the European Union on December 27, Norway on Sunday, and Iceland on Tuesday. All of them are using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

The United States and Canada are also the first two countries to have authorized the vaccine by US pharma company Moderna, which is up for approval on January 6 by the EU.

Around 2.8 million Americans have already been given their first dose of the COVID-19 jab. In the 27-nation EU Germany has so far given the most injections, with more than 130,000 in five days.

Israeli target

In the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates were the first to launch their vaccination campaign with doses of China’s Sinopharm, on December 14 in the capital Abu Dhabi. Dubai started its vaccinations on December 23, using doses of Pfizer-BioNTech.

Saudi Arabia and Bahrain launched their campaigns on December 17, Israel two days later, Qatar on the 23rd, Kuwait the 24th, and Oman on December 27.

All are solely using the Pfizer- BioNTech jab, except for Bahrain which is also using China’s Sinopharm.

Israel, which has set itself the ambitious goal of inoculating a quarter of its population in a month, has already injected nearly 800,000 people. Bahrain has vaccinated nearly 60,000 and Oman more than 3,000.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gets ready to receive a coronavirus vaccine at Sheba Medical Center on 19 December 2020. – Source: AAP

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Israel, Bahrain

The post Official: Israel, Bahrain to establish diplomatic relations today first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

“No, no, no,” said former Secretary of State (under Obama) John Kerry.  If some one thought it would be possible to make peace between Israel and other Arab nations without first satisfying the demands of the Palestinians, they had another thing coming.  It simply wasn’t possible, so why even try?  But John wasn’t the only one haughtily talking sing-song.  The media said it constantly.  Most believed it and parroted it.  Nothing could move past the stalemate between Israel and the Palestinians, it was impossible.  There was nothing to do but satisfy the demands of the “Palestinians,” and no leader of the Palestinians dared move toward peace with Israel without risking the very real possibility of assassination.  It wouldn’t be the first time.

But as we saw this week at the White House signing ceremony, it wasn’t impossible after all.  The President sat between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Foreign Ministers of both the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain and signed a comprehensive pact of cooperation dubbed the Abraham Accords that includes the exchange of embassies, direct flights between capitals and phone system links.  According to statements by the President and his aides, we’re going to see a whole raft of Arab countries make peace with Israel including eventually even Iran and the Palestinians.  “Iran can’t wait to make a deal,” said the President at last night’s rally (he called it a friendly protest).

Is it OK to mention the strides toward Middle East peace, or is that too “political” for an organization like ours?  On the surface, it sounds like a wonderful development.  Too bad we know some of the warnings contained in the Bible.  When do we get to start worrying about “peace and safety” in the Western world?  How about American cities?  What we’ve seen developing, which is anger and violence on a whole new level, doesn’t inspire much confidence.  We’re being led to believe that ALL the demands of the riotous protesters must be satisfied, or we can just get used to “peaceful protests” burning down businesses, ambushing police officers and trashing city centers.

Global warming is on the march too!  For nearly four decades those who want to see Western civilization under the thumb of a dictatorial system ranted and raved that “global warming” was an “existential threat,” and that we needed to start driving battery cars and using windmills and solar panels for electricity before it’s too late!  We wanted to print an article that appeared in Forbes’ publication in the upcoming 21^st Century WATCH.  Since it’s not going to appear, we’ll tell you what it says.  An electric car has already used half the “carbon footprint” of the life of an internal combustion vehicle before it ever leaves the showroom floor.  If the battery has to be replaced before the vehicle is worn out, then the pollution involved surpasses anything produced by your standard piston engine, to say nothing of the constant charging of the electric vehicle.  That’s not to say that electric vehicles don’t have their place (quiet golf carts are nice), but they’re definitely not going to “save the planet.”

They’re blaming the West coast fires on “global warming.”  If somebody says otherwise, the media labels them a right-wing kook.  But arsonists keep getting caught setting fires, particularly in and around places like Portland where the rioting has been the worst.  Despite mainstream denials, you can watch videos of firebugs being caught in the act.

The F.I.B. investigated and zuckerbook has been removing posts that claim activists are responsible for some of the western wildfires.  The information was on the (9-14-20) Yahoo page.  To the right of that page it said, “What to Read Next” above a photo of a fire fighter and his dog rummaging through  the rubble of a building or house surrounded by charred forest.  The headline read, “Oregon Man Arrested Twice in 12 Hours for starting Fires Near Portland Freeway.”  Maybe no one noticed that the second story on tap disputed what was just said in the first.  Maybe you saw the Oregon video of a man being made to lie face down on the pavement as a female landowner holds him for the police.  He’s in all black, of course, and the landowner asks, “What are those matches doing in your hand?” He replies, “I’m a smoker.”  “Then where are your (expletive deleted) cigarettes?!?”  The whole scene is choked with smoke.

To get a feel for the extent of the smoke, take a look at the satellite images.  You can see the whole thing from space, and it shows that the smoke gets blown out to sea and then comes back with the weather.  Having talked to John Mitchell in Sacramento (9-15-20), he said that the smoke in that area has been “hazardous” for the past 10 days straight, and there is no letup in sight.  There have been stories, most times accompanied by video, of firebugs running around lighting fires in Washington state and Oregon.  But that disputes the media narrative that seeks to convince us that the fires are nothing more than PROOF of global warming.  It’s more like PROOF that black lives matter and antifa thugs are willing to burn the country down to get their way.  Getting their way demands the destruction of freedom.  Or is that too political to talk about?

California is ordering Jewish congregations NOT to gather in observance of Rosh Hashanah, or the Feast of Trumpets, in Los Angeles.  We’ll see what legal ramifications are involved, but it kind of looks like both the governor and the mayor of Los Angeles are pitting their “authority” against God’s instructions for the good of the collective. But we don’t believe in “the collective” or any of their other communist ideals.  Good luck to the preening politicians.  They’ve picked the wrong fight.  We’ll be here for the Feast of Trumpets as commanded by God.  The Texas governor has screwed up big time, perhaps having destroyed Texas’ reputation permanently.  But at least we haven’t been “ordered” not to assemble for the annual Holy Day.  We’d have defied him anyway.

Mark

PS:  We hope that all of you will be able to observe the Feast of Trumpets without incident. It begins at sundown this evening.  We’ll be live streaming our service on the Intercontinental Church of God youtube channel at 1:00 pm Central time.

Source:  http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 18 September 2020 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki.   (photo credit: REUTERS/MOHAMED ABD EL GHANY)

The Palestinian Authority leadership on Friday strongly condemned and rejected Bahrain’s decision to establish relations with Israel, calling it a “betrayal of Jerusalem, al-Aqsa Mosque and the Palestinian issue.”

The PA Foreign Ministry announced it has decided to immediately recall its ambassador to Bahrain for consultations in protest of the normalization agreement.

Last month, the Palestinian leadership issued a similar response to the normalization agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It also decided to recall its ambassador to Abu Dhabi.

The PA leadership said the Bahraini decision would “support the legalization of the cruel crimes of the Israeli occupation against our Palestinian people at a time when the occupation [sic] state is continuing to control the Palestinian lands and annex them by military force; is working toward Judaizing Jerusalem and controlling the Islamic and Christian holy sites; and is committing crimes against the Palestinian people.”

The Palestinian leadership said in a statement that it views the Bahraini decision “with utmost seriousness because it destroys the Arab Peace Initiative, resolutions of Arab and Islamic summits and international legitimacy.”

It said the Palestinians reject the decision and call on Bahrain to immediately retract it because it causes huge damage to the national rights of the Palestinian people and to joint Arab action.

“The Palestinian leadership reaffirms its call for the Arab countries to adhere to the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative and urges the international community to adhere to international law and the resolutions of international legitimacy,” the statement read.

“The Palestinian leadership reaffirms that it has not and will not authorize anyone to speak on its behalf. It also affirms that peace and stability in the region won’t be achieved unless the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories is ended and Palestinians achieve an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with east Jerusalem as its capital – and that the issue of the refugees is solved on the basis of United Nations Resolution 194. Those who believe that concessions that come at the expense of the rights of the Palestinian people will serve peace, security and stability in the region are deluding themselves.”

Several Palestinian officials expressed outrage over the “disgraceful and treacherous” Israel-Bahrain agreement and accused Bahrain of betraying the Palestinian people.

PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat accused the UAE and Bahrain of “contributing to [US President Donald] Trump’s presidential campaign at the expense of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.”

Ahmed Majdalani, member of the PLO Executive Committee, denounced the Israel-Bahrain agreement as a “stab to the national rights of the Palestinian people and their national cause. He said that the US administration’s “delusion that it can make peace between the occupying state and the Arab countries without the Palestinians and without an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories is political stupidity.”

Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other extremist groups also condemned the Israel-Bahrain accord and said it was “the fruit of the failure of the Arab League.”

Last week, Arab League foreign ministers refused to endorse a Palestinian draft resolution that condemned the UAE for its agreement to establish relations with Israel.

“What the Kingdom of Bahrain did is disgraceful and constitutes a political setback and a major downfall for the rulers of Bahrain,” Hamas said in a statement. “This series of steps, initiated by the Emiratis, and then the rulers of Bahrain, constitutes political crimes, contributes to the implementation of the Deal of the Century and undermines the foundations of Arab solidarity. Hamas rejects this announcement and considers it a stab in the back of the Palestinian people, a betrayal of Palestine and Jerusalem and a step against the interests of the Arabs and Muslims.”

Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/palestinians-strongly-condemn-israel-bahrain-deal-withdraw-ambassador-641976

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It’s a day we’ll never forget.  But at least we had an identifiable enemy to track down.  Nineteen years ago we got a mighty serious wake-up call.  We had no choice but to come to grips with the reality that some idiot zealots were prepared to kill innocent people by the thousands in order to show us that Islam is the true religion.  For a minute or two, it seemed that the United States was unified against a common enemy.

On September 11, 2001 we didn’t know what was going on.  Some worst-case scenarios passed our minds.  How many hijacked airliners?  We didn’t know.  What will they destroy?  Three thousand innocents didn’t survive the onslaught.  Most of them died in the collapsed twin towers, but innocent Americans were also killed in the Pentagon and some were passengers on the ill-fated planes.  Once we knew the extent of it and that the nation would survive, fear turned to anger.  The president (G. W. Bush) at the time led the angry reaction, and within weeks American bombers were blasting a labyrinth of caves in Afghanistan, to be followed by battalions of troops.

The bad news is that nineteen years later, we still maintain a presence in Afghanistan.  We’ve been losing soldiers right along, dozens to so-called “friendly fire” incidents where trusted locals turned on our men and murdered them inside our own bases.  The cat and mouse games have gone on for nearly twenty years now, and hundreds more of our American soldiers have been killed or maimed in the impossible mission of establishing some reason and logic. It couldn’t be done, and there our people are still, suffering the blight of the Muslim Middle East, and occasionally we lose some to hideous injury or death.

President Trump announced his intention to bring our soldiers home from these “endless” and unproductive wars.  But the Pentagon disagreed, and Trump deferred to their experience and knowledge.  Three and a half years into Trump’s first term and our troops are still there.  The generals with rank don’t want to see America pull out of any of several locations in the Middle East.  But Trump’s not waiting for them to come around.  Who are they working for anyway?  Turns out many of them go on to make big bucks lobbying for the manufacturers of equipment and munitions, after they retire from the American military.  Something’s not entirely right.

So the breaking news this week is that Trump is drawing down our forces in the Middle East dramatically.  The mainstream hated to interrupt their wall to wall coverage of the latest lie published in the Atlantic.  They called in everybody and their dog to find out why Trump hates the military so much that he’d call dead WW1 and WW2 veterans suckers and losers.  Not only did he purportedly say it, but said it with all kinds of people present!  The only problem for the media is that several of those who were claimed to have been present denied he said any such thing.  Even John Bolton denied he said it, and you surely know where he’s coming from.

So the past week has been more unfounded hear-say against Trump, and the media has been working overtime to say he has no respect for the military.  Except he’s shown otherwise.  He’s provided our guys with all new and improved equipment, vehicles, tanks, airplanes and enough ordnance so they won’t run out.  But the bent genders at the anchor desks are determined that Trump hates the military, and that we all hate Trump.  Have you ever, in your life, seen such a crusade?  Maybe they’ll be able to find a soldier that is really incensed that he got to come home.  Stand by.  The search has begun.

The other news is that Bahrain has decided to make peace with Israel.  First the UAE, now Bahrain, and we’re led to believe that there will be more.  There’s no describing how irrelevant those angry “Palestinians” must be feeling.  They thought they held the key to the entire Middle East, including the wealthy nations that don’t exactly need everything blown to rubble.  It seems that their importance may have been somewhat inflated.  Our media has been pushing that narrative for about forty some years, and it’s blown up in their faces too.  What will that crazy Donald Trump do next?

In the United States, it’s open season on police officers and…they’re quitting.  Can you even imagine the anarchy that will prevail if the “abolish the police” movement succeeds?  We’ve seen examples in several cities, and it’s not pretty.  Police are in a no-win situation.  In many cases, they’ve been ordered NOT to do their jobs.  We’ve seen the results.  In Minneapolis and in Seattle, the police (or their bosses) decided it would be a good idea to abandon their buildings.  The one in Seattle is still standing.  The one in Minneapolis was torched.  Police cannot maintain law and order lest the media foment additional anarchy.  Not only that, the rioters might be offended, the “news” desks will be offended and claim that the police are causing the riots, and the rioters are just a bunch of pitiful victims.

This week we learned that the entire upper echelon of Rochester, NY police decided it is time to go.  Some have served their community for decades.  Police put a spit mask (isn’t everybody wearing one?) on a black man exhibiting signs of insanity and forced him to the ground, where he expired.  It doesn’t seem that they did anything that would have caused his death, but he died anyway.   You don’t suppose it had anything to do with the fact that he was OD-ing on PCP?   The Medical Examiner thought it might. Rochester is the latest battleground for masked thugs and arsonists, most of whom are probably from somewhere else.

Apparently the police don’t want to play the stupid games that have taken place in other cities.  They can’t win, and chances are their jobs were going to be eliminated.  But they didn’t give that or any other explanation.  They just quit.  We don’t know exactly why.  They’ve probably decided life is too short to be squandered in the streets doing battle with a horde of professional thugs transported in to wreck the place.  It is now being reported that more than two dozen Chiefs of Police have resigned in just the past two months.  This week we learned that the Dallas Police Chief, the first black woman to hold the post, is leaving too.  You have to wonder if whatever other profession they’ve all chosen will be workable when there’s no one to call.  This thing could spiral completely out of control.  Then even the snowflakes will be praying for Jesus’ return.

Mark

PS: Anyone who needs DVDs for use during the Feast of Tabernacles should let us know right away. We will be live-streaming our services on the Intercontinental Church of God YouTube channel.  For speakers to travel under the uncertain (might we say, ridiculous) circumstances seemed inadvisable.  Who knows what kind of nonsense the newly minted tyrants will dream up next?

Source: http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 11 September 2020 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

President Trump on Friday announced that Bahrain has agreed to normalize relations with Israel, another diplomatic win for the president coming after a similar agreement with the United Arab Emirates just last month.

“Another HISTORIC breakthrough today! Our two GREAT friends Israel and the Kingdom of Bahrain agree to a Peace Deal – the second Arab country to make peace with Israel in 30 days!” he tweeted.

ISRAEL, UAE TO SIGN HISTORIC PEACE DEAL IN WHITE HOUSE CEREMONY NEXT WEEK

The post Trump announces deal between Bahrain, Israel to normalize relations in push for Mideast peace first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Why it matters: Israel wants the agreement to carry the most serious status, demanding the greatest commitment from both parties, Israeli officials explain. Officials also hope the agreement will send a message of long-term stability, rather than a temporary deal.

The state of play: During talks the U.S. and Israel had with Emirati officials in recent weeks, Israel requested that the document be signed in Washington as a “treaty of peace.” Israeli and U.S. officials say the Emiratis agreed.

• The economic protocol, which was signed by Israel and the UAE in Abu Dhabi on Monday and which I obtained a copy of, mentions that it is “in advance of the signing in Washington of a treaty of peace, diplomatic relations and full normalization.”
• Israeli officials say the peace treaty with the UAE must be approved by vote in the Knesset, intended to make the process more consensual. Peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan were also approved by vote in the Knesset and received a significant majority.

What to watch: No date has been set for the signing ceremony in Washington, according to Israeli officials, but the event is expected to take place the week of Sept. 14. The Israeli prime minister’s office has already asked El Al to have a plane ready for departure to Washington, D.C., next Saturday or the day after.

• The U.S. and Israel are continuing talks with other Arab countries — mainly Bahrain and Sudan — in an effort to get them to agree to normalization agreements even before the signing ceremony in Washington, Israeli officials tell me. If they succeed, the ceremony will be even bigger, but Israeli officials say it is unclear whether things will materialize by then.
• The White House plans to invite ambassadors of Arab countries, including those who do not have diplomatic relations with Israel, officials say. In doing so, the White House hopes to show the U.S.-brokered Israel-UAE agreement has broad support in the Arab world.

Go deeper… Scoop: Kushner plans a trip to Middle East to encourage more Gulf states to normalize with Israel

Source: https://www.axios.com/israel-uae-washington-peace-treaty-e077b187-d9f3-42be-98cc-0243fd67674e.html

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Around 60 delegations confirmed participation at the conference. The level of participation was unexpectedly low and Turkey, Iran, Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority did not participate. Considering the fact that the announced aim of the Warsaw Conference was to mobilize regional states and the international community in the U.S.-led counter-Iran campaign and the genuine goal of the conference was to improve and facilitate the normalization of Arab-Israeli relations, the absence of these states in the conference had a negative impact.

Trump’s pro-Israeli Middle East team and the Netanyahu government used this conference to facilitate Israel’s normalization with the Arab states as preparatory steps for the so-called “Deal of the Century.” As an indication of this goal, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu stated that the conference provided an “opportunity” to work with the Arab states on a “mutual interest” in fighting against Iran.

Although the Palestinian Authority encouraged Arab states to boycott the conference, this did not prevent them from attending and eventually, 10 Arab states attended. On the other hand, 10 days before the conference, some Arab states including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan and Kuwait held a meeting in order to take a common position at the Warsaw Conference.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has declared that he could not imagine this level of cooperation between the Arab states and Israel. The de facto ruler of the UAE, Muhammad Bin Zayed (MBZ), is the pioneer of this cooperation. He led some Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain to enter into an actually existing, if largely unacknowledged, regional alliance with Israel, while some remaining Arab states are now falling over each other to recognize the Israeli state.

On the one hand, Netanyahu met with Oman’s foreign minister during the conference and held a friendly meeting. On the other hand, the former Saudi intelligence head Prince Turki al-Faisal gave an interview to Israeli television. This was the first appearance of a member of the Saudi royal family on Israeli television. During the interview, he asserted that Netanyahu sees establishing bilateral relations with Israel as a precondition of reaching peace in the Israeli-Palestinian issue. However, al-Faisal emphasized that the Saudi/Arab view was the other way around.

Considering the low level of participation, the conference failed to reach its goals in terms of mobilizing the international community against Iran. Nevertheless, it can be considered a limited success for the normalization of Arab-Israeli relations. Many Arab countries continue to cooperate with Israel in creating an Israeli-led regional system.

Furthermore, the conference was used by Netanyahu to show his “success” in foreign relations amid an electoral campaign. This was criticized by Israeli politicians, among them the leading figure of the opposition Tzipi Livni.

Following the developments at the Conference, it can be said that American preparations for a so-called “Deal of the Century” will be intensified. As Jared Kushner, U.S. President Trump’s senior adviser, is expected to travel to five Gulf countries at the end of the month to discuss the specifics of the peace deal, it seems like Trump will try to leave at least a legacy in regard to the most important conflict in world history – before the upcoming 2020 presidential elections.

Source: https://www.dailysabah.com/columns/ataman-muhittin/2019/02/20/israel-dives-into-the-arab-world

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