The Washington Free Beacon reported last week: “The Biden State Department discourages employees from referring to the historic peace agreements signed by Israel and its Arab neighbors by its official name, the Abraham Accords … The name has also been erased from a wide array of official State Department communications as the new administration presses officials to refer to the Trump-era deals as ‘normalization agreements.'”
Let’s be clear: This Orwellian language war is not only about denying credit to the Trump administration, which coined the term “Abraham Accords,” but it also represents an effort to subjugate history and theology.
The Abraham Accords — which include the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco — are not just a normalization of economic and political ties between those countries and Israel. The Accords are also an emblem in pursuit of greater religious tolerance among the Abrahamic faiths.
Both Islam’s and Christianity’s foundings consisted of rejecting and persecuting the Jews, who at the time were exiled from their homeland. From Europe to the Middle East, the Jews had to either exercise their beliefs in secret or abandon them. In contrast, the Abraham Accords mark a seismic shift in the attitude of Muslim leaders toward the Jewish state. It is critical to note that recognition of Israel is, by default, recognition of the Jewish state. And more countries, such as Saudi Arabia, have hinted they could soon join this evolution.
The positives which extend from the name are real. In October 2020, the State Department’s Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism and Bahrain’s King Hamad Global Centre for Peaceful Coexistence signed a memorandum of understanding to develop programs to foster tolerance between Arabs and Jews. The memorandum would not have been possible if not for the Abraham Accords. Nor is it likely that the UAE and Bahrain would have offered good wishes ahead of Jewish holidays, including Rosh Hashanah. This past year, there were Passover programs in the UAE, including in its capital, Abu Dhabi. There are other programs scheduled in those countries to celebrate Jewish holidays. None of those things happened before the Accords.
Why then is the Biden administration trying to get rid of this well-designed name?
Perhaps it’s because the administration isn’t too hot on religion. Consider how the administration last week failed to include the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer funding toward abortion, from its budget proposal. Or how the White House recently omitted the word “God” from its annual declaration marking the National Day of Prayer. The Blinken State Department has also repudiated the Pompeo State Department’s Commission on Unalienable Rights, which championed religious freedom abroad.
The Biden administration should keep its promise to build upon the Abraham Accords as they were designed. In both name and action, the Accords are a cause for good.
Jackson Richman is a journalist in Washington, D.C. Follow him @jacksonrichman.
