Though the media are taking great pains to ignore it, the agreement by Israel and Bahrain to establish full diplomatic relations, coming on the heels of a similar agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, is welcome news.
It reflects a growing recognition by the Sunni Arab monarchies and Israel that their interests are best served by a partnership, and the Trump administration deserves credit for helping it through. Were President Barack Obama or a President Hillary Clinton presently in the Oval Office, the columnist calls for Nobel Peace Prizes would be deafening.
It would be a mistake to underplay the significance of and complexity in getting to this point. There remains great enmity in the Islamic world toward Israel due to long-standing anti-Semitism and Israel’s ongoing conflict with Palestinians. Hatred of the Jewish state also serves as a useful veil for the shame and embarrassment felt over Israel’s repeated military successes against far larger Arab armies. And blaming Israel for all the region’s ills offers an easy scapegoat for utterly corrupt governments. In that sense, the courage to pursue partnership with Israel is not one we should underestimate. The leaders of Bahrain and the UAE know that their choices will make them priority targets for assassination. This is equally true of Iranian-orchestrated elements and Salafi-Jihadists in the vein of ISIS and al Qaeda.
So why did Bahrain follow in the UAE’s footsteps? Why not keep things as before, centered on a quietly growing relationship with Israel in a way that avoided controversy in the Islamic world?
First and foremost, the Sunni Arab monarchies have come to recognize that Israel is a reliable ally against a shared and serious Iranian threat. Second, these nations sense economic and social benefit in the trade, tourism, and technology ties Israel offers. Third, these kingdoms believe a new relationship with Israel will strengthen their relationships with the United States and the diplomatic world. Fourth, the monarchies recognize Israel only threatens those who threaten it.
The foundation for the current agreements was laid when the Obama administration, which recalibrated the traditional alliances in the Middle East to chase a deal with Iran. The disastrous deal simultaneously convinced Arab countries that the U.S. could not be trusted to counter Iran and clarified that they shared a common enemy with Israel. The Trump administration has done an effective job taking advantage of this fertile ground.
On Iran, the administration has returned America back to a position of surety for its Middle Eastern allies. President Trump has long recognized the true nature of the Obama administration’s dangerous and delusional nuclear gambit with Tehran. That agreement gave Iran tens of billions of dollars in return for an absent nuclear inspections regime, no checks on Iran’s ballistic missile program, and no consideration of how Iran would use its newfound wealth. Which is to say, no observation of the now proven fact that Iran used that wealth to export its bloody revolution across the Middle East.
Iran’s threat to Israel is clear. With striking similarity to the Nazis, its leaders see Israel as a parasite on the world. One that must be eliminated. At the same time, the Islamic revolutionary republic despises the Sunni Arab monarchies as usurpers of the Islamic tradition, deserving violent subjugation.
Fortunately, Iran today faces a very different reality than that of the Obama glory days. Its finances have been wrecked by Trump administration sanctions, and its confidence in setting the parameters of escalation with America have been greatly undermined by the enforced departure of its Quds Force general, Qassem Soleimani. This has earned Trump the trust of Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the UAE, in particular. And that trust has allowed Trump to advance a message of peace.
It’s also worth noting that at every juncture, Democrats posing as friends of Israel have constantly warned that actions taken by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump would backfire and make Israel increasingly isolated and inflame the Middle East. These were the warnings when Israel fiercely opposed the Iran deal, when Trump moved the embassy to Jerusalem, and when he recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Yet, instead of being isolated in the region, Israel is being more integrated into the region. And instead of being in flames, Israel and two major Arab countries now have openly friendly relations and commercial ties.
This is not to say that the Israel-Bahrain accord be viewed with blinders. We would be concerned were Israel’s exceptional domestic security apparatus to share its more boutique capabilities with its Bahraini counterparts. After all, Bahrain continues to discriminate against its majority Shia population unjustly. We encourage the Trump administration and Israel to use their influence to persuade Bahrain that participatory civil society is far more beneficial to a nation’s interests than is repression.
But the overwhelming takeaway here is that of a good job well done. We send our sincere congratulations to the Trump administration, Israel, Bahrain, and the UAE. We hope that their courage will set an example for more nations.
