On Tuesday, after visiting the UAE with an Israeli delegation for the historic normalization talks, White House adviser and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, set off to other Gulf nations, seeking for more Arab countries to follow UAE’s footsteps.
On August 13th, the US President Donald Trump announced the historic news of the UAE and Israel joining hands to establish full diplomatic ties as part of a deal to halt further annexation, as per Isreal’s 2020 plans, of land claimed by Palestinians.
According to UAE state news agency WAM, Kushner stated other Arab countries could follow UAE quickly in normalizing ties with Israel. When asked when this would happen, Kushner was quoted as saying: “Let’s hope it’s months.”
On Monday, Kushner and the Israeli delegation took the first-ever Israeli commercial flight, El Al charter flight, to the UAE in order to commence the two-day talks over the historic deal.
While urging the Palestinians to “re-engage” with the Israelis in a joint statement by the US, UAE, and Israel, UAE and Israel established a joint committee to cooperate on financial services. Moreover, UAE’s biggest lender First Abu Dhabi Bank stated that it would hold talks with Israel lenders Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi.
Kushner also reportedly met UAE military officials at an Abu Dhabi airbase which holds the US military F-35 jets. UAE had for long sought to purchase these fighter jets from the US despite Israeli objections. Initially, UAE had even nixed a planned meeting with the US and Israel after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly denied knowledge about an arms deal between the US and UAE post the August 13th deal.
After visiting UAE, Kushner flew to Bahrain and then Saudi Arabia and he now intends to visit Qatar.
Although no other Arab country has yet hinted plans to follow the UAE, Saudi Arabia permitted the flight carrying Kushner and the Israelis to use its air space.
Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, during Kushner’s visit, reportedly praised the role the UAE has played in defending Arab and Islamic interests.
While Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Kushner spoke about the need for the Palestinians and the Israelis to restart talks to reach peace, according to reports by the state news agency SPA.
On the other hand, Turkey and Iran have slammed UAE over the Israel agreement.
Recently, on Tuesday, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reiterated Iran’s stand by saying: “The Emiratis will be disgraced forever for this treachery against the Islamic world, Arab nations and Palestine.”
“The UAE, along with Israelis and evil Americans like the Jewish member of Trump’s family, are working together against the interests of the Islamic world,” Khamenei said, referring to Kushner, who is Jewish.
Currently, among Arab nations, only Egypt and Jordan have active diplomatic ties with Israel. The August 13th step made UAE the first Gulf Arab nation and the third Arab country to sought diplomatic ties with Israel, amid the continuous tensions between Palestine and Israel.
It is important to mention that the Gulf Arab countries are in majority governed by Sunni Muslim monarchs who have historically had conflicts with Shi’ite Iran, and Israel has for long stated that their common enemy (Iran) could bring them together.
Commenting on Iran’s supremem leader’s statements, UAE Foreign Ministry official Jamal Al-Musharakh said: “The path to peace and prosperity is not paved with incitement and hate speech.”