But Donald Trump wants much more than lower gas prices, Rep. Randy Fine (R-Florida) said on “Washington Watch” Tuesday.
Trump’s ambitious call for the rest of the Middle East to sign the Abraham Accords is the sign of a president thinking about the big picture, said Fine, a Jewish American nicknamed the “Hebrew Hammer” for his congressional work against antisemitism and for pro-Israel legislation.
The U.S. secured minimal participation when it brokered the Accords, a normalization agreement between Israel and Arab states, during Trump’s first term.
United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco are current members. Egypt and Jordan had standing peace agreements with Israel already in place.
Last weekend, as word spread of more productive talks with Iran that could soon lead to an end of the war, Trump made a strong push for greater participation.
“I am mandatorily requesting that all Countries immediately sign the Abraham Accords,” he wrote in a Truth Social post. “The Middle East would be United, Powerful, and Economically Strong, like perhaps no other area, anywhere in the World! By copy of this TRUTH, I am asking my Representatives to begin, and successfully complete, the process of signing these Countries into the already Historic Abraham Accords.”
Trump’s invitation for peace includes what is now his greatest enemy, Iran.
“If Iran signs its Agreement with me, as President of the United States of America, it would be an Honor to have them also be part of this unparalleled World Coalition,” he wrote.
Trump may have his work cut out for him, however.
Mojtaba Khamenei, the Islamic Republic’s third Supreme Leader, said in a message published Tuesday for the Hajj pilgrimage that Israel would not exist within the next 15 years, reports Iran International.
No image or audio recording of Mojtaba Khamenei, reported to be severely wounded in an air attack, has been released since his appointment as supreme leader.
Iranian media aired the message which made reference to remarks made a decade ago by Ali Khamenei, the former supreme leader of the Islamic Republic, who died within minutes of the start of current U.S./Israel-Iran hostilities. It was then that Ali Khamenei said Israel would “not see the next 25 years.”
Describing Israel as an “unstable Zionist regime” and a “cancerous tumor,” the message said Israel was “approaching the final stages of its cursed existence.”
“Donald Trump isn't willing to look short term solutions to problems. He wants transformational solutions to problems and getting these countries to acknowledge what they're already doing in private, is the way to go,” Fine said.
Most in the Middle East, even if they’re quiet about it, already recognize Israel “understanding it is a force for good in the Middle East,” Fine said.
Expansion of the Abraham Accords is important because meaningful peace can’t be mandated when it involves centuries of religious, political and cultural tensions and decades of hostility toward the modern state of Israel which has existed since 1948.
“So, the president's calling on these countries to recognize the state of Israel and work collaboratively to bring peace to the region. If the president is successful in this, it will be his greatest foreign policy legacy because it will take the most difficult foreign policy quagmire in the world, and it will solve it forever,” Fine said.
However Trump’s Accords push plays out, he won’t have 100% participation.
Pakistan has already rejected the request, saying Abraham Accords and negotiations to end the war in Iran are separate matters.
Hard ball from the Pakistanis
“Personally, I don't think we should join any such accord which clashes with our fundamental ideologies,” Pakistan Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said during an interview with Pakistani news channel Samaa TV via The New Indian Express.
Asif said Islamabad would not recognize Israel until a Palestinian state is established on pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
“We have a very clear stance that (joining the Accords) is not acceptable to us,” he said.
If any new nation heeds Trump’s call that might be Saudi Arabia. The government in Qatar might give it some thought, but both would face opposition at home.
Fine notes that Accords are a “heavy lift” but says Trump needs to apply pressure.
“Israel is already working in concert with these other countries to restrain Iran, which is a threat to them all. We need to say to these so-called allies of ours in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, ‘you don't get to go halfway. You're either in or you're out. The state of Israel is a democracy. It's a permanent fixture in the Middle East.”
