Four more Arab nations are in talks for normalization with Israel to join the “circle of peace” in the Middle East, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Tuesday in an interview with the Hebrew-language Ynet news outlet.
The announcement reinforces predictions made last year by then-US President Donald Trump, and earlier this month by his Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.
Mike Pompeo at Award Ceremony: ‘Many More’ Countries to Join Abraham Accords
“Many more” countries are expected to join the Abraham Accords and normalize their relations with Israel, Pompeo predicted, including Muslim nations that are not in the Middle East, during his remarks after receiving the inaugural Global Leadership Award at a summit by the Combat Anti-Semitism Movement.
Although the prime minister did not reveal which countries are involved, former senior White House adviser Jared Kushner may have already shared the information in an op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal, claiming Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Mauritania are on the way to reaching peace deals.
“The Arab world is no longer boycotting the Jewish state but betting that it will thrive. There are also several more countries on the brink of joining the Abraham Accords, including Oman, Qatar and Mauritania,” Kushner writes.
“These relationships should be pursued aggressively — every deal is a blow to those who prefer chaos. Most important, normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel is in sight. . . The Saudi people are starting to see that Israel is not their enemy.”
Netanyahu told Ynet that he spent 45 minutes Monday night speaking with one of the leaders in the region about the peace agreements, although he did not share the identity of that leader.
But he said that conversation was the reason he ended up missing a Likud party political engagement where he had been scheduled to appear in Ashkelon, having been forced to hold the conversation on the phone in a stable location rather than in his armored car on the way to Ashkelon, which does not have good reception.
“I don’t want there to be [rocket] launches because of me and because of a political event (as once happened during a past event -ed.) but that was not the reason,” Netanyahu said. “We were significantly late. . . I will visit Ashkelon, and we will take care of their security.”
Within the short span of a few months prior to the US national elections, President Donald Trump succeeded in brokering peace deals between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.
“We brought about agreements of peace for peace, and there are four more peace agreements on the way,” Netanyahu said.