Gulf leaders will not be intimidated by Iran, reports Newsmax’s Daniel Cohen who describes Abraham Accords partners as ‘cousins meeting for the first time’
Newsmax reported from the first-ever Abraham Accords Delegation of Evangelical Business and Media Leaders led by ALL ISRAEL NEWS Editor-in-Chief Joel Rosenberg
Some 18 months into the Abraham Accords agreement between moderate Muslim nations in the Gulf and Israel, leaders are sending a unified message that they won’t be intimidated by Iran.
“Increasingly there's a real concern now: Will the United States be there for us if Iran gets the bomb, or is the Biden administration just mostly pulling out of the region?” ALL ISRAEL NEWS Editor-in-Chief Joel Rosenberg said in an interview with Newsmax.
Daniel Cohen, Newmax's Jerusalem correspondent, was part of Rosenberg’s first-ever Abraham Accords Delegation of Evangelical Business and Media Leaders earlier this month. Cohen highlighted the shared threat that the Abraham Accords partners face from Iran and their concerns regarding U.S. disengagement from the Middle East.
“Leaders there are changing all their ways of thinking when it comes to Jews, Muslims and Middle East peace,“ Cohen reported.
He quoted diplomats from the region saying that their main goal now is “to keep building trust through trade and tourism and co-existence between those different peoples.”
“One leader described the relationship like cousins who never got to meet and are now discovering each other for the first time, decades later,” Cohen reported.
Eitan Naeh, Israel’s first ambassador to Bahrain, told Newsmax that “the Iranians don’t hide their goal. They say it openly. They want to wipe Israel off the map.”
The Evangelical delegation spent eight days in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Israel – three countries that have made “historic, courageous decisions,” Rosenberg said.
The delegation’s members met with senior regional leaders including Bahrain’s Minster of Interior Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa; , UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan; Israel’s ambassador to the UAE, Amir Hayek; former Israeli prime minister and current head of the opposition, Benjamin Netanyahu; and Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz.
The group received exclusive briefings on the behind-the-scenes process that led to the Abraham Accords peace agreements and their progress. They also prayed for the peace of Jerusalem and the region at a time of heightened tensions in the holy city and in light of the threat from Iran.
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.