What are the Abraham Accords?

Prior to Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, there was a big push by the Biden administration to expand on the Abraham Accords and get other Gulf Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel.

The biggest hope was to get Saudi Arabia to sign on, which is appeared open to do so if certain conditions were met.

However, in the nearly two years since the start of Israel’s devastating offensive in Gaza, the prospects of expanding on the Abraham Accords have dwindled and, after Israel’s attack on the Hamas leadership in Doha, Qatar, it has called into question the future of the accords in general.

But what are the Abraham Accords?

In 2020, President Donald Trump, during his first term in office, established the first in a series of normalization agreements between several Gulf and North African countries and Israel, the first in years since Jordan did so in 1994.

While Morocco and Sudan agreeing to forming official ties with Israel was a win for Israel, the biggest accomplishment came prior with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain being the first signatories to the Abraham Accords.

It opened up the Gulf for Israeli investment and also allowed for these two countries to use some of their massive wealth to invest in Israel, in particular in its massive tech industry that has become one of the world’s leading.

Israel companies jumped at the prospect of starting new partnerships and finding new investors in countries like the UAE. In March 2021, the UAE announced a $10 billion fund to invest in Israel, though it is unclear how much has actually ever been invested.

Even as Israel’s military campaign continued and the devastation in Gaza worsened, the UAE and Bahrain remained firm in their commitment to the accords, even if they did express criticism of Israel’s actions.

Then-President Joe Biden had sought to expand on the Abraham Accords and worked to court countries like Saudi Arabia into normalizing relations with Israel – though Saudi Arabia has maintained unofficial ties with Israel for years.

The biggest sticking point, even prior to the start of the war in Gaza, was Israel working towards a two-state solution with Palestine, something Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he would never allow.

Netanyahu’s push to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state and actions by far-right members of his governing coalition have put a strain on Israel’s relationships in the Gulf.

Recently, amid talk that Israel was planning on annexing the West Bank, the UAE issued a statement saying that this would be a "red line" for the emirates.

Lana Nusseibeh, an Emirati diplomat, was quoted at the time as saying if Israel annexed the West Bank it would "severely undermine the vision and spirit of [Abraham] Accords, end the pursuit of regional integration and would alter the widely shared consensus on what the trajectory of this conflict should be – two states living side by side in peace, prosperity and security."

It is unclear what the UAE would do should Israel follow through with annexation.

The Israeli bombing in Doha has also called into question the future of the Abraham Accords. 

In the days that followed the bombing, the UAE said that any attack on a Gulf country is an "attack on the Gulf common security system."

Given Israel’s willingness to carry out attacks in the Gulf and unwillingness to make any concessions towards a future Palestinian state, efforts by the Trump administration, and future American administrations, could be facing an uphill battle.