WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed legislation to establish a Special Envoy position in the State Department for the Abraham Accords, by a 413-33 margin.
The Abraham Accords, normalization agreements between Israel and Muslim nations, were signed between September 2020 and January 2021 by Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Sudan, along with Israel, and the United States as mediator. There are ongoing efforts to add more Sunni countries, most notably Saudi Arabia, that see an alliance with Israel as a bulwark against Iran’s aspirations in the region.
“The Abraham Accords were a monumental milestone in normalizing relations between Israel — one of our strongest allies and a beacon of democracy in the region — and neighboring Muslim-majority countries,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), a Rockland County freshman who sponsored the legislation, his first to pass the House, said in a statement following the bill’s passage. “The addition of a Special Envoy will be critical for bringing Saudi Arabia into the Accords and continuing to strengthen and expand them … The broad bipartisan support for the Special Envoy for the Abraham Accords Act shows that both parties can still come together and do something really good. We are closer to a lasting, long-term peace in the Middle East than we have ever been.”
Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Bronx Democrat and also a staunch supporter of Israel, said, “If there is one cause that should transcend partisan politics, it is peace in the Middle East. Building a bridge between Israel and the Arab world is neither a Democratic value nor a Republican value. It is an American value, and the Abraham Accords is both an affirmation of Arab-Israeli peace and a rejection of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.”
“Instead of the three ‘noes’, we are living in the age of the three ‘yeses’ – yes to recognition of Israel, yes to negotiations with Israel, and yes to peace with Israel. The Abraham Accords is an American achievement so monumental that it demands and deserves its own Special Envoy whose sole and singular mission is to build on the inexorable momentum of peace in the Middle East.”
The bill still requires Senate passage and the president’s signature.
