Former secretary of state says many Saudis wanted the kingdom to join the Abraham Accords while Trump was still in office.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said many people in Saudi Arabia want their country to normalize relations with Israel and wanted the kingdom to join the Abraham Accords brokered by former President Donald Trump, AFP reported Monday.
Pompeo made his comments in a recorded video speech accepting the Global Leadership Award presented to him by the Combat Anti-Semitism Movement.
“Predicting the future has proven a struggle for me,” Pompeo said, adding that he thinks “many more” countries will seek ties with Israel.
“I hope that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia can find its way to join the Abraham Accords. I know that many inside that country want that to take place,” Pompeo said.
Since the Abraham Accords were signed at the White House last fall, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan have all established diplomatic relations with Israel, breaking with the outdated Palestinian demand that no Arab country make peace with Israel before it makes painful concessions to the Palestinians.
In comments he made earlier on the weekend in an address to the Conservative Political Action Conference held in Florida, Pompeo said the Trump Administration had to fight the elites and the naysayers in order to make peace.
“The entire world benefits when America is fearless, bold and strong,” Pompeo said.
“We were told a number of things…we were told you can’t move the United States embassy in Israel to Jerusalem–there will be a war,” Pompeo said. “Well we did, and there was not a war.”
“We were told you can’t allow Israel to have its rights in Judea and Samaria and the Golan Heights, and that there will be a war. We did that. We righted that and there was no war …
“We were told, and this was believed for a long time, that you can’t secure peace in the region, in the Middle east, between Arab nations and Israel without buying off Palestinian kleptocrats … you’ll create World War III,” Pompeo continued. “But we did, and the Abraham Accords forged a real peace in the Middle East.”
“The Abraham Accords rewrote decades of failed shuttle negotiations because we were willing to go against the elites of the foreign policy establishment, both left and right, to secure American freedom and to champion your values,” he said.
(United with Israel).