Earlier this month, the Washington Post published a stem-winder of an editorial about the Abraham Accords. It was a no holds barred takedown of the agreement to normalize relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, accusing its protagonists of cynicism, electioneering, entrenching authoritarianism, entangling the United States in sectarian conflicts in the region, and betraying of the Palestinian cause. To be fair, the editorial writers acknowledged that the normalization deal—they firmly rejected the term “peace agreement”—was positive in the narrowest terms but nevertheless averred that it was the product of U.S. President Donald Trump’s misguided approach to the Middle East. This is tough stuff.
The Post is giving too much credit for the agreement to the White House, but it is also giving too little credit to a critical, but barely remarked upon (among mainstream media and the foreign-policy community) consequence of the Abraham Accords: the normalization of Jews and Judaism in an Arab and Muslim society. That is a big deal.
