October 7, 2023 was supposed to be the death knell of the Abraham Accords. Indeed, it is hard not to view President Donald Trump’s historic peace agreement in the context of the battle of civilization against barbarism that Palestinians unleashed on Israel three years ago today.
Hamas launched its murderous assault, at least in part, to take the wind out of the sails of Middle East peace. Terror plotters saw a weak United States under President Joe Biden, unable to respond to any large-scale provocations, as a prime and singular opportunity to attack.
Hamas invaded Israel and brutally raped, tortured, and massacred 1,300 Israelis and took over 250 people hostage into the bowels of Gaza’s endless tunnels. Palestinians and Iran’s other proxies, like Hezbollah, the Houthis,militias in Iraq, terrorists in Judea and Samaria, Yemen, Syria, and Iran itself all launched attacks on the wounded Jewish state in the ensuing months.
Adding to the military attacks was the global information warfare, against Israel and against Jews more generally, spearheaded by Qatar, the Gulf’s erstwhile Arab outcast. The Qatar-funded information war took the form of massive media pushes portraying Israel as the genocidaire as well as student encampments on college campuses and massive demonstrations on city streets in Europe and the United States.
What didn’t happen was more interesting. Israel’s new allies, in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco, did not turn against Jerusalem. Even after Iran turned its vitriol against Gulf Arabs after the U.S. and Israel destroyed Iran’s nuclear capabilities in February 2026, Israel’s allies turned their anger where it was properly directed — against Iran.
Even Qatar and Saudi Arabia noted that Iran was the malefactor in the attacks on their sovereign territory, and Saudi Arabia has been accepting Israeli intelligence to help it combat Iranian assaults. Israel’s military and intelligence services have likewise been actively and openly partnering with the UAE and Bahrain in their military efforts against the IRGC and the mullahs in Tehran.
An unintended consequence of the October 7 attacks on Israel is that the Abraham Accords have lasted, even strengthened. While the Iranian axis’s efforts were designed to discourage Saudi Arabia from joining the Accords, the unanticipated outcome of the past three years of war is that Jerusalem has drawn closer to Beirut and is in direct negotiation with the government of Lebanon to rout Hezbollah from its soil and to begin a process toward peace.
After the failed attempt by a radicalized Omani co-pilot aboard flyDubai flight 1073, the heroic pilot and passengers aboard the flight of mostly Jews landed the aircraft temporarily in Saudi Arabia. Saudi emergency responders assisted the Israeli passengers with kindness and compassion, likely having never even met Israelis before.
People-to-people relations are often the first step toward broader diplomatic relations. Over a million Israelis, accounting for more than 10 percent of Israel’s entire population, have visited the UAE since the Abraham Accords were signed six years ago. The UAE is the only country, other than Israel, that did not discontinue flights during the war with Hamas. The people-to-people relationships that have formed, including business-to-business relationships as well, are a concrete demonstration that Emiratis and Israelis are helping to build each others’ futures, and those futures are both intertwined and bright.
Other countries who were thought to be laggards in the peacemaking process are seen as more likely to come to the table to discuss peace with Israel, including Kuwait and possibly Syria. The Saudi “jewel in the crown” for the Abraham Accords may have been (temporarily) displaced by other Arab countries who see more clearly now that the enemy of their mutual enemy (Iran) is their friend. Gulf Arabs have also seen the extent to which Israel and the United States are true strategic partners, and they may hope to capitalize on being a part of the Abraham Accords strategic calculus. No single nation is waiting any longer for Saudi Arabia to take the next step if peace with Israel means gaining closer access to President Trump, the United States Armed Forces, and the Israeli Defense Forces. We may even see the Saudi timetable to green light the Abraham Accords sped up if it means access to F-35s and possible nuclear power in the future.
National self interests should not be underestimated. While Arab countries pay lip service to Palestinian sovereignty and/or a two-state solution, at the end of the day, countries and leaders (especially monarchies) will do what is best for their citizens and in order to remain in power. The Abraham Accords were weighed by many states in 2020, and the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco made the determination that peaceful and prosperous relations with the Jewish state were in their national self-interests. Other Arab and Muslim countries are, no doubt, weighing the benefits of engaging with Jerusalem as well.
The initial Abraham Accords in 2020 were the start of an important journey, not the destination. There is certainly more distance to be traveled with more peace and more prosperity to follow.
Bonnie Glick is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. She was the Deputy Administrator of the US Agency for International Development in the first Trump Administration.
