Even as the left wing of the Democratic Party continues to blast Israel – to the degree that the Squad opposed the sale of the Iron Dome defense system that protected women and children against Hamas rocket attacks – Jerusalem continues to become increasingly enmeshed with the half-dozen Arab states with which it has formal diplomatic ties.
Earlier this week, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, a former chief of staff for the Israeli Defense Forces, signed a memorandum of agreement with Moroccothat provides for expanded intelligence cooperation, joint exercises, defense industrial cooperation, and Israeli arms sales to the kingdom. Israel long has had unofficial ties to Morocco, which briefly became official in the aftermath of the 1993 Oslo Accords, but the MOU is the first of its kind between Israel and any Arab state.
Morocco was not a signatory to the 2020 Abraham Accords, but Israel’s ties with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain, the two Arab states that did sign those accords, likewise continue to expand. Israeli investors, businessmen and tourists have been pouring into Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and UAE investors have begun to place bets on Israel’s high-tech sector. In March, the UAE created a $10 billion fund for investments in Israel; a month later the UAE’s sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala, announced plans to buy a $1 billion stake in Israel’s Tamar gas field.
