Although Jewish, pro-Israel groups welcomed the Israel-UAE-Bahrain normalization deals,
and Alex Traiman, JNS Jerusalem Bureau Chief even called them a "paradigm shift of biblical proportions," not everyone who writes op-eds for Arutz Sheva agrees. Here are two of the articles received.
A Questionable Agreement
Rabbi Eli Hecht, Vice-President, Rabbinical Alliance of America
United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain met Tuesday at the White House for a historic peace deal with Israel. President Trump, Israel, Prime Minsiter Benjamin Netanyahu, and delegates from the UAE and Bahrain joined for a photo op and signed agreements in three languages. English, Arabic, and Hebrew. This agreement is known as the Abraham Accords.
This may be one of the biggest tragedies in history for Israel. Signing the agreements has given the UAE access to buy the F-35 stealth fighter planes plus the most advanced electronic aircraft equipment. In reality, Saudi Arabia is the main player of the Arab peace plan which demands a Palestinian state, with a smaller (or non-existent) Israel.
They make sure that their fellow Arab countries will never allow Isreal to be the sole ruler of their own land. They make sure that the so called 'West Bank' Jewish population's homes will never be part of Israel. They simply don’t recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital nor the more than 400,000 Jews who live in the liberated 'West Bank' as legal.
The Saudi king calls the shots. He can very easily have the agreements nullified. The Arabs will have the latest aircraft warfare and we will lose the leading edge. The United States will lose its hard earned security and its military secrets.
Israel’s policies are so confusing that its citizens cannot form a government that will stay on course. With Prime Minister Netanyahu signing all kinds of agreements while fighting corona and corruption charges, anything can happen.
With the rippling economic problem, demonstrations and the raging sickness in Israel, a possibly false peace agreement should be the last thing on the country’s agenda.
On Friday night the Jewish people will begin celebrating the New Year holday, with wishes for world peace The Abraham deal won’t bring that peace. In fact, it will make Israel more vulnerable to war with its real enemies.
Tremendous fanfare for this unprecedented moment...the signing of “peace” treaties with two more Arab states. What is written in that agreement is still top secret, but my PM says he speaks for all Israelis! Does he?
As one friend wrote to me...why are you so concerned, while everybody else is so happy? I too am happy that there is movement...my concern is that it is not in the right direction. We still do not yet know the price Israel has agreed to pay for these new found “friends”, and whether the price is one that we as the Jewish people are prepared to pay.
This reminds me of some research I did recently, while in Montreal, about Expo ‘67, a world’s fair in the city in which I was born and raised. I wanted to learn more about the Israel Pavilion and what it included.
What I discovered was that there was not only an Israeli pavilion but a Jewish one as well. Thinking that odd, I dug deeper. Why was there a need for two separate pavilions? The answer is shocking. I learned that when several heads of the Jewish community approached the Israel committee that was developing the pavilion at that time, and asked that a synagogue for prayer be included, in the Israel pavilion, they were told that Israel represents the three major world religions, Judaism, Xianity and Islam, so it would be inappropriate to have a place for Jews to pray within the Israel pavilion.
The organizers felt Judaism was too partial, and so the fantastically popular Judaism Pavilion was born. So too today...Israel recently declared itself the “nation state” of the Jewish people...and one must ask oneself why this was even necessary. Is it possible that anyone on earth thinks otherwise? Or is it meant to be a reminder to ourselves, that we, are the Jewish People, an ancient biblical nation that has returned to its G-d given land?
After almost 2000 years of wandering, living, among the nations of the world, and uplifting almost all of them, finally, we have returned. And we are continuing to return while in the process, redeeming our Land and bringing it back to life.
There are those who may still think that we represent the three great religions, but that is not the story. That is not the true story of the Jewish people! We have returned here from the four corners of the globe, because this is the Holy Land, The Promised Land, and although we are respectful of all religions, this is the Jewish homeland, only!
We are living biblical prophecy...the children, returning to their borders, the ingathering, that we have been praying for, three times daily, for close to 2000 years! Why did the State of Israel not say that clearly and unapologetically?
The Prime Minister of Israel is excited about cooperation, economic development, and about all these potential Muslim pilgrims, who will be welcomed to visit the Temple Mount in droves, as this is their, third holiest site.
But what about our Temple Mount, the holiest place in the world for Jews? Sold to the highest bidder? Our Holy Temple is meant to become a house of prayer for all people!
Does peace preclude what we have been waiting for and praying for, for the last almost two thousand years? And, will, the so-called “Palestinian people” get a State of their own? Each new friend of ours, has vowed to continue to work to establish a PA state.
And of course, their embassies probably will not be in Jerusalem, because we agree to their friendship without any preconditions other than economic cooperation! Where is our moral compass pointing?
I have learned painfully well that one does not sign anything until one understands exactly what one is signing. While the people of Israel have no idea what is being signed, our Prime Minister is claiming, the nation is overjoyed. Are we?
After trying very actively to get a copy of the agreement, I was told quite candidly, by one of the assistants to a member of Knesset, that the agreement would only be released AFTER the signing! What? In a democracy?
I am holding out until the truth is known clearly and fully, but we must understand that this dramatic demonstration today on the White House Lawn still leaves endless questions unanswered. Are we being led down the path, blindly, to the establishment of a PA state, with a divided Jerusalem? Because if so, I can tell you emphatically that this is not what the Jewish people want!
The politicians in Israel, consciously, and wisely, chose to keep us in the dark about the contents of this agreement. It is so vague it hardly says anything, but what is not being said, has been said by none other than the Bahraini foreign minister, and I quote, “Two state solution will be the foundation and bedrock of such peace”!
My inner voice leaves me no peace...it is saying loudly and clearly BEWARE!
Is it really peace for peace?
Did we agree to cooperate in establishing a PA state, for “normalization” of relations? Because if so, now with their diplomatic missions in Israel proper, our new friends can work internally with the Arabs here to promote this “agreed upon” agenda.
