Before the 2024 presidential election in the United States, President Joe Biden and key officials of his administration are giving priority to Abraham According by mediating normalizing of relations between the State of Israel and Muslim nations. Currently the Biden administration is putting special emphasis in expanding the Accords to include Saudi Arabia while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that normalizing Saudi-Israel relations is a top priority. Meanwhile, Washington also is interested in seeing more Muslim countries coming under these Accords and normalizing relations with the Jewish State, where Bangladesh being the third-largest Muslim country in the world is also at the center-focus of the Biden administration.
Earlier, President Donald Trump scored a major foreign policy triumph in bringing Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco into a joint normalization agreement known as the Abraham Accords.
The Abraham Accords are a series of joint normalization statements initially between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, effective since September 15, 2020. Mediated by the United States, the initial announcement of August 13, 2020, concerned only Israel and the United Arab Emirates before the announcement of a follow-up agreement between Israel and Bahrain on September 11, 2020. On September 15, 2020, the official signing ceremony for the Abraham Accords was hosted by the United States at the White House. As part of the dual agreements, both the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain recognized Israel’s sovereignty, enabling the establishment of full diplomatic relations.
Israel’s establishment of diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain marked the first instance of Arab–Israeli normalization since 1994, when the Israel–Jordan peace treaty came into effect. The Abraham Accords were signed by Bahraini foreign minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani and Emirati foreign minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan vis-à-vis Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with American president Donald Trump as witness. They were negotiated by Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner and Kushner’s assistant Avi Berkowitz.
In December 2020, Morocco joined the accords and normalized relations with Israel after the Trump administration recognized Moroccan control over the disputed Western Sahara region. In January 2021, Sudan joined the Abraham Accords and normalized relations with Israel after the Trump administration agreed to remove Sudan from the State Department list of “state sponsors of terrorism” and provide a US$1.2 billion loan to help Sudan clear its debts to the World Bank. On January 6, 2021, Sudan officially signed the Abraham Accords Declaration. The signing took place in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, in the presence of US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. While Sudan signed the declarative section of the agreement, it did not sign the corresponding document with Israel, unlike the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. As of February 2023, negotiations continue towards normalization. Meanwhile, the ongoing efforts have been condemned by the Sudanese opposition and civil society groups.
In March 2023, efforts to facilitate the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel and strategies for using the Abraham Accords to facilitate progress toward peace between Israelis and Palestinians took center stage at a House hearing focused on expanding the Abraham Accords.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia Subcommittee heard testimony from Abraham Accords Peace Institute President Rob Greenway, former Central Command commander Gen. Joseph Votel and former US Ambassador to Israel and Atlantic Council distinguished fellow Daniel Shapiro.
Hours before the hearing, The Wall Street Journal released a report that Saudi Arabia had asked for US security guarantees, decreased restrictions on arms sales and assistance in developing its civilian nuclear program as specific preconditions for normalization with Israel.
While Mauritania, Qatar, Kuwait, Indonesia, Somalia, Niger and Malaysia were floated as other possible focuses for future normalization of relations with Israel, Bangladesh though remained at an important level, Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry official’s recent-past statements, including the statement of Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen when he in presence of Palestinian envoy in Dhaka said “We do not at all recognize the existence of Israel” was noted with displeasure by key policymakers in the Biden administration.
The Bangladesh foreign minister also told Anadolu News agency: “.., that the words “except Israel” have been withdrawn from the passports for “administrative convenience.
“This has nothing to do with the foreign policy of Bangladesh.
“This move will not affect our position … We are strong supporters of Palestine”.
The Bangladesh foreign minister came up with this statement when Palestinian envoy in Dhaka, Yousef SY Ramadan said it was unacceptable that Bangladesh authorities omitted the words “except Israel” from Bangladeshi passports and he would ask for explanation on this matter. Although such a statement of Palestinian envoy was in direct violation of Vienna Convention for which he could be expelled from the country, it was a matter of great surprise as to why Bangladesh foreign minister had subsequently made strong statements in favor of Palestine and even went further by stating Bangladesh does not at all recognize the existence of Israel. Such a hostile statement from the Bangladeshi minister must have surprised the majority of the policymakers in the Western nations.
It may be mentioned here that Israel was one of the first countries to recognize the newly-born Bangladesh. It actively aided Bangladeshis during the 1971 liberation war, and even supplied arms and logistics to the Bangladeshi freedom fighters through India. Meanwhile, Palestinians, particularly Yasser Arafat, termed Bangladeshi freedom fighters as terrorists, and supported Pakistan owing to the warm relation between those two countries. The Palestinians termed Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971 as “another Israel-Palestine conflict”. Meaning, Arafat and his cronies in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) were projecting Bangladesh as another Israel while Pakistan as Palestine. They even went further by stating the war was between Muslims and Hindus.
After the victory of Bangladesh in the 1971 war, the then-Foreign Minister Mushtaque Ahmed, who later became one of the masterminds of the assassination of Bangladesh’s father of nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, declined Israel’s recognition and refused to reciprocate. Instead, they supported the Palestinians, despite the Palestinians declining any sort of Bangladeshi help, following Bangladesh’s liberation as the Palestinians did not recognize our country. The passports that were issued following independence barred our citizens from traveling to Israel, Taiwan and South Africa. However, the ban on South Africa and Taiwan were subsequently removed eventually, and the travel bans were lifted, too.
It is important to mention here that during the war of independence of Bangladesh, Jewish officer of Indian Army, Lieutenant General Jack Farj Rafael Jacob (popularly known as General Jacob), who was not only a Jew but also had deep and warm ties with the State of Israel had fought against the Pakistani occupation forces hand-in-hand with Bangladeshi freedom fighters – Muktibahini. General Jacob is respected by every individual in Bangladesh as a hero.
Do those key policymakers at Bangladesh foreign ministry are aware of this historic fact? Are they aware of Israel’s support and Palestinian opposition to our war of independence? When it comes to foreign policy, Bangladesh’s constitution says – “friendship to all, malice to none”, didn’t Bangladesh foreign minister’s statement saying Bangladesh does not at all recognize the existence of Israel went against our constitution? What fear stops Bangladesh from normalizing relations with Israel? By not recognizing the existence of the State of Israel and maintaining unnecessary romance with Palestinians, who had directly opposed our war of independence, Bangladesh actually gained nothing. Instead, normalizing relations with Israel shall benefit Bangladesh in multiple ways. Israel can contribute to increase in our agricultural production through its most sophisticated scientific innovations. Israel also can substantially contribute to Bangladesh’s ongoing war against militancy and terrorism. At the same time, Bangladesh’s decision to normalize relations with Israel will place it at top priority of the Biden administration, which can help in resolving America’s imposed sanctions on the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and recently announced special visa policy. For the sake of continuing progress and prosperity of Bangladesh and stopping terrorist groups such as Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) from returning to power, Dhaka needs to deepen its existing relations with Washington. As US President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit India this September, once Bangladesh signals of its willingness of normalizing relations with Israel, Biden will certainly include Bangladesh in his itinerary and extend fullest cooperation to the ruling Awami League government. Normalizing relations with Israel is in the national interest of Bangladesh. Those who will fail to understand this simple math would actually cause harm to our country.
