Comoros could be next to normalize ties with Israel
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid is pushing hard to deepen and expand the Abraham Accords.
Reports yesterday say Israel and Comoros are in talks to establish diplomatic relations. The Islands of Comoros is a Muslim-majority country and member of the Arab League. If it happens, Comoros will be the fifth Muslim country to either normalize ties with Israel or advance normalization in the last year, in the framework of the 2020 Abraham Accords. These American-sponsored agreements brought about normalization of diplomatic ties between Israel, the Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco. Sudan is apparently also on its way to finalizing normalization.
While the Israeli Foreign Ministry did not react to the Comoros reports, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said at his joint Oct. 13 press conference in Washington with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah Bin Zayed al Nahyan, “We are working on expanding the Abraham Accords. But first and foremost, we want to make sure that the current agreements we have will be a success story. And it is so far a success story. … We are going to push forward as hard as we can on this while working on expanding the Abraham Accords to other countries, including the ones you don’t think of.”
Which other countries? Minister of Regional Cooperation Esawi Frej told Emirati website Erem News yesterday that Qatar, Tunisia, Oman and Malaysia may join the Abraham Accords. “Every Arab country in the Middle East, even the hostile countries, we have direct and indirect relations with them. I see on the far horizon that all the countries of the Middle East will be within a union," said Frej.
The Abraham Accords were one of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s greatest diplomatic achievements. Lapid has acknowledged this fact on several occasions, but seems to be aiming even higher.
