US lawmakers act to boost Israel-Arab military coordination to counter Iran
Legislation to promote information sharing between senior Arab and Israeli military officials is on its way to becoming law.
US lawmakers see the Abraham Accords as key to long-term stability in the Middle East and want to boost military coordination between Israel and its Arab partners to counter Iran and its proxies.
The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed the accords in September 2020, formalizing ties with Israel. Morocco signed on later in the year, in December, followed by Sudan in January 2021. The agreement has notably survived in the face of Israel’s military invasion of Lebanon this month and after more than a year of devastating war in Gaza, where Israeli attacks have killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Ten US lawmakers, a majority of whom work in close coordination to strengthen the Abraham Accords and regularly engage in diplomacy in the region, are finalizing bipartisan legislation to create a “military expert exchange program” with Israel and Arab partners “to connect strategic, operational, and tactical senior commanders and strengthen security and military partnerships.”
“It's basically a good way to continue to make sure we're all talking in that area in order to deal with a common threat, a common enemy,” Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.) said in an Al-Monitor interview. Panetta is sponsoring the LINK the Abraham Accords Act, the House version of the bill.
