Global Courant
JERUSALEM – A group of lawmakers from the Republican and Democratic congressional groups has sent a letter to the State Department asking the Biden administration to expand the Abraham Accords in Africa to counter the influence of American adversaries.
Fox News Digital received the bipartisan letter from Congress, which said: “We believe it is in our national security interest, as well as in the interest of sustainability, for the Biden administration to continue to strengthen and expand the accords and to continue normalization. to further promote with Israel on the African continent.”
The Trump administration negotiated the groundbreaking Abraham Accords, first signed in 2020, which established diplomatic relations between four Muslim-majority countries and Israel. Those countries include the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan.
“We believe this broader framework of engagement may be vital to U.S. efforts to counter attempts by China and Russia to undermine sovereignty and stability within the African continent,” the lawmakers wrote.
Bahrain Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, left, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Donald Trump and United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan sign the Abraham Accords at the White House on 15 September 2020 . (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
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The letter’s signatories wrote: “We would like a written response outlining the Department’s current and future efforts to (implement) a strategy that promotes Israeli normalization to Africa and allows the Accords’ work there to continue. to grow.”
Regarding the Abraham Accords, Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., a signatory to the letter, told Fox News Digital: “I have not seen the Biden administration make any effort to go out and expand recognition, from both a diplomatic and a trade perspective , with what I would consider one of our greatest allies, namely Israel.”
Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., urges the Biden administration to expand the Abraham Accords to more African countries. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images)
Mills, a decorated army veteran who speaks Arabic, warned during his video interview with Fox News Digital about the influence of American adversaries – Iran, Russia, North Korea and China – on the African country.
“Whenever we have been able to help allies in different countries, it certainly brings a stabilizing element… and builds less reliance on adversarial relations, whether that be Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, etc. Mills continued .
“We know that Africa plays a key role when it comes to China’s Belt and Road Initiative,” he said.
The Trump administration negotiated the groundbreaking Abraham Accords that secured diplomatic relations between four Muslim-majority countries and Israel. (Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)
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“It’s great to be making these ongoing alliances that would also help strengthen Israel’s position in the Middle East,” Mills continued.
Some of the countries that Mills believes the US should reach out to to establish diplomatic relations with Israel include Algeria, Libya, Mali, Niger, Tunisia, Somalia, and others.
“We understand that some countries will be very dismissive of the ideas. But we want to make sure that we (at the very least) open up diplomatic channels and explain why this would be a good thing from a trade perspective… but we’re also just trying to make sure that we are making a case for expansion on behalf of the Abraham Accords.”
Mills and his congressional colleagues wrote in the letter: “We would like to request a written response outlining the department’s current and future efforts to implement a strategy that promotes Israeli normalization to Africa and furthers the work of the chords grow there.”
The State Department has not responded to the letter, Mills said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and Sudanese Sovereignty Council Chairman Abdel Fattah al-Burhan meet on February 2, 2023 in Khartoum, Sudan. (Sudan Sovereignty Council/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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Alberto Fernandez, who served as US chargé d’affaires in Sudan (2007-2009), told Fox News Digital that the bipartisan letter is a “very important push” to change the dynamic in Africa because “there is some kind of anti-normalization coalition within the African Union. There are countries that do not want to see better relations with Israel.”
“However, the door is ajar” for expanding diplomatic relations between Israel and African countries, said Fernandez, the vice president of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
President Joe Biden (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
Fernandez, who also served as the State Department Coordinator for Strategic Communications on Counterterrorism, said the Biden administration should “strengthen the relations of the countries that lie along the line of the Abraham Accords spectrum.” He noted that the “United Arab Emirates is further down the spectrum,” but he also noted that Sudan is not that far.
Fernandez said that of the North African countries that do not have diplomatic relations with Israel, “Tunisia is pro-Palestinian” and “Algeria is pro-Iran”. He noted that within the Islamic heartland, “Iraq is still under the thumb of Iranian militias.”
Egypt was the first Arab country to establish bilateral diplomatic relations with Israel in 1979. Jordan followed in 1994 with diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping toast during their dinner in Moscow on March 21. (Pavel Byrkin/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool Photo/AP)
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Fernandez said the Biden administration’s current attempts to strike a new nuclear deal is a “slap in the face to the Abraham Accords,” adding that the White House wants to do business “with the biggest opponent of the Abraham Accords”.
Fox News Digital sent a press inquiry to the State Department.
Benjamin Weinthal reports on Israel, Iran, Syria, Turkey and Europe for Fox News Digital. Benjamin has contributed articles to The Wall Street Journal, The Jerusalem Post, Foreign Policy, Haaretz, Forbes, and The New York Post. You can follow Benjamin on Twitter @BenWeinthal.
