Published by
The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Just over a year ago, a deal was signed on the White House lawn between Israel and two tiny Arab Gulf countries. It was billed as a game changer in the Middle East. Called the Abraham Accords, the deal normalized relations between the Jewish state, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and got the ball rolling with Sudan and Morocco. The Bahrainis and Emiratis were the first, and only, Arab states to formalize ties with Israel since Jordan and Egypt decades ago. The Israelis had every right to be thrilled. Embassies were exchanged, direct flights began, and about 200,000 Israelis flocked…