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End of the Empire is a once-monthly feature on all news relating to the transition from the unipolar world of the US Empire to a multipolar world.
Whether via the record number of standing ovations given to wanted international war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu on the House floor, the $14 billion in military aid given to the Israeli Defense Forces, or its failure to condemn Israeli war crimes—even outside of Gaza— such as in the West Bank and Lebanon, the US has sacrificed every scrap of credibility it has left as a world protector of human rights and international law on the altar of ring-wing Israeli politics.
From putting US troops at risk all over the Middle East dozens of times, to losing public opinion battles in periphery nations like Malaysia, to risking involving itself in yet another regional war, Washington’s support of Tel Aviv’s genocide in Gaza has scored perhaps the biggest own-goal yet: the prospective unraveling of the Abraham Accords.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told the advisory Shura Council on Wednesday that an “independent Palestinian state” is a condition for normalization with Israel, something the Trump Administration negotiated between Israel and a number of Arab nations including the UAE, Morocco, Bahrain, and Sudan. But a pseudo-leader of the Islamic world as guardian of the religion’s two holiest sites, the normalization treaty between Salman and Netanyahu was seen as the potential nail in the coffin for a Palestinian state, and the birth of a “New Middle East,” according to Netanyahu.
“There’s no question the Abraham Accords heralded the dawn of a new age of peace,” the Israeli prime minister a year ago yesterday. “But I believe that we are at the cusp of an even more dramatic breakthrough, an historic peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia will truly create a new Middle East.”
Salman is said to have strongly iterated in his comments to the council that the kingdom will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without a Palestinian state, something the entire Netanyahu cabinet is firmly against.
According to Saudi government adviser Ali Shihabi, the Saudi position was always clear, even if “some had insinuated that it was flexible,” and with his latest comments Prince Mohammed wanted to “eliminate any ambiguity,” Shihabi added, according to the New Arab which reported that Salman had already quashed the idea of normalization in the lame-duck period of the Biden Administration after Sect. of State Antony Blinken suggested it could happen on a recent trip.
Days after the war in Gaza broke out on October 7th, the New Arab continued, Saudi Arabia suspended talks with the United States on a wide-ranging deal that included normalization with Israel and a security package for the kingdom.
Many have written that October 7th was motivated by the Abraham Accords, which were essentially huge bribes for Arab states to ignore the Palestinians. It gave Hamas the feeling that the walls were closing in—all the more when Netanyahu presented his map for the Middle East at the UN General Assembly in which historic Palestine was just gone; a vision into a future the Abraham Accords would soon bring.
In case there is any doubt, Netanyahu made clear with his little map today what normalization really seeks: eliminating Palestine and Palestinians from the region and legitimizing greater Israel, all with the blessing of Arab regimes. pic.twitter.com/nFxwEMAKVR
— Yousef Munayyer (@YousefMunayyer) September 22, 2023
Aggression
Last week, the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, told the Security Council in the wake of the simultaneous detonation of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members that the incident could constitute a war crime. Benjamin Netanyahu is already wanted for crimes by the International Criminal Court.
“I am appalled by the breadth and impact of the attacks,” said Turk. 3,000 people were wounded and 37 killed in which is believed to have been a sabotage attack by Mossad.
“These attacks represent a new development in warfare, where communication tools become weapons,” he added. “This cannot be the new normal”.
Israel has not commented on the operation but has said it will widen the scope of its war on Gaza to include Lebanon. The risk for war in Lebanon, which has been at a low simmer since October 7th, is now very high following the pager attack. Recently, the Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli said on X that Lebanon doesn’t fit the definition of a state, so the IDF should invade and take a southern portion of the country. The IDF has already approved a plan for an invasion of Lebanon.
Anna Jacobs, a fellow at the International Crisis Group think tank, says that it’s not a surprise normalization with Israel is off the table. However, what remains to be seen is whether this very public comment translates to very public action—pressuring the US, perhaps with another oil embargo like during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, to pressure Israel for a ceasefire and a Palestinian state.
“Saudi Arabia seems to be signaling, at least in public, that normalization with Israel is off the table for now,” Jacobs told the New Arab. “But how else could Saudi Arabia rally the Arab and Islamic worlds and apply pressure on Israel and the US? That is the question we should be asking”.
A fine question, since across all the major violent and diplomatic flashpoints in the almost 60-year conflict and dispute, the House of Saud has done very little at all on behalf of the Palestinians following the 1973 embargo, which was given up before Saudi could achieve a single one of its goals.
One of the signees of the Abraham Accords, Morocco, recently witnessed a former 6-year prime minister urge his successor and the Moroccan King to abandon the recognition of Israel.
“The agreements binding our state with what is called Israel no longer have any rational, logical, or moral justification,” Abdelidah Benkirane, who was prime minister between 2011 and 2017, said. “There must be a reconsideration of the normalization agreements between Morocco and what is referred to as Israel”.
He added that while Moroccans “may remain silent, they feel as though these bullets have pierced their own bodies, as though they have killed their brothers”.
Whether it falls victim to another oil embargo or another regional war, the US has once again allowed its critical national security concerns to be undermined by Israeli aggression, all while China continues to grow closer and closer to both Saudi Arabia and Iran. WaL
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PICTURED ABOVE: The signing of the Abraham Accords with President Trump, and representatives from Bahrain and UAE. PC: The White House.
