With warm smiles and laughter, 4 Arab foreign ministers visit Israel for the first time and lay foundation for a Middle East NATO to counter Iran threat

I know a lot is happening in the world. But don’t miss this.

Amid the nightmare in Ukraine and the worsening Iran threat, the two-day Negev Summit – held on Sunday and Monday – was a stunning success.

The skeptics and cynics missed it completely.

But the truth is that the summit – hosted by Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and bringing together U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken and the foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, Egypt – provided tangible evidence that not everything in the Middle East is clouded in darkness.

There are, in fact, some truly wonderful and encouraging rays of light shining in the region.

Pay attention.

Here are four reasons that the Negev Summit was so historic and hopeful.

First, the summit laid the groundwork for a Mideast NATO, a “new regional architecture” to protect moderate Arab countries and Israel from the existential threat posed by the Iranian regime.

Last August, I wrote that Israel’s new government – including Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Lapid – were trying to work with moderate Arab countries to begin building a Middle East version of NATO.

On Monday, Lapid underscored that message, announcing that the summit would become “a permanent forum” – a series of ongoing meetings at the ministerial level – to build what he called “a new regional architecture.”

This new architecture, he said, would be based on “progress, technology, religious tolerance, security and intelligence cooperation.”

And Iran would be its focus.

“This new architecture, the shared capabilities we are building, intimidates and deters our common enemies – first and foremost Iran and its proxies,” he said. “They certainly have something to fear.”

“Israel’s meeting with top diplomats from the U.S. and four Arab countries…is one of the strongest signs yet that the country is beginning to reap the dividends of normalization deals, confirming a profound realignment of Middle Eastern powers,” reported The New York Times.

“Polls suggest that many people in the Arab world do not support normalizing ties with Israel,” the Times noted. “But to Gulf leaders, the cost is outweighed by the benefits of sending a strong message to both the U.S. and their shared enemy, Iran. For Gulf countries, ‘the optics of sending a message about a new security alliance, pushing the relationship with Israel out in the open and then sending a message to Iran, and in a way to the U.S. – that is the main priority,’ said Elham Fakhro, a Bahraini political analyst. In any case, she said, ‘They’ve found that there isn’t much of a price to pay domestically.’”

Second, the summit represented the first time that three of these Arab foreign ministers had ever set foot in Israel.

Just think about that for a moment.

For most of Israel’s existence since 1948, the Arab world was either in a hot war with Israel, or a cold war.

Then came Egypt’s peace breakthrough with Israel at Camp David in 1978, followed by the formal peace treaty in 1979. Then came Jordan’s peace treaty with Israel in 1994. Then the Abraham Accords in 2020.

Now, finally, despite being neighbors for so long, the chief diplomats of these countries finally came – as one – to visit Israel together.

• UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan (widely known as Sheikh Abdullah, or by his initials “ABZ”) had never been to Israel before.
• Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita hadn’t either.
• Nor had Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.
• Only Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani had ever visited Israel before, and his first visit was just last year.

These Arab leaders didn’t come to the Jewish state as adversaries or strangers.

They came as friends.

You could see it in their body language – the warm smiles, the jokes and laughter, the deeply moving words, and the long private side conversations.

My favorite moment when ABZ spoke so personally and so beautifully of how remarkable it was to be in Israel for the first time.

“It’s new for, I think, for [us] to be in Israel,” he told reporters. “This is our first time. So, if we are curious sometimes, and we want to know things and learn, it’s because although Israel has been part of this region for a very long time, we have not known each other.”

“It’s time to catch up, to build on a stronger relationship,” he said. “I see 300,000 Israelis visiting the UAE in the last year and a half. At the same time, I see 2 million visitors visiting the Israeli Pavilion at the Expo [in Dubai] and only the last six months. It says how curious [Arabs and Israelis are about each other], and how much we want to know each other.”

I am not sure I have ever heard a more powerful 90 seconds than these words spoken by UAE foreign minister @ABZayed in Israel, today.

wow! pic.twitter.com/snJN7l6PRd

— Rev. Johnnie Moore ن (@JohnnieM) March 28, 2022

The Emirati diplomat – son of the founder of the UAE, and younger brother of the country’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ) – added that all this growing Arab-Israeli unity and fascination and cooperation stands in sharp contrast to a series of terror attacks in Israel in recent days.

“And this is what I think goes against what happened yesterday,” he said. “It’s by us standing together. It’s by our people-to-people relationship. It’s  by creating a better environment for our businesses to work with each other. That’s the way we can go after the narrative of hate, of incitement, of terror.”

“We will prevail,” he insisted. “I have no doubt.”

Today’s event was truly a historic one, a day to remember with another milestone being realised. It sent a clear message of #peace and #hope for all. #Negevsummit #Bahrain #UAE #Israel #Egypt #USA #Morocco pic.twitter.com/hDtFrrems3

— Khaled Al Jalahma (@BahrainAmbIsr) March 28, 2022

Second, the summit was held in the town of Sde Boker, in the sprawling Negev desert in the south of Israel.

Why was this important?

Because Sde Boker is where Israel’s founding prime minister, David Ben Gurion, went to retire.

Because Ben Gurion was the man chosen by the Jewish people to turn Theodor Herzl’s dream into a reality.

Because Herzl was the founder of modern Zionism, the political movement that emerged in the late 19th century and early 20th century asserting that millions of Jews living in exile and in danger around the globe needed to return home to Zion – to Jerusalem and to all the land of ancient Israel – to re-establish their ancient homeland and provide a safe haven for any Jewish person who wants to return, and a safe and democratic environment for all Arabs and non-Jews who want to live here in peace.

Most Arab leaders fought virulently against Herzl and Ben Gurion, literally and figuratively.

But now Arab leaders are slowly but surely making their peace with Zionism.

They are coming to accept that Jews have a right to live here in Israel in our ancient homeland and do so in peace and security, so long as we treat our Arab citizens fairly and respectfully, and as long as we actively seek a peaceful relationship with our Palestinian neighbors.

That’s a huge and welcome breakthrough.

Third, the summit was just the first event of many to come.

The Arab ministers and Lapid all agreed that this was not a one-off event.

It’s the beginning of a process to work on security issues, economic and trade cooperation, and even inter-faith relations.

Fourth, even though Jordan’s foreign minister did not attend, there was a good reason for that.

On one level, it would have been great if Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi wasn’t there.

Some reporters and political analysts have suggested it’s a sign of trouble that Safadi did not attend.

Perhaps, but I see it differently.

During the summit, King Abdullah II crossed the Jordan River and visited Ramallah.

Why?

To meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Why?

To try to work together to prevent an ugly spike in terror during the upcoming Passover, Easter and Ramadan holidays.

Think about that.

While four Arab foreign ministers and a U.S. Secretary of State were meeting in the hometown of Israel’s founding prime minister, the King of Jordan was on the West Bank, meeting with the Palestinian president, trying to advance peace and security.

That’s a very positive – and stunning – development, indeed.