The Negev Summit: Groundbreaking & Underreported

Foreign ministers of Bahrain, UAE, Morocco and Egypt arrive for Negev Summit

The foreign ministers of Bahrain, the UAE, Morocco, and Egypt landed on Sunday evening in Israel ahead of a landmark regional summit in the southern Negev Desert, where they were joined by their Israeli counterpart, Yair Lapid.

The UAE’s Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Bahrain’s Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani, Morocco’s Nasser Bourita, and Egypt’s Sameh Shoukry all landed at the Nevatim Air Base in southern Israel.

Shoukry, whose country was the first country to sign a peace agreement with Israel in 1979, joins the three Arab countries that signed the US-brokered normalization agreements known as the Abraham Accords in 2020.

From the airbase, the senior diplomats headed to the Isrotel Kedma Hotel in Sde Boker, where Lapid — who is hosting the two-day event — greeted them.

An official close to Lapid told journalists that the Israeli top diplomat and the Arab dignitaries were discussing “advancing a regional security architecture.”

The official added that the meetings so far have been “very warm, including embraces and friendly conversation.”

The focus of the summit, according to officials, will be on regional threats, challenges, and opportunities. Among the issues expected to be at the center of the meetings are the Iran nuclear talks in Vienna, and the Russia-Ukraine war.

The summit is also seen as a display of diplomatic unity intended for Tehran.

[The Times of Israel]

Israel & Ukraine: Lessons in History

 

The Ukrainians Are Learning a Lesson that Israel Has Already Learned 
- Dr. Dan Schueftan (Israel Hayom)

• The Ukrainians are learning today what the Czechs learned in 1938, and what the Jews vowed never to forget: Western democracies cannot be relied upon in the face of a threat from an authoritarian regime willing to turn to military measures to enforce its will. A country that cannot defend itself will be left to its own devices at a time it needs support the most.
• Israel's War of Independence victory was achieved only thanks to the mobilization of full human potential and the massive arms smuggling that took place despite the U.S. embargo. Amid the pan-Arab threat, shaped under Egyptian President Nasser's leadership, Israel was left to its fate for almost 20 years.
• In the 1950s, Israel faced a critical threat when the USSR supplied Egypt (and later other Arab countries) with massive quantities of frontline weapons, while Washington refused to supply Jerusalem with defensive weapons. France, which had helped Israel deal with these dangers, betrayed Jerusalem after the Six-Day War and supported its enemies.
  

• 

  President Zelenskyy at Israel's Western Wall

  When Arab countries declared war on Israel again in 1973, the rest of Europe turned its back on Jerusalem by refusing to allow American planes that carried supplies for the IDF to refuel in its territories. Europe continues to support efforts to delegitimize the Jewish state in international organizations, and generously funds groups that undermine it.
• Israel became a success story not only because of its freedom and innovation, but also because it chose to base its national security on self-defense. Its survival, progress, and prosperity were made possible by its strong military and determination to defend itself on its own.
• Israel receives assistance due to its determination to survive without it. It prevents war through deterrence, for it has learned that what triggers the aggression of authoritarian regimes is democracies' hesitance to use their power even if the avenues of diplomacy and economic means have been exhausted.
  
  The writer is head of the International Graduate Program in National Security at the University of Haifa.