JNS: Israel’s intelligence minister: More Arab states want to make peace

The peace between Israel and its Arab allies is increasingly tangible, with additional Muslim countries seeking to join the Abraham Accords, Israeli Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel said Wednesday on Capitol Hill.

“Israel has signed peace accords with multiple Arab nations, and more want to join this initiative,” Gamliel said in a keynote address to lawmakers from the House of Representatives’ Congressional Israel Allies Caucus in an event marking Jerusalem Day. “The dynamics are changing and regional peace is tangible.”

The Likud Party minister noted that then-President Donald Trump’s historic decision in 2018 to move the American embassy to Jerusalem did not impede peace prospects as opponents of the move had long argued.

“Although intifadas and threats were declared as a reaction to these embassy moves, what we saw instead was the exact opposite,” she told the gathering in the Cannon House Office Building, which was also attended by hundreds of Jewish and Christian leaders bound by faith-based support for Israel.

The Abraham Accords, in which four Arab countries made peace with Israel, followed the US embassy move two years later in 2020.

Citing the words of King David regarding prayer and love for Jerusalem, Gamliel lauded the lawmakers for the unequivocal support at a time of rising anti-Israel voices as well as global antisemitism, and urged them to make their voices heard in the national and international arena.

She said that any division of Jerusalem would lead to the end of freedom of religion in a city holy to billions of people around the world.

Rep. Doug Lamborn (R- Colo.), a veteran Israel Allies Caucus co-chair, said, “This event is particularly significant this year as we celebrate Israel’s 75th birthday. It allows us all to commemorate the significance of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and reiterate our commitment to religious freedoms in the home of the world’s holiest sites.

“Israel remains America’s greatest ally in the Middle East, and I will continue to reaffirm the unbreakable bond between our two nations,” Lamborn said.

Rep. Brad Schneider, (D-Ill.), a fellow caucus co-chair, said, “The unbreakable, bipartisan bond between the United States and Israel has held fast since the U.S. was the first country to recognize the nascent state, and I pray it will never fray.”

Founded in 2006, the bipartisan Congressional Israel Allies Caucus was the first in a parliamentary network of more than 50 pro-Israel caucuses the world over that mobilize political support for Israel based on shared Judeo-Christian values.

Run under the aegis of the Israel Allies Foundation, this faith-based powerhouse is testament to the strong relationship between Israel and the evangelical community around the globe.

“In light of the current environment and the rise of bold anti-Israel forces, the bipartisan work of the Caucus is more important than ever,” said Israel Allies Foundation U.S. Director Jordanna McMillan. “Today we gather together to declare that Jerusalem is and always will be the indivisible capital of the Jewish people and that the Judeo-Christian values that bind our nations together will not be broken.”

The 70-plus-member Congressional Caucus was the first bipartisan pro-Israel caucus in the U.S. legislature.

The annual gala event, which was co-hosted by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, a prominent pro-Israel evangelical organization, comes on the heels of a gathering in the parliament of Guatemala last week, with additional mega events marking Israel’s 75th Independence Day as well as the reunification of Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War planned in the coming weeks in both Canada and Prague.

“Faith-based diplomacy unites congressmen across the political divide on the basis of their shared values, which includes support for Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the State of Israel,” said Israel Allies Foundation President Josh Reinstein.

Read the article on JNS here.