On Friday, President Joe Biden acknowledged that his diplomatic efforts may have influenced the terrorist organization Hamas to carry out the violent attack on Israel on October 7, resulting in the assault on over 1,000 Israeli civilians.
This statement followed hours after Hamas released the initial batch of hostages, including 13 Israeli civilians and 12 Thai nationals, in exchange for a temporary halt in hostilities.
During a brief speech on Friday, Biden highlighted the successful negotiations involving U.S., Israeli, Qatari, and Egyptian officials that led to the release and mentioned inquiries about Arab leaders’ perspectives.
“I cannot prove what I’m about to say, but I believe one of the reasons Hamas struck when they did is because they knew I was working very closely with the Saudis and others in the region to bring peace to the region by having recognition of Israel and Israel’s right to exist,” the president said.
During Donald Trump’s presidency, he successfully orchestrated the Abraham Accords, fostering diplomatic relations between Israel and multiple Muslim-majority nations in the Middle East and North Africa, such as Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Sudan, and Bahrain.
Throughout his term, President Biden has aimed to build upon this accord, seeking formal recognition between Israel and Saudi Arabia, a nation historically supportive of the Palestinian cause. Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have both suggested that the recent Hamas attack on Israel might be an attempt to hinder potential diplomatic progress between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.
“You may recall when we did the G20 a little while ago, I was able to get a resolution, a statement passed through there saying we are going to build a railroad from Riyadh all the way through the Middle East into Saudi Arabia, Israel etcetera all the way up to Europe. Not the railroad, it’d be an underground pipeline then railroad,” the president said Friday.
“The whole idea is there is overwhelming interest and I think most Arab nations know it and coordinating with one another to change the dynamic in their region for longer term peace and that is what I am going to continue to work on,” Biden continued.
Israel’s response to the Hamas attack has led to the deaths of thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, causing strain on previously improving relations with several Muslim-majority countries. The potential agreement for the formal recognition of Israel is now uncertain as the Israeli government continues its efforts to eliminate the threat posed by Hamas.
