The ISIS-inspired terrorist attack in Hadera on Sunday not only did not cloud the historic Negev Summit rather emphasized the connection between its participants. If there is anything in common between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Bahrain, and Egypt, whose foreign ministers came here for an unprecedented event, it is their opposition to Sunni extremism as embodied in the form of the Islamic State, and Shiite radicalism, as embodied by Iran's regional proxies.
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The Arab foreign ministers' condemnation of the terrorist attack was no lip service. Hundreds of Egyptian officers, soldiers, and civilians have lost their lives in ISIS attacks in Sinai, which also operated in Jordan and other Arab countries, while Shiite terrorism is trying to overthrow the regime in Bahrain and the Gulf states, which have designated Hezbollah – Iran's most powerful proxy in the Middle East – as a terrorist organization.
Defeated by a massive international coalition ISIS itself may be on the decline, but the murderous ideology is propagates is not, breeding deadly terrorist attacks around the world.
Still, the argument that the Beersheba and Hadera attacks indicate the presence of dozens of ISIS sleeper cells in Israel seems a bit of a stretch. At most, we are talking about a few hundred individuals, who do not enjoy support from the Arab sector.
This does not eliminate the need for appropriate preparations and increased vigilance by security forces to thwart potential terrorist attacks given the inherent tensions, which traditionally increase ahead of Ramadan.
There is, however, no doubt that the main reason that brought Arab foreign ministers to Sde Boker was the understanding that Shiite terrorism, led by Iran, is more dangerous than ISIS terrorism and exponentially more perilous than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The oil money that will flow into Iran after the impending signing of the new nuclear deal will accelerate the Islamic republic's development of ballistic missiles, designed to carry nuclear warheads. The planned removal of the Revolutionary Guards from the US list of terrorist organizations will help Iran increase its subversive activities throughout the Middle East.
The United States was, admittedly, the driving force behind the Abraham Accords but now, the treaty's signatories see Washington in its weakness. Former US President Barack Obama's silent acquiescence to the Russian invasion of Crimea and Syrian President Bashar Assad's use of chemical weapons against civilians gave way for the Biden administration to be eager to pursue another bad nuclear deal with Iran, which will only increase the threat to the security of Israel and the Gulf states.
Under these circumstances, the moderate Gulf states that participated in the Negev Summit, as well as Saudi Arabia, which was not represented but gave the gathering its blessing, see Israel as the only entity ready to face the Iranian threat. The Saudis also expect Israel, given its close strategic ties with the US, to mediate between Riyadh and Washington, whose relations so far have been rocky.
The Negev Summit represents a dramatic shift in the Middle East's interest map and in Israel's integration as a power player in the region.
True, no resolutions were passed, but the statements made there have never before been uttered. The UAE's foreign minister lamented the fact his country didn't forge peace with the Jewish state decades ago, right after Egypt's historic accord with Israel; while Morocco's top diplomat called the emerging peace a true turnaround.
In a time of security tensions and ISIS attacks, such statements are cause for optimism.
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