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Comment by the_reformation | Hacker News Reader

The series of Arabic states opening diplomatic relations with Israel was definitely American-led.

Not clear. Israel getting along with the small rich Arab states probably reflects a shared interest in making money.

There's a lot of indications of many of what seem like one off actions taken by Israel that might have had cooperation from other Arab states that have an interest in a group or etc.

Israel's usually pretty opaque military and other actions allow for a lot of unexpected partnerships.

Money is not the main issue. Iran is, and the Gulf states made the leap when they could maximize their ROI, just before the US elections.

The Abraham accords are the legacy of the Trump admin and I think it’s a very good one.

Any influence /= as much influence as before / countries looking to the US when they take their own actions.

As alliances shift in the middle east it's not surprising that Israel would be involved. Relations / tensions are pretty wild in the Middle East. I think 'unlikely' alliances are almost inevitable, and maybe not as unlikely as we think. There area lot of strangely conflicting incentives out there.

Surely, some of it was also political theatre to give the US administration a win in the region (Mission Accomplished, all over again) in exchange for the sale of advanced weapons systems. Just my two cents.

Maybe but despite the fact that they might celebrate it... I really doubt the value of "hey someone opened up diplomatic relations with Israel" is all that valuable to a given US politician... same goes with the state that chose to do so.

I think whatever horse trading happened behind the scenes was likely more valuable than PR.

I don't disagree on the reality, I am just saying that in my personal reading of various subreddits, forums, etc. I have seen countless posts and pundits saying what a great Job Trump and Kushner did on these agreements. It was clearly being used to show off their accomplishments in the region, real or not.

Two countries is a series? Can't really count Morocco or Sudan as 'Arabic states' unless you're really stretching that definition and it seems you are.

It's easy to get Morocco to accept Israel when you sacrifice Western Sahara.

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