Gulf Perspectives on Netanyahu, Trump, and the Abraham Accords

This is the rapid fire segment. I'm going to show you three pictures and give a brief response of the first thing that comes to mind after each one. So this is the first picture, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The worst that happened to Israel. Do you care to elaborate? Put it this way, at the present time since he appeared on the scene of the Israeli political scene, look what had happened to Israel. Okay? Everybody was living with the Spartan approach of the Israeli, you know, um which is one being the small country surrounded by what Netanyahu described even after signing the Abrahamic Accords, that the only democratic oasis in a sea of, you know, what.

Okay? This is description. Now, is this the sort of diplomacy or for us to accept how he described us? All right, let's move on to the next picture. This is US President Donald J. Trump. Thank God it is his last term you're saying? Yep. Now, you're saying Netanyahu the worst for Israel, Trump uh good preliminary good riddance. Do you see with anything positive that they have done with regards to bolstering, you know, various peace connections in the region or amplifying security of Israel or of Gulf countries?

You see, again, for you, and I agree from your you being Israeli, you uh think from the Israeli perspective. For us, we think from the regional perspective. And this is a hurdle that the Israelis need to cross. You need to believe that you are part of the region. If you continue on your own, it's not going to be Trump or Netanyahu or anybody else. It is for you to join based on regional calculus, not Israeli, not Saudi, not UAE. They The whole region is telling you. And we have uh signed those agreements back in 2020 to extend something more than an olive branch. Now, how you evaluate that, we appreciate what President Trump have done in terms of uh developing a new approach to the Middle East through the prism, the

collective prism of the region and not just Israel. That's what's massive. Now, can we collectively add to that in the future? This is what's needed. It's not Trump. It's not Netanyahu. It's not us collectively. We have faced challenges in the past when uh the Houthis were shooting missiles at you. Do you think Israel was the only country that shot down those missiles? You know very well it wasn't. Indeed. Uh Abdallah, it's as if I told you what the last picture is going to be because you set it up perfectly. So here's the

last picture. This is the signing of the Abraham Accords at the White House in 2020. Proud of that minute. Very proud. All right, we're going to have to leave it there. I want to thank you, Abdallah Janaid, for your time and interesting insight. I really appreciate your candor and taking the time to speak with us. That's uh all the time we have this week. You can find this week's show on YouTube and Spotify as well as all other previous episodes. Thank you for joining. Pleasure, Earl. See you soon.