{"id":105452,"date":"2020-08-14T07:19:52","date_gmt":"2020-08-14T14:19:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.46.6.243\/?p=105452"},"modified":"2020-08-14T07:19:52","modified_gmt":"2020-08-14T14:19:52","slug":"president-trump-others-on-announcing-the-normalization-of-relations-between-israel-and-the-united-arab-emirates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=105452","title":{"rendered":"President Trump &#038; Others on Announcing the Normalization of Relations Between Israel and the United Arab Emirates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. This is very important. This is a big event. And I want to just congratulate all of the people standing behind me because they have done an incredible job. This is something that hasn\u2019t been done in more than 25 years.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kGQE0Q3Klxw\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Just a few moments ago, I hosted a very special call with two friends \u2014 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates \u2014 where they agreed to finalize a historical peace agreement. Everybody said this would be impossible. And, as you know, Mohammed is one of the great leaders of the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>After 49 years, Israel and the United Arab Emirates will fully normalize their diplomatic relations. They will exchange embassies and ambassadors, and begin cooperation across the board and on a broad range of areas, including tourism, education, healthcare, trade, and security.<\/p>\n<p>This is a truly historic moment. Not since the Israel-Jordan peace treaty was signed more than 25 years ago has so much progress been made towards peace in the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>By uniting two of America\u2019s closest and most capable partners in the region \u2014 something which said could not be done \u2014 this deal is a significant step towards building a more peaceful, secure, and prosperous Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>Now that the ice has been broken, I expect more Arab and Muslim countries will follow the United Arab Emirates\u2019 lead. And I want to just thank them for being \u2014 it\u2019s not surprising, knowing Mohammed so well. It\u2019s not surprising. They are in that lead position. And normalize relations with Israel. We are already discussing this with other nations \u2014 with very powerful, very good nations and people that want to see peace in the Middle East. So you will probably see others of these, but this is the first one in more than 25 years.<\/p>\n<p>This deal will allow much greater access to Muslims from throughout the world to visit the many historic sites in Israel \u2014 which the Muslims want to see very badly and have wanted to see for many, many decades \u2014 and to peacefully pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is a very special place for them.<\/p>\n<p>My first trip as President was to Saudi Arabia in May of 2017. In my speech to the assembled leaders of 54 Muslim countries \u2014 every single one was by their leader, their number-one leader. It was an amazing \u2014 really, an incredible event. A very important event. I made clear that the problems of the Middle East can only be solved when people of all faiths come together to fight Islamic extremism and pursue economic opportunity for people of all faiths.<\/p>\n<p>And when you look at what\u2019s happening, you\u2019re seeing a lot of progress is being made that nobody thought could possibly be made. And things are happening that I can\u2019t talk about, but they\u2019re extremely positive.<\/p>\n<p>I want to thank the leaders of Israel and the UAE for their courage and for their leadership to forge this tremendous agreement. It will be known as the \u201cAbraham Accord.\u201d And I\u2019d like to ask our ambassador, David Friedman, to please explain why we\u2019re doing and calling it the \u201cAbraham Accord.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David.<\/p>\n<p>AMBASSADOR FRIEDMAN: Thank you, Mr. President, and congratulations to you on brokering this historic peace agreement.<\/p>\n<p>Abraham, as many of you know, was the father of all three great faiths. He is referred to as \u201cAbraham\u201d in the Christian faith, \u201cIbrahim\u201d in the Muslim faith, and \u201cAvraham\u201d in the Jewish faith.<\/p>\n<p>And no person better symbolizes the potential for unity among all these three great faiths than Abraham, and that\u2019s why this accord has been given that name.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: It\u2019s a great \u2014 great thing. I wanted it to be called the \u201cDonald J. Trump Accord.\u201d (Laughter.) But I didn\u2019t think the press would understand that. I didn\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n<p>Avi, say a few words, please.<\/p>\n<p>MR. BERKOWITZ: Thank you, Mr. President. It\u2019s really been the honor of my life to work in your administration. I think this re- \u2014 reaffirms your commitment to Israel, to stability in the region.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s just a historic accomplishment, and it\u2019s \u2014 it\u2019s peace. Peace is a beautiful thing, and it\u2019s something that everybody in the country should celebrate, I hope. And I\u2019m just so honored to \u2014 to be here and to serve in your administration.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: Well, you\u2019ve done a great job. And Jared has done a fantastic job. People don\u2019t really understand the things that he\u2019s able to do. He\u2019s done a fantastic job on this. And you and your team \u2014 nobody else could have done it. I don\u2019t think anybody else could have done it.<\/p>\n<p>Jared, say a few words, please.<\/p>\n<p>MR. KUSHNER: Thank you, Mr. President. And I would like to say that \u2014 I want to thank the President for his leadership on this historic peace effort.<\/p>\n<p>The President, like with all things, urged us to take an untraditional approach. You can\u2019t solve problems that have gone unsolved by doing it the same way that people before you have tried and failed.<\/p>\n<p>The President takes untraditional approaches. He does things in different ways, but he uses common sense and he tries to unite people by focusing on common interests, as opposed to allowing them to focus on their common grievances.<\/p>\n<p>And what happened was, here \u2014 is we were able to achieve results that others were not able to achieve, and this will advance the region, and this will advance the whole world.<\/p>\n<p>I would like to say to the people of the region \u2014 Muslims, Jews, Christians \u2014 that this does give hope that the problems of the past do not condemn you to a future with conflict. There is a lot of hope and a lot of potential, and this will benefit you and this will also benefit people here in America. Because in America, we used to have a big dependency on the Middle East for gas and for oil. Thanks to your leadership, America is now energy independent. We no longer have that.<\/p>\n<p>But a lot of American soldiers have fought for securing our allies in that region. And making more peace there lessens our need, as a country, to have as many soldiers in that region and lessens our need to have as many conflicts in that region.<\/p>\n<p>And obviously, radical extremism, which we see as a cancer that has infected so many areas in the world \u2014 a lot of the extremists have used these conflicts to \u2014 to recruit people and to say that the mosque is under attack and that Muslims don\u2019t have access to the mosque.<\/p>\n<p>And now this will enable people to take flights from Dubai and Abu Dhabi directly to Tel Aviv. Muslims will be welcome in Israel, and this will create better interfaith exchange.<\/p>\n<p>So this is a tremendous step forward for peace in the world, for \u2014 for America, for \u2014 for Israel, for Abu Dhabi. And all would not have been possible without your leadership. So I just want to thank you.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you, Jared. What a great job. And what Jared said is so, though \u2014 we don\u2019t have to be there anymore. We don\u2019t need oil. We don\u2019t need anything there except friendship. We have some great friends. These are two countries that have been great friends, and we\u2019ve been great friends to them. But we no longer have to be there.<\/p>\n<p>It started off when we had to be there, but as of a few years ago, we don\u2019t have to be there. We don\u2019t have to be patrolling the straits. We\u2019re doing things that other countries wouldn\u2019t do. But we put ourself, over the last few years, in a position where we no longer have to be in areas that, at one point, were vital. And that\u2019s a big statement. But we are there for our friends, and we always will be there for our friends.<\/p>\n<p>Robert, would you say a few words please?<\/p>\n<p>MR. O\u2019BRIEN: Mr. President, thank you. The point I want to make, Mr. President: You inherited a Middle East that was a mess when you came to office, and this is one more historic step in bringing peace to the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>First of all, there was a caliphate that was raging \u2014 an ISIS caliphate. And that physical caliphate was destroyed, and you brought justice to al-Baghdadi. You reassured our friends in Israel, who had suffered at the end of the last administration, with a U.N. resolution. You moved the capital to Jerusalem. You recognized the Golan Heights.<\/p>\n<p>In the broader region, you had a very difficult situation in Afghanistan, where we were \u2014 soldiers were \u2014 American soldiers were coming home injured; wounded; sadly, in some cases, dead. You brought a \u2014 you\u2019ve got a peace agreement now with the Taliban, and we\u2019re going to have less than half the number of troops in Afghanistan that were there when you started your term of office.<\/p>\n<p>And now you\u2019ve brought about this historic peace deal between the UAE and Israel. This is the first time in 25 years that Israel and an Arab country have normalized diplomatic relations and entered into a peace deal. And they\u2019re the two most capable countries in the Middle East \u2014 two very capable, very skilled, very innovative allies of the United States. So, it\u2019s great for Israel, it\u2019s great for the UAE, but it\u2019s also great for the American \u2014 the American people.<\/p>\n<p>So, you came in \u2014 you came into office with a region that was \u2014 that was really aflame, and you brought peace to that region, and there\u2019s more to come. And so it\u2019s an honor to be part of your team, Mr. President, and to serve under your leadership.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: We do have a lot more to come in the Middle East. A lot of very positive things are happening, and you\u2019ll be seeing that taking place. But where we can get a leader like UAE to head the band and get along with Israel, that\u2019s a big \u2014 that\u2019s a very big step.<\/p>\n<p>Would you please say a few words? You have done such a fantastic job.<\/p>\n<p>MR. HOOK: Thank you, Mr. President. The Trump administration made history today. It\u2019s been an honor to be a part of this team that Jared has led.<\/p>\n<p>Peace between the Arabs and the Israelis is Iran\u2019s worst nightmare. And no one has done more to intensify the conflict between Arabs and Israelis than Iran.<\/p>\n<p>And what we see today is a new Middle East. The trend lines are very different today. And we see the future is very much in the Gulf and with Israel, and the past is with the Iranian regime. It clings to power on the basis of brute force that has lost the \u2014 it is facing a crisis of legitimacy and credibility with its own people. And the President\u2019s maximum pressure campaign has achieved historic results.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Great job you\u2019ve done.<\/p>\n<p>Would you like to say something?<\/p>\n<p>MAJOR GENERAL CORREA: Yes, sir. As a \u2014 as a soldier who has been in every war since Desert Storm, it is an honor and a privilege for your leadership, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, and Prime Minister Netanyahu to get to peace.<\/p>\n<p>So, your vision and those leaders\u2019 vision on what we can do in the future is just incredible. So, I would thank you, as a soldier.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.<\/p>\n<p>Would anybody like to say a few words? Anybody here? Because you were saying plenty of words during that negotiation. (Laughter.) So they got very quiet in front of the media.<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY MNUCHIN: Mr. President \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: That happens \u2014 that happens on occasion.<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY MNUCHIN: Mr. President \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Steve.<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY MNUCHIN: It\u2019s a historic moment. Thank you for being \u2014 letting us all be part of this. It is really extraordinary. Nothing is more important than peace. This is an unbelievable moment.<\/p>\n<p>And I would just echo what Brian Hook said: Your maximum-pressure campaign \u2014 under your leadership, we\u2019ve had the strongest sanctions on Iran. And your commitment to make sure that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon is part of the most important legacy for peace in the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: So, which is easier: dealing with the Democrats or dealing with the Middle East? (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY MNUCHIN: Well, a lot of people never thought you\u2019d get a \u2014 this type of deal.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: I tell you, I think \u2014<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY MNUCHIN: So I\u2019ll be hopeful that we can deal with the Democrats.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: I think the Middle East is more reasonable, actually. (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d like you two guys to say a couple of words. You\u2019ve been so instrumental. Please.<br \/>\nMR. GREENWAY: Sir, it\u2019s a privilege to serve in your administration. This is a remarkable achievement that\u2019ll stand the test of time, and we look forward to the prosperity and the peace this brings the Middle East and the ways we\u2019ll be able to leverage that for the United States\u2019 national interest.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>MR. GREENWAY: So, it\u2019s a privilege, sir.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.<\/p>\n<p>MR. VANDROFF: And I would just echo what Rob said. It\u2019s \u2014 thank you for the opportunity to be part \u2014 and especially, I want to thank Avi and the opportunity to serve in his negotiating team to do something so historic. That \u2014 thank you for this opportunity, Mr. President. This really changes the world.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you all very much. This is very exciting. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much.<\/p>\n<p>Do you have any questions? Do you have any questions on this accord?<\/p>\n<p>Q Mr. President \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: Steve, go ahead, please.<\/p>\n<p>Q Could you just describe the tenor of the conversation you had with the two other leaders? Was there any hesitation on their part \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: No.<\/p>\n<p>Q \u2014 in reaching this deal?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: No. It was like and love. It was a tremendous relationship that\u2019s been built up over the last, I would say, year. Before that, it was very tense, as everything in the Middle East is. It\u2019s very tense. It\u2019s a very tense place. But it\u2019s becoming less tense, and I have great relationships with all of the leaders. And some of \u2014 some are enemies against each other, and I get along with both.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s, I guess, the big thing; people don\u2019t understand that about me. I actually \u2014 I\u2019ve gotten along. Remember, when I was elected, they said the war will start with somebody within days, and I\u2019ve kept us out of war.<\/p>\n<p>You look at North Korea. Everybody said, including President Obama, that\u2019s the biggest problem. Everybody said you\u2019d be at war. Well, we\u2019re not at war. It would have been a war if I wasn\u2019t elected, if it was somebody else.<\/p>\n<p>No, we\u2019re \u2014 we\u2019re doing very well in the Middle East. And I\u2019ll tell you what: It\u2019s been an incredible thing.<\/p>\n<p>But, no, it was tense, but the relationship has become a very good one with \u2014 between UAE and Israel \u2014 and also with other countries, many other countries.<\/p>\n<p>And I think you\u2019ll be seeing some very exciting things, including ultimately with the Palestinians. I think that\u2019s going to be happening at some point because it makes a lot of sense for them to let it happen.<\/p>\n<p>Q Do you support annexation of Palestinian land by Israelis at this point?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: Well, we\u2019re talking to Israel about that right now, actually.<\/p>\n<p>Q What about the snapback option on Iran? Do you support that?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: Oh, you really know you\u2019re stuff, don\u2019t you? (Laughter.) Well, we\u2019re not going to talk to you about that. We\u2019re going to work something out, and then we\u2019ll talk after it\u2019s completed. But it\u2019ll be a very satisfactory \u2014<\/p>\n<p>Q Why now did they come to an agreement?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: We\u2019ve been working on this for a long time. It\u2019s been a labor of love for a lot of the people in this room. And a lot of them love Israel, and a lot of them love the Middle East, and they love the countries that we\u2019re talking about \u2014<\/p>\n<p>MAJOR GENERAL CORREA: Yes, sir.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: \u2014 like UAE, as an example \u2014 standing right here. And it\u2019s been a labor of love. They know it has to happen.<\/p>\n<p>And I don\u2019t want to be speaking too much about it, but if you look, what\u2019s happened since I broke up that ridiculous Iran nuclear deal \u2014 money isn\u2019t going to some horrible, horrible groups. And you haven\u2019t seen the kind of terrorism that you saw before.<\/p>\n<p>Now, I don\u2019t like saying it, because all of a sudden, they\u2019ll say, \u201cWe\u2019ve got to do something.\u201d But you know what? They\u2019re not getting money because Iran isn\u2019t giving money, and I appreciate that. But Iran is going through very difficult times, and I appreciate that.<\/p>\n<p>And I\u2019ll say this, and I can say it very publicly, that if I win the election, I will have a deal made with Iran within 30 days. They make a very fast deal. They\u2019re dying to make a deal, but they\u2019d much rather negotiate with Sleepy Joe Biden than with us.<\/p>\n<p>Q Why haven\u2019t you already done that, sir?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: But we\u2019ll \u2014 we\u2019ll be having a deal made very, very quickly. But, you know, rightfully, they\u2019re waiting until after the election because they would \u2014 there\u2019s nothing China, Iran, Russia, all of them would like to see more than have Trump be defeated, where they could deal with Joe Biden, because that would be like a dream.<\/p>\n<p>And this was something that was very exciting. We thought this would be the first country. He\u2019s a great leader; Mohammed is a great leader. And we\u2019re very happy that he was the first country, I would say. And you can see many other things happening in the Middle East over a fairly short period of time. But this is the first time in more than 25 years and \u2014 and UAE is big stuff.<\/p>\n<p>The UAE is very powerful, very strong \u2014<\/p>\n<p>Q Do you know when the dele- \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: \u2014 has one of the strongest militaries. It\u2019s big stuff.<\/p>\n<p>Q Do you know when the delegations are going to meet specifically?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: Very soon. I guess they\u2019ll be setting up the meetings. Do you have any time?<\/p>\n<p>MR. O\u2019BRIEN: I think in the next several weeks, Mr. President. And then we expect that there will be a meeting here at the White House, with the \u2014 the leaders as well.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT: There will be an official signing at the White House over the next few weeks. Okay?<\/p>\n<p>And other than that, we\u2019ll meet you at 5:30 or so, and we\u2019ll talk, and we\u2019ll actually take one of your questions. Okay? Thank you. Thank you everybody. (Applause.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. This is very important. This is a big event. And I want to just congratulate all of the people standing behind me because they have done an incredible job. This is something that hasn\u2019t been done in more than 25 years. Just a few moments ago, I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/whitehouselogo200.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=105452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=105452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=105452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=105452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}