Trump says he wants all Middle Eastern countries to have formal Israel ties
Trump's call on Thursday comes amid a growing international push to recognise a Palestinian state.
'Now that the nuclear arsenal being 'created' by Iran has been totally OBLITERATED, it is very important to me that all Middle Eastern Countries join the Abraham Accords,' the US president wrote.
'This will insure [sic] PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST. Thank you for your attention to this matter!'
Trump's administration has not presented evidence that Iran was weaponising its nuclear programme or building a nuclear arsenal, as the president has claimed.
During his first term in 2020, Trump secured a series of deals, known as the Abraham Accords, to establish official diplomatic ties between Israel and several Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.
But US efforts to expand the agreements – with focus on Saudi Arabia – over the past years have failed.
The kingdom's top officials have repeatedly stressed that Riyadh is committed to the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which conditions recognising Israel on establishing a Palestinian state.
The war on Gaza, which Riyadh has decried as a genocide, further complicated the push to normalise relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
But Trump appeared to link Arab-Israeli relations to the Iranian nuclear programme and the 12-day war between Iran and Israel, which saw the US military strike Iran's nuclear sites.
Arab countries had condemned Israel's attacks on Iran in June, which killed top military officials and nuclear scientists as well as hundreds of civilians.
When he visited the Gulf region in May, Trump appeared to de-emphasise Arab-Israeli normalisation.
He said it is his 'dream' for Saudi Arabia to establish official ties with Israel, but he wants the kingdom to do it on its 'own time'.
While the so-called Abraham Accords fostered trade and security ties between the countries involved, they failed to end or mitigate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel has continued to build and expand illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, and it has destroyed most of Gaza, killing more than 61,000 people as it imposes a starvation crisis on the territory.
It's not clear what sparked Trump's renewed call for Arab-Israeli normalisation. But his statement coincides with an Arab-backed international push to recognise the state of Palestine, which Washington has rejected.
Earlier this week, Trump suggested that he would not block Israel's plan to expand its ground military operations to all of Gaza – a move that could compound the suffering of Palestinians who have been repeatedly displaced throughout the war.
'That's going to be pretty much up to Israel,' the US president said when asked about the Israeli plan.
Washington provides Israel with billions of dollars in military aid annually, assistance that significantly increased following the start of the war on Gaza in October 2023.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
24 minutes ago
- Al Jazeera
Trump to nominate ‘loyalist' Stephen Miran to the Federal Reserve board
United States President Donald Trump has said he will nominate Stephen Miran, a top economic adviser to the US Federal Reserve's board of governors, for four months, temporarily filling a vacancy while continuing his search for a longer-term appointment. The president announced his decision on Thursday. Miran, the chair of the White House's Council of Economic Advisers, would fill a seat vacated by Governor Adriana Kugler, a Biden appointee who is stepping down Friday. Kugler is returning to her tenured professorship at Georgetown University. The term expires January 31, 2026, and is subject to approval by the Senate. Trump said the White House continues to search for someone to fill the 14-year Fed board seat that opens on February 1. Miran, who served as an economic adviser in the Department of the Treasury during the first Trump administration, has advocated for a far-reaching overhaul of Fed governance that would include shortening board member terms, putting them under the clear control of the president, and ending the 'revolving door' between the executive branch and the Fed and nationalising the Fed's 12 regional banks. The appointment is Trump's first opportunity to exert more control over the Fed, one of the few remaining federal agencies that is still independent. Trump has relentlessly criticised the current chair, Jerome Powell, for keeping short-term interest rates unchanged – a major point of contention between the White House and the central bank. Miran has been a major defender of Trump's income tax cuts and tariff hikes, arguing that the combination will generate enough economic growth to reduce budget deficits. He has also played down the risk that Trump's tariffs will generate higher inflation, a major source of concern for Powell. Trump has unsuccessfully pressured Fed policymakers – who include Powell, his six fellow board members and the 12 Fed bank presidents – to lower rates. Appointing Miran to the central bank, even in a placeholder role, gives the president a potentially more direct route to pursue his desire for easier monetary policy. 'Trump loyalist' It is unclear how much time Miran would have at the Fed to try to deploy his ideas, or even vote on interest rates, though. All Fed nominees require Senate confirmation, a process that includes a hearing before the Senate Banking Committee, a vote from that panel advancing the nomination and a series of floor votes before the full Senate, where Democrats have been slowing the pace of approval for Trump appointments. 'Stephen Miran is a Trump loyalist and one of the chief architects of the President's chaotic tariff policy that has hurt Americans' wallets,' the Senate Banking Committee's top-ranking Democrat, Elizabeth Warren, said on X following the announcement. 'I'll have tough questions for him about whether he'd serve the American people or merely serve Donald Trump.' The Senate is on summer recess until September 2. There are just four policy-setting meetings, including one on September 16-17, before the end of what would be Miran's term. Fed policymakers kept the policy rate in its current 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent range at their July meeting, with Powell citing somewhat elevated inflation and the concern that Trump's tariffs could keep it that way as reasons to keep policy restrictive. Several central bankers this month have raised concerns about labour market weakness, and at least a couple have expressed renewed confidence that tariffs may not push up inflation as much as earlier thought. Those views echo the arguments made by two Fed governors who last month dissented on the decision to leave policy on hold.
Al Jazeera
2 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Trump says undocumented immigrants will not be counted in new US Census
Washington, DC – United States President Donald Trump has said that he directed officials to exclude undocumented immigrants from being counted in the Census – a survey of the US population conducted every 10 years. Trump said he directed the Commerce Department, which oversees the US Census Bureau, to immediately work on 'new and highly accurate' survey based on 'modern day facts and figures' and the results of the 2024 elections. 'People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS,' Trump wrote in a social media post. 'Thank you for your attention to this matter!' The next Census is due in 2030, but it is not clear if Trump is calling for a new survey in the near future. During his first term, the US president tried to add a citizenship question to the Census, but his efforts were blocked by the courts. The Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that the US administration failed to provide a 'reasoned' explanation for adding the question. This time, however, if Trump's Census policy is challenged legally, it could go before a more conservative Supreme Court. Trump appointed three justices serving on the court currently. Critics say excluding undocumented immigrants from the Census would violate the US Constitution, deprive local communities of needed federal resources and distort the data used by scientists and researchers. The 14th Amendment of the US Constitution says that congressional representation should be based on 'counting the whole number of persons in each state'. The Census already includes undocumented immigrants in the 'hard to count' category. — Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 7, 2025 States use census data to draw congressional districts. A 2023 report by the bureau found that the 2020 Census likely failed 'in collecting data for a significant fraction of noncitizens residing' in the country. On Thursday, several Democrats slammed Trump's decision as unconstitutional. 'The Constitution mandates a census every ten years that counts every single person in the country, regardless of their citizenship status,' Congressman Jerrold Nadler wrote in a social media post. 'When Trump tried to do this in 2020, the courts flat out rejected it. The Constitution is plain and simple: 'whole number of persons.'' Republicans defended the decision, arguing that counting undocumented immigrants rewards states that foster them and distorts congressional representation. ''We the People' means citizens, not invaders,' Congressman Mark Harris said on X, invoking the preamble of the US Constitution. 'Counting illegal aliens in the census disenfranchises Americans and rewards blue states for breaking the law. Let's get a recount — ASAP!!' If conducted in 2030, the next Census will be conducted by Trump's successor, but preparations for the survey start well ahead of time.
Al Jazeera
2 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Netanyahu: Israel to take control of ‘all of Gaza'
Netanyahu: Israel to take control of 'all of Gaza' NewsFeed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel plans to take control of 'all of Gaza.' Speaking to Fox News before a security cabinet meeting, he said Israel doesn't want to govern the strip but would hand it over to 'Arab forces' to govern. Hamas rejected his comments, saying they are a reversal of the course of ceasefire negotiations. Video Duration 02 minutes 02 seconds 02:02 Video Duration 01 minutes 44 seconds 01:44 Video Duration 02 minutes 09 seconds 02:09 Video Duration 00 minutes 41 seconds 00:41 Video Duration 00 minutes 35 seconds 00:35 Video Duration 01 minutes 17 seconds 01:17 Video Duration 01 minutes 06 seconds 01:06
