JNS
Removing the Iranian threat was the linchpin, the U.S. president says.
Saudi Arabia will become part of the Abraham Accords, normalizing ties with Israel by the end of the year, U.S. President Donald Trump predicted in an interview about the Gaza ceasefire with Time magazine, the full transcript of which was published on Thursday.
"I think Saudi Arabia will lead the way toward the Abraham Accords," said Trump in the interview, which was conducted on Oct. 15.
Removing the Iranian threat was the linchpin, he stressed, and now more countries will join the accords, signed initially between four Muslim states and Israel during his first term. "I think that the Abraham Accords are going to start filling up very quickly. I actually know it," Trump said.
Part of the reason Riyadh was willing to become part of the Gaza ceasefire deal was that the threat from Tehran had been eliminated thanks to the attack by Israel on Iran, which America joined in its later stages, to knock out that country's nuclear and missile capabilities.
Saudi Arabia and the other countries that have backed the Gaza truce would not have done so if Iran was still at the height of its power, Trump said. But now the Islamic Republic has gone from threatening the region to "fighting for survival."
The president said the deal might not have come about if not for Israel's "tactical mistake" in attacking the Hamas compound in Qatar on Sept. 9. "I actually told the emir [of Qatar], this was one of the things that brought us all together, because it was so out of joint that it sort of got everybody to do what they have to do," the American leader said.
Trump, in convincing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to go along with the ceasefire plan, told him: "Bibi, you can't fight the world. You can fight individual battles, but the world's against you. And Israel is a very small place compared to the world.”
The president warned that If Hamas reneges on the deal, it will be in "big trouble."
‘The people of Israel wanted the hostages’
He said the "big thing" was the return of the hostages, though he expressed surprise at the importance Israelis placed on it.
"You would have thought they would have sacrificed the hostages in order to keep going, right? The people of Israel wanted the hostages more than they wanted anything else. ... Nothing to do with winning the war. ... We just want our hostages back," Trump said.
Although elements within Netanyahu's coalition support the annexation of Judea and Samaria, Trump said that Israel would not dare annex the region as it would cost it America's support.
"It won't happen, because I gave my word to the Arab countries it will not happen. Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened," he said
On Wednesday, the Knesset passed in a preliminary vote a bill to annex Judea and Samaria, despite Netanyahu's opposition. Vice President JD Vance, in Israel for a visit, said in response, "The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel. That will continue to be our policy."
Likud MK Ofir Katz, parliamentary whip for the coalition, announced on Thursday that the prime minister had instructed him not to advance proposals regarding the application of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria until further notice.
"Israel's been very respectful of this country. And they let me know everything. And sometimes I'd say no, and they'd be respectful of that," Trump said.
Asked whether the changes the Middle East has seen will stand the test of time, he said it depends.
"[I]t's now just growing in a beautiful manner. So the question is what happens later? But I can say this, I have more than three years left. That's a long time. While I'm there, it's going to only get better and stronger, and it's going to be perfect," Trump said.
"If a bad president comes in, it could end very easily. ... The most important thing is they have to respect the president of the United States. The Middle East has to understand that. And they do. If you go to Qatar, if you go to Saudi Arabia, if you go to UAE, who are the three big ones, in that sense, they all respect the president," he said.
"If they don't respect the president, and if the president doesn't know what he's doing, it could break apart. If they do respect the president, it's going to be long-term beautiful peace."
