WASHINGTON
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that several countries are prepared to join the Abraham Accords and normalize relations with Israel.
“I think there’s still a willingness to do it,” Rubio told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing when asked about potential Saudi-Israel normalization, “Certain conditions are impediments — October 7 being one of them — but the Saudis have continued to express an interest, as have the Israelis, in reaching that agreement.”
“We do have an Abraham Accords office that is actively working to identify a number of countries who have lined up,” he said. “I think we may have good news, certainly before the end of this year, of a number of more countries that are willing to join that alliance.”
During President Donald Trump’s first term from 2017 to 2021, several US-sponsored agreements were signed to normalize relations between Israel. The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan. Egypt and Jordan also have established diplomatic relations with Israel after signing peace treaties.
Rubio’s comments came as Israel continued its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, where more than 52,600 victims have been killed, mostly women and children, since an attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.
