Israel’s unexpected military alliance in the Gulf

When america and its Arab allies talked breathlessly in 2017 of forming a defence alliance that Donald Trump dubbed an Arab nato, which would have stretched from Egypt to Oman, the idea seemed doomed from the start. Some of the countries in it, such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, were not on speaking terms. Few Arab leaders felt they could rely on America, after successive American presidents said they wanted to “pivot” forces away from the region. After a few meetings, enthusiasm for the proposed Middle East Strategic Alliance vanished as quickly as conscripts handed a weekend pass.

Now an even bigger alliance, including Israel and stretching from Morocco all the way to the United Arab Emirates (uae), seems to be in the making. If so, it would be a remarkable realignment for countries such as the uae and Morocco, which until the signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020 had refused to have diplomatic relations with “the Zionist entity”.