Behind the scenes and with little fanfare, America managed to bring together an alliance which didn't just include Israel and the US but Europe's two most important military powers, Britain and France, and — most significant of all — several major Arab players, including Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and even Saudi Arabia.
The remarkable cooperation between Israel and its allies was not put together at the last minute.
The US has been pushing Arab capitals for several years to recognize the need for region-wide air defense co-operation to be able to deal with Iranian hostilities. The strategy was given real momentum by the signing of the Abraham Accords under President Trump, which signaled a new era of cooperation between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan. Even countries that didn't sign up, like Saudi Arabia, accepted that a new era of cooperation with Israel against a common enemy, Iran, had begun.
But not President Biden. He entered the Oval Office in January 2021 with wild talk of isolating Saudi Arabia and treating it as a 'pariah' while indicating he was up for détente with Iran.
Funds were released for the mullahs in Tehran which should never have been handed over. The Abraham Accords were left to atrophy, largely and pathetically because they were a Trump legacy. The foreign-policy establishment types around Biden never liked them anyway.
The US paid dearly for this Trump Derangement Syndrome. Instead of wooing the Saudis to join the Accords, they were given the cold shoulder, which resulted in Riyadh trying to appease Tehran.
But even as the White House struck all the wrong notes, behind the scenes, important, game-changing work was being done.
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