WASHINGTON – Jewish Republicans said the Sudan-Israel normalization agreement was proof of the US president’s negotiating prowess while some Jewish Democrats said the deal only served his own interests.
Republican Jewish Coalition national chairman Norm Coleman said the Trump administration deserves tremendous credit for this diplomatic success.
“The Israel-Sudan agreement comes on the heels of the Abraham Accords, brokered by President [Donald] Trump, which established peaceful and friendly relations between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain,” said Coleman. “These are truly historic diplomatic achievements led by the Trump administration.”
According to Coleman, Trump and his team have quietly produced innovative solutions to some of the world’s most intractable foreign policy problems.
“Today, Muslim countries are entering into diplomatic, trade and other relations with the State of Israel. These amazing changes will bring greater peace, stability, security and opportunity to millions of people. And the credit for bringing those historic achievements to fruition goes to President Donald Trump.”
The Jewish Democratic Council of America, on the other hand, expressed “optimism and concern” about the announcement of normalization of relations between Israel and Sudan.
“We welcome the normalization of relations between Israel and other countries, but we are concerned that President Trump views foreign policy toward Israel as a series of self-serving transactional deals,” JDCA executive director Halie Soifer said.
“This is another Israel quid pro quo driven by Trump’s short-term political interests rather than the long-term safety and security of the United States and its allies, including Israel. Trump demonstrated that when he called Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to discuss Sudan and asked him to comment as he vilified Joe Biden,” she added.
“In this case, more questions than answers are on the table,” Soifer continued. “It appears that Trump has traded Sudan’s removal from the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism in return for compensating victims of terrorism and normalizing relations with Israel. This deal appears timed more to influence the outcome of the US election than a result of tangible policy considerations that would justify removing Sudan from this list.”
She said the JDCA is “deeply concerned that as Trump’s presidency draws to an end, he has used Israel as a political tool, politicizing US foreign policy toward Israel to serve his own interests in a way that no president has ever done before.”
A different Jewish Democratic group, Democratic Majority for Israel, congratulated Israel and Sudan for normalizing ties.
“Democratic Majority for Israel congratulates the leaders of Israel and Sudan for establishing diplomatic ties,” the group said. “Sudan is the third Arab nation to normalize its relationship with Israel in recent months. This is another important step towards peace and stability in the region. We hope that Palestinian leaders will similarly decide to resume peace talks with Israel in the pursuit of working towards a two-state solution.”