Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then-US President Donald Trump, and United Arab Emirates (UAE) Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed at the signing ceremony of the Abraham Accords, September 15, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Tom Brenner

Members of the Biden administration and a bipartisan group of lawmakers from the US Congress on Wednesday expressed great optimism about the prospects of Israel establishing normalized relations with new Arab and Muslim countries at an event marking the third anniversary of the Abraham Accords.

Speaking at a forum hosted by the Atlantic Council on Capitol Hill, Rep. Kathy Manning (D-NC) said that the possibility of Saudi Arabia normalizing relations with Israel would be “transformational” for regional security.

“We’d like to see what the components of the deal might be and make sure that they are not only in the interests of the region, but also in the US interests,” Manning said. “But of course, we have to say that adding Saudi Arabia will make an enormous difference and … all of this will help create a bulwark against Iran.”

As part of its demands for such a deal, Saudi Arabia is reportedly seeking security guarantees from the United States, as well as support for a civilian nuclear energy program with the ability to process its own uranium.

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), who traveled to Israel and Saudi earlier this month, said that the prospects for peace between the two countries was the “most fertile ground I’ve ever seen in my lifetime.”

“The time is right,” Phillips said. “Not only is it possible, it’s necessary … I’ve never been so inspired, so hopeful, and so grateful in my entire life.”

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-NC) pointed to the maritime agreement between Israel and Lebanon that will enable offshore energy production as an example of a Biden administration diplomatic achievement with Republican support.

“Breaking news — Republicans actually agree on this,” Wilson said. “We can work together … the administration achieved an agreement between Lebanon and Israel for offshore drilling in the Mediterranean, and then, putting it all together, that would result in oil being shipped to Egypt, to be refined in Egypt, to be then piped to Italy.”

Asked if the potential Saudi-Israel deal was an attempt by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to create a distraction from domestic protests over his proposed judicial reform package, Rep. Kathy Manning (D-NC) joked that would be OK to her.

“If what you’re suggesting is that Benjamin Netanyahu is playing three-dimensional chess and the way he’s gonna get out of all of this is by bringing Saudi Arabia into the Abraham Accords, all I can say is, in this time of year, ‘dayenu,'” Manning said, using the Hebrew word to indicate something would have been enough or sufficient.

The Abraham Accords were a series of historic peace agreements between Israel and Arab states brokered with the help of the former Trump administration.

Speaking from Jerusalem at Wednesday’s event, the US State Department’s recently appointed senior advisor for regional integration, Daniel Shapiro, said that the Biden administration was also looking for models to improve relations between Israel and the countries that it has already established ties with.

“The gold standard is ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations,” Shapiro said. “That also started with somewhat modest beginnings.”

“But through the years,” Shapiro continued, “and through many, many additional meetings at many layers of government and ultimately expanding to the private sectors and the universities and the civil societies of those countries … that organization has evolved into an extraordinary, multifaceted web of ties among its members that render that region highly integrated, and in a way that benefits all the citizens of all the countries and in a way that makes a return to conflictual relationships, which there were some, really almost unimaginable.”