Abraham Accords Countries Hold First Joint Meeting Since October 7 Attack
Representatives of Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco met with senior US officials in New York on September 24 in what was reported as the first official collective meeting of the Abraham Accords countries since the Hamas led October 7, 2023 attack.
Kazakhstan also participated in an Abraham Accords meeting for the first time.
The meeting
The meeting took place in Manhattan during the United Nations General Assembly and was hosted by the N7 Foundation. The US delegation was led by Allison Hooker, under secretary of state for political affairs.
The development is significant because cooperation among the original Abraham Accords participants had lost momentum following October 7 and the subsequent regional wars.
The UAE and Bahrain established diplomatic relations with Israel through the US brokered Abraham Accords in 2020, while Morocco restored relations with Israel later that year.
According to participants cited by CBS News, the September meeting focused on restarting practical cooperation and considering ways to deepen relationships among the participating countries. Technology and transportation were among the areas discussed.
Kazakhstan’s participation
Kazakhstan's participation requires some explanation. The Central Asian country already has diplomatic relations with Israel, dating back to 1992. Joining the Abraham Accords would therefore not constitute first time recognition of Israel. Instead, it could integrate Kazakhstan more formally into the multilateral cooperation framework created around the accords.
No document located by Israel News Pulse showed that Kazakhstan had formally joined the Abraham Accords as of September 25. No new treaty, accession document or joint communique was announced following the meeting either.
That distinction matters because participation in a meeting is not the same as accession.
What comes next
What did happen is still notable: after nearly three years in which regional conflict disrupted the momentum surrounding the accords, representatives of Israel and three Arab countries that normalized relations with it returned to an organized multilateral format, with another country participating for the first time.
Whether that produces additional agreements, working groups or new members will depend on what follows.
