Peter Kinder: 'Blessed are the peacemakers'

The week just ended was a momentous one, and Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, a date that will be long remembered.

In an historic, outdoor White House ceremony, high officials from four nations -- Israel, Bahrain, the UAE, and the U.S. -- announced a peace agreement and the establishment of full diplomatic and commercial relations between the first three. In one amazing stroke, these leaders doubled the number of Arab states that have made peace with Israel, since its founding in 1948.

Tuesday was as historically significant as were the Camp David Accords of the 1970s and the Jordanian peace signed 26 years ago. Both those prior agreements were achieved under Democratic administrations, and we Republicans joined in celebrating them. Any such agreements represent progress for Israel, our Democratic ally in the Middle East, and for the Arab states and their leaders courageous enough to pull them off. They are also marvelous steps forward for Western Civilization, for world peace, and for our continuing battle against Islamic terrorism around the world.

The good news doesn't stop there. Joined by American leaders who've hinted at this, Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu boldly said these two Arab states will soon be joined by other Arab countries, making peace with Israel in the long-troubled region. There is reason to hope that Saudi Arabia -- the Big Enchilada -- may just be among them. Bahrain is basically a Saudi client state, and we can be sure they wouldn't have been there Tuesday without Saudi approval.

More than a few viewers of MSNBC were shocked to read the crawl that ran underneath that notoriously anti-Trump network's live coverage: "UAE foreign minister says the USA a force for good in the Middle East."

To say that President Trump achieved this breakthrough by taking a fresh look at the Middle East is a drastic understatement. The President overturned decades of conventional wisdom inside the State Department, the Council on Foreign Relations, the foreign-policy establishment, the national news media, the Senate, and the House. It has to be galling for these folks that a President with zero prior diplomatic training or experience could send his 36-year-old son-in-law (ditto) as his emissary in achieving this blockbuster agreement. But what are Middle Eastern leaders all about? The family. They had to be impressed that an American President sent his own family to do this important business.

Speaking of a possible President Biden, Matthew Continetti, of the Washington Free Beacon, notes how dramatically Trump has changed facts on the ground. Here's Continetti: "He may attempt to resuscitate the moribund Iran deal. But it is highly doubtful that he will rescind the Abraham Accords, or withdraw recognition of Israel's Golan sovereignty, or return the U.S. embassy to Tel Aviv. He won't have support for such decisions."

Finally, let's note that this success was achieved by reversing the pro-Iran policy of the Obama administration. President Trump withdrew from the disastrous Iran deal; cracked down hard with sanctions on Iran; isolated the Mullahs; and proved his bona fides with these Arab states, which have now all shown they fear and oppose Iran more than they (in the past) have hated Israel.

"Blessed are the peacemakers," indeed. May we all unite in celebration.

Peter Kinder, of Cape Girardeau, is former lieutenant governor of the State of Missouri.