UAE, Bahrain hope for Trump victory

Officials in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have made it clear that the Persian Gulf states hope that US President Donald Trump wins reelection on Tuesday, Yisrael Hayom reported.

“We have one eye on the US election. We hope for Trump’s victory, but we are also preparing for the possibility of a new president entering the Oval Office in the White House,” said a senior diplomat in a conversation with Yisrael Hayom. He also said that Trump’s election staff has received millions of dollars in donations from Muslims.

A senior official in the Bahraini capital of Manama, who is close to the ruling circles in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, also confirmed that there is a fear in the moderate Arab states that Trump will be defeated and that a President Biden will bring about a change in US policy in the Middle East. “There are preparations in case the administration changes and the administration’s policy in the Middle East changes from end to end. However, in both scenarios there is no concern about the agreements signed so far with Israel. In fact, Biden’s victory may pave the way for a stronger alliance with Israel, with the understanding that we are interdependent and do not need constant backing from the Americans,” he said.

The Bahraini official further stated that while no further agreements are expected to be announced between Arab states and Israel before the election, contacts between Gulf States and the Jewish State are ongoing.

“Negotiations to try and get more Arab countries to sign normalization of relations with Israel are intensifying, but if there is an agreement, it will be implemented only after the US election and in accordance with the winner’s identity,” the Bahraini official said, adding that “if Trump wins, there will be a flood moderate Muslim countries which are very interested in taking part in the process the Middle East is going through. A victory for Biden will mean that many countries that are currently in talks and explorations about the possibility of normalizing their relations will take a step back and recalculate the risk they are taking. The current state of relations and interests in the region is that Israel and the United States mediate between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the UAE, which boycott [Qatar] due to its ties to Iran and radical Islamic terrorist organizations.”