Rod Reuven Dovid Bryant and Jerry Gordon of Israel News Talk Radio – Beyond the Matrix bring back Kenneth L. Hanson, author of “Whose Holy Land? Archaeology Meets Geopolitics in Today’s Middle East. They discuss recent archaeological finds amidst the historic Israel-UAE Abraham Accord normalizing relations in hopefully, a warm peace. Which might lead to similar agreements with other Gulf Arab States and Kingdoms. However, the question is was it worth the price of “suspending” sovereignty over hundreds of ancient archaeological sites confirming millennia of Jewish presence in the Holy Land? Dr. Hanson is an Associate Professor in the Judaic Studies Department of the university of Central Florida in Orlando.
Here are takeaways from the Israel News Talk Radio – Beyond the Matrix interview with Dr. Hanson.
On the Historic Abraham Accord between Israel and the UAE.
Rod Bryant noted how archaeology “dovetails” the geopolitics of the historic Abraham Accord between Israel and the UAE. Dr. Hanson said the flight from Tel Avi to Abu Dhabi to seal the Accord represented the first “warm peace” in 25 years since the 1994 “cold peace” with the Kingdom of Jordan and the similar cold 1979 Camp David agreement with Egypt. It might lead to similar agreements with other Gulf States like Bahrain, Oman, possibly Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. Hanson said, it recognizes the overarching “civilizational threat” of a nuclear Iran intent on developing an ICBM capable of reaching the “great Satan”, the US. It already has weapons capable of reaching Israel and even targets in Europe. Hanson noted that President Trump “tore up the pathetic agreement” that fostered Iran’s global terrorism threat. He contends that the Gulf Arab Emirates considered “Israel, a solid partner to counter the Iran Threat”. They also recognize Israel as a “high tech dynamo” with its six desalination plants on the Mediterranean capable of producing fresh water and drip irrigation fostering agricultural production. Gordon noted the UAE Sovereign Wealth Fund might be a contender for replacing China in investing in Israeli tech “startups”.
Beyond the Matrix 02SEP2020 - PODCAST