Former IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. (res.) Gadi Eizenkot on Thursday publicly discussed regional security tensions with Iran, saying, "There's a giant struggle here against the Iranians, who want to achieve regional hegemony and acquire nuclear weapons. Anyone living in the Middle East understands it would be a completely different Middle East if they [the Iranians] achieve regional hegemony or develop nuclear weapons; hence the moderate countries share a common interest. The Abraham Accords have tremendous potential to strengthen regional stability."
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Eizenkot was speaking at a conference at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University.
The former IDF chief, who currently serves as a senior researcher at the NSS, also noted that "the Abraham Accords are doubly important in the context of Iran's dash toward nuclear capability and the American withdrawal from Afghanistan," a step he said signals America's desire to reduce its footprint in the region.
"When looking a decade into the future at the trends in the Middle East," Eizenkot continued, "it's reasonable to predict it will be a poorer Middle East, more polarized, with a struggle between camps, with a climate crisis coming to head with an energy crisis and dwindling interest from the international community. Therefore, it is very important to create this center of gravity as a counter to the Iranian threat and against regional and global organizations."
The conference was also attended by the former head of the National Security Council, Meir Ben-Shabbat, who said, "The current American administration has no less an interest than Israel in [the success of] the Abraham Accords, the purpose of which is to encourage countries to expand and deepen their relations."
Ben-Shabbat also touched on the peace agreement with Sudan.
"In Sudan, we still haven't progressed as much as we would have wanted, a few more things need to be taken care of; agreements need to be signed, the process of normalizing relations needs to be somewhat accelerated, and we are going about this slowly. When it comes to matters such as these, you can't run faster than what's possible… a balance must be struck somewhere in the middle. I think things are ripe right now and that it's only a matter of time and procedures," he said.
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