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Page 16 Merry Christmas! December 2022

Abraham Accords

A Turning Point in the Middle East as Rome gathering of Abraham Accords

When the signing of the Abraham Accords happened in 2020, it marked a historic turning point in the Middle East. Last week in Rome, the leaders all gathered from several different nations and started working to spread the truth of the Accords to all the other nations.

The Rome event was officially called the

Abraham Accords Global Leadership

Summit; this was the first time everyone gathered together. It has been built upon the strength of the accords. They were signed at the White House on September 15, 2020.

The Abraham Accords brought ambassadors, diplomats, religious leaders and policy makers together. Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, was the gatherings host. Danny said, "It's an amazing event where we have dozens of leaders from all around the world coming together to learn from us, the country within the region who achieved peace, how we did it, and what we can do to help them."

The director of the European Coalition of Israel, Tomas Sandell, said the summit is very important for two reasons; "One is that the Abraham Accords has been for two years, and everyone is asking what is next, and I think this conference will try to address that question."

Tomas Sandell also said, that the second reason of the summit is location. "I think it's significant that this conference is taking place in Europe, in Rome, and I think that we need to look and see how we can get the European countries more involved so that Europe could play a constructive role in the Middle East."

One of the major topics of the conference was the importance on traditional family values of the Abrahamic religions of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Imam Mohammad Tawhidi, Vice President of the Global Imams Council said, "Traditional family values are the core of whatever peace efforts we want to make. Without basing our main common goals on family values, then we can't actually aim to protect this family."

The senior Rabbi of the United Arab Emirates, Dr. Elis Abadie, has expressed concern for all the deterioration of culture in the West. He said, "Unfortunately, I have to say that in the West, the traditional family values have been eroding for the last 60 years more and more. And now, after having now moved to live in the UAE for the last two and a half years since the Abraham Accords, have kind of reminded us again of these cherished values, values of the ages in millennia."

Economic peace also played a huge part in the gathering as the leaders shared on how prosperity among the countries can bring peace. All the geopolitics surrounding the regions are still shifting as China is now courting Saudi Arabia. But Ambassador Danon said that the Saudis may be the next country to join the Abraham Accords.

The summit ended with signing of the Abrahamic Values Pledge, as well as getting more nations to join the Abraham Accords.

December 2022 Merry Christmas! Page 17

Missiles to Ukraine?

The United States are poised to approve the Patriot Missiles Battery for Ukraine

The United States are poised to approve sending a Patriot missile battery to Ukraine. They're finally agreeing to an urgent request from the Ukrainian leaders who have been desperate for more powerful weapons to shoot down incoming Russian missiles.

The approval for the missiles will likely come later in the next few days. The Patriots will come from the Pentagon stocks and be taken to another country overseas.

Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has been pressing the Western leaders to provide more of the advanced weapons to start helping his country in its war with Russia. The Patriot will be the most advanced surface to air missile system the West had provided to Ukraine to help them stop Russian aerial attacks.

At a video conference, President Zelenskyy told the host Germany and other leaders of the Group of Seven industrial powers that his country needed long range missiles, modern tanks, artillery, missiles batteries and other high tech air defense systems to stop Russian attacks that have severely damaged electricity and water supplies for millions of Ukrainians. He said, "Unfortunately, Russia still has an advantage in artillery and missiles. Protecting Ukraine's energy facilities from Russian missiles and Iranian drones will be the protection of the whole of Europe, since with these strikes Russia is provoking a humanitarian and migration catastrophe not only for Ukraine, but also for the entire EU."

The White House and the Pentagon leaders have said frequently that providing Ukraine with any additional air defenses is a priority, and the Patriot missiles have been under consideration for quite awhile now. Many officials have said that as winter has closed in and the Russian bombardment of civilian infrastructure has picked up, that consideration too has become a higher priority. The Pentagon and

State Department officials at briefings would not confirm that play to give

Patriots to Ukraine, as they continued to say they had nothing to announce.

U.S. officials have stopped short of providing the weapons to the Ukraine because they could be considered an escalation that would start a response from Moscow. The Patriot also requires significant training and there were many concerns that U.S. soldiers would have been required to operate it. President Biden has said no to sending any U.S. combat soldiers to Ukraine.

Patriot Missiles system includes a phased array radar, a control station, computers and generators. This typically requires around 90 soldiers to operate and take care of the maintance, although only three soldiers are needed to fire the weapon, according to the Army.