Israel
Reports
Natan Sachs
Director - Center for Middle East Policy
Fellow - Foreign Policy, Center for Middle East Policy
This is Qatar’s Arab enemies — led by the U.A.E., including Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, with the support of Egypt — trying to smear Qatar as a terrorist patron. They want to make it as difficult as possible for the Qataris in advance of a Biden administration.
The most dramatic change in policy [for the incoming administration will be towards Saudi Arabia]... [By choosing Jake Sullivan as national security advisor, Biden is] showing he intends to do what he says, which is to try to revive the nuclear deal and reopen communications with the government of Iran... The Trump administration gave the Netanyahu government one gift after another, from moving the embassy to Jerusalem to closing off relations with the Palestinian Authority. I don’t think you will see the Biden administration handing out so many freebies.
For those who are concerned about rebuilding American diplomacy, there’s a general desire to have more well-prepared professional diplomats take these roles [as ambassadors].