More countries will start to recognize Israel as a result of the U.S.-brokered deal to normalize relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates earlier this month, and President Donald Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner deserves "enormous credit," House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Monday.
"I think you are going to see two or three more countries recognize Israel, maybe even before the end of this year," Gingrich said Monday on Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "Jared Kushner has every right to be very proud of his role. At the direction of his father-in-law, he has taken the lead on this now for almost four full years."
The UAE-Israel agreement should be considered a "beginning," and if countries like "Bahrain, or Kuwait, or Sudan, or even Saudi Arabia" recognize Israel, "you just changed the whole region," said Gingrich.
Kushner is part of a delegation of American and Israeli officials flying Monday in the first-ever direct commercial passenger flight from Israel to the UAE.
Gingrich also said Trump's successful deal with Israel and the UAE may explain, in part, the "Never Trump" movement, because he's done what America's foreign policy establishment has failed to achieve for 30 years.
"When I was speaker, we passed a bill to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem," said Gingrich. "Israel is the only country in the world we did not allow to name their own capital. And every single year, presidents, Democrat and Republican, would waive the bill and refuse to do it."
But Trump was "tough in a neighborhood that was very tough" and proved that the United States would stand up to the Saudis and the UAE against Iran, said Gingrich, and achievements were possible "that were impossible under the appeasement process that had dominated both parties."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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