IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1110 

Supporting the announcements of the establishment of full diplomatic relations between the State of Israel and the United Arab Emirates and 

the State of Israel and the Kingdom of Bahrain, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 15, 2020 

Mr. ENGEL (for himself and Mr. MCCAUL) submitted the following resolution; 

which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Supporting the announcements of the establishment of full 

diplomatic relations between the State of Israel and the 

United Arab Emirates and the State of Israel and the 

Kingdom of Bahrain, and for other purposes. 

Whereas, on August 13, 2020, Prime Minister Benjamin 

Netanyahu of Israel and Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed, 

Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), announced 

an agreement to normalize relations between their two 

countries, and Israel agreed to suspend planned annexation in parts of the West Bank; 

Whereas, on September 11, 2020, Israeli Prime Minister 

Benjamin Netanyahu and Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa 


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Al Khalifa announced the establishment of full diplomatic 

relations between Israel and the Kingdom of Bahrain; 

Whereas support for peace between Israel and its neighbors 

has long-standing bipartisan support in Congress and 

among the American people; 

Whereas the UAE is the first Gulf Arab state to announce 

formal relations with Israel, followed by Bahrain; 

Whereas the normalization agreements are intended to have 

strategic benefit for participating countries and can be 

mutually beneficial for important sectors such as investment, finance, health, civil space, civil aviation, foreign 

policy and diplomatic affairs, and tourism and culture; 

Whereas following the agreement, the UAE formally abolished its boycott law, allowing UAE companies and individuals to trade directly with Israel; 

Whereas these agreements could pave the way for future 

peace or normalization agreements between Israel and 

other Arab and Muslim countries; 

Whereas the parties pledged to continue their efforts to 

achieve a just, comprehensive, and enduring resolution to 

the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; 

Whereas the agreements build upon the decades-long leadership of the United States in helping Israel broker peace 

treaties with Egypt and Jordan and promoting peace 

talks between Israel and Syria, Lebanon, and the Palestinians; 

Whereas the United States played a pivotal role in brokering 

both agreements, which follow years of diplomacy between the United States, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and other partners, encouraging cooperation between Israel and Gulf countries; 


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Whereas in 2015, Israel opened a diplomatic-level mission to 

the International Renewable Energy Agency in Abu 

Dhabi, UAE; 

Whereas in 2018, after an Israeli athlete won first place in 

an international judo tournament in Abu Dhabi, the 

Israeli national anthem publicly played for the first time 

in the UAE; 

Whereas in 2019, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, 

President of the UAE, proclaimed the year 2019 to be 

‘‘The Year of Tolerance’’ in the UAE, and during 2019, 

the UAE announced the construction of the Abrahamic 

Family House in Abu Dhabi, which will house a mosque, 

a church, and a synagogue and the appointment of the 

first chief rabbi of the UAE; 

Whereas the UAE is set to host the World Expo in 2021, and 

in 2019 event organizers in Dubai invited Israel to participate; 

Whereas in 2009, Bahrain’s crown prince Sheikh Salman bin 

Hamad al-Khalifa urged Arab countries to ‘‘move toward 

real peace now by consulting and educating our people 

and by reaching out to the Israeli public to highlight the 

benefits of a genuine peace.’’; 

Whereas when former president Shimon Peres died in 2016, 

Bahrain was the only Gulf country to publicly mourn his 

death; 

Whereas in 2018, then Foreign Minister of Bahrain Khaled 

bin Ahmed al Khalifa tweeted in Arabic that Israel ‘‘has 

the right to defend itself’’ and said, ‘‘we do believe that 

Israel is a country to stay, and we want a better relation 

with it, and we want peace with it.’’; 


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Whereas in order to ensure the sustainability of state-to-state 

normalization, the agreements should be followed by 

greater people-to-people normalization; and 

Whereas in 2008, Congress enacted legislation (Public Law 

110–429) amending the Arms Export Control Act (22 

U.S.C. 2751 et seq.) to require that any certification to 

Congress relating to a proposed United States arms sale 

‘‘to any country in the Middle East other than Israel’’ 

must include a ‘‘determination that the sale or export of 

such would not adversely affect Israel’s qualitative military edge over military threats to Israel’’: Now, therefore, 

be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) supports the August 13, 2020, announce3 ment of the establishment of full diplomatic relations 

4 between the State of Israel and the United Arab 

5 Emirates and suspension of Israeli actions to apply 

6 sovereignty in parts of the West Bank; 

7 (2) supports the September 11, 2020, an8 nouncement of the establish of full diplomatic rela9 tions between the State of Israel and the Kingdom 

10 of Bahrain; 

11 (3) calls on the governments of the State of 

12 Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and the Kingdom 

13 of Bahrain to encourage greater people-to-people 

14 normalization in order to facilitate sustainability of 

15 the 2020 state-to-state normalization agreements; 


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1 (4) calls on other Arab and Muslim countries to 

2 establish full relations with Israel with the vision of 

3 realizing full peace between Israel and all of its 

4 neighbors; 

5 (5) reaffirms its strong support for the United 

6 States requirement that a proposed sale or export of 

7 defense article or defense services must be deter8 mined not to adversely affect Israel’s ability to 

9 counter and defeat any credible conventional military 

10 threat from any individual state or possible coalition 

11 of states or from non-state actors, while sustaining 

12 minimal damages and casualties, through the use of 

13 superior military means possessed in sufficient quan14 tity, including weapons, command, control, commu15 nication, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnais16 sance capabilities that in their technical characteris17 tics are superior in capability to those of such other 

18 individual or possible coalition states or non-state 

19 actors, consistent with section 36(h) of the Arms 

20 Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2776(h)); and 

21 (6) reaffirms its strong support for a negotiated 

22 solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict resulting 

23 in two states—a democratic Jewish State of Israel, 

24 and a viable, democratic Palestinian state—living 


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1 side-by-side in peace, security, and mutual recogni2 tion. 

Æ 


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