The Daily Signal - Media Largely Ignores Trump's Historic Middle East Peace Deal

Episode Date: August 31, 2020

The left largely has ignored the Trump administration's role in negotiating the recent peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.  The Abraham Accord, announced Aug. 13, normalizes relations between the Jewish state and the UAE. Helen Raleigh, policy fellow at the Centennial Institute and a senior contributor at The Federalist, calls the agreement a historic achievement.  Raleigh joins the podcast to explain how the Israel-UAE accord could affect diplomatic relations in the Middle East for years to come, and why the mainstream media has chosen to ignore its significance. She also discusses how the Chinese Communist Party strategically spreads propaganda on American college campuses.  Plus, we read your letters to the editor and share a good news story about a nonprofit that converted its parking lot into an outdoor learning center and tutoring hub for children who are distance learning this fall.  Enjoy the show. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get you and your crew to the big shows with Go Transit. Go connects to all the main concert venues like TD Coliseum in Hamilton and Scotia Bank Arena in Toronto. And Go makes it affordable with special e-ticket fares. A one-day weekend pass offers unlimited travel across the network on any weekend day or holiday for just $10. And a weekday group pass offers the same weekday travel flexibility from $30 for two people and up to $60 for five. Buy yours at gotransit.com slash tickets. This is the Daily Signal podcast for Monday, August 31st. I'm Robert Louis. And I'm Virginia Allen. On today's show, we talk with Helen Raleigh, Policy Fellow at the Centennial Institute and a senior contributor at the Federalist, about her recent piece breaking down the Israel United Arab Emirates peace deal and what it may mean for the future of the Middle East.

We also discuss China's growing influence on American universities. We also share your letters to the editor and a good news story about a nonprofit that has converted its parking lot into an outdoor learning center and tutoring hub for children who are distance learning this fall. Before we get to today's show, Rob and I want to tell you about an entertaining way to keep up with the news that matters most. The Heritage Foundation YouTube channel features TV interviews with heritage experts, policy explainers, and videos of Heritage's most recent webinar. discussing the economy, COVID-19, China, and much, much more. Go ahead and join the 150,000 other subscribers on the Heritage Foundation's YouTube channel today. You can search for the Heritage Foundation on your YouTube app or visit YouTube.com slash Heritage Foundation.

And just hit that subscribe button. You'll stay up to date on the news and information that conservatives need to know. Now stay tuned for today's show coming up next. I am joined by Helen Raleigh Policy Fellow at the Centennial Institute and a senior contributor at the Federalist. Helen, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me. You recently wrote a piece for the Federalist entitled, What Corporate Media Won't Tell You About Trump's Historic Middle East Peace Deal? And on August 13th, Israel and the United Arab Emirates established diplomatic ties through the Abraham Accord.

First, can you just explain what this means that Israel and the United Arab Emirates have established this peace deal and what has actually changed now about their relationship? Thank you for that question. This is a tremendously historical agreement. This is only the third agreement in Israel's history that the Israel has signed with the Arab country. The other two were 1979. Israel had signed a diplomatic agreement with Egypt. and in 1994 Israel-signed diplomatic agreement with Jordan. So this one in August is the third one. As we know, there has been a long history of Middle East conflicts, and Israel is surrounded by hostile nations that from day one

wanted to eliminate Israel from the planet Earth. So the fact that Israel is able to achieve a peace agreement with a Gulf Arab nation, the first Gulf Arab nation, which the UAE, this August is just a tremendous achievement. So basically, this accord will allow Israel and the UAE to exchange ambassadors and establish embassies and also other opportunities for trades, corporations, health care, especially joining the fight against the COVID pandemic, and will allow the two nations to establish transnational flights. it will set a template, which is really important. This agreement can set a template for Israel to achieve future peace treaties with other Gulf Arab nations. So I cannot undermine the

historical nature of this peace agreement from Israel and UAE. And what were the events that led up to the signing of this agreement? Well, sir, there are a number of factors leading to the signing of this agreement. One One of them is the joint of fear and the concern about the menaces by Iran. As we know, Iran never stopped, developed its nuclear weapons. As a matter of fact, this June, Iran successfully tested several cruise missiles, both long range and short range, which shows Iran never abided by the nuclear agreement that is sent under Obama administration with the EU nations.

And it's this joint concern between both Israel and the Arab nations about the growing medicines of Iran. So that's one key factor, right? Your enemy's enemy is your friend, basically, the deal. Another important factor is really quite a issue to go to the Trump administration. The Trump administration, President Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, they really took a very unconventional approach. As we know, almost every U.S. president before President Trump

have taken on peace negotiation, try to broker peace negotiations between Israel and Arab nations for decades to come. And no one has been successful. So the expectation that the Trump administration would be successful is actually very, very low. Nobody thought his administration could have done it. But, you know, we have a very unconventional president. And yes, Gerard Kushner that didn't have a long history of a foreign policy experience, maybe that's actually played the two advantage. So they took an unconventional approach.

Last year, the administration rolled out to the Middle East peace plan, really took an unconventional approach. For example, they're going to recognize Jerusalem as the undivided capital for Israel. But at the same time, the administration waiting to offer over 50 billion of Israel. economic incentives, aid package for the Palestinians to help them build an economy and promise over a million new jobs of Palestinians. So those are very unconventional approach. So the peace deal, the administration offer last year really showed the commitment the administration is willing to do and just unconventional way approach to it. That helps to. And believe it or not, and another factor is the administration has taken a lot of effort to build this so-called

for the Arab NATO, basically building close relationships with several Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia and UAE, to build, you know, build on relationships and corporations in military and technology and economy. And those really helped. So those are three factors really helped leading to this peace deal. I should also mention that a lot of credit should also go to UAE. UAE launched a year of tolerance last year. The government in UAE really reaching out to interface communities. For example, they invite the Pope to speak there. They build a new interface structure that will host representative from all different religions,

including Judaism. So the UAE has also made a concrete effort towards this. So all these factors combine leads to this historical agreement. So explain just a little bit further how the Trump administration actually got Israel and the UAE to come to the table on this. So the Trump administration, a couple of things. One, the administration shows it meant what it says, right? And it committed to declare Jerusalem is Israel's undivided capital. It's a very bold move.

They were heavily criticized, but guess what? The Trump administration actually moved the U.S. embassy to Israel, to Jerusalem, basically showed the administration meant what it says. And also in this unconventional deal, basically that the Israel have, basically the administration supported Israel to annex the West Bank in exchange for offering Palestinians, you know, $50 billion economic aid. And then when the UAE stepped in, the UAE ambassador actually wrote it off at, basically saying in Israel's newspaper basically saying, you know,

if you stop the annexation, then there's your opening door for peace. Then Gerald Kushner jumped in. You know, he really persuaded Nattingyahu Israel's prime minister to say, you know, you need to stop annexation activity. you know, which Netanyahu did, and that really paved away for eventually lead to this peace deal. So I think the deal really shows the pragmatism from all three parties, the UAE, the Israel, as well as the United States. I think the president and his son-in-law, Jerry Kushner, is an unconventional approach, but also meant what they says, you know, through actions, really helped push to make this deal happen. Well, and you mentioned Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

You know, he's not very popular among Israel's media. What has been the Israeli media response to the deal? It's an understatement to say Netanyahu is not popular with media. You know, he's amazing. Last year, Israel had three inconclusive elections. He survived all of those, and he was under investigation for bribery and corruption. and everybody thought his political star just have failed. But he survived.

Not only that, Mr. Netanyahu is very committed to Israel sovereignty, annexation of land in West Askebank. This just showed you how much, you know, as a politician, he's also so pragmatic that he's waiting to make such a huge compromise in order to reach peace. So it shows that peace to him is more important than getting a land. and he's waiting to take a stand. So the Israel media, which he had much more gracious than the American media,

Israel media at least gave him some credit. They were really thrilled. They called this deal. It's like a good atom bomb, a good geopolitical, you know, earthquake. And they just called him, you know, for his brilliant, praise him for his brilliance. And a huge breakthrough. So, yeah, Israel's media at least gave him credit for what he has done because nobody thought this could happen.

But we've seen that the American media has given the Trump administration very, very, valuable credit, which, you know, I find sad, but frankly, not that surprising. How should the mainstream media be covering this agreement? I think the mainstream media needs to go back to do what the media is supposed to do is presenting news and the facts objectively. Because, you know, you and I can both agree. I think the mainstream media would agree. Has this be under a different administration, whether it's Obama administration or Clinton or even George Double Bush, there would be called for giving him Nobel Prize, a peace price for this huge deal, a historical deal. But the media is now joined a resistance that they cannot possibly look at anything objectively. So anything associated with the name Trump, they just have to reject.

I mentioned in my article that even for this New York Times writer Thomas Fredman, that you read his whole piece about this deal, that even though he himself called a huge breakthrough, and the entire piece he avoided, you can feel his agony, he avoided it to give any credit to Trump, Kushner, and the Natinyahu. So it's just pathetic and sad. And, you know, they're not building their own credibility. or even strengthening the credibility by a void to be objective, present.

You know, a good deal is a good deal. And we should acknowledge that even if it's a good deal done by the Trump administration, you know, we should accept that and then the media should report that. So looking to the future, what's next for the Middle East? Could this deal, you know, have potential to really impact the direction of the Middle East for years to come? I really think so. You know, of course, the Palestinians rejected the peace. deal, the Trump administration rolled out last year, you know, outright. And they have been

down, they have rejected every single peace deal in the last eight decades. And every time they reject a peace deal and their situation just got worse. I think this deal between Israel and UAE basically demonstrate that there is a fatigue among the Arab nations that continue support a uncompromising Palestinians. And so they really want a solution. So at the end of my piece, I mentioned that I really think this UAE Israel peace deal is set a good template for other deals to come. And there are already signs. Some other nations might be in the pipeline. For example, Latina who visits the Oman in 2018.

And then last July, the United States hosts a meeting in Washington between Bahrain and Israel. So I think for some nations, they're probably going to follow the UAE's lead. I think there's going to be more to come. So I want to pivot just for a moment and talk about another nation that America is navigating relations with, and that's China. You recently wrote a fantastic piece for the Federalist entitled American Universities are now the front line of the China-U.S. Cold War. How is the Chinese Communist Party influencing universities and university students? The Chinese Communist Party, which is synonymous, the Chinese government because it's a one-party state, has relied on three pillars to exert its oversee influenced in American universities.

The three pillars are through Confucius Institute, through the Chinese Students and Scholars Association, and through direct financial donations. Just use Confucius Institute as an example. Confucius Institute is really a propaganda machine disguised as a language centers. Basically, whichever university is willing to host the Confucius Institute, all they have to do just provide the land. The Chinese government fully funds the buildings, the teaching material, even teachers. And the teachers are heavily vetted from China.

And their teaching method and what they teach, the teaching content, they strictly follow the Chinese Communist Party's talking points. So their goal is, there are multiple goals. They want to present the only positive image about the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese history. And their presentation of Chinese history is very selective. And they also avoid talking about all the, whether the, you know, CCP deemed as a sensitive topics such as the cultural revolution, the 1989 TAMS Square Massacre, the internment of the Uyghurs in the last couple of years, the other human rights violations, persecution of the Christians and other religious groups. So if you are

enrolled in taking classes at the Confucius Institute, you're thinking you're learning about the true history or language culture about China, Instead, you're getting a selected version through a rose glance, and not a full version of what's really happened in China. And so it is very concerning. And it's come to a point that schools, because the schools love those, American universities love those free deals, right? All they have to do just provide the land.

Everything else is supported by Chinese government. They even self-censored. For example, I mentioned in my piece in North Carolina University that they canceled the appearance of Dalai Lama because the CCP considered Dalai Lama is a traitor. The CCP denied it, you know, has taken Tibet by force. So is this kind of censorship? So the existence of Confucius Institute really hurt our American universities' academic freedom and Americans' free speech.

That is why the State Department recently announced is going to ask Confucius Institute to designate self as a foreign agent rather than an innocent language center. So that's just one example to show you. It's not an innocent language center. It's actually carry policy objectives for a CCP. So I just want to make sure I'm understanding

how these Confucius Institution, end up on college campuses. Essentially, they approach a university and say, we will give you money in order for us just to use your space on campus and host these courses, so to speak, and the college oftentimes says, sure, come on. Yes. So basically, yeah, that's exactly what happened. So they will approach a university to say, hey, you know, we're going to offer your students free Chinese language, culture, and history lessons. All you have, you have, have to do just give us a space. We will even fund the building. We will provide the teachers. We'll find it we'll put it materials. You don't have to do anything. We're going to be fully

managed by us. So for a university who you know, who doesn't want to spend additional money say, well, this is like, you know, pie from the fall from a sky. That's perfect, right? You don't have to pay for anything. And and also for a while learning Mandarin is very popular among college campuses. So this is like a free deal, free for all. But, you know, you know, it's a really sugar-coded poison peel. But now America is starting to recognize actually what is going on and is starting to ask these groups to either leave campuses or how are they proceeding? So basically, there were a couple of organizations like the American Association of University professors

as well as National Association of Scholars have warned American universities to close down the Confucius Institute on their college campuses. But many universities did not take their advice until last year under the U.S. National Defense Organization Act, which includes a special clause, basically saying restricting Department Defense language study fundings if a university hosts the Confucius Institute on campus. So for the schools that want to continue to receive Department of Defense's funding for language studies, you know, they have to choose, right? Whether they want to fund these for Department of Defense or they want to keep the Confucius Institute. So as a result, money talks.

So about 35 American colleges and universities closed the Confucius Institute on their campuses today. But we still have about 80 or so Confucius Institutes on American University campus. and there are also a number of them in K-12 public schools. And are you concerned that those Confucius institutes that still exist in America are more or less a national security threat? I think so. Unless they change their approach, which I doubt it, because they were fully, all the Confucius Institute are fully funded by the Chinese government and teachers, like I said, teachers are strictly valid. They have to teach what the Chinese government told them to. And so I don't see how they're approaching history, how they're approaching the truth will change.

For the universities, continue to host them, continue to let those institutes spread lies and untrue histories about the CCP. It's basically working supporting a info warfare. And, you know, we are, the United States and China are engaged in a Cold War. We're not approaching. We are in a Cold War. So part of the Cold War is fighting about ideas and information. For the university who has continued host those institutes, they're basically taking the size of the Chinese Communist Party side,

and that is very dangerous. Wow. Helen, thank you so much for breaking down these two large topics that are going on in the international world on the international stage for us. We just really appreciate your time today. Thank you for having me. Are you looking for quick conservative policy solutions to current issues? Sign up for Heritage's weekly newsletter, The Agenda. In the Agenda, you will learn what issues Heritage Scholars on Capitol Hill are working on,

what position conservatives are taking, and links to our in-depth research. The agenda also provides information on important events happening here at Heritage that you can watch online as well as media interviews from our experts. Sign up for the agenda on heritage.org today. Thanks for sending us your letters to the editor. Each Monday we feature our favorites on this show. Virginia, who do you have first? In response to the Problematic Women podcast episode,

her leftist college tried to re-educate her. Now she's speaking up. Jerry Curlin writes, great article that I will share with my daughters as I prepare them for college and the culture war. And in response to last week's podcast, this mom created an education pod, and you can too, Fides writes, this is great news.

I have been praying for homeschoolers, especially since COVID started. I imagine something like this with families working together. This is perfect. God bless them. Your letter could be featured on next week's show. So send us an email at Letters at DailySignal.com. Do you have an interest in public policy? Do you want to hear some of the biggest names in American politics speak?

Every day, the Heritage Foundation host webinars called Heritage Events, Live. Webinar topics range from ethics during the COVID-19 pandemic to the CARES Act and the economy. These webinars are free and open to the public. To find the latest webinars and register, visitheritage.org slash events. Virginia, as always, you have a good news story to share with us today. Over to you. Thanks so much, Rob. A parking lot may not sound like an ideal location for learning, but a Los Angeles nonprofit is making it work in a powerful way. When the Los Angeles Unified School District announced they would be holding school online this fall, the Dream Center, a ministry to the needy located in downtown L.A., formed a creative plan to support

families and school-aged children. The Dream Center has served the needs of the homeless, poor, and hurting in inner-city, L.A. for over 25 years. I recently spoke with Matthew Barnett, co-founder of the organization, and he said that when parents learned that school will be held online for the first half of the year, many thought their child would not learn at all this fall because they don't have the knowledge or the time to instruct their children since they work during the day. Barnett said, we just began to hear panic in the neighborhoods, parents saying, I have no idea how to do this. There was just a feeling of giving up. Dream Center had already been serving thousands of meals every day to children and their families during the pandemic, but they wanted to do more to ensure children could actually learn while parents were at work. The Center came up with a creative and out-of-the-box plan to convert a portion of their parking lot,

which sits under a solar panel overhang to an online tutoring center. The outdoor schooling site, known as the Restart Learning Center, provides L.A. children with a safe place to come and do their online schooling. Tudors are on site to answer questions that the students may have and encourage them to stay focused in their schooling. The Dream Center provides computers to students who don't have a device for online learning, and prizes are awarded every hour to kids who do stay committed to their studies. Barnett described the atmosphere of the Outdoor Learning Center as High Energy Nickelodeon TV show meets education. 20 students and seven tutors arrived on August 18th, For the first day of learning under the solar panel overhang, that number grew to 30 students only a week later.

And Barnett said he believes there will be as many as 80 to 100 children attending the Restart Learning Center by mid to late September. Some of the students attending have really opened up to Barnett about their own dreams for the future. One young man who's in high school said his dream is to one day attend Duke University. He's sitting out here in an outdoor shed in a parking lot of the Dream Center doing his online work with a vision to go to Duke, Barnett said. And he added, if we could have four months to be a part of his journey to get there, how cool would that be to be a part of his life? His storyline one day will be, my education was maintained because a group of people in downtown L.A. opened up their parking lot where we could learn and study. Wow, just absolutely incredible.

It's wonderful to see how creative organizations, nonprofits, parents, families are becoming in this season to make sure that kids are not falling behind academically. This is just such great news. It is, Virginia, and it really is so important, particularly as parents face that demand of child care with that need to work. So, I mean, the fact that they're coming together with an innovative idea like this is truly uplifting. We hope that other communities will look for opportunities like this as well, and parents will have a place to turn so those kids can continue to gain the experience and knowledge that is so important to their learning. So we appreciate you bringing us that story today,

and we're going to leave it there for the Daily Signal podcast. You can find us on the Rurkissue audio network, and all of the Daily Signal shows can be found at dailysignal.com slash podcasts. You can also subscribe on Apple Podcast, Google Play, or your favorite podcast app. And be sure to listen every weekday by adding the Daily Signal podcast as part of your Alexa Flash briefing. If you like what you hear, please leave us a review and a five-star rating. It means a lot to us and helps us spread the word to other listeners. Be sure to follow us on Twitter at Daily Signal and Facebook.com slash the Daily Signal News.

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