Israeli and Bhutanese ambassadors to India sign an agreement for the establishment of diplomatic relations, December 12, 2020
 
Israel and Bhutan establish diplomatic relations: Israel’s spate of normalization deals continues with another country: Bhutan. Unlike the four agreements that preceded this one—those with the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco—Bhutan is not a Muslim majority nation and the deal was not brokered by the United States. Rather, the small, landlocked South Asian country is known for its seclusion on the world stage. Not even America has an embassy in the country. In fact, Bhutan only has diplomatic relations with approximately 50 countries worldwide. The deal struck between Bhutan and Israel was signed in India, Bhutan’s astronomically larger southern neighbor. Israel’s ambassador to India, Ron Malka, said: “This agreement will open up many more opportunities for cooperation for the benefit of both our peoples.” A source claims that Oman and Indonesia are likely next candidates to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel.
 
U.S. removes Sudan from terrorism list: The November decision by the Trump administration to remove Sudan from its terror sponsor list came into effect Monday, after the requisite waiting period. Sudan will gain an economic and political boost as a result, supporting the transitional government and lifting sanctions that have made Sudan unable to engage with international organizations like the World Bank. Sudan has not yet been given sovereign immunity for the 9/11 attacks, which may still hurt them economically, though Trump reportedly offered $700 million to victims of the attacks in an effort to advance the deal. Sudan has said that without this part of the deal, normalization with Israel may fall through. No official visits between Israel and Sudan have yet taken place. 
 
U.S. considering $3B in Morocco investments after Israel deal: After the historic normalization agreement between Israel and Morocco, negotiated by the White House with help from the Saudi regime, the New York Times reported that the Trump administration is considering investing $3 billion into Morocco. The plan would include a $1 billion sale of weapons to the Arab Kingdom. Two Moroccan officials told the Times that Morocco’s king was hesitant to normalize with Israel, even with U.S. recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, but was persuaded by the addition of the U.S. promise of billions of dollars worth of investment. A Trump administration official denied the connection of the normalization agreement to the investment of billions of dollars. 
 
Fight between Trump & GOP senator made Morocco deal possible: Axios reported that the Israel-Morocco normalization agreement came about in large part due to a feud between President Trump and Republican Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma. Inhofe is perhaps Congress’ most vocal supporter of the Polisario Front of Sahrawi, the independence movement in Western Sahara. For at least two years, the Trump administration had an agreement between Israel and Morocco that hinged on U.S. recognition of Western Sahara as Morocco. The one person standing in the way, however, was Jim Inhofe. Things changed, though, when the Senate took up this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This iteration of the law, which is passed each year, included a provision stripping American military bases of the names of Confederate soldiers. Despite pressure from Trump, Inhofe, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, refused to delete the provision last week, apparently even shouting at the President over the phone. Enraged, Trump gave the go-ahead on the Western Sahara bid as a measure of payback against Inhofe. Following the announcement of the change in U.S. policy with regard to Western Sahara, Senator Inhofe said: it is “shocking and deeply disappointing.”

Israel passes 3,000 total pandemic deaths: On the same day that the U.S. reported over 300,000 deaths from the coronavirus, Israel surpassed its own grave milestone with 3,000 dead. The nation-wide vaccination campaign is scheduled to begin Sunday, December 20, moving up so-called “V-Day” by a week from its original date. Israel will use Pfizer’s vaccine, which has yet to be approved in the country but has been approved for emergency use in the U.S. and elsewhere. According to the plan, at least two million Israelis would be vaccinated by the end of January. Currently, Israel is in possession of 313,000 doses of the vaccine and expects to have a total of 3.8 million by the end of this month. Experts are grappling with how to encourage the wary to get the shot, while contending with those who refuse to. One plan being weighed by the Health Ministry is to restrict travel and access to public spaces for individuals who choose not to get vaccinated. The Ministry could potentially issue a “green passport” to vaccinated individuals to differentiate them from the general population.
 
Israel to stop using fossil fuels by 2050: Israel announced it will stop using fossil fuels nationwide by 2050. This pledge mirrors that of the majority of Western nations. Prime Minister Netanyahu revealed the commitment when speaking before the international Climate Ambition Summit in the U.K. this past weekend. Israel also maintains its interim goal of achieving 30% renewable energy by the end of the decade. And, by 2025, Netanyahu said Israel will no longer use coal as a source of energy at all.

Wojciech Rychlewicz

 Today we celebrate a Polish diplomat who helped to saved hundreds of Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis during World War II and whose story has not been written about before. A report by Israel Hayom on Friday revealed that Wojciech Rychlewicz, a Polish diplomat serving in Turkey during World War II, helped save hundreds of Jews by issuing them false certificates that identified them as Christians. Rychlewicz, then a consul in Istanbul, provided the documents to the European refugees at no pay. They could then obtain visas in countries that had policies in place to prevent Jewish refugees from entering. Rychlewicz, who died in 1964, has not yet been recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations, the title conferred by Israel to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews from the Holocaust. Key to the effort to document Rychlewicz’s actions has been a Jewish physician from Los Angeles named Bob Meth, whose grandfather obtained a Brazilian visa using one of the false certificates. Israeli Holocaust museum Yad Vashem is reportedly looking into the new information.
 
On this day in 1990, Ari Goldman published an op-ed in the New York Times entitled: “Candles in Saudi Arabia.” In the piece, Goldman writes of the approximately 500-800 Jewish-American soldiers stationed in Saudi Arabia who were forced to celebrate the holiday of lights as their ancestors did, secretly and without fanfare. Although Jewish soldiers were sent care packages from Jewish organizations in the U.S., the groups were careful not to ship anything made in Israel, which would be in defiance of the Muslim kingdom’s strict policies. Today, 30 years later, Saudi has reportedly played a role in Israel’s recent normalization agreements and could even potentially normalize relations with Israel soon.