The US has ended its financial support for the Abraham Fund indefinitely, according to sources who spoke with Israeli media outlet Globes.
The cancellation of the fund by the Biden administration comes at a time when the United Arab Emirates is seeking to strengthen economic ties with Israel through multi-billion dollar investments.
The Abraham Fund was established after the signing of the Abraham Accords in September 2020 and was designed to pump over $3 billion into the development investment market and promote economic cooperation in the region.
The investment fund was meant to strengthen regional ties between the signatories to the Abraham Accords.https://t.co/1xXHAs9tTg
— World Israel News (@worldisraelnews) July 7, 2021
By October 2020, the Abraham Fund was operating and reviewed hundreds of requests for financial support.
Among the projects that received approval were those related to energy, food-tech, and fin-tech. The Abraham Fund also reached out to a number of US-based financial institutions, who were asked to join the initiative and boost the capital levels in the fund.
While the Biden administration never suggested that it would end its support for the Abraham Accords, the future of the Abraham Fund was cast into doubt when Rabbi Aryeh Lightstone, who was appointed by Donald Trump to head up the fund, stepped down from his role shortly after President Joe Biden’s inauguration.
The Biden administration has yet to fill the empty position.
For the first few weeks the Biden admin grudgingly acknowledged that, of course, the Abraham Accords were a historical success and promised to build on them.
Then – once they got going – they declared Accords "dead on arrival" and froze funding in effort to disintegrate them. pic.twitter.com/56czJT9YYf
— Omri Ceren (@omriceren) July 7, 2021
The reluctance of the US to provide funding is reportedly due to the huge expenditure needed by the US for the economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Additionally, according to officials from the State Department, the fund clashed with existing schemes.
UAE Crown prince Mohamed bin Zayed claimed the fund would invest in energy, industry, infrastructures, space, and health.
It was hoped that the recent visit by Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid would be instrumental in building a legal framework for the fund but proved fruitless.
(The New Arab, PC, Social Media)
