Israel-Sudan
Israel-SudaniStock

The normalization agreement between Israel and Sudan seems to be dealing a particularly severe blow to the Hamas terrorist organization.

Arab affairs expert Yoni Ben Menachem, a senior researcher for the Jerusalem Center, explained in a conversation with Arutz Sheva how much damage the agreement causes to Hamas.

“Sudan has been a major smuggling route from Iran to Hamas through third-party contacts. At some point it reached such dimensions that Iranian ships would dock in Port Sudan and openly unload weapons that would be then loaded on trucks and convoys would leave the country, go through Egypt to the Sinai and from there through tunnels to Hamas in Gaza,” he said.

“The Sudanese went so far as to allow the Iranians to set up an ammunition factory meant for Hamas in Gaza. Israel, according to foreign reports, bombed this factory, which was a source of production of weapons for terrorism," Ben Menachem added.

Hamas is trying to incite the citizens of Sudan against normalization, he continued. "Hamas is counting on the Islamic forces within Sudan and especially on the Muslim Brotherhood movement in the country. There are contacts between all kinds of Islamic parties to form a political front that will oppose normalization with Israel, but the Sudanese army, which is pushing for an agreement with Israel, does not intend to let that happen and they believe there will be support for the agreement. It seems that the people of Sudan also understand that their path out of international exclusion in order to improve the economy goes through Israel."

Ben Menachem also noted that there is one major goal behind the relations that are being forged with Arab countries. "Sudan is a strategically important country in the Red Sea and this is important for Israel. There is an intention here to establish a regional alliance that will include Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, Egypt, Jordan and later probably Saudi Arabia as well.”

"Such an alliance will have three goals: To deal with the Iranian threat and to curb Iran's expansionist tendencies in the Middle East, curb the strengthening and influence of the Muslim Brotherhood axis led by Turkey and Qatar while fighting radical Islamic terrorism and also to bridge the gap between Israel and the Palestinians in an attempt to reach an agreement, after Mahmoud Abbas steps down and it will be possible to move forward in this area."

Listen to the interview with Yoni Ben Menachem (in Hebrew):