Boaz Bismuth, editor of the Israel Hayom newspaper, spoke to Arutz Sheva following the Abraham Accords between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

Asked about those who argue that the agreement was not necessary since the UAE and Israel were not enemies to begin with, he replied, “Those who say that don’t really understand the region, the Middle East and the psychology of the Arab world. The psychological effect of this agreement is immense, and why? Because you do it openly and that is so important. Now, at last, you can be friends with a Jew in the Middle East.”

Bismuth also commented on the issue of sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, which Israel reportedly cancelled in exchange for the agreement with the UAE. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has stressed that sovereignty is still on the table.

“Suspend and cancel are two different words,” said Bismuth. “Suspend is for a limited amount of time. For me, you cannot cancel something which I would say is a process. It’s a historical process and I’m talking about applying Israeli law over Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley. This is something that will happen if not today, tomorrow, and if not tomorrow, then the day after tomorrow.”

“I would say that the biggest problem we had in applying the law is the fact that there was no consensus in the Israeli government. When you make a government with Blue and White and when your Minister of Defense and Minister of Foreign Affairs do not agree with that, it was very difficult for Prime Minister Netanyahu to apply Israeli law. But what did he give us instead? He gave us a peace treaty with the Emirates and probably with other countries soon, and second, we heard from Washington the word ‘suspend’. We did not hear the word ‘cancel’. So I would say let’s wait a little bit. I’m very optimistic.”

Asked what would happen if US President Donald Trump does not win the November election, Bismuth replied, “I wouldn’t dare say that Mr. Biden is anti-Israeli. I don’t think he is. [But] I would say we have a problem, especially with the Democratic party, with the places they are going, with some of the representatives they have today. The only thing I regret right now is that I don’t have an American passport, because if I had an American passport, this would be the easiest election ever.”

Bismuth acknowledged that “there is a danger that we will not have Trump winning in a landslide” but concluded, “Let’s be optimistic always. As Jews, we pray for peace. What did we get on Thursday? We got peace and settlements.”