There is something new under the sun • What peace-loving Israeli can remain indifferent or cynical in front of the pictures from the lawns of the White House?
• The agreement is dramatic because it was made openly and happily, and not only on our part, but rather on their part • And yes, even in times of epidemic it is permissible to rejoice, because in this agreement there is a lot of hope for the future • Opinion
What have we asked for, if not a recognition of our right to live, to reproduce, and one day also to die, if possible in a good return, in the land of the fathers?
Is the Jew denied the basic right reserved for so many other peoples?
Netanyahu in Washington: "Peace with the Emirates and Bahrain - a huge turnaround"
"And Jews do not have eyes? Do Jews not have hands, organs, form, senses, desires, emotions? ... If you stab us - we will not bleed? If you tickle us - we will not laugh? ..." - How long will Shylock's speech in From Venice "(translated by Avraham Oz) will be valid, from generation to generation ... to generation?
So that's it - it's changing, and such a day is a huge step for change.
Two Arab countries - the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, full members of the Arab League, the one that has always opposed our very existence - are coming to Washington to sign a peace agreement with us.
And yes, it's dramatic.
It's dramatic because it's done proudly, openly, happily - and not just on our part - but rather on their part.
And yes, it's a huge change, a fundamental change, it's the change we longed for.
Recognition of Israel is not only a lack of choice - but a peace in which the Arab neighbor understands that a good relationship with the neighbor Israel will also improve the lives of his children together with the lives of our children.
I hear those trying to downplay the size of the event, and sorry - because it's the peace of us all.
And that's peace, not normalization.
I see how many of us translate everything into small politics, but the event is big.
What peace-loving Israeli can remain indifferent or cynical in front of the pictures from the White House lawns?
And yes, even on epidemic days and on the eve of closure we are allowed to rejoice, because in this agreement there is a lot of hope and a lot of future, especially at the point where we are now.
Economic illness?
Think of the billions that will be invested here as a result of that agreement.
And they will be invested.
 Sadat's Egypt and Hussein's Jordan gave us agreements that made us thrill, but it was a cold peace that was removed from the peoples.
In Cairo and Amman we were asked to be discreet - even if they did not admit it.
I remember the criticism of Israel from the liberals in Tahrir Square.
In Amman, too, I heard great anger over peace.
The Oslo Accords need to be expanded.
We wanted to believe, but we knew there was no chance.
It did not stop the media here from getting excited and announcing a new Middle East.
In practice, it was the same old Middle East, only the hawk disguised itself as a dove - and we believed in disguise.
And whoever dared to criticize or, God forbid, to demonstrate in a counter-cry, was labeled a war-monger or an enemy of peace.
More than a thousand of our citizens paid for it with their lives in the second intifada;
Buses exploded here - and candy was distributed there.
But precisely this time, when the friends from the Gulf are dancing a parent in front of the peace, it is hard not to notice the bunch of skeptics, who are trying to spoil our celebration with F-35s that are supposedly included in the agreement and o-to-to come to destroy us (Iran is a little more interesting to the Emirates), As if we have relinquished sovereignty - which is completely untrue.
Sovereignty is important to us, and let's come.
I am personally excited today.
I remember my visits to Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Bahrain as early as the early 1990s.
I remember the Saudi blazers crossing the bridge from their kingdom to little Bahrain.
I remember the lovely Nono family who invited me both to their home and to prayer.
It was all then with a French passport.
And today we can get there with our blue passport, with the lamp emblem.
And yes, it's exciting, and not because it's not done before.
It is exciting that this time it will be done in the light of the Middle Eastern sun and not in the dark.
Hello at noon.
I also remember the previous visits to Abu Dhabi, when I would return from covering the war in Iraq and even then I felt relieved because I saw a much more relaxed and tolerant enemy.
But someone had to cultivate this tree, and pick the permissible fruit, the fruit of peace.
Netanyahu did so.
So say: It was simple and effortless.
Nonsense.
I was an ambassador to Mauritania, and we had a flag and an embassy - but such an open ceremony the Mauritans did not want.
Always wanted to keep a low profile.
Peace, too.
For the first time today we see two Arab countries signing a peace agreement with us in sunlight and love.
At least that is the feeling with which the reporters returned from Abu Dhabi.
Sudan and Morocco, it is said, are waiting in line.
And Saudi Arabia will also come, and then they will really tell in the history books that once upon a time, Arabs and Jews were beaten ...
We are not there yet and the road is long.
Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and even Iran (which is not Arab) are far from taking out the Shylock within us.
But today's event changes history.
And yes, it is also permissible to say a huge thank you to the leaders of the Gulf states, to US President Donald Trump, but also to one statesman, ours, Benjamin Netanyahu.