More than 33 years after establishing official diplomatic ties with Israel, Kazakhstan says it will join the Abraham Accords, which formalised ties between Israel and several Arab countries.
The announcement came after US President Donald Trump said that he had held a call with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
“I just held a great call between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, of Israel, and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, of Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is the first Country of my Second Term to join the Abraham Accords, the first of many,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Trump further stated, "We will soon announce a Signing Ceremony to make it official, and there are many more Countries trying to join this club of STRENGTH".
On the other hand, the Central Asian country, which established formal ties with Israel in 1992, says being part of the deals is ‘natural’.
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The announcement, which came as Trump met with leaders of five Central Asian nations, marks the first country to join the Abraham Accords since 2020. But it’s unclear if there will be any substantive change or upgrade to the diplomatic relations Israel and Kazakhstan have had for decades.
The Trump administration has made the expansion of the Abraham Accords one of its top foreign policy goals. The accords saw Israel normalize relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and others. The US is now trying to advance normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, but Riyadh has made clear that it would only happen with a viable pathway to Palestinian statehood, something openly dismissed by Israel’s government.
Last month, Trump told Time Magazine that “Saudi Arabia will lead the way toward the Abraham Accords.” When asked whether he thought the country would join the accords by the end of the year, Trump responded, “Yes, I do. I do.”
