<div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail-inner-article-top"><h1 class="gmail-">The enemy within: Arab states that trade with Israel</h1><p class="gmail-">West
Asian exports to Israel have skyrocketed since 2020. These are the Arab
and Muslim governments that put goods on Israeli shelves, despite their
public stances supporting Gaza.</p><div class="gmail-another-name"><p><a href="https://thecradle.co/authors/mohamad-hasan-sweidan" style="color:rgb(164,4,4)">Mohamad Hasan Sweidan</a> - <font size="1"><a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/the-enemy-within-arab-states-that-trade-with-israel">https://thecradle.co/articles/the-enemy-within-arab-states-that-trade-with-israel</a></font></p></div><div class="gmail-another-name" style="margin-top:16px"><p><span>JAN 31, 2024</span></p></div></div><div class="gmail-inner-article-img"><img src="http://thecradle-main.oss-eu-central-1.aliyuncs.com/public/articles/b18bd108-c04c-11ee-993b-00163e02c055.jpeg" alt="" width="444" height="210" style="margin-right: 0px;"><span>Photo Credit: The Cradle</span></div><div class="gmail-inner-article-content"><div class="gmail-row"><div class="gmail-col-md-8 gmail-col-sm-7"><div class="gmail-article-content"><span><p>Israeli
import data reveals that a number of Arab countries play a significant
role in buoying the occupation state’s trade volume, despite attempts by
other regional nations to weaken Israel's economy. </p><p style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">Since
this decade's onset, Israeli ports have been teeming with the arrival
of goods from across the region. Each shipment not only boosts the
occupation state's economy, but also weaves a narrative that goes beyond
trade statistics as these economic interactions carry a hidden stream
of political significance.</span></p><p style="text-align:justify"><img src="http://thecradle-main.oss-eu-central-1.aliyuncs.com/public/articles_media/8d7f5018-c066-11ee-ae69-00163e02c055.png" width="444" height="273" style="margin-right: 0px;"></p><p>Although
not an Arab country, Turkiye was the first Muslim state to establish
diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv, and today leads the pack of West
Asian states boosting Israeli imports. In 2020 alone, the value of
Turkish exports spiked to $5.7 billion, constituting <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/israel/imports/turkey">6.2 percent</a> of total Israeli imports that year. </p><p><span lang="EN" dir="ltr">Iron
and steel ($1.06 billion), plastics ($464.67 million), electrical and
electronic equipment ($346.83 million), vehicles ($331.48 million),
machinery ($298.89 million), metals ($261.66 million), and building
materials ($188.39 million) form the cornerstone of Turkish exports to
the Zionist entity. </span></p><p>In second place is the UAE, which
normalized ties with Tel Aviv as part of the US-brokered Abraham Accords
in 2020, and was the first Arab state to sign a <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles-id/3856">free-trade agreement</a>
(2022) with Israel as part of a plan to boost mutual trade to $10
billion annually. The Persian Gulf state’s exports were valued at <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/israel/imports/united-arab-emirates">$1.89 billion i</a>n 2022, accounting for 2.1 percent of all Israeli imports. </p><p>Particularly
intriguing is the 1543 percent surge in the value of Emirati exports to
Israel since the normalization agreement. Noteworthy export categories
include precious metals and stones ($525.32 million), iron and steel
($483.95 million), electrical and electronic equipment ($210.71
million), and oil ($94.55 million).<img src="http://thecradle-main.oss-eu-central-1.aliyuncs.com/public/articles_media/7a4e1e8a-c04c-11ee-ab4f-00163e02c055.png" width="444" height="303" style="margin-right: 0px;"></p><p><strong>Business as usual </strong></p><p>Taking third place is Jordan, whose exports to Israel in 2022 reached $469.25 million, a massive <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/israel/imports/jordan">489 percent increase</a>
from 2018. Key export categories from the Hashemite Kingdom include
plastics ($135.2 million), electrical and electronic equipment ($127.93
million), and iron and steel ($74.35 million).<br><img src="http://thecradle-main.oss-eu-central-1.aliyuncs.com/public/articles_media/89355e0e-c04c-11ee-9152-00163e02c055.png" width="444" height="303" style="margin-right: 0px;"></p><p>As
for Egypt, the first Arab state to make peace with and recognize
Israel, its 2022 exports to the occupation state amounted to <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/israel/imports/egypt">$179.31 million</a>.
Notable export categories include inorganic chemicals, precious metals
compounds ($61.15 million), building materials ($14.26 million),
foodstuffs ($12.78 million), and plastics ($11.32 million).</p><p>Surprisingly, in fifth place is Algeria, with Israel-bound exports reaching <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/israel/imports/algeria">$21.38 million</a>
in 2022, the majority of which are inorganic chemicals, precious metals
compounds, and isotopes. The revelation of trade relations between
Algeria and Israel by the UN database raises questions about Algeria's
long-held stance against normalization, including its <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/algerian-lawmakers-submit-bill-to-criminalize-normalization-with-israel">criminalization</a> two years ago.</p><p>Morocco stands in sixth place, with exports to Israel amounting to <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/israel/imports/morocco">$17.92 million</a>
in 2022, predominantly composed of foodstuffs. Rabat resumed diplomatic
and trade relations with Israel as part of the 2020 accords. </p><p>Finally, Bahrain's exports to Israel in 2022 reached $10.58 million, reflecting an astounding <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/israel/imports/bahrain">12,083 percent increase</a>
from 2020, the year of the normalization agreement between Manama and
Tel Aviv. Key exports include aluminum ($8.78 million) and iron and
steel ($2.62 million).</p><p>As such, the combined exports of West Asian
countries to Israel surged by $4,359.530,000 between 2020 and 2022,
marking an increase of almost 111 percent.<img src="http://thecradle-main.oss-eu-central-1.aliyuncs.com/public/articles_media/ab63de60-c04c-11ee-b614-00163e02c055.png" width="444" height="101" style="margin-right: 0px;"></p><p><strong>Israeli Energy Imports</strong></p><p>Israel
depends heavily on oil and natural gas for its power generation, with
these sources constituting 80 percent of its total energy supply. It is a
net exporter of natural gas, having sent 9.4 billion cubic meters
abroad in 2022, with 6.5 billion cubic meters going to Egypt and <a href="https://www.europeangashub.com/the-geopolitical-ripple-effect-of-israels-natural-gas-exports.html#:~:text=In%202022%20alone%2C%20according%20to,the%20global%20LNG%20market%20strain.">2.9 billion cubic meters</a> to Jordan.</p><p>In
contrast, Israel imports all its oil supply, and consumes approximately
220 thousand barrels per day. Of this, 62 percent comes from two
Muslim-majority countries, namely Kazakhstan (93 thousand barrels) and
Azerbaijan (45 thousand barrels). The remainder is sourced from West
African countries, including Gabon, Nigeria, and Angola, in addition to
Brazil, and an undisclosed amount is transported illegally from <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles-id/20650">Iraqi Kurdistan</a>.</p><p>To
facilitate the import of most of Israel's oil, the Turkish port of
Ceyhan in southeastern Turkiye plays a crucial role. It serves as a
loading point for oil tankers carrying crude from Kazakhstan and
Azerbaijan through the Caspian Sea via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.
Tankers also transport oil from Iraqi Kurdistan along the eastern
Mediterranean Sea to the ports of Haifa and Ashkelon.</p><p>Oil tankers
arrive in the occupied state via two main seaports: the aforementioned
Ashkelon, equipped with 22 tanks holding 11 million barrels, and Eilat
in the south, with 16 large oil tanks capable of holding about 1.4
million cubic meters of oil. The latter has seen an 85 percent fall in
activity amid increased <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles-id/14235">naval operations</a> executed by Yemen’s Ansarallah-aligned forces in the Red Sea against vessels bound for Israel.</p><p>Approximately
180,000 barrels per day reach Ashkelon, from where internal pipelines
transport the oil to the ports of Ashdod and Haifa. Both ports have oil
refineries with capacities of 100,000 and 197,000 barrels per day,
respectively. Additionally, a pipeline connects Ashkelon and Eilat,
traversing the Negev desert with a capacity of 1.2 million barrels per
day.</p><p>Despite the growing tensions and sharp rhetoric by some
regional states toward Israel since its military assault on the Gaza
Strip commenced, trade activity remains largely uninterrupted. Turkiye,
despite calling Israel a “terrorist” state, contributes heavily to
Israel's economic well-being by helping Tel Aviv circumvent the Yemeni
blockade, increasing its overall exports to Israel, and playing a
pivotal role in oil transportation. </p><p>Despite the war on Gaza, <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/turkiye-israel-trade-soared-in-2023">Turkish exports grew</a> from <span style="color:rgb(25,25,25)">319.5 million dollars in November 2023 to 430.6 million dollars in December </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">—</span><span style="color:rgb(25,25,25)"> higher even than the 408.3 million dollars exported in July, prior to the 7 October Al-Aqsa Flood operation.</span></p><p>Exports
to Israel from the UAE, Jordan, Egypt, and Morocco are hardly
surprising: these are the Arab states most vested in championing
regional policies that serve the interests of the occupation state. The
more surprising connection, however, is the trade relations <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">—</span> however minimal <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">—</span> between Algeria and Israel. </p><p>To
understand the true positions of states means to skip over the official
rhetoric and examine the economic ties that politics often conceals.</p></span></div></div></div></div>
</div>