MembersEXCLUSIVE: Head of the Gulf Jewish Communities Speaks to Israel Today

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently announced the establishment of the Association of Gulf Jewish Communities (AGJC), a kind of first fruits of the Abraham Accords that lead to peace and normalization between Israel and several Gulf states.

The Arabic-language social media accounts of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that this new body will represent Jews in and who originated from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait. It will work toward new growth and prosperity of Jewish life in all of these countries. In particular, it will establish a Jewish court to deal with civil and religious matters within the communities, build a Jewish educational network, and run a kosher licensing agency.

What will be implications and impact of the AGJC’s establishment in the Persian Gulf? To answer this and other questions, Israel Today spoke with the association’s first chairman, Rabbi Elie Abadie.

No room for politics

The AGJC will be a strictly social, cultural and...