United States President Joe Biden has suggested that one of the reasons behind the brutal October 7 Hamas attack on Israel could be the recent announcement of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor that integrates the entire region, including Israel, with a network of rail, road and ports. Biden made these remarks during a joint press conference with Australian PM Anthony Albanese on Wednesday.
“I’m convinced one of the reasons Hamas attacked when they did, and I have no proof of this, just my instinct tells me, is because of the progress we were making towards regional integration for Israel, and regional integration overall. We can’t leave that work behind,” Biden said.
Earlier this month, the Gaza-based Palestinian militant outfit Hamas launched a brutal attack on Israel, killing more than 1,400 people, including children, women and foreign nationals. In response, Israel declared a war against Hamas and vowed to destroy the militant and governance capabilities of the Palestinian organization.
The US president had earlier claimed that the Hamas attack was launched to derail the breakthrough the US has achieved in normalization of Saudi Arabia and Israel ties.
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During the G20 Summit in New Delhi early September, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the mega India-Middle East-Europe shipping and railway connectivity corridor. An MoU was signed by India, USA, UAE, Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, Italy and the European Union to establish the corridor hailed as “real big deal” by the US President.
The shipping and railway connectivity corridor between India and Europe vie Middle East will allow movement of goods from India to UAE’s Fujairah Port and then to the Port of Haifa in Israel vie Saudi Arabia and Jordan. A railway line is already functioning between Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
As part of the corridor, remaining portion will be build to connect Jordan to Israel’s Haifa Port. From Haifa Port, goods from India and other Asian countries will be shipped to Europe. Italy, Germany and France have also been actively involved in the project.