Abraham Accords Nations Meet for the First Time Since Oct. 7, With Kazakhstan at the Table
U.S., Israeli, Emirati, Bahraini and Moroccan officials gathered in a Manhattan office tower Thursday to restart expansion of the normalization deals that the Hamas attack froze three years ago.
The countries of the Abraham Accords held their first official meeting since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, on Thursday, gathering on the 43rd floor of a midtown Manhattan office tower about 10 blocks from the United Nations General Assembly.
Officials from the United States, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco attended, CBS News reported. For the first time they were joined by representatives of Kazakhstan, which announced last year that it intends to join the agreements. The U.S. delegation was led by Allison Hooker, the State Department's under secretary for political affairs.
"Nearly three years after October 7, the Abraham Accords countries are back together," Hooker said. She credited President Trump with brokering the deals in his first term and said Thursday's session showed the accords are "moving forward again."
The Abraham Accords, signed beginning in 2020, normalized diplomatic relations between Israel and several Muslim-majority countries. The UAE and Bahrain became the first Gulf Arab states to formally recognize Israel, and Morocco followed. Before Oct. 7, momentum was building toward a deal with Saudi Arabia and other countries, but the Hamas attack and the wars that followed in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran froze any expansion.
The meeting was hosted by the N7 Foundation, a U.S.-based group that has convened the accord countries since 2021. "The next phase is about deepening the relationships that already exist and identifying practical opportunities for countries to work together," said its founder, Jeffrey Talpins, who chaired the session. Also present were Aryeh Lightstone, special adviser to the Board of Peace, the international coalition for Gaza's reconstruction; Ryan Arant, Hooker's chief of staff; and N7 Foundation President Oren Eisner.
A senior administration official told CBS News that Secretary of State Marco Rubio's team and Steve Witkoff, the White House special envoy for peace missions, "are clearly prioritizing this effort." Participants discussed next steps to formalize cooperation among the accord countries, according to a person familiar with the meeting.
Trump announced Kazakhstan's plan to join during an Oval Office meeting with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in November 2025, writing on Truth Social that a signing ceremony would soon be announced and that "there are many more Countries trying to join this club of STRENGTH." Kazakhstan already has full diplomatic ties with Israel, so its membership is largely symbolic, but Washington sees it as a way to restart the accords' growth.
An official at Kazakhstan's embassy called Thursday's gathering a tangible step. "We are very excited about joining the Abraham Accords and all the partnership can do," he said. "We are interested in collaborations in technology and transport. Together we can do more than each individual country could do alone."
The meeting came the same week Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the General Assembly, where hundreds of diplomats walked out, and as the Iran war and Gaza's reconstruction continue to strain Israel's relations across the region.
