Turkey and Saudi Arabia signed a landmark agreement on June 9 to revive the Hijaz Railway a historic Ottoman-era line that once connected Istanbul to Madinah. I covered this in detail in a previous post. Although its implementation will proceed without international financial institutions Israel has requested Donald Trump to suspend the project by any means necessary.
The revived project plans to build a corridor from Bulgaria through Istanbul Damascus Amman and Saudi Arabias holy cities eventually reaching Omans Sohar at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz. This is among the most ambitious infrastructure projects seen in the Middle East in decades.
Why Israel asked Trump to stop it.
Members of Netanyahus right-wing coalition took the initiative to send at least 11 emails to American Republican lawmakers. Their argument is that this project contradicts the core spirit of the Abraham Accords and represents a hostile geopolitical realignment.
Israels argument is straightforward. If the Sunni countries through which the railway passes form a strong alliance Haifa ports strategic importance will diminish and the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor which positions Israel as a central transit hub connecting the Gulf to Europe will weaken.
The meaning is clear. A railway that completely bypasses Israel while connecting the Muslim world from Europe to the Arabian Sea poses an existential economic threat to Tel Avivs regional ambitions.
Turkeys Trade Minister Omer Bolat was admirably candid about the projects purpose saying that reducing Israels influence in this region and increased political and economic solidarity among us will bring economic prosperity peace and stability to the Middle East. He said what was on his mind openly. Israel heard it clearly.
The core issue here is the timing. The US-Israel-Iran war had disrupted the Strait of Hormuz one of the Gulf regions most important trade routes and pushed countries to seek alternative transport corridors. With each week the strait remained closed the case for overland alternatives grew stronger. Every tanker that could not pass through Hormuz needed another route. The Hijaz Railway is the Middle Easts answer to the vulnerability that the Iran war so brutally exposed.
We are standing at the threshold of a new Middle East where US and Israeli influence is declining and after the Iran war the Saudi-Turkey rail project is far more economically viable. It is strategically achievable. Its deeper significance extends well beyond trade.
The revival of the Hijaz Railway signals a new possibility for a region in transformation. The worthless security architecture built around America and Israel as its colonial power brought neither peace nor security to this region but displaced Palestinians. A strong Sunni bloc and a powerful Shia-dominated Iran pose a massive threat to Israels criminality and expansionism. The enormous advantage Americans gained for so long by creating Shia-Sunni divisions is now coming to an end.
Israel understands what it is seeing. A railway is not merely infrastructure. It is an alliance taking physical form. A corridor of political solidarity built in steel and concrete connecting Muslim capitals from the Bosphorus to the Arabian Sea without passing through a single kilometer of Israeli-controlled territory.
Turkey will have a strategic economic presence next to Israels Eilat port which is its only direct route to the Red Sea. This is not a trade dispute. This is encirclement.
Israel is asking Trump to block this railway. The Middle East is building it anyway under its own financial oversight without the World Bank or IMF. Stopping it will therefore be difficult for Trump.
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