The Abraham Accords

This is presented as a four-part documentary about the Abraham Accords of 2020. The "interviewer" is David Friedman himself, one of the architects of the accords. He spends most of his time sitting in a chair and nodding as other architects of the accords pat themselves on the back for getting done what no one thought could be done. Friedman is about as qualified to interview these subjects as he was to become the U. S. Ambassador to Israel. His sole qualifications were (a) he's Jewish and (b) he was Trump's bankruptcy lawyer. Never mind that he had money in West Bank settlements, opposed a two-state solution, and had no business negotiating anything other than a business deal. (Spoiler alert: the only meaningful fallout of the accords were the business arrangements, from which Friedman, Kushner, and Mnuchin all benefitted greatly.)

Much is made of the fact that Trump moved the U. S. Embassy to Jerusalem after so many other presidents had just talked about doing it. No mention is made of the fact that no other president followed through on the move because it was a very valuable bargaining chip. They declined to give it up without Israeli concessions. Whereas dealmaker Trump gave it up for nothing. Correction: Trump got something. He got the ability to brag about it on the campaign trail. It's the U. S. State Department that got nothing.

Needless to say, the events of 2024 prove that these accords brought the world no closer to peace in the Middle East. History will decide if the accords actually made things worse. It's no coincidence that the parties left out of these accords later became the aggressors in 2024.

If you're looking for something artistic from this series, look away. It's simply static shots of people talking interspersed with drone shots of places of interest. It drags interminably as if the editors were being paid for each minute of runtime. Even the soundtrack is just a guy stretching out four notes on a keyboard. You'll be dumber for having watched it.