(Globes, Israel Business News) The U.S. administration has suspended the Abraham Fund indefinitely, U.S. and Israeli sources close to the matter have told Globes. The Abraham Fund was set up after the signing of the Abraham Accords between Israel, the UAE and the U.S. in September 2020, and the signatories were meant to finance the fund along with other countries who would join later.

At the end of January, Rabbi Aryeh Lightstone, who had been appointed by Donald Trump to head the Abraham Fund, stepped down. Since then the Biden administration has not replaced him. The Biden administration supports the Abraham Accords but is less enthusiastic about allocating money to the Abraham Fund from its budget. Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spoke to sources in Washington on the matter and Washington told Jerusalem that the activities of the Abraham Fund were being re-assessed.

Reports in the U.S. said that among the reasons for the re-evaluation was the huge expenditure that the Biden administration needs to make in the economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. A senior U.S. source told Globes that the White House is interested in the promotion and the success of the Abraham Accords and bringing in additional partners for these measures but the focus will be on the diplomatic dimension and the fund itself has been frozen indefinitely. An Israeli source confirmed this and said that in talks with the Americans, both during the previous Israeli government and the current government, it was made clear that the Fund’s activities are not on the agenda.