When one of Saudi Arabia’s leading Muslim leaders asked Muslims this month to avoid “passionate feelings and ardent enthusiasm” towards Jews, it was a marked replacement of the tone for someone who shed tears as he preached about Palestine in the past.
The sermon through Abdulrahman al-Sudais, imam of the Grand Mosque of Mecca, broadcast on Saudi state television on September 5, arrives 3 weeks after the United Arab Emirates reached a historic agreement to normalize relations with Israel and a few days before the Gulf State. Bahrain, a close ally of Saudi Arabia, followed suit.
Sudais, who in previous sermons prayed that the Palestinians would have victory over the Jews “invaders and aggressors,” explained how intelligent the Prophet Muhammad was to his Jewish neighbor and argued that the most productive way to convince Jews to convert to Islam to “treat them. ” All right. “
While Saudi Arabia is not expected to follow the example of its Gulf allies in the short term, Sudais’ comments may be just a trace of how the kingdom is approaching the delicate factor of warming in Israel, a perspective it once was. he is one of the most influential figures in the country, reflecting the prospects of his devoted and conservative status quo, as well as the Royal Court.
The dramatic agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain were a coup d’etre for Israel and U. S. President Donald Trump, who is a peacemaker before the November election.
But the grand diplomatic prize for an agreement with Israel would be Saudi Arabia, whose king is the custodian of Islam’s holiest places and leads the world oil exporter.
“great task” for the Kingdom.
“Giving the Saudis a special touch to an influential magnet is obviously a step in the quest to curb the public’s reaction and inspire the perception of standardization,” Jones added.
Sudais’ call to escape intense emotions is a cry from his beyond, where he wept dozens of times as he prayed for Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest place.
The September 5 sermon provoked a combined reaction, with some Saudis protecting it as if it were only communicating the teachings of Islam. Others on Twitter, more commonly Saudi and supposedly critical of the government, have called it a “standardization sermon. “
Ali al-Suliman, interviewed at one of Riyadh’s shopping malls, said in reaction to bahrain’s agreement that it is difficult to get used to normalization with Israel through other Gulf states or in the wider Middle East, because “Israel is an occupying country and takes Palestinians out of their homes. “
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), the kingdom’s de facto leader, has promised to publicize interreligious debate as a component of its internal reform. The prince has said in the past that Israelis have the right to live in peace in their own land whenever a peace agreement guarantees the stability of all components.
Saudi Arabia and Israel’s mutual concern for Iran can be a key driving force in the progression of relations.
There have been other symptoms for which Saudi Arabia, one of the most influenced countries in the Middle East, is preparing its other people despite all the warming in Israel.
El drama de época, “Umm Haroun”, se transmite en Ramadán en abril en la televisión MBC controlada por Arabia Saudita, en un momento en que la audiencia a veces aumenta, se centra en los juicios de una partera judía.
The fictional series was about a multi-religious network in an unsofi specified Arab Gulf state in the 1930s to 1950s. The exhibition provoked complaints from the Palestinian organization Hamas, portraying the Jews with sympathy.
At the time, MBC said the exhibition was the best-rated Gulf drama in Ramadan Saudi Arabia. The writers of the exhibition, whether Bahraini, said she had no political message.
But experts and diplomats said this is another indication of the evolution of public discourse on Israel.
Earlier this year, Mohammed al-Aissa, a former Saudi minister and general secretary of the Muslim World League, visited Auschwitz. In June, he attended a convention organized through the American Jewish Committee, where he called for a global release from “Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. “
“Certainly, MBS intends to moderate state-approved messages shared through the clerical status quo and some of that will likely serve to justify any long-term agreement with Israel, which would have been unthinkable sooner,” said Neil Quilliam, husband of Chatham House.
The normalization between the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Israel, signed tuesday at the White House, has driven the Palestinians away.
Saudi Arabia, the cradle of Islam, did not deal with Israel’s agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, but said it remains committed to peace on the basis of the long-standing Arab Peace Initiative.
Saudi Arabia, which does recognize Israel, drafted the 2002 initiative through which Arab nations proposed to normalize relations with Israel in exchange for a state agreement with the Palestinians and Israel’s general withdrawal from the territory captured in 1967.
Trump said he hoped Saudi Arabia would sign the agreements to normalize diplomatic relations and forge a broad new relationship.
But Saudi Arabia’s king, Salman bin Abdulaziz, told the president of the United States that the Gulf country first sought to see a just and permanent solution for the Palestinians.
How, or if, the kingdom would seek to exchange normalization for an agreement, the Arab Peace Initiative remains uncertain.
In striking gesture of goodwill, the kingdom allowed flights between Israel and the United Arab Emirates to use its airspace. Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, who has a close relationship with MBS, welcomed the measure last week.
A Gulf diplomat said that for Saudi Arabia, the factor is more similar to what he called his devoted position as leader of the Muslim world, and a formal agreement with Israel would take time and is unlikely to do so as long as King Salman is still in his place. . Power.
“Any normalization through Saudi Arabia will open the door for Iran, Qatar and Turkey to call for the extranjerization of the two sacred mosques,” he said, referring to regular calls from Riyadh critics for Mecca and Medina to be overseen by foreigners.
Israeli aircraft bomb Gaza after rockets were fired from the besieged strip following agreements signed in Washington.
Fatah, Hamas and the factions gather after the “backshed” of Arab states by agreements with Israel.
Qatari government spokesman said normalization with Israel “cannot be the answer” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Iranian President Hassan Rohani’s statements come a day after Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain signed U. S. -negotiated agreements across the United States.
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