RIYADH / DUBAI: When one of Saudi Arabia’s leading clergymen this month asked Muslims to avoid “passionate emotions and fiery enthusiasm” toward Jews, it was a marked change of tone for someone who has shed tears preaching about Palestine in the past.
The sermon of Abdulrahman al-Sudais, imam of the Great Mosque in Mecca, broadcast on Saudi state television on September 5, came three weeks after the United Arab Emirates agreed to a landmark agreement to normalize relations with Israel and days before the Gulf state of Bahrain, a close ally of Arabia Saudi, do the same.
Sudais, who in previous sermons prayed for the Palestinians to have victory over the Jewish “invaders and aggressors,” spoke about how the Prophet Muhammad was good to his Jewish neighbor and argued that the best way to persuade the Jews to convert al Islam was “treat them well”.
While Saudi Arabia is not expected to follow the lead of its Gulf allies anytime soon, Sudais’s comments could be a clue to how the kingdom addresses the sensitive issue of Israel’s warming, a prospect that was once inconceivable. Appointed by the king, he is one of the most influential figures in the country, reflecting the views of his conservative religious establishment, as well as the Royal Court.
The dramatic deals with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain were a coup for Israel and the president of the United States, Donald Trump, who presents himself as a peacemaker ahead of the November elections.
But the great diplomatic prize for a deal with Israel would be Saudi Arabia, whose king is the Custodian of Islam’s holiest sites and rules the world’s largest oil exporter.
Marc Owen Jones, an academic at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, said that normalization in the UAE and Bahrain has allowed Saudi Arabia to test public opinion, but a formal agreement with Israel would be a ” great task “for the Kingdom.
“Giving the Saudis a ‘nudge’ through an influential magnet is obviously a step in trying to test public reaction and further the notion of normalization,” Jones added.
In Washington, a State Department official said the United States was encouraged by the warming ties between Israel and the Arab Gulf countries, saw this trend as a positive development, and “we are committed to harnessing it.”
There was no immediate response to a Reuters request for comment from the Saudi government’s media office.
Sudais’ plea to avoid intense feelings is far from his past as he cried dozens of times while praying for Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam.
The Sept. 5 sermon elicited a mixed reaction, with some Saudis defending it as simply communicating the teachings of Islam. Others on Twitter, mostly Saudis abroad and apparently critical of the government, called it “the normalization sermon.”
Ali al-Suliman, one of several Saudis interviewed in one of Riyadh’s shopping malls by Reuters TV, said in reaction to the Bahrain deal that it was difficult to get used to normalization with Israel by other Gulf states or in the Middle East. broader, such as “Israel is an occupying nation and expelled the Palestinians from their homes.”
MUTUAL FEAR OF IRAN
Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of the kingdom often referred to as MbS, has vowed to promote interfaith dialogue as part of his internal reform. The young prince previously stated that Israelis have the right to live peacefully in their own land on the condition of a peace agreement that ensures stability for all parties.
The mutual fear of Saudi Arabia and Israel of Iran may be a key factor in the development of ties.
There have been other signs that Saudi Arabia, one of the most influential countries in the Middle East, is preparing its people to finally come closer to Israel.
A period drama, “Umm Haroun,” aired during Ramadan in April on the Saudi-controlled MBC television, a time when the audience is often increasing, centered on the trials of a Jewish midwife.
The fictional series was about a multi-religious community in an unspecified Arab Gulf state in the 1930s to 1950s. The show drew criticism from the Palestinian group Hamas, saying it portrayed Jews with sympathy.
At the time, MBC said the show was the highest-rated Gulf drama in Saudi Arabia in Ramadan. The program’s writers, both Bahraini, told Reuters it had no political message.
But experts and diplomats said it was another indication of a shift in public discourse on Israel.
Earlier this year, Mohammed al-Aissa, a former Saudi minister and secretary general of the Muslim World League, visited Auschwitz. In June, he participated in a conference organized by the American Jewish Committee, where he called for a world without “Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.”
“Certainly, MbS is intended to moderate the state-approved messages shared by the clerical system and some of that will likely work to justify any future dealings with Israel, which would have seemed unthinkable before,” said Neil Quilliam, associate member of Chatham House.
ISOLATED PALESTINIANS
The normalization between the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Israel, to be signed at the White House on Tuesday, has further isolated the Palestinians.
Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, has not directly addressed 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.
It’s not yet clear how, or if, the kingdom would seek to trade normalization for a deal on those terms.
That initiative offers normalized ties in exchange for a statehood agreement with the Palestinians and complete Israeli withdrawal from territories captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
However, in another striking gesture of goodwill, the kingdom has allowed flights between Israel and the United Arab Emirates to use its airspace. Son-in-law and senior adviser to Trump, Jared kushner, who has a close relationship with MbS, praised the move last week.
A diplomat in the Gulf said that for Saudi Arabia, the problem is more related to what he called its religious position as the leader of the Muslim world, and that a formal agreement with Israel would take time and is unlikely to happen while King Salman is still around. in the power.
“Any normalization by Saudi Arabia will open the doors for Iran, Qatar and Turkey to call for the internationalization of the two holy mosques,” he said, referring to newspaper calls by Riyadh critics for Mecca and Medina to be put under supervision. international.
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