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Jewish World Review
Feb. 21, 2007
/ 3 Adar, 5766
Extra, extra, read all about it! The Saudi-‘infidel’ entente is here
By
Youssef M. Ibrahim
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
The Saudis are rolling out a charm offensive and getting good publicity for it. In the latest manifestation, the outgoing Saudi ambassador, Prince Turki al-Faisal, attended a reception in Washington last month backed by American Jewish organizations to honor a State Department diplomat appointed to — here comes the chutzpah bit — combat anti-Semitism.
Prince Turki, the head of Saudi intelligence for a quarter of a century and a senior prince in line to the Saudi throne, was even glimpsed in photos shaking hands with Jews.
That might be a source of joy were it not for the anti-Semitic slurs heaped daily on Jews in the Saudi press, the anti-Semitic diatribes from evangelical-style Saudi television preachers, or the endless references in school lessons to Jews and Christians as "descendants of pigs and monkeys."
Saudi surges of warmth toward Jews crop up whenever danger lurks, but they rarely survive beyond the menace. This time around, the warmth is motivated by Iran's looming Shiite hegemony in the Persian Gulf, a direct menace to Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Muslim states in the region.
My Saudi friends explain that it is perfectly normal to seek the protection of daddy (read: America). Who else could do it? And, in the mercantile ways of the oil rich, that protection has been secured with multibillion-dollar purchases of weapons systems from America's military-industrial establishment and millions more in investments benefiting former American officials and presidents, lobbyists, and the American oil industry.
It is equally logical for the Saudis to seek America's affections through American Jews. In the Saudis' bigoted view, the Jews control America. However, the Saudis reason, the profoundly fundamentalist Saudi population does not, repeat not, need to see any of the fraternizing with Jews in the Saudi press, because the poor souls would be confused.
Amazingly, even the most progressive Saudis believe that this makes sense. The last gush of Saudi good will occurred in 1990, after Saddam Hussein invaded neighboring Kuwait and was intent on annexing Saudi Arabia, too. That love story ended with 500,000 American-led, Saudi-based troops liberating Kuwait. But when these "infidels" were needed, the Saud royal family ordered the Wahhabi religious establishment it shares power with to stop criticizing the presence of these non-Muslims so close to the holy Islamic sites of Mecca and Medina.
The discipline was remarkable — and showed that the crazed Saudi imams could be reined in. Alas, once the troops left, the rants resumed in a hurry. Promises to rid Saudi schoolbooks, TV programs, and mosques of hate-mongering speech have yet to be fulfilled.
But why should American Jews, or anyone else, go along with such a charade? Is it such a great honor to be photographed with a Saudi prince or ambassador?
Maybe we should learn from the past. Influential American Jews have made semi-secret tours of Saudi Arabia for two decades, all the while hearing promises that "things will change." Nothing has changed; hence, public benedictions of the Saudi bait-and-switch modus operandi are neither proper nor morally acceptable.
If the Saudis want to make nice, there must be conditions.
Paramount among them: They must stop promoting hatred of their benefactors at home; they must lift the medieval oppression of their women; and they must stop treating the expatriates who do all their work like lepers with no human rights.
Concurrently, America has to force a wholesale scrapping of the current Saudi educational system, which turns out what the French often describe as "Les Fous de Dieu" — illiterate religious fanatics who end up manning airplanes that crash into American towers or placing bombs in the subways of Europe.
According to the Saudi Ministry of Education's Web site, the purpose of the kingdom's educational system is "to prepare students physically and mentally for jihad for the sake of Allah" and "to arouse the spirit of Islamic jihad in order to fight our enemies, to restore our rights and our glory, and to fulfill the mission of Islam."
That purpose needs to be reconfigured before American Jews and Christian leaders dole out any more handshakes or hugs.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Youssef M. Ibrahim, a former New York Times Middle East Correspondent and Wall Street Journal Energy Editor for 25 years, is a freelance writer based in New York City and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Comment by clicking here.
© 2007, Youssef M. Ibrahim
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