How’s this for jaw-dropping hypocrisy?

The JTA reports:

Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States rejected recognizing Israel as a Jewish state

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

“There are 1.5 million civilians in Israel who do not define themselves as Jewish,” Adel al-Jubeir told reporters at the U.S.-convened Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in Annapolis, Md. “We do not believe states should define themselves according to religion or ethnicity.”

Yeah, Saudi Arabia — where a gang-rape victim was just sentenced to be lashed for “adultery” under a particularly backwards reading of Shariah law — isn’t a religious state at all. And, as far as the ethnicity bit goes, maybe we should refuse to call it “Arabia.”

Incidentally, it is true that neither ethnicity nor religion — while certainly central to the Saudi state — is Saudi Arabia’s single most defining characteristic. Instead, the defining fact of Saudi statehood would actually be that a single family — the House of Saud — sort of owns the entire country. Imagine if the Israeli ambassador had retorted: We don’t think that states should define themselves according to the principles of absolute monarchy or oligarchy. But, thankfully, even Israeli diplomats are too polite to say something like that at a peace summit.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount