Saudi Envoy Calls Kettle Black
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
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
“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.
Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
, editor-in-chiefSupport our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
