Indications of sudden shift in Saudi public opinion towards Israel detected

US President Joe Biden’s visit to the Middle East raises speculations about a possible rapprochement with Saudi Arabia, after four Arab countries normalised their relations with Israel during the past two years. This is also after indications of attempts to bring about a positive change in Saudi public opinion on this issue.

Media reports often talk about commercial and security contacts between Saudi Arabia and Israel, which have not been officially confirmed.

Israeli journalist, Yoav Limor, recounted in an article he published this month that he visited the Kingdom with a colleague, noting that he was received with curiosity in Saudi Arabia. It is worth noting that he used a passport from another country to enter.

US officials believe that the change in the mindset of a number of Saudis towards Israel is positive, although the Kingdom is sticking to its position not to proceed with normalisation before reaching a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict based on the establishment of a Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Deborah Lipstadt, Washington’s Special Envoy to combat anti-Semitism, said in a speech this month after visiting the Kingdom in June, “For too many decades, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was a great exporter of Jew-hatred, but what I found is something quite different, something that has changed there dramatically in the last few years.”

READ: The ‘Middle East NATO’ may go public or be postponed

Signs of a shift

Signs of this change appeared before the agreements to normalise relations between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain in the Gulf in September 2020.

Textbooks that used controversial terms to describe followers of other religions, including Judaism, have been under revision for years as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s campaign to combat “extremism” in education.

The Saudi Ministry of Education did not respond to a request for a comment on the amendments to the textbooks.

In its latest report on human rights in Saudi Arabia, the US State Department said that imams’ anti-Israel speech is “generally rare” and that the Ministry of Islamic Affairs has encouraged a “rejection of bigotry.”

Israel praised Saudi cleric Muhammad Al-Issa, who heads the Muslim World League, in January 2020 after he travelled to Poland to attend celebrations marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz camp.

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz hosted Jerusalem-based Rabbi David Rosen the following month, and during the month of Ramadan that year, the Saudi MBC network broadcast a television program in which one of the figures mocked the view that doing business with Israel is forbidden.

Israeli drivers participated in the Dakar Rally in January 2021 in Saudi Arabia.

In a sign that the Saudi leadership may no longer fear a backlash over eventual normalisation, State media in March quoted the Crown Prince as describing Israel as a “potential ally”.

READ: Relatives of some Saudi detainees anxiously await Biden trip

Little chance

Despite all this, it can be difficult to gauge the extent to which these changes will affect public opinion in an absolute monarchy that places strict limits on political expression.

There is little chance that Riyadh will focus on relations with Israel while ignoring the Palestinian issue, said Mohammed Alyahya, a researcher at Harvard University’s Belfer Centre.

“The public sentiment has changed, but I don’t think it’s changed in such a way that people don’t care about Palestine any more, or people don’t hold Israel to account for crimes it commits,” he added.

According to Brian Katulis of the Middle East Institute in Washington, the Kingdom’s internal dynamics differ from those of its neighbours.

He explains, “I don’t see a broad wellspring of more openness that you see in places like the Emirates that are much smaller, where you can do sort of inter-faith things and have a synagogue. I think that’s slower to happen in a place like Saudi Arabia right now.”

Saudi officials did not respond to questions about the possible consequences of Biden’s visit on the relationship with Israel.

Even if the visit resulted in decisions, such as allowing direct flights from Israel to Saudi Arabia to transport Muslim pilgrims, for example, it is unlikely that the matter will reach full normalisation, and that may be all that many Saudis can bear for the time being.

Abu Rashid, a car parts salesman in Riyadh, says the Israelis are occupiers and it is impossible for him to go to Israel one day, as he does not like them, he said. “But the government knows best. They will choose what is best for the people and the country,” he added.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.