Kunwar Khuldune Shahid

Could Saudia Arabia and Pakistan soon recognise Israel?

(Getty images)

Mohammed bin Salman and Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting – albeit denied by Riyadh – shows it is surely only a matter of time before Saudi Arabia and Israel formalise their covert relations

Israel’s recent peace deals with Bahrain and the UAE could not have materialised without Saudi backing. MBS is also arm-twisting Pakistan to help ‘normalise normalisation’ by extending the Muslim world’s recognition of Israel to South Asia. Such political manoeuvrings are not isolated; they are accompanied by religious rationale for Muslim-majority states to establish relations with the Jewish state. 

The imam of the Grand Mosque of Mecca Abdulrahman al-Sudais, used a sermon in September to preach the need for kindness and dialogue with Jews. Earlier this year, Saudi cleric and Muslim World League secretary general Muhammad bin Abdul Karim al-Issa visited Auschwitz. On this unprecedented trip to Poland, he condemned the denial of Holocaust, saying ‘this must never happen again’. Al-Issa also delivered a message of ‘religions standing together’ and said ‘combating anti-Semitism (is) a religious duty’ for Muslims.

Other prominent figures agree that there is a need for those of different religions to come together. Sudanese cleric Sheikh Abdel-Rahman Hassan Hamed has issued an edict in support of ties with Israel, maintaining that, ‘from an Islamic standpoint, there is no opposition to (peace)’ with the Jewish state. 

The positions taken by many Islamic clerics on Israel mark a welcome shift. Until recently, Saudi imams were known to denounce Jews; in 2015, the most senior Saudi cleric even suggested Isis was part of Israel’s army. 

One prominent Emirati cleric has apologised to Israelis for offending them in the past. ‘When I saw some Palestinians burn my country’s flag because of the peace treaty with Israel, I decided to apologise to every Israeli man if I had offended him in the past,’ Wasim Yousef said. He also criticised those who oppose normalisation between Israel and Muslim-majority states.

Such scriptural justification for fostering Muslim-Jewish relations isn’t the only revisionism that is being stirred up amidst peace deals with Israel. Even

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