In recent years, a range of signs can be discerned in the regional public arena, describing the possible potential change in the attitude of the Gulf states towards Jews and Israel.
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In Saudi Arabia, for example, in 2020 the drama Um Haroun ('Aaron's Mother') was broadcast. A Saudi-funded production, it was filmed in the UAE, and led to extensive media responses in relation to attitudes to the Jews. The series dealt with the Jewish community that lived in Kuwait in the 1940s, focusing on the difficulties experienced by a doctor called Um Haroun because she was Jewish. In practice, the series dealt with the coexistence that prevailed between the Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities in Kuwait until the establishment of the State of Israel.
There were further public calls in Saudi Arabia to recognize the Holocaust as part of a "genuine striving for peace," but a clearer expression of this refreshing approach was found in a ground-breaking article published in an Israeli academic journal, with the headline "A Contribution to Improving the Image of the Prophet Muhammed in the Eyes of the Israeli Public: The Covenants and the Correspondence of Muhammed with the Jews of Saudi Arabia." What made this unique was the author of the article: Professor Muhammed Ibrahim Alghbban, a senior Saudi scholar who is responsible for Hebrew studies in the Department of Modern Languages at the King Saud University in Riyadh.
The article was published in June 2020 in Kesher, the Tel Aviv University journal devoted to the history of Jewish media, against the background of the atmosphere at the Organization for Islamic Cooperation and in Saudi Arabia, which seeks to promote inter-religious understanding leading to cooperation with Jews and Israel for the sake of peace. In the article, Alghbban claimed that mistakes in the analyses of Middle East scholars in the last century in relation to Islamic history led to a defective understanding of the writings – and these in turn led to a mistaken conception and to a "negative influence on contemporary Hebrew-speaking scholars of the East."
According to the Saudi scholar, "accusing the Muslim religion and the Prophet Muhammed of incitement and racism against the Jewish tribes in the Hijaz is a false accusation. Muhammed dealt equally with all the social groups in el-Medina and in other places under his control, without distinguishing according to race or religion."
To back up his claim, Alghbban reviewed the events in Saudi Arabia before and after the coming of Islam, while he translated the original sources from Arabic to Hebrew, emphasizing that most Orientalists chose to quote Islamic sources in the points of contention that are between different schools of Islam (Sunni, Shiite, Sufi etc), and in practice "present a picture that serves their ideology."
In addition, he notes that most of the Hebrew writers don't have full control of Arabic. Alghbban describes the fact of the historical existence of ancient kingdoms and states in the Hijaz (present-day Saudi Arabia) – including Dedan, Qedar, Thamud, Midian, and the Nabateans, which prove the important role of the Jews in the history of the Saudi peninsula in a range of areas, including religion, the economy, culture, and trade. In relation to Muhammed, he claimed that the prophet had good relations with the Jews, and that the clashes with them were solely against a political background and were not religious in nature.
Dramatic normalization
"It's possible to take the actions of Muhammed and the statements that are attributed to him in any direction that you want, there is a broad range of methodological maneuvering," explains the historian Professor Eyal Zisser from Tel Aviv University. "Is there a historical truth behind what is attributed to him? It's definitely in the eyes of the contemporary beholder. As a rule, it's clear that Muhammed was influenced by Judaism, but it's known that the moment the Jews refused to accept him as their prophet he began a political struggle [against them] and even killed members of three Jewish tribes in Medina, and expelled them and the Jews of Khaybar from the Saudi peninsula.
"Until today, there are those who use him as an example of the 'proper way' of how to treat the Jews. In clashes between the IDF and Palestinians, for example, we often hear calls of 'Khaybar Khaybar, ya Yahud, Jaish Muhammed, sa Yahud' – remember Khaybar, Jews, Muhammed's army is going to return."
It's true that, alongside the persecution of the Jews of the Arabian Peninsula, Muhammed accepted Judaism as a legitimate religion, but Zisser explains the intention of the author. "On the positive side, the author is interested in reconciliation, and because of this he slightly downplays the uncomfortable aspects, and claims that Islam accepts Judaism and is tolerant towards the existence of Jews. It's more indicative of our times than it is of the past."
In the spirit of the era, in the entire Arab world there is today a different way of looking at Jews and Judaism, as well as at the coexistence that existed in the past with them, a feeling of regret at their expulsion and more. "In this context, the normalization with the Gulf states is dramatic – among other reasons since it's already clear that other countries, who haven't yet officially signed anything with Israel, are already in contact with her and others in an attempt to break new ground," Prof. Zisser concludes.
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