Is Saudi Arabia softening its Israel stance?
As the UAE and Bahrain sign their historic treaty normalizing diplomatic ties with Israel at the White House on Tuesday, further evidence is emerging that attitudes are shifting across the Arab world towards Israel.
And one of them is in Saudi Arabia, a regional rival to the UAE.
A recent sermon from one of Saudi Arabia's leading clerics called for Muslims to avoid, quote "passionate emotions and fiery enthusiasm" towards Jews.
It's a marked change in tone from Imam Abdulrahman al-Sudais, compared to previous emotional statements he's made about the plight of the Palestinian people.
In the past the cleric had prayed for Palestinians to have victory over what he called "invader and aggressor" Jews -- a nod to Israel.
However, Sudais' new remarks referenced a relationship between them and the Prophet Mohammad.
“He treated the Jews of Khaybar equally and treated his Jewish neighbor well."
Saudi Arabia is not expected to follow the UAE and Bahrain any time soon, but a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia would have been seen as an inconceivable prospect in the past. It would also be a big diplomatic prize for Benjamin Netanyahu's government.
Not least because Saudi Arabia's king rules over Islam's holiest sites, and controls the world's largest exportation and supply of oil.
