Saudi Arabia: friend or foe in the war on terror?

Published November 9, 2005
Jewish Telegraph Agency

The Senate Judiciary Committee considered anti-Semitism in Saudi Arabia. Chaired by Rep. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who is Jewish, the committee held an extensive session Tuesday on Saudi Arabia: friend or foe in the war on terror? Nina Shea, director of the Center for Religious Freedom, a neo-conservative group, alleged that Saudi textbooks continue to negatively stereotype Jews and Christians. Third-year high school textbooks, for example, talk about don’t help or imitate the infidel Christians and Jews in any way, Shea said. An 11th-grade textbook in our collection is very anti-Semitic, saying Jews lured women to go to work that kind of thing.

Anthony Cordesman, director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that he had encountered anti-Semitism on his frequent visits to Saudi Arabia, but didn’t see it as pervasive. I’ve heard people attack me in Saudi Arabia for being Jewish, for being a supporter of Israel. I have heard them use rhetoric which was about as personally vicious as you can get, Cordesman said. Did they represent any significant number of the Saudis that I deal with and have dealt with over the years? No.

Cordesman also said the Saudis have initiated substantive campaigns recently to eradicate bigotry.