It seems that an important political shift in Saudi Arabia’s behavior towards Jews may open a new era with Tel Aviv and Washington, according to the US ambassador to combat anti-Semitism, Deborah Lipstadt.
Jews have lived in Saudi Arabia over the years, which is the first stop on which Lipstadt started her Middle East tour, on her first trip abroad, since she took office last April.
Lipstadt said in an interview with Al-Hurra that she chose to start her visit from Saudi Arabia “in order to express a position that there are changes.”
She noted that “there were many manifestations of anti-Semitism in Saudi Arabia in the past, and watching that change is a good indicator.”
She explained that “many changes are taking place, including a change in orientation towards the places specific to Jews in the region, and there is certainly a Jewish community in the city, and other places in the Gulf.”
In another context, Lipstadt confirmed in her meeting with Al-Hurra that there are developments in the important geopolitical affairs of the United States with Saudi Arabia and Israel, and is working intensively to solve them.
In a speech at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, on Monday, Lipstadt said that the battle against anti-Semitism must continue, our efforts are currently focused in the United States on this matter, but this is something that must be done around the world.
Lipstadt visited Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Israel, with the aim of combating anti-Jewish sentiment.
Lipstat, a scholar of anti-Semitism and an academic at Emory University, became the Special Envoy for Combating Anti-Semitism, a position established in 2004 with the aim of promoting US foreign policy on anti-Semitism abroad.
Lipstadt’s tour comes two weeks before US President Joe Biden’s planned trip to the Middle East, which includes Israel and travels directly to Saudi Arabia for the first time in the history of any American president.
The Biden administration asserts that it wants to expand the “Abraham Accords” that led Arab countries to recognize Israel for the first time since it was recognized by Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.