Arab News Op-Eds

Franklin D. Roosevelt meets with King Abdulaziz aboard the USS Quincy, Feb. 14, 1945. (FDR Presidential Library and Museum) Rabbi Marc Schneier June 15, 2026 On Feb. 14, 1945, in the Great Bitter Lake of the Suez Canal, President Franklin D. Roosevelt met King Abdulaziz aboard the USS Quincy. The American president was returning from Yalta. The Saudi king had never been to sea. The two men spent one day together. The ship carried a transaction: American security in exchange for the steady flow of...

Rabbi Marc Schneier Muslim faithfuls take part in prayer at the Jamacadaha Stadium in Mogadishu on the first day of Eid Al-Adha. (AFP/File) Muslims around the world are preparing for Eid Al-Adha, which commemorates the binding of Ishmael. This is similar to the biblical narrative known as the Akeidah, the binding of Isaac, and both traditions return to the same story. A father, a son, a knife, a mountain and God — who, at the last possible moment, refuses sacrifice. This is not a story of sacrifice....

Rabbi Marc Schneier March 31, 2026  The declaration at Passover affirms that freedom must be inclusive and that no one should be excluded from dignity (Reuters) The festival of Passover, which the Jewish people observe this year at the beginning of April, is the cornerstone of Jewish identity. The defining message of Passover is enduring: we, too, were strangers in pharaonic Egypt, 3,300 years ago. For the Jewish people, this is not merely a historical recollection, it is a moral imperative. Because...

The symbolism of the iftar was salient. It felt as though history and the present converged in a single evening Iran’s aggression, which is intended to intimidate nations in the region, is producing the opposite effect

On Sept. 22, 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood triumphantly at the podium of the UN General Assembly and proclaimed to the world, including those so-called pundits who doubted his peacemaking ability and acumen, that the Abraham Accords, signed by Israel with the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan in 2020, had “heralded the dawn of a new age of peace.” Then he asserted boldly: “But I believe we are at the cusp of an even more dramatic breakthrough: an historic peace between Israel...

Count me as a passionate supporter for electing Riyadh as the host city for the 2030 World Expo, under the motto “The Era of Change: Together for a Foresighted Tomorrow.” Rarely, if ever, has a candidate city to host the World Expo contributed more profoundly in terms of innovative ideas and landmark projects to a sustainable future for humankind, while remaining deeply rooted in 1,400 years of Islamic faith and heritage, than Saudi Arabia. However, old thinking dies hard and so many think of Riyadh...

We have just entered the month-long season of the Jewish High Holy Days, which began with the onset of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, to be followed by Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which is the principle Jewish day of fasting. The two holidays are a time for every Jew to undertake a period of self-examination, in which each of us reflects on all that has occurred in our lives over the past 12 months and repents for any wrong actions we may have taken. After Yom Kippur comes the week-long...

Passover is the holiday celebrating the birth of the Jewish nation, a recounting of how God delivered the ancient Israelites from their enslavement in Egypt and allowed them to prosper for thousands of years as a people.

The recent diplomatic breakthrough between Saudi Arabia and Iran could be seen as an opportunity for the state of Israel, far from the account commonly encountered in the Western and Israeli press.

It is not just Muslims who should be offended. Everyone with an interest in dialogue and coexistence should join in the condemnation of the recent burning of a Qur’an by right-wing activists in Sweden.