In the last 24 hours, Saudi Arabia has sharped its tone towards the U.S., in response to recent statements by U.S. officials, among them President Donald Trump, that Saudi Arabia will be punished if it proves to be responsible for the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Al-Kh...
Following the September 22, 2018 shooting in Iran's Ahwaz region, Muhammad Ahl Al-Sheikh, a columnist for the Saudi government daily Al-Jazirah, described the shooting as a "legitimate resistance operation" by the Arab minority that is oppressed by the Iranian regime, and express...
Abdullah Al-Mutlaq of the Saudi Council of Senior Scholars said that polygamy was "sometimes a necessity and sometimes a crime" and that if a man marries multiple wives, he must treat them equally. Speaking on an October 3 fatwa show on Saudi Arabia's TV Channel 1, Al-Mutlaq said...
The disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, and was never seen leaving it, is a trending topic in the Arabic press, particularly the Saudi press. Khashoggi, whom some Turkish elements surmise was murdered ...
In 2014, Saudi cleric and author Sheikh Muhammad Al-Arifi gave an address in which he cited the antisemitic hadith "The Prophecy of the Rock and the Tree," and said that the Jews were cowardly by nature, as could be seen throughout history - in the days of the Prophet Muhammad, i...
In an article he published following the September 22, 2018 attack on the military parade held by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in Ahvaz, Saudi journalist Hussein Shubakshi attacked the resistance axis – Iran, Syria, Hizbullah and Hamas – which, he said, wages ...
On October 7, 2017, on the occasion of the 44th anniversary of the 1973 war between Israel and the Arabs, the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat published an article by its former editor, 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed, in which he praised then Egyptian President Anwar Sad...
In an article published August 9, 2018 in the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Saudi author and researcher Fahd Al-Shkairan claims that Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden derived inspiration for his ideological and military activities from Iran's Islamic Revolution, and t...
Following the death, on August 25, 2018, of Republican U.S. senator John McCain, Khalid Al-Suleiman eulogized him in his column in the Saudi government daily 'Okaz. Titled "The Last of the Honorable American Politicians," the column describes McCain as a serious and wise politici...
Against the backdrop of the Canada-Saudi Arabia tension following the arrest in Saudi Arabia of human rights activists,[1] on August 8, 2018, Muhammad Al-Sa'ed, who writes in the Saudi daily 'Okaz, published an article harshly critical of Canada. He wrote that, following Hillary ...
MEMRI's Director of Reform in the Muslim World Mansour Al-Hadj discussed the recent arrests of human rights activists in Saudi Arabia. Al-Hadj said that the lack of political reform under Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman has disappointed those who were hopeful abou...
On August 6, 2018, the Saudi-based Twitter account Infographic_ksa tweeted an image of an Air Canada aircraft that appeared to be heading towards the CN Tower in Toronto – in an apparent hint at the September 11, 2001 attacks – accompanied by the text in English: "Sticking one's ...
Against the backdrop of the political crisis between Saudi Arabia and Canada, commentators on the Saudi 24 network launched an attack on Canada's human rights record, especially with regard to Canada's indigenous people. They "are being dispersed and killed," said Saudi jour...
On July 25, 2018, the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen attacked two Saudi tankers in the strait of Bab El-Mandeb in the Red Sea. In response to the attack, Saudi Arabia announced it was suspending shipments of oil via the strait "until maritime transit through Bab El-Mandeb is...
Recently, there has been a discussion in Saudi Arabia about appointing women to roles connected to the religious establishment, such as in issuing fatwas and serving as religious judges (qadis).
In a Ramadan edition of his television program on Saudi Al-Majd TV, 'Abdallah Al-M...
In an opinion piece published July 23, 2018 in the Saudi English-language daily Arab News, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, Khalid bin Salman, called on the international community to adopt a unified and comprehensive strategy to confront the destabilizing behavior...
In an article published July 15, 2018 in the Saudi government daily Al-Yawm, Saudi journalist Sukina Meshekhis called on the Arab countries to take bold steps, including certain concessions, in order to advance peace with Israel. She wrote that peace is a supreme human aim for wh...
It has recently been reported that U.S. President Donald Trump plans to slap oil sanctions on Iran beginning in November of this year. To this end, on June 30, 2018 he asked Saudi King Salman Bin 'Abd Al-'Aziz to increase his country's oil production so as to prevent any shortage...
In a June 13, 2018 interview with Saudi MBC TV, Saudi journalist Mishal Al-Sudairy recounted the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, from Mufti Hajj Amin Al-Husseini, who allied himself with Hitler in WWII, through his successor Ahmad Al-Shukeiri, who "lived his entire l...
In a June 13 TV interview, Saudi journalist Mishal Al-Sudairy recounted the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, from Mufti Hajj Amin Al-Husseini, who allied himself with Hitler in WWII, through his successor Ahmad Al-Shukeiri, who "lived his entire life in five-star hote...
Shiite Iraqi cleric Yassin Al-Musawi said in a recent TV interview that Saudi Arabia, which it called "our kindhearted neighboring country... that meek and calm kingdom that wants only what's best for us," sends us suicide bombers on a daily basis. "One day they send us ISIS, ano...
Muhammad Al-Arab, head of the Paris-based "Peace Without Limits" NGO, criticized Hamas, which he said has brought famine upon its people in Gaza and has become Iran's "hired gun." "Whenever Iran is in trouble, Hamas instigates incidents, in order to relieve the pressure [on Iran]...
In advance of the June 24, 2018 implementation of Saudi King Salman bin 'Abd Al-'Aziz's historic decree permitting women in the kingdom to drive, the Saudi Al-Watan daily published, on June 18, an infographic by the Saudi Department of Transportation featuring answers to question...
The decree issued by Saudi King Salman bin 'Abd Al-'Aziz nine months ago lifting the ban on women drivers in the kingdom will go into effect on June 24, 2018. In the lead-up to the historic date, Wafa Al-Rashid, a columnist for the Saudi 'Okaz daily, attacked the demeaning and pa...
The September 26, 2017 decree by the Saudi King granting women permission to drive is to take effect on June 24, 2018, and the various Saudi authorities have been taking measures in preparation for implementing it, such as issuing a Saudi driver's license to women who already hav...
Senior Iranian official Mohammad-Javad Larijani referred to the U.S. 9/11 Commission Report, and said that in some cases, Al-Qaeda members travelling from Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan and elsewhere were allowed to pass through Iran without having their passports stamped. Larijani,...
Shiite Iraqi scholar Yousuf Al-Nasseri, Deputy Secretary-General of the Hizbullah Al-Nujaba movement, said that "our top priority is to topple the political regime in the 'Kingdom of Sands' in the Arab Peninsula – the Saud clan," which was "footing the bill for all the massacres ...
The 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia will commence on June 14. This means that Ramadan – which falls this year between May 17, 2018 and June 14, 2018 – coincides with the period of intensive practice ahead of the games and with pre-tournament friendly matches. Furthermore, the first...
After 65 years of enmity between North and South Korea and of severe North Korea-U.S. tension, both conflicts appear to be moving towards resolution. At the historic April 27, 2018 summit between North Korean President Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, the two l...
A video showing the first Saudi women to receive their driver's license was posted on YouTube by the Saudi Center for Government Communication on June 5, a few weeks before the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia was due to be lifted. The video shows several women driving and ho...
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On May 31, 2018, Al-Malahem, the media arm of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), released a new issue of its M...
In an article in the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat that was published two days after the Arab League summit in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, Saudi writer Mish'al Al-Sudairy argued that these conferences are pointless because over the years they have produced almost nothing....
Lebanon's May 6, 2018 parliamentary election – held nine years after the previous election and under a new electoral law, which, according to many, benefited Hizbullah – resulted in an electoral achievement for this organization and its allies, who gained about 70 out of 128 seat...
Among the Saudi intellectuals, journalists and writers who have recently been expressing open support for Israel,[1] the voice of intellectual 'Abd Al-Hamid Al-Hakim was especially prominent. Al-Hakim, until recently the director of the Middle East Center for Strategic and L...
Introduction:
The mounting tension between Israel and Iran, which came to a head with Iran's firing of missiles at Israel from Syrian territory and Israel's counterattack on Iranian sites in that country, sparked a debate in Saudi Arabia regarding which side Saudis should supp...
The attempts of European countries, specifically France, Germany and Britain, to safeguard the nuclear agreement with Iran were met with criticism in the Saudi press. Articles in Saudi newspapers accused these countries of being even more eager to maintain the agreement than Iran...
In the last 24 hours, Saudi Arabia has sharped its tone towards the U.S., in response to recent statements by U.S. officials, among them President Donald Trump, that Saudi Arabia will be punished if it proves to be responsible for the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Al-Kh...
Following the September 22, 2018 shooting in Iran's Ahwaz region, Muhammad Ahl Al-Sheikh, a columnist for the Saudi government daily Al-Jazirah, described the shooting as a "legitimate resistance operation" by the Arab minority that is oppressed by the Iranian regime, and express...
The disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, and was never seen leaving it, is a trending topic in the Arabic press, particularly the Saudi press. Khashoggi, whom some Turkish elements surmise was murdered ...
In an article he published following the September 22, 2018 attack on the military parade held by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in Ahvaz, Saudi journalist Hussein Shubakshi attacked the resistance axis – Iran, Syria, Hizbullah and Hamas – which, he said, wages ...
On October 7, 2017, on the occasion of the 44th anniversary of the 1973 war between Israel and the Arabs, the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat published an article by its former editor, 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed, in which he praised then Egyptian President Anwar Sad...
In an article published August 9, 2018 in the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Saudi author and researcher Fahd Al-Shkairan claims that Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden derived inspiration for his ideological and military activities from Iran's Islamic Revolution, and t...
Following the death, on August 25, 2018, of Republican U.S. senator John McCain, Khalid Al-Suleiman eulogized him in his column in the Saudi government daily 'Okaz. Titled "The Last of the Honorable American Politicians," the column describes McCain as a serious and wise politici...
Against the backdrop of the Canada-Saudi Arabia tension following the arrest in Saudi Arabia of human rights activists,[1] on August 8, 2018, Muhammad Al-Sa'ed, who writes in the Saudi daily 'Okaz, published an article harshly critical of Canada. He wrote that, following Hillary ...
On August 6, 2018, the Saudi-based Twitter account Infographic_ksa tweeted an image of an Air Canada aircraft that appeared to be heading towards the CN Tower in Toronto – in an apparent hint at the September 11, 2001 attacks – accompanied by the text in English: "Sticking one's ...
On July 25, 2018, the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen attacked two Saudi tankers in the strait of Bab El-Mandeb in the Red Sea. In response to the attack, Saudi Arabia announced it was suspending shipments of oil via the strait "until maritime transit through Bab El-Mandeb is...
Recently, there has been a discussion in Saudi Arabia about appointing women to roles connected to the religious establishment, such as in issuing fatwas and serving as religious judges (qadis).
In a Ramadan edition of his television program on Saudi Al-Majd TV, 'Abdallah Al-M...
In an opinion piece published July 23, 2018 in the Saudi English-language daily Arab News, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, Khalid bin Salman, called on the international community to adopt a unified and comprehensive strategy to confront the destabilizing behavior...
In an article published July 15, 2018 in the Saudi government daily Al-Yawm, Saudi journalist Sukina Meshekhis called on the Arab countries to take bold steps, including certain concessions, in order to advance peace with Israel. She wrote that peace is a supreme human aim for wh...
It has recently been reported that U.S. President Donald Trump plans to slap oil sanctions on Iran beginning in November of this year. To this end, on June 30, 2018 he asked Saudi King Salman Bin 'Abd Al-'Aziz to increase his country's oil production so as to prevent any shortage...
In a June 13, 2018 interview with Saudi MBC TV, Saudi journalist Mishal Al-Sudairy recounted the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, from Mufti Hajj Amin Al-Husseini, who allied himself with Hitler in WWII, through his successor Ahmad Al-Shukeiri, who "lived his entire l...
In advance of the June 24, 2018 implementation of Saudi King Salman bin 'Abd Al-'Aziz's historic decree permitting women in the kingdom to drive, the Saudi Al-Watan daily published, on June 18, an infographic by the Saudi Department of Transportation featuring answers to question...
The decree issued by Saudi King Salman bin 'Abd Al-'Aziz nine months ago lifting the ban on women drivers in the kingdom will go into effect on June 24, 2018. In the lead-up to the historic date, Wafa Al-Rashid, a columnist for the Saudi 'Okaz daily, attacked the demeaning and pa...
The September 26, 2017 decree by the Saudi King granting women permission to drive is to take effect on June 24, 2018, and the various Saudi authorities have been taking measures in preparation for implementing it, such as issuing a Saudi driver's license to women who already hav...
The 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia will commence on June 14. This means that Ramadan – which falls this year between May 17, 2018 and June 14, 2018 – coincides with the period of intensive practice ahead of the games and with pre-tournament friendly matches. Furthermore, the first...
After 65 years of enmity between North and South Korea and of severe North Korea-U.S. tension, both conflicts appear to be moving towards resolution. At the historic April 27, 2018 summit between North Korean President Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, the two l...
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On May 31, 2018, Al-Malahem, the media arm of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), released a new issue of its M...
In an article in the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat that was published two days after the Arab League summit in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, Saudi writer Mish'al Al-Sudairy argued that these conferences are pointless because over the years they have produced almost nothing....
Lebanon's May 6, 2018 parliamentary election – held nine years after the previous election and under a new electoral law, which, according to many, benefited Hizbullah – resulted in an electoral achievement for this organization and its allies, who gained about 70 out of 128 seat...
The attempts of European countries, specifically France, Germany and Britain, to safeguard the nuclear agreement with Iran were met with criticism in the Saudi press. Articles in Saudi newspapers accused these countries of being even more eager to maintain the agreement than Iran...
In an article laced with invective, and titled "You Have No Shame, Do you? Soon, You Will Raise U.S./Israel Flags In Mecca/Medina… Jerusalem Is A Common Homeland For Us All!", the editor-in-chief of AKP mouthpiece Yeni Safak, Ibrahim Karagul accused UAE Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed ...
On May 15, 2018, the day after the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, Saudi journalist Amal 'Abd Al-'Aziz Al-Hazzani called on Arabs and Palestinians to come to terms with reality and to take advantage of the event to renew negotiations with Israel. In an article in the Lo...
U.S. President Donald Trump's May 8, 2018 announcement of the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) and its reinstatement of the harsh sanctions against Iran won broad support from Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. Saudi Arabia officially stated that it welcomed...
Saudi-Palestinian relations have been extremely strained recently, due, inter alia, to reports of active Saudi involvement in formulating and promoting U.S. President Donald Trump's "Deal of the Century," and apparently also due to increasing media reports that Saudi-Israeli rela...
In a January 12, 2018 article in the English-language daily Saudi Gazette, columnist Nefeen Abbas rebukes women who oppose their husband taking a second wife. Men, she says, unlike women, get bored with the monotony of married life, and if not allowed to take another wife they ar...
Saudi scholar Sheikh Saad ibn Abdullah Al-Humayd, said that although we have no proof of the authenticity of "The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion," the films produced by Hollywood and "the feverish competition meant to preoccupy people with the arts, with sports, with theater, an...
In his March 18, 2018 column in the London-based Saudi Al-Sharq Al-Awsat daily, journalist Hussein Shubakshi wrote about the situation of the Jews who had lived in the Arab countries. He noted that they suffered discrimination and prejudice, despite the fact that they were "pilla...
On April 14, 2018, about a week after the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad carried out a chemical attack on the town of Douma near Damascus that killed dozens, the U.S., U.K. and France launched a joint military strike on regime bases and facilities associated with its ...
U.S. President Donald Trump's statement that the Syrian regime will pay a "big price" for its April 7, 2018 chemical attack on Douma, which left dozens dead, as well as the American, British and French preparations for a military strike in Syria, sparked an intense debate in Saud...
On April 3, 2018, Houthi rebels in Yemen fired a missile at, and struck, a Saudi oil tanker in international waters west of the Yemeni port city of Al-Hudaydah. In its report on the incident, the pro-"resistance" Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV called the attack vengeance for Saudi ...
In its March 18, 2018 editorial, the Saudi government daily Al-Riyadh wrote that, in light of the atrocities perpetrated by the Syrian regime against its people, as currently exemplified by the massacre in eastern Ghouta, and given the helplessness of the international community ...
On March 25, 2018, when UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths was visiting Yemen and two days before Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres were set to meet in New York, Houthi forces in Yemen fired seven ballistic missiles at Saudi...
Among the Saudi intellectuals, journalists and writers who have recently been expressing open support for Israel,[1] the voice of intellectual 'Abd Al-Hamid Al-Hakim was especially prominent. Al-Hakim, until recently the director of the Middle East Center for Strategic and L...
Introduction:
The mounting tension between Israel and Iran, which came to a head with Iran's firing of missiles at Israel from Syrian territory and Israel's counterattack on Iranian sites in that country, sparked a debate in Saudi Arabia regarding which side Saudis should supp...
In recent weeks, there have been indications of a possible shift in Saudi Arabia's policy vis-à-vis Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and recognition of his regime. These indications have prompted various predictions regarding the possibility of normalization of Saudi-Syrian relat...
Following U.S. President Donald Trump's December 6, 2017 announcement recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital, harsh criticism was heard in the Palestinian territories and in Jordan towards Saudi Arabia, which, according to various leaks, is promoting Trump's "deal of the centu...
The decree issued September 26, 2017 by the Saudi King, which lifted the ban on women driving in the kingdom, sparked a storm of reactions in the government media and on Saudi social media accounts. The government media reported extensively on responses welcoming the decision, wh...
Introduction
On September 9, 2017, Saudi Arabia announced that it was cutting off all dialogue with Qatar on the resolution of the intra-Gulf dispute.[1] The announcement came following a phone call between Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Aal Thani and Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad...
Introduction
The attacks carried out in the name of Islam by terror organizations such as the Islamic State (ISIS) and Al-Qaeda, both in Arab countries and worldwide, have prompted recurring discussion about whether and how the school curricula in the Arab world have contribu...
Introduction
Recently, there have been significant developments in the conflict/rivalry between, on the one hand, Saudi Arabia and the Sunni axis that it established, and on the other hand Iran and the resistance axis. These developments concern not only the forces in the reg...
Introduction
In January 2015, MEMRI researched and flagged YouTube videos of support for jihadi fighters and "martyrs" and "martyrdom," to test the platform's "Promotes Terrorism" flagging feature. The test was a follow-up to MEMRI research and testing of jihad and terrorism o...
Introduction
On May 4, 2017, Saudi King Salman bin Abd Al-'Aziz issued a royal decree easing guardianship (wilaya) requirements for women in the country. The decree instructs all government institutions in the kingdom to provide services to women without requiring the consent ...
By: MEMRI Staff
Several days ago, a severe crisis erupted between Qatar and other Gulf states, headed by Saudi Arabia, following the publication of a report of uncertain authenticity on the website of the official Qatari news agency QNA. The report, which appeared on the websi...
Introduction
In his January 20, 2017 sermon at an Amman mosque, Jordan's Chief Islamic Justice and Imam of the Royal Hashemite Court Sheikh Ahmed Hilayel harshly criticized Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states for failing to provide sufficient economic aid to Jordan, which i...
On October 28, 2016, the official Saudi daily Makkah reported that the Saudi Education Ministry is planning to launch an educational project called "Immunity" in the schools aimed at "inoculating" schoolchildren against intellectual currents that, according to the ministry, threa...
Introduction
In recent weeks there has been severe tension between Egypt and Saudi Arabia due to disagreements on the Syrian crisis. These disagreements, which are long-standing, recently deepened and became public, especially after on October 8, 2016, Egypt voted at the UN Se...
Introduction
In recent weeks there were numerous reports in the Palestinian, Egyptian and Jordanian media about an Arab initiative for promoting the Palestinian cause, which includes efforts to achieve internal reconciliation in Fatah between Palestinian President Mahmoud 'Ab...
Introduction
On May 22, 2016, the Saudi government daily 'Okaz reported that the Shura Council had rejected a bill that, if passed, would allow Saudis to add an organ-donor designation to their drivers' licenses; the bill was rejected on the grounds that this issue is "religio...
IntroductionIn
recent weeks, a deep crisis has developed in Lebanese-Saudi relations, to the
extent that Saudi Arabia took punitive measures against Lebanon: halting a $4
billion aid package to the Lebanese security forces;[1]
issuing a travel warning for this country, and tak...
In
light of the escalating tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran, as manifested by
the torching of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and Saudi Arabia's subsequent
severing of diplomatic relations with Iran,[1]
Saudi soccer clubs have voiced apprehension about playing Iranian teams in ...
On
January 2, 2016, Saudi Arabia's interior ministry announced that the kingdom
had executed 47 individuals,[1]
Sunni and Shi'ite, on various charges, including carrying out terrorist
operations and inciting to terrorism; espousing takfiri ideology; attacking the
military and se...
Introduction
On December 12, 2015, Saudi
Arabia will, for the third time, hold municipal elections; for the first time,
women will participate in the elections as both voters and candidates, within the
confines of shari'a law, in accordance with a decision by the previous king, ...
Introduction
Since
the ouster of Muhammad Mursi in July 2013, Saudi-Egyptian relations have been
close and marked by common interests. Saudi Arabia backed the Egyptian
military's ousting of Mursi and supported its claim that the ouster expressed
the will of the people, in the fa...
Introduction
Russia's increasing military involvement in Syria, which constitutes another lifeline for the Bashar Al-Assad regime, is of great concern to Saudi Arabia, which together with Turkey and Qatar is leading the battle against this regime. However, Saudi Arabia is taki...
During Ramadan, the Arab MBC channel is airing Selfie, a satirical comedy TV show starring well-known Saudi actor-comedian Nasser Al-Qasabi and other Saudi comedians. The liberal Saudi journalist Khalaf Al-Harbi,[1] a writer for the satirical-comedy Saudi TV show Tash Ma Tash ("N...
Introduction
A terror cell arrested recently in Saudi Arabia includes two 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old, the Saudi Interior Ministry has revealed. The cell carried out the May 22, 2015 bombing of the Shi'ite mosque in Al-Qudaih in eastern Saab, in which 22 were killed and dozens...
Operation "Decisive Storm" in Yemen, and the reports of warming Saudi-Turkish relations that preceded it, sparked hopes among opponents of the Assad regime in Syria that a similar operation could be carried out in that country. These hopes were in line with reports in Western and...
Introduction
The March 26, 2015 attack by the Saudi-led coalition on the strongholds of Iran's proxy in Yemen, the Houthi, sent shockwaves through Tehran. The rousing of the Sunni Arab camp, and the formation of a fighting coalition, as well as the backing of the entire Arab Leag...
Following Saudi Arabia's continued rejection of Iran's demand in recent months to stop bringing down oil prices with its high production levels,[1] in the latter half of January 2015 Iranian spokesmen, particularly Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, stepped up their threats to ...
"ISIS is a true product of Salafism, and we must deal with it with full transparency." This statement was made not by liberal Muslim elements, who regularly criticize Salafism, but by Sheikh 'Aadel Al-Kalbani, former imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca and a Salafi himself, hence i...
Introduction On March 28, 2014, U.S. President Barak Obama visited Saudi Arabia and met with its king, 'Abdallah bin 'Abd Al-'Aziz. The primary goal of the visit was to ease the tension between the two countries, which stems from Saudi Arabia’s displeasure with U.S. policy in the...
Introduction In an unprecedented move, on March 5, 2014, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain announced they were recalling their ambassadors from Qatar. The three countries explained that this move was a protest against Qatar's violation of its commitments to them and against its p...
Introduction Saudi Arabia has recently been facing harsh accusations that it is involved in terrorism in Syria. The kingdom is accused of dispatching young Saudis to join the jihad in Syria, and of funding and arming them, among other accusations. These allegations are frequently...
Introduction With the upsurge in attacks on Iranian interests, and on interests affiliated with Iran's proxies, in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, and Afghanistan, the Iranian leadership and its mouthpieces have launched a campaign of harsh criticism against the Saudi regime, accusing Saud...
Introduction U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's November 3, 2013 visit to Saudi Arabia will take place amidst considerable tension between the two countries. The Arab Spring has given rise to more than a few disagreements between the two countries over the policy of the admini...
The prohibition against women driving has been a matter of public debate in Saudi Arabia for years.[1] The ban is based on a fatwa issued in October 1990 by the Senior Cleric's Council – the kingdom's top religious body – which stated that women were not allowed to drive and that...
The Arab Spring revolutions, which brought the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) to power in Egypt and Tunisia, forced the Saudi authorities to contend with the growing power of the MB and its supporters within Saudi Arabia and outside it. The Saudi press responded to the challenge with an...
Introduction
Violence towards women is a common and expanding phenomenon in Saudi Arabia and an issue that greatly preoccupies Saudi society. According to the executive manager of the National Family Protection Program, three out of 10 Saudi women are subjected to domestic vi...
Abdullah Al-Mutlaq of the Saudi Council of Senior Scholars said that polygamy was "sometimes a necessity and sometimes a crime" and that if a man marries multiple wives, he must treat them equally. Speaking on an October 3 fatwa show on Saudi Arabia's TV Channel 1, Al-Mutlaq said...
In 2014, Saudi cleric and author Sheikh Muhammad Al-Arifi gave an address in which he cited the antisemitic hadith "The Prophecy of the Rock and the Tree," and said that the Jews were cowardly by nature, as could be seen throughout history - in the days of the Prophet Muhammad, i...
MEMRI's Director of Reform in the Muslim World Mansour Al-Hadj discussed the recent arrests of human rights activists in Saudi Arabia. Al-Hadj said that the lack of political reform under Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman has disappointed those who were hopeful abou...
Against the backdrop of the political crisis between Saudi Arabia and Canada, commentators on the Saudi 24 network launched an attack on Canada's human rights record, especially with regard to Canada's indigenous people. They "are being dispersed and killed," said Saudi jour...
In a June 13 TV interview, Saudi journalist Mishal Al-Sudairy recounted the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, from Mufti Hajj Amin Al-Husseini, who allied himself with Hitler in WWII, through his successor Ahmad Al-Shukeiri, who "lived his entire life in five-star hote...
Shiite Iraqi cleric Yassin Al-Musawi said in a recent TV interview that Saudi Arabia, which it called "our kindhearted neighboring country... that meek and calm kingdom that wants only what's best for us," sends us suicide bombers on a daily basis. "One day they send us ISIS, ano...
Muhammad Al-Arab, head of the Paris-based "Peace Without Limits" NGO, criticized Hamas, which he said has brought famine upon its people in Gaza and has become Iran's "hired gun." "Whenever Iran is in trouble, Hamas instigates incidents, in order to relieve the pressure [on Iran]...
Senior Iranian official Mohammad-Javad Larijani referred to the U.S. 9/11 Commission Report, and said that in some cases, Al-Qaeda members travelling from Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan and elsewhere were allowed to pass through Iran without having their passports stamped. Larijani,...
Shiite Iraqi scholar Yousuf Al-Nasseri, Deputy Secretary-General of the Hizbullah Al-Nujaba movement, said that "our top priority is to topple the political regime in the 'Kingdom of Sands' in the Arab Peninsula – the Saud clan," which was "footing the bill for all the massacres ...
A video showing the first Saudi women to receive their driver's license was posted on YouTube by the Saudi Center for Government Communication on June 5, a few weeks before the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia was due to be lifted. The video shows several women driving and ho...
Deputy Secretary-General of the Iraqi Hizbullah Al-Nujaba Movement, Sheikh Yusouf Al-Nasseri, discussed recent statements attributed to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and said that anyone who denies the doctrine of the Mahdi "is an impure heretic who should be killed." Sp...
Saudi scholar Sheikh Saad ibn Abdullah Al-Humayd said that although we have no proof of the authenticity of "The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion," the films produced by Hollywood and "the feverish competition meant to preoccupy people with the arts, with sports, with theater, and...
Houthi leader Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi, president of "the Revolutionary Committee of Yemen," warned the British, the Europeans, and the Americans: "Stop your support of Saudi Arabia so that it will stop bombing us. If you continue, we will continue to shell Aramco and other vital f...
Speaking on Russia Today on March 26, Saudi Prince Turki Al-Faisal said that Iran, and not U.S. President Trump, was "causing trouble in the region," and that it was Russia's responsibility to "highlight the atrocious acts that the Iranian government perpetrates against its own p...
Saudi cleric Abd Al-Aziz Fawzan Al-Fawzan said that even though a Muslim might possess "some of the despicable and nasty traits of the Jews," one must not taunt or curse them for this. Describing these traits, Al-Fawzan said that the Jews are "the most envious of people and the m...
Saudi journalist Mohamed Al-Suhaimi said that he was in favor of silencing the microphones in the mosques, saying that the "terrifying" sound of the adhan call to prayer "coming from all directions" bothers people in prayer, scares children, and causes anxiety. "The group of peop...
On January 5, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, member of the Iranian Assembly of Experts, delivered a Friday sermon, in which he said that "Saudi Arabia gave the money, and America did the planning," and that the plan was to "gradually bring weapons into Iran, and in the month of Bahman,...
Admiral Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, was interviewed on Lebanese Mayadeen TV on January 1, 2018. Admiral Shamkhani, referring to the protests in Iran, stated that “the Internet and the hashtags constitute a proxy war against the Irani...
Abdelhameed Hakeem, General Manager of the Jeddah-based Middle East Center for Strategic and Legal Studies, talked about his visit to Ramallah and Jerusalem, in which he met Israeli dignitaries and peace activists, and said that "we agreed that the missing link is the absence of ...
Yemeni politician Abd Al-Wahhab Al-Mahbashi, a member of the political bureau of the Houthi "Ansar Allah" movement, said that their missiles "can threaten all the oil tankers that go to all the factories in the West, and finance and fuel the planes of the Saud clan. They can thre...
In a recent TV interview, Saudi writer Mohammed Al-Saed said that over the past century, Arab groups, regimes, and political parties had "peddled in the Palestinian cause and pinned all their mistakes on it to serve their own economic interests and survival." Talking about the mi...
Saudi cleric Sheikh Abd Al-Aziz Fawzan Al-Fawzan said that while there is more leniency regarding secular or national holidays, participating in Christmas celebrations, congratulating Christians on their holiday, and sending them gifts is not permitted because Christmas "is based...
In a Friday sermon delivered in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Lebanese-American Imam Abu Musaab Wajdi Akkari warned in the congregation not to "be weak" and say "Merry Christmas" to people. By doing so, "you are indirectly acknowledging a Satanic holiday," he said. If someone asks why yo...
Saudi researcher Abdelhameed Hakeem, General Manager of the Jeddah-based Middle East Center for Strategic and Legal Studies, said that the Arabs must acknowledge that Jerusalem is "as holy to the Jews as Mecca and Medina are to the Muslims." Speaking on Al-Hurra TV, Hakeem said t...
A Saudi animation video posted on YouTube, Twitter, and other social media platforms warned Iran of the Saudi retaliation in the event of an Iranian military strike against the Saudi kingdom. The video, which is in English with Arabic subtitles, with versions subtitled in Farsi, ...
London-based Islamic scholar Haitham Al-Haddad, originally from Saudi Arabia, gave an address in Norway in which he talked about the alienation that many young people feel toward the European country in which they live and said that this was what led to the appeal of ISIS. "Takin...
Sheikh Bassam Al-Amoush, former Jordanian ambassador to Iran, said that missiles fired by the Houthis against Saudi Arabia were Iranian missiles. Warning about the role of Hizbullah in the region, he said: "Hassan Nasrallah is mightier than the Lebanese president, mightier than t...
Kuwaiti TV host Mohammad Al-Mulla praised Saudi Arabia and Egypt as the leaders of the Arab world, and called to unite the Arab countries to confront the "Zoroastrians," a slanderous term referring to Shiites. "Allah willing, we shall unite and once again lead the world," he said...
A Saudi panel debated possible Saudi measures against Hizbullah on Rotana Khalijiyya TV on November 8. Saudi political commentator Mobarak Al-Atty said that he hoped for a "direct military operation that will annihilate Hizbullah," either by the Islamic Military Alliance or by th...
When asked about possible normalization of ties with Israel, Saudi author Ahmed Al-Arfaj said that "we don't need to love each other, but we must coexist." "At some point, when we get there – yes, I will support normalization," he said. Al-Arfaj, speaking on Rotana Khalijiyya TV ...
In a Friday sermon, Iranian Assembly of Experts Member Ahmad Khatami hinted at the Saudi Crown Prince, labeling him an "immature child." Khatami said: "If the enemy tries to cause even the slightest harm to the great Iranian nation, [the masses] will shatter the enemy's teeth to ...
Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said that Saudi Arabia had "asked Israel to attack Lebanon," and had offered "tens of billions of dollars" in return. In his address, which aired on Mayadeen TV on November 11, he said that in the Israeli media, "many are saying that t...
On November 11, Al-Jazeera TV reported that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that the Yemeni people "faces poverty, famine, epidemics, and a siege on land, air, and sea," and that this was "unacceptable" and "points to a conspiracy that has become evident to everybody in the...
A song titled "Sister, You Will Drive" celebrates the lifting of the ban on Saudi women driving. The song, to the tune of Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild," is performed by the Jeddah-based "Most Of Us" band, and contains lines such as "No more driver, Uber, or taxi to take you any...
Egyptian-Canadian writer Said Shoaib said the curricula taught in Islamic schools in Canada placed their students in a bind because glorification of the Islamic Caliphate, providing a religious justification for killing, beheading, and occupation, ran counter to their values as c...
Indian cleric Salman Al-Husain Al-Nadwi was deported from Oman to Qatar following a September 19 lecture in which he attacked the Saudi king and leading Saudi religious scholars for supporting U.S. President Trump. The attack was triggered by an earlier statement by the imam of t...
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