Arab News Op-Eds

Professional sports attract enormous viewing audiences in countries around the world. They have the power to inspire collaboration and friendship between athletes of diverse races, religions and nationalities, who then inspire the building of friendships and understanding between fans of divergent backgrounds.

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.

Israel’s new government is sparking unease about the future of the Abraham Accords, given its inclusion of ministers who have exhibited a history of hard-line nationalist positions and little inclination to soften their views. But all is not lost: There is ample time to reignite momentum around normalization, if the government understands that regional rapprochement will not be possible at the expense of the Palestinians.

The results of this month’s midterm elections in the US shocked many of America’s closest political observers both here and abroad, as the Democrats significantly outperformed expectations during a cycle when the president’s party usually suffers at the polls.

The eyes of the faithful around the world will focus on the small Arabian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain on Nov. 3-4 as it hosts a historic conference entitled the “Bahrain Forum for Dialogue: East and West for Human Coexistence.”