In the News

Agence France-Presse September 23, 2020 From scrubbing hate-filled school textbooks to a taboo-defying religious sermon, Saudi Arabia is pushing for another kind of normalisation after declining to establish formal relations with Israel — co-existence with Jews. Saudi Arabia has said it will not follow its allies Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates in establishing diplomatic relations without a resolution to the Palestinian issue, even as it cultivates clandestine ties with the Jewish state. Having...

Arutz Sheva By: Yoni Kempinski September 22, 2020 Foundation for Ethnic Understanding President and Advisor to Gulf leaders Rabbi Marc Schneier spoke to Arutz Sheva about the Abraham Accords, Judea/Samaria annexation, current trends in the Gulf, and what he says is not only economic but rather also a true closeness between Islam and Israel. Rabbi Schneier says the King of Bahrain told him “repeatedly” that “our only guarantee for a strong, moderate Arab presence in the Gulf would...

The Associated Press By: Aya Batrawy September 22, 2020 DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia, the most powerful Arab nation and home to Islam’s holiest sites, has made its official position on the region’s longest-running conflict clear: Full ties between the kingdom and Israel can only happen when peace is reached with the Palestinians. Yet state-backed Saudi media and clerics are signaling change is already underway with Israel — something that can only happen under the directives of...

The Arab News By Rabbi Marc Schneier September 18, 2020 Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which will usher in the Jewish year of 5781, begins on the evening of Friday, Sept. 18, and commemorates the anniversary of the creation of the universe. As is appropriate for a holiday commemorating what Jews consider to be the penultimate divine act, its canvas is the entire world, all of humanity. For Jews, Rosh Hashanah is a time of introspection and self-examination, during which we reflect on the good...

Arutz Sheva September 16, 2020 From the legislation against Hezbollah, to meetings at the peace workshop. These are the events which led up to the agreement with Bahrain. 2013 – 2015 King Hamad led the effort for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to legislate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. Following his success in doing so, he told Rabbi Schneier (later appointed as a special advisor to King Hamad in 2018) during a meeting in his palace in Manama in 2016 that “our only hope for a strong...

Al Arabiya English By: Emily Judd September 15, 2020 Bahrain and Israel will sign a historic agreement of normalization on Tuesday, but in the last three years, the countries have interacted in various ways – from interfaith trips to security conferences. Here are seven events that paved the way to Tuesday’s landmark moment: December 2017: Interfaith group from Bahrain visits Israel An interfaith group from Bahrain traveled to Israel for a three-day visit on December 12, 2017. The 25 participants...

Le Monde September 14, 2020 L’Arabie saoudite approuve la reconnaissance par Bahreïn de l’Etat hébreu, sans lui emboîter le pas. Le prince héritier de Bahreïn, Salman ben Hamad Al-Khalifa, et le haut conseiller du président américain Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, à Manama (Bahreïn), le 1er septembre. BAHRAIN NEW AGENCY / VIA REUTERS C’est le trophée que Benyamin Nétanyahou rêve de décrocher. Si les Emirats arabes unis (EAU) et Bahreïn ont offert une belle victoire politique au premier ministre israélien...

Christian Broadcast Network (CBN) By: Julie Stahl September 14, 2020 JERUSALEM, Israel – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu landed in the US Monday to attend Tuesday’s signing of Israel’s historic peace agreement with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. “We now have two historic peace agreements, with two Arab countries, which were established in one month. I am certain that we all welcome the new era. We are at the threshold of a new era,” Netanyahu said before leaving for the US on Sunday....

GLZ September 13, 2020 FFEU President Rabbi Marc Schneier was interviewed by Efi Triger in GLZ Radio for Good Morning Israel. Click here to listen to the original interview.

Agence France-Presse September 12, 2020 Bahrain’s move to formally establish relations with Israel could not have happened without Saudi Arabia’s green light, another step in what observers call Riyadh’s “alternative normalisation” of ties with the Jewish state. Bahrain on Friday became Saudi Arabia’s second Gulf ally to announce plans to formalise relations with Israel over the past month, after the United Arab Emirates’ landmark agreement. The move put...