Arab attitudes towards Israel changing for the better

There's been an awakening. Have you felt it? Yes, this is a quote from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. But in this case, I'm not talking about an awakening in the force. No, I'm referring to an awakening in the Arab world. To put it simply, some Arabs are awakening to the realization that Israel is not the threat that they have always perceived it to be. Quite the contrary. Israel is slowly being seen by a growing number of Arabs as a valuable ally against what really threatens the Arab world: The Islamic Republic of Iran.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of people on the Arab street still see Israel as their most hated enemy. But a growing number of notable figures in the Arab world are singing a different tune about the Jewish state. For example, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia recently issued a ruling saying that it was forbidden to make war on Jews, even going so far as to call the Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist group, Hamas, a terror organization. I've been following Middle Eastern politics since I was a teenager and I never thought I'd hear anyone in Saudi Arabia, let alone its chief cleric, say something like this. And he isn't the only one sounding off on a more amicable attitude towards Israel and the Jewish people. A prominent Saudi academic went so far as to defend U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. In addition, an Egyptian writer argued that Jerusalem had no religious significance for Muslims and called for greater cooperation between Jews and Muslims. Another writer from Kuwait praised Israel and called on Arab leaders to recognize the legitimacy of the state.

Some political leaders have also made favorable comments about Israel. The king of Bahrain, for instance, condemned the Arab boycott of Israel and said that he would allow his subjects to travel there freely. He made these comments at an event hosted by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in which Bahrain National Orchestra actually played "Hatikvah", Israel's national anthem. In Lebanon, the Prime Minister was recently recorded saying that Lebanon does not reject the Jewish state's existence and in fact respects Israel's right to safety.

One still has to be brave when saying anything positive about Israel in the Arab world. Anyone who does is almost immediately subject to condemnation and harassment on social media. Hell, they're lucky if they don't get death threats. But the fact a growing number of people in different sectors of the Arab public are willing to give Israel a chance is very significant. Now of course, I really don't think anyone in the Arab world has a love affair with Israel. Indeed, at this point, the increasing number of positive statements by notable figures in the Arab world pertaining to Israel may simply be a byproduct of the emerging Israeli-Arab alliance against Iran. In other words, it may simply be because of the old adage, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."