For decades, the echoes of “Allahumma Alayka bil Yahud”—O Allah, deal with the Jews—have emanated from the minarets of Mecca. It is a prayer not of political resistance, but of raw, systemic theological hostility.
As a researcher who grew up in the Arab world, who knows its history,
its roots, and its darkest corners, I see the mask finally slipping.
The Saudi leadership is currently caught in a trap of its own making. While they broadcast prayers against the “race of the Jews” inclusive of Jews from London to Brazil and everywhere in between, they find themselves paralyzed in the face of real existential threats. The irony is as thick as the smoke over the Aramco facilities: while Riyadh’s state sponsored clerics curse the Jewish people, it is Iranian backed drones and Houthi missiles that are actually tearing through Saudi sovereignty.
The Silence of the Cowards
The question the Saudi government must answer is simple: Who are you truly afraid of?
Three weeks ago, the world watched as the Saudi leadership remained silent during renewed regional escalations. They attacked the Abraham Accords, calling the Emirates “Zionist” for choosing the path of pragmatism, yet they stood mute when their own soil was struck. They play a dangerous double game, whispering promises to Washington while signaling submission to Tehran.
This is not a message to the Saudi people, many of whom are suppressed and disconnected from the whims of their rulers. This is a direct indictment of a leadership that acts like a group of teenagers playing with fire they cannot extinguish. They think they are outsmarting the world by funding journalists and manipulating bots to attack their neighbors in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, but the world is not a donkey. We see the fear. We see the hesitation.
A Divine Reckoning
There is a profound hypocrisy in calling for God’s wrath upon a people who are currently outperforming you in every field, technologically, militarily, and diplomatically. While Saudi Arabia hides behind condemnations and denials of the presence of American bases on its soil, Israel continues to dismantle the Iranian threat piece by piece.
The Saudi leadership begs for F 35 fighter jets from the United States, but for what purpose? To park them in a garage? A weapon is only as strong as the hand that holds it, and currently, those hands are shaking. The “Anitariyyat”, the fake displays of Arab machismo, are reserved only for fellow Arabs. Against the real enemy in Tehran, the Saudi response is a deafening silence.
The End of the Normalization Mirage
To those in the West and within the Kingdom who speak of Normalization, let me be clear: We do not want it.
The paradigm has shifted. Even if the Saudi leadership were to fall to its knees, the terms have changed. The Jewish people do not seek the friendship of those who spend their Fridays praying for our demise. We are witnessing what can only be described as a moment of reckoning. The calamities currently facing the Kingdom are the direct result of a corrupt moral compass.
The Saudi government thinks it can play all sides of the fence indefinitely. They believe they are the leaders of the Islamic world, yet they swallow the bitterness of Iranian aggression and pretend it is honey.
The era of Saudi deception is coming to an end. It is time for Riyadh to stop looking for enemies in the synagogues of the world and start looking at the mirrors in their own palaces. The threats are internal, the fear is palpable, and the clock is ticking.