Arab Leaders Stay, Listen to Israeli -Betsy PisikA UN conference on religious tolerance broke new ground when a half-dozen Arab leaders - including Saudi King Abdullah [pictured above] for the first time ever - stayed in their seats while an Israeli president spoke.
(Washington Times)
UPDATE:
The Saudis' Sham UN Faith-Confab Farce -Ali al-Ahmed
Several Middle Eastern and world leaders met in New York this week under UN auspices to discuss the world state of religious freedom, part of an initiative of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz on religious dialogue. Abdullah, an authoritarian ruler, leads one of the most (if not the most) religiously oppressive regimes, which has amply earned its nickname "Hatred's Kingdom." Jews, Christians and all other non-Muslims are not allowed to practice their faith inside the kingdom. Saudi schoolbooks teach that Christians and Jews are the eternal enemies of Islam.
The obvious question that the West should be asking these leaders during the conference is: What are they doing in their own countries to stop religious oppression?
The writer is director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington.
(New York Post)
3 comments:
That is an impressive change. I actually heard about this on News Radio, and they mentioned how it was interesting that the Saudi's took part in the forum when it is illegal to observe publicly, any other religion in their country.
I'm less than impressed. I wish i could see this leading to something. Maybe next they'll denounce violent jihad? Nah.
I think it is impressive in that it is a clear and significant change in attitude regarding one of those areas they usually like to posture on. I agree with you that it will probably not lead to much in the short term.
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