A new opportunity has emerged to roll back generations of antisemitic and rejectionist messaging in Arab media, mosques, and schools. It stems from the convergence of interests between Israel and Arab powers, a youthful Arab grassroots trend in favor of a “peace between peoples,” and new Israeli and American Jewish capacities to engage Arab public discussions from the outside in. But prospects for change remain severely constrained: In addition to the effects of the Israeli-Palestinian stalemate, the legacy of antisemitic brainwashing endures in many Arab institutions and draws further energy from Iranian and jihadist information operations. Meanwhile, proponents of a positive shift lack coordination, planning, and adequate support. In Reclamation: A Cultural Policy for Arab-Israeli Partnership, Joseph Braude documents the opportunity as well as the obstacles, and then proposes a strategy to accelerate progress. He explains how to engage Arab allies in a coordinated communications reform effort, support independent Arab champions of civil relations with Israel and Jews, expand the “outside-in” capacities, and degrade Iranian and jihadist channels of indoctrination within Continue Reading…
Author • Broadcaster • Middle East Specialist
Arab Council for Regional Integration Responds to the Trump Peace Plan
On January 28, 2020, the long-awaited Trump Peace Plan was unrolled in a White House press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The Arab Council for Regional Integration responded promptly to the plan in a communique released from Cairo a day later. It was subsequently published in newspapers across North Africa and the Middle East, and appeared in policy institute surveys of Arab responses to the Trump plan. The following is the text of the Arab Council’s statement: “The 24 hours since the release of the Trump peace plan yesterday have witnessed an outpouring of emotion on the streets of some of our capitals. On the one hand, the anger conveyed in these demonstrations does not reflect a considered view of the content of the 80-page White House proposal, and questions can and should be raised about the organizers of the demonstrations and their motives. “On the other hand, let no one doubt the genuineness of feeling and energy which protesters have shown. They want Palestinians to achieve their Continue Reading…
A new book on how Arab liberals are promoting social change through media
Amid civil war, failing states, and terrorism, Arab liberals are growing in numbers and influence. Advocating a culture of equity, tolerance, good governance, and the rule of law, they work through some of the region’s largest media outlets to spread their ideals within the culture. Broadcasting Change analyzes this trend by portraying the intersection of media and politics in two Arab countries with seismic impact on the region and beyond. In Saudi Arabia, where hardline clerics silenced their opponents for generations, liberals now dominate the airwaves. Their success in weakening clerics’ grip over the public space would not only help develop the country; it would ensure that the birthplace of the prophet Muhammad exports a constructive understanding of Islam. In Egypt, home to a brutal government crackdown on Islamists and a bloodsport of attacks on Coptic Christians, local liberals are acting with courage on the ground and over the airwaves. Through TV talk shows, drama, and comedy, they play off the government’s anti-Islamist agenda to more thoughtfully advocate religious reform. Continue Reading…
New and Noteworthy in Arab and Islamic Affairs, 10-29-17
Trump’s ambassador to the UN lays off Doha and pressures Juba. To subscribe to this daily roundup by Mideast specialist Joseph Braude, click here. In a remarkable about-face, Nikki Haley tells Congress that Qatar “does not fund Hamas.” … “Haley’s reversal, contained in a memo to Congress obtained by BuzzFeed News, comes as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson seeks to unite competing factions in the Trump administration behind a common policy in the high-stakes Gulf crisis.” That policy effectively leans in favor of the Qatari position. The position, as described in the article, is to view the four-country blockade as “a threat to both stability in the region and the US air base in Qatar, which is home to the largest concentration of U.S. military personnel in the Middle East.” Haley’s remarks include the following: “While the Qatari government does not fund Hamas, it does allow Hamas political representatives to be based in Qatar, which Qatar believes limits Iran’s influence and pressure over Hamas. … Qatar has committed to take Continue Reading…
New and Noteworthy in Arab and Islamic Affairs, 10-16-17
Iran critics give Trump’s JCPOA decertification mixed reviews, while Russia rewards Saudi Arabia for warming relations. To subscribe to this daily roundup by Mideast specialist Joseph Braude, click here. The new White House strategy on Tehran is more savvy than its critics claim, writes Amir Taheri in Asharq Alawsat …: “Had he renounced the JCPOA in a formal way, Iran’s leaders could have cast themselves as victims of ‘imperialist bullying’ and deployed the Europeans . . . to fight in their corner. Now they cannot do that because all that Trump is demanding is a stricter application of the measures that the EU and others say they mean to defend. … [The measures, he writes, amount to a more holistic view of relations with Iran, to include accountability on support for terror, human rights violations, and hostage-taking.] But Eli Lake at Bloomberg sees a betrayal of Trump’s promise to nix the JCPOA: “Trump fails to address the greatest threat the rogue regime poses: its expansion in Syria and Iraq. … In some ways Trump’s decisions Continue Reading…
A Landmark Austrian Government Report Warns Against Muslim Brotherhood Activism in the Country
The report, commissioned by the Austrian intelligence establishment, documents exploitation of Austrian government funds and schools, radicalization of local Muslim communities, and the use of Austrian territory as a springboard for Brotherhood activism in Arab countries. In recent years, several European governments have begun to revise their policies toward the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist organizations. The trend began in 2014 when the British government ordered a review of the movement, its presence in the UK, and the question of how official policy should treat it. The process did not culminate, as some critics of the Brotherhood had hoped, with the designation of the group as a terrorist organization. Nonetheless, it amounted to a stinging indictment of the Brotherhood’s ideology and aims. The report found that the group has “selectively used violence and sometimes terror in pursuit of their institutional goals,” warned against its habit of political double-talk, and advised the British government to be wary of engaging Brotherhood affiliates as partners. Similar findings have begun to emerge elsewhere on Continue Reading…
An open invitation to Arab readers who want to share in the struggle against extremism
As a member of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Task Force on Countering Terrorism and Ideology, I interviewed its co-chairman, Governor Tom Kean, as part of an effort to spread the message of the report to an Arab audience. We’re inviting readers at Al-Majalla, Saudi Arabia’s flagship news magazine, to contribute their ideas about how to counter extremism in their country and beyond. Here’s a link to the English edition of the q&a.
Joseph Braude’s New and Noteworthy in Arab and Islamic Affairs, 9-13-17
An Arab League slugfest over Qatar, a shvitzing frenzy in Israel over GCC ties, and Polisario fears of a mass exodus from the Saharan camps. To subscribe to this daily roundup, click here. Acrimony at the Arab League over Qatar: Tensions escalated at the summit in Cairo as Doha FM called Iran an “honorable state” and dubbed rival regimes’ media “dogs.” Saudi Arabia and the UAE reiterated that their list of 13 demands remained the basis for negotiation over resolving the conflict. Kuwait’s deputy FM, sworn to media the intra-GCC feud, hit back at the Qatari praise for Iran: “Despite Kuwait’s efforts to open up communication channels for dialogue between Arabian Gulf countries and neighbouring Iran with a view to enhancing regional security and stability, the Islamic Republic has continued its interference in domestic Arab affairs. Meanwhile, Washington remains a battlefield among the Gulf states’ hired hands. A shvitzing frenzy in Israel over GCC ties: An Israel radio broadcast claiming an unnamed Saudi prince had visited the Jewish state has become an international story, and Continue Reading…
Joseph Braude’s New and Noteworthy in Arab and Islamic Affairs, 9-11-17
Venezuelan ruler heads to Algiers, Moroccan opposition prince booted from Tunisia, and a Saudi crackdown on Islamist clerics. To subscribe to this daily Mideast roundup, click here. Rocked by protests and newly sanctioned by the U.S. Government, Venezuelan president Maduro arrives in Algeria. The sanctions barred U.S. banks from the country and isolated the national oil company. Algerian FM says enhancing oil trade will be discussed. The trip should be understood in the context of the following recent statement by Maduro: “[Let’s] start selling oil, gas and all other products that Venezuela sells with new currencies, including the Chinese yuan, the Japanese yen, the Russian ruble, the Indian rupee among others.” Algeria may well throw him a lifeline. Sidelined Moroccan prince deported from Tunisia: Moulay Hicham, ensconced at Stanford U. and an outspoken critic of King Mohammed VI, was to have given a lecture about the future of the Arab spring then continue east to Qatar for an event at Brookings Doha. But now he’s stuck in Paris. Tunisian authorities are keeping tight-lipped. Saudi Continue Reading…
New and Noteworthy in Arab and Islamic Affairs, 9-10-17
A fuzzy encounter between the U.S. Navy and Iran, an intra-Jewish spat over relations with Qatar, and scrappy decisions in Algiers. To subscribe to this daily roundup, click here. Iran claims it confronted a U.S. Navy vessel and the U.S. issues a denial. Reuters cites Tasnim News Agency as saying an “Iranian military vessel confronted an American warship in the Gulf and warned it to stay away from a damaged Iranian fishing boat.” U.S. Naval Central Command acknowledged it heard a small boat’s distress call 75 miles away but “at no time was there any direct contact between the U.S. and Iranian maritime forces.” Qatar pays a Jewish-owned PR firm to court American Jews, but a Chabad rabbi warns Jews that Doha has blood on its hands. Times of Israel: “Qatar is paying $50,000 a month for outreach to the Jewish community to a prominent Jewish Republican operative at a time when the Persian Gulf nation is facing calls for isolation from other moderate Arabs and by conservatives in Washington, DC.” Full page ad in the New Continue Reading…
