Saudi newspaper appoints rabbi as permanent article writer

RIYADH, Jan. 10 (YPA) – A Saudi newspaper has appointed a Jewish rabbi as its permanent article writer, according to the Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

Yedioth Ahronoth said that the English-language Saudi newspaper “Arab News” had appointed Rabbi “Marc Schneier” as a regular article writer.

“With this, Schneier became the first rabbi to write for a Saudi newspaper on a regular basis,” the Hebrew newspaper added. “Schneier is a well-known American rabbi who founded and heads the Foundation for Interfaith Understanding (Judaism and Islam).”

Over the past 15 years, Schneier has been lavishly received in the palaces of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, and Newsweek previously named him one of the 50 most influential rabbis in the United States, according to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

In late December, 2021, the “Times of Israel” newspaper revealed that a Jewish rabbi has been working for months to establish a recognized Jewish presence in Saudi Arabia, in a precedent of its kind.

The newspaper showed several photos and videos of the ultra-Orthodox Rabbi Jacob Yisrael Herzog, wandering the streets of Riyadh and visiting a number of institutions, where he was staying in a hotel in the Saudi capital in public.

A month earlier, Yedioth Ahronoth said that a delegation of American Jews met in Saudi Arabia with government officials and members of the royal family, in a step that paves the way for the kingdom to normalize with the occupation.

YPA