The Jewish communities of the Middle East—some of the oldest, and once some of the largest, in the Diaspora—have long shrunk to shadows of their former selves, when they haven’t disappeared completely. But they left behind numerous shrines and synagogues, some of which have great religious, historical, and aesthetic value. Unfortunately, these buildings have suffered from neglect, the depredations of hostile regimes, and the ravages of war. To stem the tide, an organization called Diarna has worked to create a digital museum of these sites, with the cooperation of Jewish and non-Jewish Westerners as well as local volunteers. Jason Guberman, one of Diarna’s founders, describes and displays their efforts in the video below. (Interview by Stacey Roman; 32 minutes.)

On March 5, Riyadh appointed Salman al-Dosari—a prominent journalist and vocal supporter of the Abraham Accords—as its new minister of information. Hussain Abdul-Hussain takes this choice as one of several signals that Saudi Arabia is inching closer to normalization with Israel:

Saudi Arabia has been the biggest supporter of Palestinians since before the establishment of Israel in 1948. When the kingdom’s founder Abdulaziz Ibn Saud met with the U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt aboard the USS Quincy in the Red Sea in 1945, the Saudi king demanded that Jews in Palestine be settled elsewhere. But unlimited Saudi support has only bought Palestinian ungratefulness and at times, downright hate. After the Abraham Accords were announced in August 2020, Palestinians in Gaza and Ramallah burned pictures not only of the leaders of the UAE and Bahrain but also of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS).

Since then, many Palestinian pundits and activists have been accusing Saudi Arabia of betraying the cause, even though the Saudis have said repeatedly, and as late as January, that their peace with Israel is incumbent on the establishment of a Palestinian state.

While the Saudi Arabian government has practiced self-restraint by not reciprocating Palestinian hate, Saudi Arabian columnists, cartoonists, and social-media activists have been punching back. After the burning of the pictures of Saudi Arabian leaders, al-Dosari wrote that with their aggression against Saudi Arabia, the Palestinians “have liberated the kingdom from any ethical or political commitment to these parties in the future.”