A senior Saudi journalist, Abdul Aziz Khamis, has voiced unusually candid views for a Saudi public figure about Jewish history and Israel’s legitimacy.
In a January 21, 2026 interview cited by the Jerusalem Post, Khamis argued that Jews are not merely “Ashkenazim from Europe,” but an indigenous part of the Middle East with a continuous presence spanning millennia.
Khamis said that misunderstanding and refusal to accept Israel’s permanence is a “strategic and historical mistake.” He emphasized that Jews lived in the region long before Islam, noting ancient Jewish communities in Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria. As an example, he cited Iraq’s first finance minister, Sasson Haskel, a Jew, underscoring Jewish integration into regional history. He concluded that borders shifted under British and French rule, but Jewish presence is a “solid historical fact,” calling for dialogue over bloodshed.
Khamis also denounced the Muslim Brotherhood as a destabilizing force threatening Arab monarchies, Egypt, and Jordan. In Gaza, Hamas functions as the Brotherhood’s local branch, a reality that has driven regional Arab opposition to Hamas rule. Past Israeli acquiescence to Qatari funding—channeled via Qatar—is widely seen as a failed gamble that strengthened Hamas militarily.