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A Week to Celebrate in the Middle East, as Israel and the World Look Forward
US President Donald Trump and Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani attend a signing ceremony in Doha, Qatar, May 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Mark Twain once said, “All generalizations are false, including this one.” Well, I wonder what Twain would have made of Raphael Patai’s 1973 book, The Arab Mind — an audacious attempt to anatomize the psychological DNA of an entire region by offering a sweeping, all-encompassing portrait of the Arab world.
Patai proposed a bold thesis: that Arabs — from Morocco to Iraq, from tribal sheikhs in the Gulf to Cairo technocrats — were shaped by a single cultural code: one that prized honor over truth, shame over guilt, and appearance over substance. It was, in short, a one-size-fits-all user’s manual for the Arab psyche.
Patai’s thesis was, in many ways, the alter ego of what Arabists like Edward Said and Arab leaders like Gamal Abdel Nasser were saying at the time. Although, where Patai saw dysfunction in a singular Arab psyche, they saw dignity. Where he pointed to tribalism and stagnation, they spoke of unity and resistance.
Nasser dreamed of a pan-Arab umma — a unified Arab nation stretching across borders and ideologies. Edward Said, for his part, accused Western scholars like Patai of reducing the Arab world to caricature, feeding a colonial narrative that portrayed Arabs as exotic, irrational, and eternally “other.”
And yet, even as they fought Patai’s conclusions, both sides shared the same assumption: that the Arab world was one thing — one mind, one heritage, one culture, one destiny.
For decades, The Arab Mind quietly but persistently shaped US military training manuals, diplomatic strategies, intelligence briefings, and Middle East policy assumptions. It became the go-to guide for Westerners trying to “understand” the Arab world.
But if Patai were writing today — this week, to be precise — he would have had to call his book The Arab Minds, in the plural. Because President Trump’s glitzy, headline-devouring state visit to Saudi Arabia — and other Gulf nations — has just buried the idea of a singular Arab “mind” for good.
This wasn’t a US-Arab summit from the history books. No fiery speeches about Zionist conspiracies. No somber declarations of Arab unity. Instead, it was a who’s who of the Fortune 500, flown in to celebrate hundreds of billions of dollars in investment deals between the US and its Arab allies. Artificial intelligence, military hardware, aerospace, healthcare, infrastructure — even a Saudi CubeSat hitching a ride on NASA’s Artemis II. This wasn’t pan-Arabism. It was pan-capitalism.
Although… Israel wasn’t invited. Cue the heartburn in Jerusalem. Why is Trump cozying up to the Saudis, the Qataris, even the Syrians — without us? Why is Israel being left out in the cold? But here’s the thing: it’s not a snub. It’s a setup. Because this trip — if you read between the lines — might just be the runway for some of the most unexpected Israeli breakthroughs since the Abraham Accords.
The winds are shifting. Trump’s announcement in Riyadh that US sanctions on Syria are being lifted wasn’t merely symbolic — it was seismic. Suddenly, Syria isn’t a regional pariah — it’s back on the guest list. Trump’s declaration that “peace in the region requires a new approach” may sound like typical political varnish, but it is more likely a nod toward Israeli-Syrian dialogue, which Trump requested from Syria’s new leader. A year ago, that would have sounded like science fiction.
Even more significant is the growing Arab consensus that Hamas and the Houthis are not cherished symbols of resistance — instead, they are a strategic liability. The Saudis and the Emiratis are done with them. Egypt’s stance has shifted. And Qatar, the lifeline for Islamists, is feeling real pressure: either keep backing terror, or keep your seat at the global investment table. You can’t do both anymore.
And here’s the real shocker: there’s serious talk that the Muslim Brotherhood, long hailed as the great hope of pan-Arabism, is on the verge of official disavowal. Arab leaders are beginning to say — openly — that the Brotherhood isn’t the engine of Arab renewal, but the architect of regional chaos. The entire pan-Arab narrative, once held together by slogans and shared grievance, is starting to unravel.
So where does that leave Israel? Exactly where it should be — at the center of the new story. Israel is proof that a small country in a tough neighborhood can thrive when it refuses to dissolve its identity, no matter how intense the pressure to conform or collapse. In a region finally swapping ideology for pragmatism, Israel is no longer the outlier — it’s the blueprint.
So yes, it may have stung to be left off this week’s summit stage. But it wasn’t sidelining — it was positioning. What we witnessed wasn’t exclusion. It was groundwork. This is the slow construction of something much bigger than a photo op or a flashy deal.
The Arab world is no longer a monolith. It’s a collection of countries with diverging interests and evolving priorities — finally ready to let go of the imposed identities of the past and embrace something far more honest, and far more promising.
Which brings us, unexpectedly but powerfully, to Parshat Emor. After a long stretch of laws about priestly purity and sacred times, the narrative suddenly shifts. A fight breaks out in the Israelite camp. One of the men involved is described not by name, but by lineage: “The son of an Israelite woman — who was the son of an Egyptian man — went out among the Israelites…” (Lev. 24:10).
This man ends up blaspheming the Divine Name and is ultimately put to death. It’s a grim episode, but what’s striking is how the Torah frames it. His identity — half Israelite, half Egyptian — isn’t incidental. It’s the whole point.
Here is someone who couldn’t let go of Egypt. Even physically standing among the Israelites, he remained spiritually tethered to a different world. And that wasn’t just a personal issue — it was a national warning.
This wasn’t the only time in the wilderness that Egypt reappeared. Again and again, the Israelites looked back: “We remember the fish we ate in Egypt!” “Let’s appoint a leader and return to Egypt!” But that longing wasn’t innocent nostalgia. It was sabotage. A refusal to embrace a new identity, a new mission, and a different kind of future.
Seen this way, the man’s sin may not have been blasphemy in the narrow sense — it was symbolic. Blasphemy as an expression of identity confusion. Of clinging to something toxic that had already been discarded. He couldn’t break free of Egypt — and in the end, it broke him.
And isn’t that exactly the drama playing out in the Middle East today? For decades, Arab leaders — some sincerely, some cynically — held tight to inherited identities: pan-Arab unity, perpetual resistance, and victimhood. The old slogans were seductive. But they were also paralyzing. And now, slowly, country by country, those slogans are being replaced. With individualism. With trade. With technology, education, and ambition. It’s not perfect — but it’s facing forward.
Israel figured this out a long time ago. That’s why it’s still here. And that’s why it thrives. For all the turbulence of Jewish history, Israel refused to ever be shackled to ghosts of the past. It chose to move forward — to build, to innovate, to surge ahead. And now the Arab world stands at that same crossroads.
Those who choose to let go of their ideological Egypts — who move past Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the tired illusions of The Arab Mind — just might discover what Israel already knows: that real strength begins the moment you stop looking backward.
The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California.
The post A Week to Celebrate in the Middle East, as Israel and the World Look Forward first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Support for Israel Holding Strong Among US Public, Growing Among Young Voters, Poll Finds
Pro-Israel rally in Times Square, New York City, US, Oct. 8, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Jeenah Moon
American support for Israel in its war against Hamas has reached its highest level since the conflict began and includes a surprising surge of support among younger voters in Gen Z, according to a new Harvard CAPS-Harris poll.
The poll, conducted from July 6–8, found that 77 percent of registered voters say they support Israel in the ongoing war in Gaza, while just 23 percent back Hamas. That marks a continued trend of stability in pro-Israel sentiment across the U.S. public. In June, the poll revealed that 75 percent of the US public supported Israel over Hamas.
Among Americans aged 18 to 24, support for Israel now stands at 60 percent, compared to 40 percent for Hamas. That’s a notable jump from 52 percent support for Israel in March and could suggest a broader generational shift. The increase is particularly significant given Gen Z’s reputation for progressive activism and skepticism toward traditional US foreign policy allies.
Support for Israel rises with age, reaching 92 percent among voters 65 and older.
The poll also found a strong majority of voters, 80 percent overall, say that “Hamas must release all remaining hostages without any conditions or face serious consequences.” Even among Gen Z, 61 percent agree, suggesting a broad rejection of Hamas’s actions, despite more nuanced generational divides on broader policy questions.
While older voters remain more hawkish, favoring strong Israeli military action and opposing any deal that leaves Hamas in power, Gen Z respondents were more open to negotiated outcomes. Still, the overall direction appears to show a consolidation of support for Israel as the war continues.
The Harvard CAPS-Harris survey polled 2,044 registered voters online and has become one of the most closely watched monthly trackers of public opinion on foreign policy.
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US Senators Led by Ted Cruz Reintroduce Legislation to Label the Muslim Brotherhood a Terrorist Organization
US Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaking at a press conference about the United States restricting weapons for Israel, at the US Capitol, Washington, DC. Photo: Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
A group of US lawmakers has reintroduced the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2025, legislation that would classify the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who spearheaded the effort, is calling on the Trump administration to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), a move that would trigger sanctions and stricter restrictions on its assets, travel, and financial networks.
The Texas senator described the Brotherhood as “a terrorist organization” that provides material support to proxy entities, including Hamas, a Palestinian offshoot of the global Islamist movement. He cited the group’s extremist ideology and noted Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel, describing the attack as “the worst single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust” during which “at least 53 Americans” were killed or kidnapped.
“American allies in the Middle East and Europe have already labeled the Brotherhood a terrorist organization,” Cruz said in a statement, urging the US to “do the same, and do so expeditiously.” The bill is co-sponsored by several Senate Republicans, including Sens. Tom Cotton (AR), John Boozman (AR), Rick Scott (FL), Ashley Moody (FL), and Dave McCormick (PA).
Cotton echoed Cruz’s assessment, saying the Brotherhood “preaches death to Israel, the United States, and other Western governments,” and argued that such rhetoric warrants a formal terrorist designation.
In the US House of Representatives, Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL) introduced companion legislation, citing similar concerns about the group’s global network and ideological influence.
Labeling the Muslim Brotherhood as an FTO would mark a significant shift in US counterterrorism policy. Such a designation would enable the US government to freeze the group’s assets, impose visa bans, and criminalize support for its activities. It would also likely increase scrutiny of affiliated organizations and individuals both inside and outside the United States.
Governments in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Austria have already banned the Brotherhood, arguing it poses a threat to domestic and regional stability. But critics of Cruz’s bill warn that such a sweeping measure could backfire, potentially targeting progressive political efforts and fueling perceptions of US hostility toward Islamic political participation.
The legislation will now be reviewed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. While supporters push for swift passage, its fate remains uncertain amid concerns over diplomatic fallout and domestic civil liberties.
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US Federal Judge Allows Antisemitism Lawsuit to Proceed Against Powerful Lawyers Union
A view of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Photo: Chip East via Reuters Connect
A US federal judge ruled on Tuesday that an antisemitism lawsuit accusing the powerful Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (ALAA) union can continue over the objections of the organization’s formidable legal counsel, which attempted to have the case dismissed by arguing that it is “self-serving” and “anti-democratic.”
On Wednesday, officials from the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, which is representing the aggrieved parties, hailed the procedural victory in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York as a testament to the veracity of the allegations of which the ALAA is accused.
“We are enormously gratified with this ruling vindicating our clients’ federal labor law rights to oppose antisemitism in their union, including their right to sue over a virulently anti-Israel resolution proposed just weeks after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack,” Brandeis Center chairman and founder Kenneth Marcus said in a statement. “The Brandeis Center will defend Jewish and non-Jewish union members who stand up for themselves and against antisemitism and with all the lawful tools available to them.”
Brandeis Center senior counsel Rory Lancman added, “In standing up for what it is right, these courageous legal aid lawyers faced expulsion and a campaign of demonization that has taken an enormous toll on then, both professionally and personally. We look forward to proceeding with this case and fully vindicating their rights under federal labor law.”
As previously reported by The Algemeiner, the union for New York public defenders allegedly degenerated into a “cornucopia of classic modern antisemitism” in the months following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel. Just weeks after the massacre, the ALAA passed a virulently anti-Israel resolution which made only a passing reference to Hamas’s atrocities and launched a smear campaign against Jewish members who opposed it. Following that, the union facilitated the filing of “formal charges” against Jewish and Zionist members, attempting to expel them from its ranks.
Antisemitic conduct in the ALAA took other forms, the complaint alleged. Members commended Hamas’s violence, chanted “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and denied that the terrorist group had murdered women and children. In one incident, someone allegedly asserted that Zionist beliefs would prevent Jewish attorneys from “zealously” defending Muslims, Palestinians, and Arabs and lead them to conspire against them and sabotage their cases.
“If they support Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people, why would they not have a reason to collude with prosecutors and other adversaries to deprive our clients of justice in the courts,” ALAA member Marlen Bodden wrote in an “officewide” email on Nov. 16, 2023.
“It is a legitimate question,” Monica Dula responded.
A ranking official attempted to stop the conversation from descending into a pitch and catch of antisemitic tropes, but the idea that Jews would work against their clients had allegedly been planted weeks earlier. On Oct. 13, 2023, Saara Ashid suggested that a Jewish attorney would not “stand up for Black and Brown folk in the same way,” according to the lawsuit. She added, “I’m starting to worry about all of your clients.”
By Nov. 17, ALAA was scheduled to vote on a resolution that the complaint describes as a “1,147-word diatribe against the existence of the Jewish state, replete with deceitful blood libels designed to arouse the most ancient antisemitic hatreds.” Resolved to stop it from taking place, several Jewish members, accusing the union of breach of contract and fostering a professional culture that would discourage Jews from seeking legal counsel from ALAA affiliated attorneys, sought and were granted a temporary restraining order which delayed the proceeding.
Angered by the ruling, their colleagues allegedly sought to expel them from the union entirely, with one member accusing them “of snitching behavior.” A volley of similar comments were launched in an email thread over the next several days, the lawsuit notes, with Emmanuel Garcia writing “if you are a snitch please do us a favor and kill yourself” and David Tobias commenting “careful, snitches are in this thread, they might snitch on you and air strike your home with your family in it.”
ALAA then moved to file charges against its Jewish members, accusing them of attempting to “interrupt a democratic process on an internal union matter” and violating the union’s “core” mission. The anti-Israel resolution has since been passed, and a trial of the members is forthcoming.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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