October 7 & today · Saudi Arabia · 2023–present
Saudi religious exclusion remains institutional, while state-led textbook reform shows that an inherited prejudice can also be interrupted.
Explore Saudi ArabiaPublished by WTJPublication updated
2023–present
October 7 & today · October 7 & today
Saudi religious exclusion remains institutional, while state-led textbook reform shows that an inherited prejudice can also be interrupted.
A visitor is told to remove his kippah
In March 2024, Rabbi Abraham Cooper visited Diriyah as part of a US religious-freedom delegation. Site officials told him to remove his kippah, the Jewish head covering he wore in public. He refused. The delegation was escorted out and shortened its visit.
The dispute made an institutional boundary visible. A Jewish visitor could be present, but officials challenged the visible sign of his religion. The episode belonged to the period after October 7, although the account does not establish that the attack caused it.
The state decides what is taught and permitted
Saudi Arabia’s distinctive inheritance runs through monarchy, religious administration and official education. Earlier approved textbooks carried anti-Jewish religious and conspiracy themes; restrictions on non-Muslim public worship made religious hierarchy enforceable. The state could reproduce prejudice through both teaching and the rules of visible public life.
After October 7, diplomatic conditions concerning Palestinian statehood and Gaza belonged to a different question from requiring a Jewish visitor to remove his kippah. The latter directly restricted religious visibility. Meanwhile, later curriculum reviews documented continuing reforms. This is a mixture of inherited exclusion and institutional change, rather than a documented domestic red–green alliance or a verified uniform incident surge. Following who can enforce or revise the rules explains the country more accurately than importing another country’s protest politics.
A different lesson enters the classroom
Earlier Saudi textbooks carried anti-Jewish religious and conspiratorial teaching. Because these were approved schoolbooks, the prejudice had an institutional route into the lives of successive pupils.
Later reviews document continuing revisions, including changes reported in 2026. The same state capable of preserving exclusion could also change what it taught. Alongside restrictions on non-Muslim public worship, this makes the present a story of conflicting developments: barriers that remain, and inherited hostility that institutions can choose to stop passing on.