Tablet Magazine - a new read on Jewish life

Collection

In Spring 2023, Tablet staff decamped to Riyadh and Jeddah to cover the past, present, and future of the birthplace of Islam, the leader of the Sunni Middle East, and perhaps, one day, Israel’s partner in peace.

Andrea Bruce
Andrea Bruce
Birth of a Nation

Reporting from the front lines of Mohammed bin Salman’s stupefyingly ambitious mass experiment in modernization, reform, and control

It is impossible to tell how long Saudi Arabia’s Formula 1 course is, where it goes, or how it’s shaped. Whatever’s taking place down below the carving stations and espresso bars inside the soundproofed Paddock Club at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, down on a floodlit straightaway of asphalt so eerily pristine that it seems impossible a car has ever touched it, remains an auto-racing-themed abstraction even during a potential outbreak of real excitement. When defending world champion Max Verstappen’s engine failed mid-lap on qualifying night this past March, sending him to the back of the starting grid for the next evening’s grand prix, the image of his stalled race car on an overhead TV screen barely distracted the club level’s courtiers, VIPs, and professional schmoozers from their wagyu steak. In contrast, cheers sometimes erupted from the opposite grandstand, where a more modest, more sports-focused, and seemingly unrelated event was taking place. That event could be visited by forsaking the wonders of the club lounge and stepping outside. Every few seconds an aeronautical sound-wave would suction the still desert air and a jet engine enclosed in insect skin, piloted by an international sporting celebrity whose face was impossible to see, zoomed by just long enough to hold a flickering perception of the vehicle’s brief physical presence. The brain-pinching whoosh entered through the right ear long before its origin appeared; by the time the whoosh exited the left ear its source was already deep into the unknowable frontier that lay beyond Turn 1. The smell of perfume overwhelmed whatever faint suggestion of combusting organic matter accidentally floated up to the loggia. It was a specifically Saudi perfume, arboreal instead of florid, and like the race car exhaust it had the nose-flooding sweetness of something burning....

Continue reading →︎

MBS is focused on his domestic reform agenda. If the Chinese can keep the Iranians on a leash until the Americans come to their senses, it’s to his benefit.

Newsletter

Subscribe to get Tablet magazine’s unique perspective on the Middle East.

Check iconSuccess! You have subscribed to the Tablet newsletter! Check your inbox for a confirmation message.
Check iconSomething went wrong. Please enter your email address again.

The Tab Volume 2

Bookmark The Tab archive to pick up your new weekly printable edition every Friday morning: Tablet’s most readable material, on paper.

Download this week’s edition of The Tab printable digest here.

Matti Friedman

Tablet columnist and the author, most recently, of Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai.

Israel at a Crossroads: A State for Jews or a Jewish State?

Liel Leibovitz, editor of ‘Zionism: The Tablet Guide,’ moderates panelists Aaron David Miller, Michael Doran, Gadi Taub, and Anat Naschitz

WATCH THE RECORDED EVENT HERE

Navigate to Arts & Letters section
Navigate to News section
Navigate to Belief section
Navigate to Arts & Letters section
Navigate to Israel & The Middle East section
Navigate to Belief section
Navigate to Food section
Navigate to Israel & The Middle East section
Navigate to Community section
Navigate to Food section
Navigate to History section
Navigate to Community section
Navigate to Science section
Navigate to History section
Navigate to Sports section
Navigate to Science section
Navigate to Holidays section
Navigate to Sports section
←︎
→︎
Join Us!

Become a member and unlock exclusive access to events, conversations with Tablet personalities, and more.