Naysayers move aside. It’s coming. Yes, 2025 is the year we’re in the kingdom!
For many years now, I have been working on bringing to light and filming previously hidden religious antiquities from the biblical Middle East, Asia Minor, and Europe. The only place I had as yet been unable to visit was the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It had always proved elusive.
However, as the Abraham Accords return to life with the second US Trump Administration, we are all on the brink of a new horizon just waiting to be explored.
For me, it’s about time to change hats.
No more skepticism.
There’s nothing like international tourism to break open the gates of peace through mutual discovery!
Contrary to popular belief, the country of Saudi Arabia came into existence less than 100 years ago (in 1932). There are still many places there that have not been inhabited for millennia. Jews are familiar with that sort of time frame.
[There were Jews there during classical antiquity] In fact, Jews had a community in Eastern Saudi Arabia called Al-Ahsa [arriving there at the behest of the Ottoman Empire], where there is, apparently, an old Jewish cemetery.
How many Jews actually live in Saudi Arabia today? Surprisingly, according to Jewish expatriates living in the kingdom, there are approximately 3,000 Jews currently residing there, mostly English-speakers hailing from North America, South Africa, and France.
My question is: Where do these people go for a trip or holiday break when they need one? Answer: Out into the lovely Arabian desert! Where else?
Don’t know about you, but, somehow, that just wouldn’t work for my family.
With that in mind, I’m sure that Saudi Vision 2030 was established as a massive government infrastructure-building program launched by the Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) some 10 years ago.
Projects for the tourism sector alone include the Royal Arts Complex, the new Abha Airport, a submerged Coral Bloom, the Jeddah Historic District and Jeddah City Central, Desert Rock, Boutique Group, and the unique and as yet undiscovered Al-Ula region, similar, in many ways, to Petra.
Then, there is the beautiful seaside Red Sea Project covering approximately 10,800 square miles of islands, beaches, deserts and mountains. It is already popular, but will eventually include about 3,000 hotel rooms, its own private airport, marinas, and a commercial district. The kingdom expects this destination alone to attract a million tourists a year. And yes, I’m pretty sure there will be kosher food and a landmark Chabad House to boot!
Upon reflection, it has occurred to me that there is one even more exciting and undiscovered landmark destination that will soon be made available to us, on the more spiritual side, and that is Mount Sinai.
Yes, you read that correctly, the true location of the biblical Mount Sinai where the ancient Israelites camped over 3,300 years ago and where Moses brought down the Ten Commandments as written in the Book of Exodus.
According to my research, God chose His Revelation not to be in Egypt, nor the Sinai Peninsula, but on an unassuming mountain located in the present-day Al-Horeba region of Saudi Arabia.
This is based on the biblical narrative, rabbinical tradition, and topographical studies related to the theory of Rabbi Alexander Hood.
The most famous landmark from the Bible, the real Mount Sinai, would be a major attraction for all faith-based people.
“Tourism is a bridge between nations,” Israel’s Tourism Minister Haim Katz said, in a recent statement reported by Bloomberg. “Tourism cooperation has the potential to bring us closer together and herald economic flourishing.”
During his historic visit to Saudi Arabia in September 2023 for UN World Tourism Organization event, Katz became the first Israeli government minister to lead a delegation to the Gulf kingdom.
He insisted that it was only the travel industry that could kick off improvements in relations between the two countries.
Indeed, Katz’s statement was near-identical to what Saudi’s own Tourism Minister Ahmed Al-Khateeb said during the same conference. After a warm welcome: “There is [an Israeli] delegation here in the country for the first time. I hope they were received well!” he said: “Everyone in this room understands that tourism is our bridge between people and between cultures.”
On that note, the very first Saudi-Israel educational travel experience is coming. An Israeli tour, journeying to the far reaches of Saudi Arabia for the purposes of biblical archaeology, including the above-mentioned Mount Sinai location is both compelling and spiritually inspiring.
This is what a modern-day peace process pilgrimage looks like. I have no doubt that the various US and Israeli ambassadors whom I have worked with on past projects will be on board.
A hard idea to sell
However, it must also be said that even after Saudi Arabia signs the Abraham Accords, it’s going to be a hard sell to the locals. The majority of Saudi citizens today are still averse to normalization with the State of Israel.
A poll conducted by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in late 2023 found that over 90% of Saudis opposed relations between Israel and the Arab world. In January 2024, a surprising high of well-over-half of Saudis were opposed to Saudi recognition of Israel, according to a Doha Institute poll.
This opposition has included the withholding of permits allowing Israeli sports teams to participate in events in the kingdom. This is to be expected, however, given the many decades of anti-Israel demonization and misinformation that has been prevalent in the Saudi media and education system.
Once they take advantage of the Abraham Accords though and actually come to Israel to see for themselves, this attitude will no doubt change.
Having said that, I am very big on the idea of utilizing various forms of “soft diplomacy,” as subtle ways of breaking the ice and letting tensions thaw out between the parties through indirect means. Tourism is at the forefront of this.
Once formal permission can be obtained from the tourism and foreign affairs ministries [of both countries], and in coordination with the IDF – theoretically – such tours to famous biblical sites could turn it into one of the ultimate religious heritage destinations.
The time is now to take that giant step in making tourism and Mount Sinai a powerful bridge for peace between our two great and ancient nations.
The writer is the director of the Jewish Heritage Project – Diplomatic Initiatives. He is the author of The Vatican and Me – Unlocking the Divine Treasures Inside, and an investigative archaeologist/tour operator. You can contact him at Office@Harryhmoskoff.net