Joe Katzman and I had an interesting email exchange about the recent rash of “look! we’re changing!” stories in the Arab News. Salon.com also published a story about Arab News editor Khaled Al-Maeena, in which he pushes this same line: A change of heart in the Saudi media.

My response to Joe:

“I just read it, and I have to tell you that my cynicism about the Arab News and their supposed “change of heart” is utterly without bounds. If you look around a bit more in the same Arab News issues that contain these “mea culpa, we must change, woe is us” articles, you will find the same hatred, the same denials, the same antisemitism.

It’s a sham, a charade, a lie, just like Abu Mazen and the “roadmap.” They’re playing us for fools, making a big show of repentance. The Friday before the Riyadh bombings, the sheikhs were screaming for our deaths in the mosques of Mecca and Medina, and I have no doubt they were doing it last Friday too. The only difference is that they didn’t broadcast it on Saudi TV, because they were in ass-covering mode.

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but I just can’t do the “oh, maybe there’s hope for them after all!” thing any more.”

Joe’s a bit more willing to see it as (at least partially) genuine than I am. See the link above for his thoughts.