Saudi Kidnapping: Enough

IS there an Arabic word for “chutzpah”? I ask because Saudis might find it odd to use a Yiddish term in characterizing the most self-consciously Islamic regime in the world.

For nearly two decades, the House of Saud has unblinkingly abetted and protected Saudi men who kidnap American children to Saudi Arabia and keep them there against their will. And the monarchy doesn’t limit its reach to children. Many an American woman has discovered—the hard way—that Saudi Arabia is the only place in the world where an adult American female accused of no crime cannot leave without the written permission of the ranking male in her life, usually a husband but sometimes a father.

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William McGurn

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IS there an Arabic word for “chutzpah”? I ask because Saudis might find it odd to use a Yiddish term in characterizing the most self-consciously Islamic regime in the world.

For nearly two decades, the House of Saud has unblinkingly abetted and protected Saudi men who kidnap American children to Saudi Arabia and keep them there against their will. And the monarchy doesn’t limit its reach to children. Many an American woman has discovered—the hard way—that Saudi Arabia is the only place in the world where an adult American female accused of no crime cannot leave without the written permission of the ranking male in her life, usually a husband but sometimes a father.