“The path to peace has been walked before. It can be again, if we have the courage to choose it, and the will to walk it together”. This could be the summary of the address delivered by King Abdullah II of Jordan to the European Parliament today. His was an intense address, repeatedly interrupted by applause and focused on the urgent need for peace in the Middle East. The King began his address by invoking “the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful” and calling the MEPs “friends”. “Five years ago, I stood at this podium and spoke of the urgent need to find political solutions to conflicts, to restore confidence in global justice, and help people, especially young people, find hope and opportunity. Since then, multiple political, technological, and economic upheavals have tested our international community. A global pandemic, new security threats, unprecedented technological acceleration, rampant, hyper-charged misinformation, and a raging war in Ukraine, and a cruel one on Gaza, and now, the attacks on Iran, which threaten a dangerous escalation of tensions, in my region and beyond”. The speaker immediately added: “It is no wonder our world feels untethered — like it has lost its moral gravity. Rules are unravelling; truth shifts by the hour, hatred and division thrive, and moderation and universal values are losing ground to ideological extremes”.