It was - until the Saudis started their practice of dropping condemned men into the Red Sea from airplanes.
They say the sharks have developed a taste for human flesh now.
I don't think this is accurate. My kid has been snorkeling there the last two weeks, plus the open Red Sea and the populated areas of Saudi along the Red Sea are hundreds of miles away. It's like saying don't go swimming in Florida because of Haiti being unsanitary.
Either that or it's like saying the sharks still swim the trade routes between Africa and the New World because of all the black slaves who were thrown overboard there in the 18th century.