Approval Given For Expansion Of The Islamic Saudi Academy

At the madrassah's Popes Head Road location in southern Fairfax County. The site was previously that of Fairfax Christian School, which was always denied any requests for expansion and even for rebuilding a small structure which had burned to the ground.

Atlas Shrugs has the videos.

Jihad Watch also has coverage, and the comments section is quite lively. I contributed to the fray at Jihad Watch, of course.

At least the vote for approval wasn't unanimous this time. And a couple of the Board members did go on record with their objections. Previous approvals at the local-government level have always been unanimous.

Last week, Radio Free Dar Al Harb dedicated this edition of the radio show on BTR to discussion of the Islamic Saudi Academy. Yeah, I was there as one of the interviewees.

Regular readers of my posts know that I've been watching the Islamic Saudi Academy for years. In fact, this April 2005 bus accident caused by ISA bus driver Abdelrazeg Abdalla is one of the reaons I jumped into the blogosphere with both feet.

Video: Glenn Beck On The Islamic Saudi Academy

Continued at THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and at Always On Watch.

Yet Another Update On The Islamic Saudi Academy (Link to videos addesd)

Photo Credit: the Washington Post
Background HERE - and plenty of it.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors hasn't yet made a decision about the school's expansion. The decision will be made on August 13.

But on this morning's news I heard that the Board will base its decision strictly on zoning regulations - not on the school's curriculum, which has been shown to be Wahhabist in orientation.

Indeed, barely anyone at the governmental level want to do a damn thing about the school's curriculum. Not the state, not the Virginia Department of education, not the county, not the State Department. Each of those wants to pass the ball to someone else. Consequently, the Islamic Saudi Academy continues to operate with impunity.

The exception: U.S. Representative Frank Wolf. See this posting of September 28, 2008, over at Northern Virginiastan.

I do note this morning that FNC is covering the story. FNC interviewed Frank Gaffney about the Islamic Saudi Academy (aka "Terror High"). Mr. Gaffney recently wrote an essay about the school. The essay is entitled "Welcome to Faisal County." Read the essay HERE.

Must-see videos over at Atlas Shrugs.

The Islamic Saudi Academy Seeks To Expand

Photo Credit: the Washington Post
I frequently blog about the Islamic Saudi Academy, owned by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia and situated in compound-like facilities in Fairfax County, Virginia.

Tonight, July 10, 2009 @ 6:00 PM, the school will go before the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, in the final step of approval for expansion of the school's Popes Head Road location.

Yesterday, the following arrived in an email to me:

The Fairfax County government recently sent invitations to a free dinner presentation on Islam as a religion of “peace and harmony” to county churches and to some who have testified against the Academy’s planned expansion in the past. County government personnel and resources were used to distribute the e-mailed invitations.

“The Fairfax County government has been compromised and the Saudis and their radical cohorts are getting their money's worth out of all of their political contributions,” said James Lafferty, chairman of the Virginia Anti-Shariah Task Force. “Churches and synagogues here can’t even get the government to talk to them, let alone help them proselytize.

“Fairfax County government is already following the first rule of Shariah law – Islam is the state religion and the only religion. While brave American men and women are dying to defeat terrorists – spineless Fairfax County politicians turn a deaf ear to terrorism in its midst.”

The email also cited this essay at Townhall.com.

Dhimmiwits at the local-government level!

Considering that at the last hearing, the Zoning Board didn't want to hear anything whatsover about ISA's ideology, curriculum, and well-documented issues of the recent past, I predict that the Board of Supervisors will roll over once again and submit to the Wahhabist school, located a few scant miles from our nation's capital.

Some of us here in Northern Virginia are knocking ourselves out in what seems to be a futile attempt to stem the tide of Wahhabism. What we face is a leadership who refuses to face the facts. In fact, on one occasion, a member of that leadership, one Gerry Connolly who was Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and has now been elected to the United States House of Representatives, referred to those testifying against the Islamic Saudi Academy as "slanderous bigots." Lovely, just lovely.

Ahmed Abu Ali May Sue

He really wants those books by BHO.

From this source:

There are a couple of signs pointing to the idea that Abu Ali might sue. He already has a lawyer, who spoke to the AP briefly about this episode. Abu Ali also filed a handwritten prison complaint form, saying the Obama book rejections “violate my 1st Amend. rights.”

The above article begins with this:

Back in 2007, the Bureau of Prisons directed its chaplains to purge the prisons of all religious texts. That policy shift, which stemmed from a governmental fear that prisoners might read religious texts and become Islamic extremists after 9/11, sparked huge response.

Many thought the move was unconstitutional, and a pair of inmates, citing the First Amendment’s guarantee of the right to free religion, sued over the matter.

As I said in my post today at my site:

No wonder that Ahmed Abu Ali, terrorist graduate from Terror High (aka the Islamic Saudi Academy) wants to check out BHO's books, even though Abu Ali is of Arab descent and not black. By reading BHO's books, Abu Ali can continue to feed his perpetual attitude of victimhood because the words "The West" could be easily substituted for "white folks," "white people," "white" anything. Or perhaps Abu Ali wants to reinforce his anti-American views by reading BHO's books.

Ahmed Abu Ali, valedictorian graduate from Terror High (aka the Islamic Saudi Academy in Fairfax County, Virginia) and convicted terrorist, is an Arab. Arab racism toward blacks is well documented. In addition, Abu Ali requested those books before BHO was elected and gave his dhimmi Cairo Speech. I find it hard to believe that Abu Ali wants to read books by The Great Satan's first African-American President because Abu Ali wants to be a good citizen.

And if Abu Ali indeed has an attorney, who is paying for that attorney or which attorney is serving pro bono?

Abu Ali is presently serving a 30-year sentence. Hey, maybe he's planning to try for early release by volunteering at SERVE.gov.

The Islamic Saudi Academy — In The News Again

Previous IBA postings about the Islamic Saudi Academy are HERE.


Photo Credit: the Washington Post
Not a flattering recent development, to say the least.

From this article at The Investigative Project:

A Saudi Arabian man living in Tampa is being held without bond after being arrested June 4 for attempting to board a US Airways flight carrying a concealed weapon. Raed Abdul-Rahman Alsaif was trying to fly to Phoenix.

According to a criminal complaint by Gregory J. Mertiz, Special Agent with the Transportation Security Administration in Tampa, Alsaif submitted three bags for screening to TSA officers. A Transportation Security Officer saw a large butcher knife inside one of the bags. The knife was "artfully concealed between the outside fabric and the expandable pull handles of the bag," the complaint said, and the weapon was stored in a way that would have been "accessible to him [Alsaif] in flight."

[...]

Raed Alsaif is a 2003 graduate of the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA) in Alexandria, Virginia, the same high school that was the subject of a report in June 2008 by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) which alleged that ISA was using radical Saudi textbooks. According to the report, passages in the textbooks used at ISA justify violent actions and intolerance to the reader including killing Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, apostates (converts from Islam) and adulterers. School officials say they have deleted the offending passages.

In 2003, the same year that Alsaif graduated from ISA, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, a U.S. citizen and ISA graduate and valedictorian was arrested in Medina, Saudi Arabia on terrorism related charges. In 2005, Ali was convicted on nine counts including providing material resources to Al-Qaeda and conspiracy to assassinate President George W. Bush. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Alsaif has been previously arrested on drug charges and driving without a license in Hillsborough County.

In addition to his current concealed weapon charges, authorities found that Alsaif has been living in the country illegally....

Go HERE to read the entire article, which has embedded links.

Meanwhile, on July 13 at 6:00 PM, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will hold a hearing to consider allowing expansion of the Popes Head Road location of the Islamic Saudi Academy, owned by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia. When Fairfax Christian School held that same property, the Christian school was never allowed to expand nor even to rebuild one of the structures which burned to the ground in the early 1980's. Much of Popes Head Road remains a country lane, the reason given for previously denying expansion to Fairfax Christian School. Apparently, different rules now apply, never mind that the safety issues remain the same.

In fact, when the issue of the expansion of the Islamic Saudi Academy came before the Zoning Board this spring, the board unanimously approved the expansion over the objections of the neighborhood. The Zoning Board wasn't the least interested in the Wahhabist ideology being espoused at the Islamic Saudi Academy, and the board so stated.

Will the Board of Supervisors even care at the upcoming hearing that yet another graduate of the Islamic Saudi Academy has shown himself to be something less that the supposedly wonderful students which the school graduates?

Furthermore, why is Fairfax County rolling over for a group whose 12th grade textbooks teach that it’s fine and dandy to kill homosexuals, adulterers, or anyone who leaves Islam?

As my best friend in Texas is wont to say about the Islamic Saudi Academy, "For all we know, Bin Laden is hiding in there in a burqa!"

Meanwhile, the ISA operates with impunity, just a few miles from our nation's capital.

Eurabia And Amerabia: Two Videos

Meanwhile, closer to home, even as Brits in Luton plan to demonstrate against Al Qaeda on March 28, Fairfax County, Virginia, is considering allowing the expansion of the Islamic Saudi Academy, owned by the Royal Embassy of Saud Arabia. In the video below, you'll note the black bag walking around starting at time marker 1:29, the Islamic prayer session inside the Fairfax County Government Center, commonly referred to by us county residents as "The Taj Mahal," and all the kaffiyehs, symbols of Pseudostinian solidarity:



Some reading: article about Fairfax County's preferential treatment of the Islamic Saudi Academy. A must read!

Some Textbook Revisions At The Islamic Saudi Academy

After years of asserting that no Wahhabist hatred fills the pages of their textbooks, the Islamic Saudi Academy, owned by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, has done some backpedaling. From this source:

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- An Islamic school in northern Virginia with close ties to the Saudi government has revised its religious textbooks in an effort to end years of criticism that the school fosters hatred and intolerance.

While the Islamic Saudi Academy deleted some of the most contentious passages from the texts, copies provided to The Associated Press show that enough sensitive material remains to fuel critics who claim the books show intolerance toward those who do not follow strict interpretations of Islam.

The academy, which teaches nearly 900 students in grades K-12 at its campus just outside the Capital Beltway, developed new Islamic studies textbooks for all grades after a 2008 congressional report called portions of the previous editions troubling. The school provided the AP copies of the new textbooks, which revise language on hot-button issues such as requiring women to cover their heads and how Muslims should relate to people of other religions.

[...]

The school was founded in 1984 and largely stayed out of the spotlight until the Sept. 11 attacks, which focused attention on the Saudi educational system. In December 2001, two former ISA students, Mohammed El-Yacoubi and Mohammed Osman Idris, were denied entry into Israel when authorities there found El-Yacoubi carrying what the FBI believed was a suicide note linked to a planned martyrdom operation in Israel.

In 2005, a former ISA valedictorian, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, was convicted in federal court of joining al-Qaida while attending college in Saudi Arabia and plotting to assassinate President George W. Bush.

Last year, the school's then-director, Abdalla al-Shabnan, was convicted of failing to report a suspected case of child sex abuse.

Last year also was when the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released a report saying the school's textbooks contained several troubling passages, including one saying it is permissible for Muslims to kill adulterers and converts from Islam and another saying "the Jews conspired against Islam and its people."

The new books don't contain those passages. The AP reviewed them with assistance from Ali al-Ahmed, director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington, who has criticized the academy and the books used there and in schools in Saudi Arabia.

[...]

Al-Ahmed, whose group monitors politics and education in the Gulf, said the revised texts now being used at ISA make some small improvements in tone. But he said it's clear from the books that the core ideology behind them -- a puritanical strain of Islam known as Wahhabism that is dominant within Saudi Arabia -- remains intact.

"It shows they have no intention of real reform," al-Ahmed said.

Al-Ahmed cited other passages that, while not offensive, reflect what he sees as a medieval mentality despite the academy's efforts to modernize. One chapter deals extensively with sorcery, for instance, while another warns Muslims to be careful in accepting party and wedding invitations from non-Muslims.

"We don't live in the desert 1,000 years ago," al-Ahmed said. "It's disconnected from today because the authorities themselves are disconnected."

Not all agree wtih Al-Ahmed, as explained below:

Eleanor Doumato, a visiting fellow in international studies at Brown University who reviewed the textbooks at the academy's request, endorsed their contents.

These "books do not contain inflammatory material, nor do they encourage students to exhibit intolerance," she wrote in a letter co-signed by Gregory Starrett, an anthropology professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. "In addition, these books counsel patience, gratitude, kindness, honesty and other important moral qualities that are encouraged by Muslims and non-Muslims alike."

Doumato and Starrett were paid by the academy to conduct their review....

The problem all along in dealing with the ISA has been the school's conflict of interest with American values of freedom and democracy.

The school continues to operate. However, according to the article, a review

is being conducted by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, a regional accrediting body. The association initiated a review of the school's accreditation status last year, and is looking at the new textbooks as part of its review. Spokeswoman Jennifer Oliver said the review is ongoing.

The Islamic Saudi Academy: In The News Again

Article in the D.C. Examiner on December 17, 2008 (emphases mine):

Rep. Wolf again petitions for probe of Northern Va. Islamic schools

Examiner Staff Writer 12/17/08

Rep. Frank Wolf on Tuesday again asked the State Department to take a more active role in addressing whether textbooks being used at two Islamic Saudi Academy campuses in Northern Virginia promote violence or intolerance.

“I urge you once again ... to conclusively determine what is being taught at the school,” the Republican, who represents Virginia’s 10th District, wrote to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. “As I noted in my last letter, if [the academy] is in the process of adopting new curricula, as State’s response indicated, then this review would have the effect of determining once and for all whether there is any merit in these persistent concerns and if so what must be done about it.”

This is the fifth letter Wolf has written to Rice about the schools, which have campuses on Richmond Highway near Alexandria and in Fairfax City.

In June [2008], a U.S. commission issued a report that outlined a series of hate-filled teachings they said remained in the schools’ curricula. The passages authorize the killing of adulterers and converts who leave Islam, condemn Jews, and celebrate martyrdom.

As of now, here are the comments at the thread:

Reader Comments:

POSTED Dec 17, 2008
Dennis Grubb: "Rep. Wolf's daughter in law is Muslim and is asking making this inquiry without prejudice..he merely wants the Secretary of State to do her job, make an inquiry and answer his letter.This is what makes him an effective Congressman."

POSTED Dec 17, 2008
Raymond in DC: "I commend Wolf's efforts. This school - linked to the Saudi embassy - is part a broad effort to insinuate and legitimize Islamic fundamentalism onto US soil. I, for one, don't recall Rice ever challenging the Saudis on anything - not as head of the NSC, not as head of State."

POSTED Dec 17, 2008
Rice a Roni: "A.J your a liar. This anti America and anti Jewish films and books is well known. Frank is not anti- muslim he wants an inquiry. Frank is one of the better congressman in the US congress. Lets not even mention the worthless Condi Rice. Someone please ask he to curtail her farewell tour We do not have the budget for the jet fuel. She can use a telephone"

POSTED Dec 17, 2008
Nouman: "What happened to freedom of religion and freedom of speech? What business does government have in monitoring what any private religious school teaches? Is the government going to be going through all religious schools curriculum?"

POSTED Dec 17, 2008
Andrew in Massapequa: "This should be done automaticly. We can not allow our enemies to make inroads into young peoples minds. If they are not doing anything wrong then they shold not be afraid of scrutiny."

POSTED Dec 17, 2008
Robert L. Duecaster: "Kudos to Mr. Wolf for urging an investigation into this potential risk to national and local security. He ignored that risk by failing to take any action regarding the invasion of his district by illegal aliens. Maybe he can salvage his legacy by drawing attention to this potential risk."

POSTED Dec 17, 2008
condoman: "Lest we forget it was at that school, after 911, that the government, through surveillance, was able to stop a plot from 2 of their students flying to the Middle East to conduct their own form of Jihad in the name of Allah. So,why did A.J.not mention that?!"

For more information about the Islamic Saudi Academy, click on the appropriate label at the end of this blog post.

The Islamic Saudi Academy is owned by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia and operates with apparent impunity, only a few short miles from our nation's capital.

Congressman Frank Wolf Of Virginia Attempts To Hold The Islamic Saudi Academy Accountable

(Previous IBA posts about the Islamic Saudi Academy are HERE)

Despite numerous problems, the school continues to operate without impunity or adequate investigation. Most politicians and our own State Department refuse to hold the ISA accountable. But one Congressman is trying!

From the Mt. Vernon Gazette on September 24, 2008:

U.S. Representative Frank R. Wolf (R-10) has again called for a thorough investigation and review of curriculum textbooks being used by the Islamic Saudi Academy citing the U.S. Commission in International Religious Freedom's claim that they "promote violence and intolerance."

In a September 16 letter to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Wolf chastised the State Department for not answering his previous letters on the Saudi Academy textbook issue and for ignoring his plea to have the controversy settled prior to the commencement of the 2008-09 school year.

"I write to let you know that I just received my first response from the State Department after having written three letters over a two-month period regarding the Islamic Saudi Academy and concerns raised by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on the content of textbooks being used there," Wolf wrote.

"After seeming inattention to these concerns, the letter my office ultimately received in response did not address my repeated requests that you convene a meeting of relevant State Department and USCIRF representatives -- to include the expert analysts commissioned by USCIRF to translate and interpret the ISA textbooks as well as any analysts commissioned by the State Department...to conclusively determine what is being taught at ISA," he stated.

To buttress his request, Wolf included a recent report by the Heritage Foundation that stated "ISA is subject to the terms of the Foreign Missions Act" and that it is in the State Department's powers to declare ISA "a foreign mission of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."

IN THE LETTER to Wolf, signed by Matthew A. Reynolds, Acting Assistant Secretary, Legislative Affairs, the State Department indicated that, although they had not answered previous inquiries about ISA in writing, they had kept Wolf and his staff informed of their actions.

"Your letters have raised important issues. We have appreciated the opportunity to discuss these with you and your staff in recent months. No government should produce materials that are intolerant of religious, racial, or ethnic groups, nor include such material in its educational curricula," Reynolds wrote.

When questioned as to why his letter seemed to indicate that no contact had been made by the State Department relative to his ISA inquiries, Wolf insisted, "The State Department has never been by my office." However, he did not confirm or deny any contact between his staff and the State Department over the period of time of his correspondence with Secretary Rice.

"The matter is very simple. If there is no problem with the textbooks than the State Department should act to remove the cloud. If there is a problem then remove the books," Wolf said.

"Two scholars from the Religious Freedom Commission have looked at these text books and they say there is a problem. It needs to be resolved one way or the other," he said.

Reynolds also pointed out to Wolf that, "the school has reported that it is in the process of adopting new religious curricula and textbooks for the 2008-09 school year. The ISA has stated publicly that the new school year's textbooks are currently being reviewed by professors at two American universities." Neither the professors nor their universities were identified by Reynolds in his letter to Wolf.

DEBATE ABOUT the school's curriculum and textbooks ignited in October 2007 when the Religious Freedom Commission issued a report calling for the school's closure "until such time as the official Saudi textbooks used at ISA are made available for comprehensive public examination." The Commission also sought intervention by the State Department and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

The school building at 8333 Richmond Highway, is leased from Fairfax County. That lease recently came up for renewal and was renewed for one year with an option for two one year extensions on a motion from Mount Vernon District Supervisor Gerald Hyland, in whose district the school is located.

ISA's Director General Abdalla I. Al-Shabnan, who heads the school, has insisted all along that the textbooks do not contain hate and violence imbedded within the subject matter. He has also insisted that the textbooks of ISA are not those supplied by the Saudi Arabian government.

At the outset of the controversy, Hyland had a specialist in Arabic review the texts. Her report concluded that the curriculum texts did not, on their face, contain offensive language pertaining to hate, violence and religious intolerance. However, she did conclude that certain passage should be expunged because they could be misinterpreted.

Al-Shabnan submitted the curriculum texts to two independent university scholars to have them analyzed and evaluated. A report on those findings was to have been delivered to Hyland's office no later than Monday, Sept. 22. As of late afternoon Sept. 23 the report had not been delivered and phone calls to ISA and Al-Shabnan office were received by voice mail with no call back.

"We have not received the report or any explanation from the Academy as to why we have not received it," said Brett Kenney, chief aide to Hyland.

The entire matter including both the textbook issue and ISA's lease renewal was further complicated early this past summer when Al-Shabnan was arrested as a result of his failure to report a complaint from a five year-old female student that she was allegedly being sexually abused at home by her father. Virginia law requires reporting of all such accusations by school personnel.

Al-Shabnan was originally charged with two misdemeanors of failing to report and obstruction of justice. He said that he did not believe the girl and advised the parents to seek psychiatric help for her. However, he also ordered the school's computers to be purged of any report about the complaint.

In the final analysis he was fined $500 on the failure to report charge. The school also instituted an in-depth training program for all personnel on Commonwealth requirements dealing with such matters.

Following the vote to renew the lease, Fairfax County Board Chairman Gerald Connolly sent a letter to Secretary Rice asking the State Department to make a determination not only on the textbook matter but also the lease renewal. He noted that during the Board’s public hearing on the lease no objections were voiced by the State Department or the Commission "regarding either the renewal or the textbooks."

A reply from the State Department stated, "No authorization from the Department to renew the lease is required. The Department has not used the Foreign Missions Act to regulate private pre-school, elementary and secondary school curricula." Actions by the State Department on Wolf's requests remain unresolved.

What is it going to take to get our government, which is sworn to protect us, to take a hard look at the Islamic Saudi Academy?

A Slap On The Wrist For The Islamic Saudi Academy

From this July 30, 2008 article in the Washington Post:

The director general of a controversial private Islamic school in Fairfax County has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of failing to report child abuse and was fined $500.

Abdalla I.M. Al-Shabnan, head of the Islamic Saudi Academy on Route 1 in the Mount Vernon area, was arrested last month by Fairfax police after allegedly being informed of the possible sexual abuse of a 5-year-old student at the school. School authorities are required by law to report alleged child abuse within 72 hours.

Al-Shabnan was charged with misdemeanor counts of failing to report child abuse and obstruction of justice. In a plea agreement, Al-Shabnan pleaded guilty July 24 to the failure to report charge and Fairfax prosecutors agreed to dismiss the obstruction charge, according to court records.

Al-Shabnan did not return a phone message today seeking comment. His attorney, Robert C. Whitestone, also did not respond to a request for comment.

Whitestone is one of the premier defense attorneys in Fairfax County. As a local here in Northern Virginia, I well know the reputation of that particular legal firm. They are masters of plea bargaining and the attorneys' attorneys! And their fees match their skills, too.

Continuing now with the WaPo article:

Cultural differences may have led to the episode which resulted in Al-Shabnan's arrest.

[...]

Chief Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Ian M. Rodway said the plea agreement "was satisfactory to all the people involved in the case."

Rodway used to be a defense attorney - and a formidable one, at that. Still, I wonder how he would explain those aforementioned "cultural differences."

The case of Abdulla Al-Shabnan was supposed to come before the court on August 1. That won't happen now, of course.

(Crossposted to Northern Virginiastan)

Arabic Classes In America

[Image source]

Since 9/11, we have heard of the importance of more of us learning to speak Arabic. Indeed, more and more people today are studying the Arabic language, many of these students enrolled in community colleges and prestigious universities as well as uncounted others studying by using software such as Rosetta Stone. I personally know a few young people who have attempted such classes, only to abandon their study of Arabic; the reasons they gave me, their former teacher, were vague but typically included a level of discomfort with the material or the instructor.

A July 5, 2008 Washington Post commentary, written by a student at Harvard Law School, provides disturbing information about the material offered in such classes:

To study Arabic in America today is to be inducted into a world of longing, abandonment and regret. And that's before you even touch the political issues....

Read the rest at Always On Watch, where I posted this a few days ago. Some rolling in the dust is going on in the comments section.

More Problems For The Islamic Saudi Academy

Previous Always On Watch postings about the Islamic Saudi Academy are HERE and HERE.

The problems with the school just keep adding up!

Photo Credit: the Washington Post
From this June 27, 2008 article by Patrick Poole at Pajamas Media (via Jihad Watch):

The controversial school funded by the Saudi Embassy had its corporate charter revoked in 2004 and has never filed required tax forms with the IRS....

Read the rest at Always On Watch.

Will The State Department Take Action Regarding The Islamic Saudi Academy?

Follow-up to this posting I did here at IBA yesterday and presented to you in jihad green.

FROM THIS ARTICLE IN THE JUNE 25, 2008 EDITION OF THE WASHINGTON TIMES:

Federal officials unable to act
State cites lack of authority

The State Department has no authority to close a Saudi-supported school criticized for violent teachings, a spokesman said Tuesday, despite an official request for guidance from the Northern Virginia county that leases space for the school's main campus....

[...]

"My understanding at this point is that this doesn't come under State Department jurisdiction," Mr. McInturff said. "It would have to be credentialed by the State Department as an embassy or as a consulate. That to my knowledge has not happened to this school."

However, the commission contends the act could give the secretary of state authority to take action to close the school. The act defines a foreign mission in part as "any mission to or agency or entity in the United States which is ... substantially owned or effectively controlled by a foreign government."

Read the entire article at the link for this update.

The Islamic Saudi Academy: Fairfax County Backpedals On The Lease

Photo Credit: the Washington Post

Background: Previous IBA postings about the Islamic Saudi Academy are HERE.

From this article in the June 24, 2008 edition of the Washington Post:

Fairfax County leaders asked U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday to determine whether the county should continue leasing property to the Islamic Saudi Academy following controversy surrounding the school's teachings.

With unanimous support from the county's Board of Supervisors, Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) sent a letter to Rice "formally requesting" that the State Department provide direction regarding the county's one-year lease renewal, approved last month, with the Saudi Arabian government for operation of the academy.

You might recall from earlier postings about the Islamic Saudi Academy that previously the County supervisors voted unanimously to renew the school's lease and called citizens who voiced concerns about the school "bigots engaged in slander." You can watch the May 19 pro forma hearing at the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors HERE; select "Public Hearings" from the May 19 links.

Continuing now with the above-cited Washington Post article:

At issue are recent reviews of teaching materials concluding that some textbooks used by the Islamic school in Fairfax contain language intolerant of Jews and other groups as well as passages that could be construed as advocating violence.

Read the entire report from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom HERE. The report is damning!

Please watch this NBC 4 video of June 23, 2008. The video is approximately three minutes in length.

(Crossposted to Always On Watch and Northern Virginiastan and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS)

Director Of The Islamic Saudi Academy Arrested

The Islamic Saudi Academy is a school in Northern Virginia and is operated by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia.

From this source (hat-tip to Radio Free Dar al Harb):

Islamic Saudi Academy Director Arrested for Obstruction of Justice

June 16, 2008

Fairfax, VA

On June 9th, Fairfax County Police arrested the Director General of the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA), Mr. Abdalla I. Al-Shabnan, on the charges of Obstruction of Justice without Force (VA Code 18.2-460). Charged and released on the same day, Mr. Al-Shabnan is out on his own recognizance as he awaits his first hearing at Fairfax County General District Court on August 1, 2008, at 9:30 a.m.

Mr. Al-Shaban’s arrest stems from an investigation into the ISA’s alleged failure to comply with State requirements for reporting child abuse. According to authorities, instead of reporting the child abuse, Mr. Al-Shabnan deleted the report, contacted the student’s parents, and recommended psychological counseling for the young victim. Mr. Al-Shaban’s June 9 arrest comes after a May 23rd police search of the ISA where they gathered evidence that has contributed to the charges against Mr. Al-Shabnan.

Years of Controversy Continue

The ISA has been at the center of controversy for many years. A 2007 United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) report promoted members of Congress to call for the closure of the school. The 2007 USCIRF report prompted a coalition of concerned grassroots organizations to request the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to delay the renewal of the ISA lease until a Federal investigation into the ISA was completed. During the hearing, County Supervisors dismissed concerns as slanderous, bigoted, and unfounded. During the course of the hearing, Fairfax County Chairman, and Democratic Candidate for the 11th Congressional District, apologized to Mr. Al-Shabnan for what he deemed slanderous accusations that impugned the integrity of the Islamic Saudi Academy.

Since that May 19 hearing, the Mr. Al-Shabnan has been arrested and the USCIRF has confirmed ISA textbooks justify murder as an Islamic right.

Only Supervisor Gross has responded to the issue, and she continues her support for the ISA, and its textbooks that contain passages filled with hate and incitement to violence. Chairman Connolly has yet to retract his apology to the ISA and Mr. Al-Shabnan. Supervisor Hyland has not yet commented on whether the texts cited in the USCIRF report are the similar to those he identified as “texts of concern” during his independent and undocumented investigation of the ISA.

These hateful passages remain despite a 2006 US State Department request for the ISA to remove all insensitive and offensive content from textbooks. The ISA’s non-compliance with the 2006 US State Department request has not been accounted for and raises concerns about what the ISA, as an extension of the Saudi government, considers offensive, and the level of accountability they have to their local hosts and Federal government.

Since the US Treasury Department still considers Saudi Arabia as one of the leading financiers of terrorism, and USCIRF reports identify Saudi Arabia’s education as filled with incitements to murder as a religious freedom, the US State Department has not commented as to whether they will extend this policy and allow Iran and North Korea to open official schools in the US as well.

The ISA’s has run afoul of Virginia law before in hiring a bus driver, Abdelrazeg Abdalla, who had a suspend license, seven traffic violations, a misdemeanor for kidnapping his wife and child at knife point, and a six month detainment by Homeland Security. Nevertheless, the ISA hired Mr. Abdalla as a bus driver. Mr. Abdalla, operating a faulty ISA, bus was responsible for a 2005 multi-car accident.

Additionally, the ISA winner of the superlative Most Likely to Be a Martyr, and 1999 class valedictorian, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, has been convicted on charges of terrorism and attempting to assassinate President Bush.

As a result for the a May 19 hearing, the ISA’s lease of Fairfax County property continues as the Board of Supervisors unanimously supports the ISA as a model school beyond reproach.

A video of the complete May 19 Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Hearing on the Islamic Saudi Academy can be found at: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/cable/channel16/vod.htm

Select “Public Hearings” from the May 19 links.

Of Note:
42:58 Fairfax County Chairman Connolly charges of slander remarks
49:35 Supervisor Gross: Latin can be violent and Parochial Schools contain material as equally offensive as the ISAs.
1:02 Supervisor Hyland begins testimony about why and how they’re is no documentation on his investigation.

Previous IBA postings on the Islamic Saudi Academy.

UPDATE FROM PASTORIUS: Previous reports seemed to indicate the Director of ISA was being questioned about covering up a Child Molestation report. In this most recent story, it is called "Child Abuse."

Which do you think is correct?

Mad for Madrassas

From Investor's Business Daily:

Islamofascism:

Saudi money buys a lot in Washington, even an extension of a lease to an
Islamic school that graduates terrorists and teaches its students it's OK to
kill non-Muslims.

A federal panel wants the Islamic Saudi Academy inside the Beltway
shut down for promoting hate, something we've urged for years. But remarkably,
this madrassa still has powerful backers — including the State
Department.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom last week
released the results of a probe of the academy, which is financed and operated
by the Saudi government. It found the school has failed to eliminate
violent and intolerant language in textbooks.

The texts used at its main campus, located just across
the Potomac in Alexandria, Va., contain passages that vilify Jews and
proclaim killing non-Muslims is sometimes permissible.

Despite the failing grade, local government officials renewed
the private school's lease in an old public high school building. The Democrat
county supervisor in charge of the lease doesn't see any problem with the school
or its texts.

In fact, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerry
Connolly reportedly dismissed critics of the Saudi academy as "bigots" as he
accepted a check from the Saudi Embassy for another $2.2 million to extend its
lease.

Perhaps not coincidentally, Connolly is running as a Democrat for Congress.
He hopes to fill the local seat of retiring Republican Tom Davis, whose district
includes one of the fastest-growing Muslim populations in the country.

The commission that looked at the Saudi texts has turned to the
State Department to close the academy. State can do this because as
part of the Saudi government, the school is subject to the Foreign Missions Act.
But the Washington Times says State plans to let the madrassa continue
to operate. Why? The Saudis "told us they would revise the textbooks by the 2008
school year," a spokesman said.

How foolish. The Saudis have been promising to reform their
violent texts every year since 9/11.

Yet they just pump more petrodollars into spreading their hateful Wahhabi
propaganda here.
Within months of the attacks by 15 Saudi hijackers, the Washington Post reported the Saudi academy's 11th-grade textbooks,
for example, say one sign of the Day of Judgment will be that Muslims will fight
and kill Jews, who will hide behind trees.

The Post went on to quote several students who say they are
taught in Islamic studies that "it is better to shun and even to dislike
Christians, Jews and Shiite Muslims." One teen told the paper he's taught by
academy teachers that it's OK for Muslims to hurt or steal from such
"kafirs."

Go read the whole thing.

Radio Discussion Of The Islamic Saudi Academy

Listen to the June 13 edition of The Gathering Storm Radio Show by CLICKING HERE.

On the air during the first half hour of the show, I brought out some of the problems with the Islamic Saudi Academy. I went back some three years to call to listeners' attention the ISA's cover-up of a driving accident involving an ISA school bus. The driver didn't even have a license to be behind the wheel!

Over the years, ISA has had several problems. Yet, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors refuses to reconsider the school's lease. Excerpt from this source:

Fairfax County supervisors said Wednesday’s report has not made them rethink their decision to renew the lease.

“We are not in a position to determine what is going to go on in a classroom there,” said Mason District Supervisor Penny Gross. “What we were asked to do was consider leasing the land and school to the Islamic Saudi Academy, and that’s what we did.”

Um, Ms. Gross? You did a lot worse than that! You played and continued to play the dhimmi. Or should I say "dhimmi wit"?

The Full Report On The Textbooks At The Islamic Saudi Academy

From this source and providing additional details to this recent post by Pastorius here at IBA:

June 11, 2008: Saudi Arabia: USCIRF Confirms Material Inciting Violence, Intolerance Remains in Textbooks Used at Saudi Government's Islamic Saudi Academy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 11, 2008

Contact: Judith Ingram
Communications Director
(202) 523-3240, ext. 127
communications@uscirf.govThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

WASHINGTON—Last fall, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom asked the U.S. Department of State to secure the release of all Arabic-language textbooks used at a Saudi government school in Northern Virginia, the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA). The Commission took this action in order to ensure that the books be publicly examined to determine whether the texts used at the ISA promote violence, discrimination, or intolerance based on religion or belief. The ISA is unlike any conventional private or parochial school in the United States in that it is operated by a foreign government and uses that government’s official texts. It falls under the Commission’s mandate to monitor the actions of foreign governments in relation to religious freedom. The government of Saudi Arabia, as a member of the international community, is committed to upholding international standards, including the obligation not to promote violence, intolerance, or hate.

The Commission requested Saudi government textbooks repeatedly during and following its trip to Saudi Arabia in May-June 2007. Shortly after the Commission raised the issue publicly, the Saudi government turned over textbooks used at the ISA to the State Department, but as of this writing, the Department has not made them available either to the public or to the Commission, nor has it released any statement about the content of the books that it received. Nevertheless, although it was unable to obtain the entire collection, the Commission managed to acquire and review 17 ISA textbooks in use during this school year from other, independent sources, including a congressional office. While the texts represent just a small fraction of the books used in this Saudi government school, the Commission’s review confirmed that these texts do, in fact, include some extremely troubling passages that do not conform to international human rights norms. The Commission calls once again for the full public release of all the Arabic-language textbooks used at the ISA.

In July 2006, the Saudi government confirmed to the U.S. government that, among other policies to improve religious freedom and tolerance, it would, within one to two years, “revise and update textbooks to remove remaining references that disparage Muslims or non-Muslims or that promote hatred toward other religions or religious groups.” The Commission is releasing this statement as the two-year timeframe is coming to an end, and with particular concern over the content of textbooks used at the ISA, in order to highlight reforms that should be made before the 2008-09 school year begins at the ISA.

Examples of Problematic Passages in Current ISA Textbooks

The most problematic texts involve passages that are not directly from the Koran but rather contain the Saudi government’s particular interpretation of Koranic and other Islamic texts. Some passages clearly exhort the readers to commit acts of violence, as can be seen in the following two examples:

In a twelfth-grade Tafsir (Koranic interpretation) textbook, the authors state that it is permissible for a Muslim to kill an apostate (a convert from Islam), an adulterer, or someone who has murdered a believer intentionally: “He (praised is He) prohibits killing the soul that God has forbidden (to kill) unless for just cause…” Just cause is then defined in the text as “unbelief after belief, adultery, and killing an inviolable believer intentionally.” (Tafsir, Arabic/Sharia, 123)

A twelfth-grade Tawhid (monotheism) textbook states that “[m]ajor polytheism makes blood and wealth permissible,” which in Islamic legal terms means that a Muslim can take the life and property of someone believed to be guilty of this alleged transgression with impunity. (Tawhid, Arabic/Sharia, 15) Under the Saudi interpretation of Islam, “major polytheists” include Shi’a and Sufi Muslims, who visit the shrines of their saints to ask for intercession with God on their behalf, as well as Christians, Jews, Hindus, and Buddhists.
The overt exhortations to violence found in these passages make other statements that promote intolerance troubling even though they do not explicitly call for violent action. These other statements vilify adherents of the Ahmadi, Baha’i, and Jewish religions, as well as of Shi’a Islam. This is despite the fact that the Saudi government is obligated as a member of the United Nations and a state party to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and other relevant treaties to guarantee the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. The statements include the following:

“Today, Qadyanis [Ahmadis] are one of the greatest strongholds for spreading aberration, deviation, and heresy in the name of religion, even from within Islamic countries. Thus, the Qadyani [Ahmadi] movement has become a force of destruction and internal corruption today in the Islamic world…” (“Aspects of Muslim Political and Cultural History,” Eleventh Grade, Administrative/Social Track, Sharia/Arabic Track, 99)


“It [Baha’ism] is one of the destructive esoteric sects in the modern age... It has become clear that Babism [the precursor to Baha’ism], Baha’ism, and Qadyanism [Ahmadism] represent wayward forces inside the Islamic world that seek to strike it from within and weaken it. They are colonial pillars in our Islamic countries and among the true obstacles to a renaissance.” (“Aspects of Muslim Political and Cultural History,” Eleventh Grade, 99-100)


“The cause of the discord: The Jews conspired against Islam and its people. A sly, wicked person who sinfully and deceitfully professed Islam infiltrated (the Muslims). He was ‘Abd Allah b. Saba’ (from the Jews of Yemen). [___]* began spewing his malice and venom against the third of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs, ‘Uthman (may God be pleased with him), and falsely accused him.” (Tawhid, Administrative/Social Sciences Track, 67)
(*The word or words here were obscured by correction fluid.)


Sunni Muslims are told to “shun those who are extreme regarding the People of the House (Muhammad’s family) and who claim infallibility for them.” (Tawhid, Arabic/Sharia 82; Tawhid, Administrative/Social Sciences Track, 65) This would include all Shi’a Muslims, for whom the doctrine of infallibility is a cardinal principle.
Other problematic passages employ ambiguous language, and the textbook authors do nothing to clarify the meaning.

A ninth-grade Hadith textbook states: “It is not permissible to violate the blood, property, or honor of the unbeliever who makes a compact with the Muslims. The blood of the mu’ahid is not permissible unless for a legitimate reason…the mu’ahid is an unbeliever who contracts a treaty with a Muslim providing for the safety of his life, property, and family.” (Hadith, Ninth Grade, 142-3)
The passages about the mu’ahid are most troubling for what they leave out. They address the protected status of an unbeliever in a Muslim country, but are silent on whether unbelievers living in non-Muslim countries are afforded the same protections of “blood, property, or honor.” Such an omission, taken together with the outright incitement to violence and vilifying language noted above, could be interpreted as tacitly condoning violence against non-Muslims living in non-Muslim countries.

The Commission would urge the textbook authors to put more context into some sections of the textbooks to avoid any perception that they could be encouraging violence. For example, one passage that requires clarification is the following explication of the Koranic phrase, “Respond to God and His Messenger when He calls you to that which will give you life.” (Q 8:24)

Although this Koranic passage does not in itself invoke the term jihad, the Saudi textbook authors write:

“In these verses is a call for jihad, which is the pinnacle of Islam. In (jihad) is life for the body; thus it is one of the most important causes of outward life. Only through force and victory over the enemies is there security and repose. Within martyrdom in the path of God (exalted and glorified is He) is a type of noble life-force that is not diminished by fear or poverty.” (Tafsir, Arabic/Sharia, 68)
While there are various meanings of the term jihad, including an internal struggle of the soul, none are given in this brief discussion, which also includes an emphasis on the importance of power or force over one’s enemies and discusses “martyrdom” with approval. Such an ambiguous interpretation can be perceived as giving the verse a militant connotation, potentially justifying acts of violence, which should not be left without elucidation in a textbook that is aimed at children who are still learning the main tenets of religion.


More broadly, the analysis of the ills of the Muslim world that is offered in the ISA textbooks—that it was strong when united under a single caliph, a single language (Arabic), and a single creed (Sunnism), and that it has grown weak because of foreign influence and internal religious and ethnic divisions—is identical to some of the exclusionary ideological arguments used by extremists to justify acts of terror.

In the Commission’s view, these troubling passages should be modified, clarified, or removed altogether from the next edition of the textbooks in order to bring the books at this Saudi government school into conformity with international human rights standards.

Long-term Commission Concern over Content of Saudi Government Textbooks

The Commission has long called for Saudi Arabia to be designated a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, for its egregious and systematic violations of religious freedom. In particular, the Commission has expressed concern about the promotion of religious intolerance and religion-based violence in official Saudi government textbooks used both within Saudi Arabia and at Saudi schools abroad, such as the ISA. The Commission has been urging the U.S. government to press the Saudi government to promote religious tolerance in the Saudi curriculum since 2001, and in 2003 it issued an in-depth report about religious freedom conditions in Saudi Arabia, including intolerance and incitement to violence found in Saudi textbooks and the country’s official educational curriculum. It was not until September 2004 that the State Department first publicly expressed concern over the Saudi government’s “export of religious extremism and intolerance to other countries” at a press conference announcing Saudi Arabia’s CPC designation.

In mid-2007, the Commission visited Saudi Arabia to assess the government’s progress in implementing textbook reform and other policies. However, based on that visit and subsequent research into Saudi government textbooks, including those used at the ISA, the Commission concluded that despite some improvements, these commitments, regrettably, remain largely unfulfilled.

In every official meeting during the visit to Saudi Arabia, the Commission delegation asked Saudi interlocutors for copies of textbooks. The Saudi government’s refusal to make them available during that visit or after the Commission’s return, despite repeated requests, left the Commission with continued concerns about their content and serious questions about whether they were in fact being reformed. The Commission also sought to obtain the textbooks used at the ISA. Until the Commission drew attention to the problem at a press conference in October 2007, the ISA publicly stated on its Web site that it adhered to the official Saudi government curriculum. The Commission called for the ISA to be closed under the terms of the Foreign Missions Act until the official Saudi textbooks used at the school were made available for comprehensive public examination. Soon after the Commission released its October 2007 report, the ISA dropped the language on its Web site stating that its Arabic-language and Islamic studies curriculum “is based on the Curriculum of the Saudi Ministry of Education.” In the months following the Commission’s report, the Saudi government has also posted copies of the official 2007-2008 Saudi textbooks on the Internet.

Members of Congress, some of whom had also sought in vain to obtain official Saudi textbooks for review, have joined the Commission in expressing concern. In November 2007, Reps. Frank Wolf (R-VA), Steve Israel (D-NY), and Anthony Weiner (D-NY) introduced a resolution, H.Con.Res. 262, calling on the State Department to heed the Commission’s requests regarding the ISA and to create a mechanism to monitor implementation of the 2006 Saudi commitments to improving educational materials. Twelve U.S. Senators, led by Sens. John Kyl (R-AZ) and Charles Schumer (D-NY), wrote a bipartisan letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice the same month, echoing the Commission’s call for closing the ISA until the official Saudi textbooks used at the school were made available for comprehensive public examination in the United States.

While neither the ISA nor the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia complied with the Commission’s requests to release the school’s books publicly, the Commission did obtain some Arabic-language books currently used in the twelfth grade and a random selection of texts currently used in middle and high school classes. The Commission’s review of these textbooks found that they did contain passages justifying violence toward, and even the killing of, apostates and so-called polytheists. The texts also include highly intolerant passages about non-Sunni Muslims, such as Shi’a, Ismailis, and Ahmadis, and non-Muslims, such as Jews and Baha’is. A list of the books reviewed is appended to this statement.

The ISA and Claims of Revisions

The ISA operates as an arm of the Saudi government. The ISA’s board is chaired by the Saudi ambassador to Washington, it is located on two properties, one of which is owned, the other leased, by the Saudi Embassy, and it shares the Embassy’s Internal Revenue Service employer tax number under the name of the “Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia.” It is part of a network of 19 international schools run by the government of Saudi Arabia. The ISA distributed some textbooks during a series of open houses held for selected reporters and congressional staffers after the Commission’s press conference, but it did not make available the texts with the most problematic passages—Tawhid (monotheism) and Tafsir (Koranic interpretation)—which the Commission obtained from other sources.

Last fall, after the Commission held a press conference, ISA personnel were quoted in the media as saying that they had already revised the Saudi Ministry of Education textbooks used at the school. However, the books reviewed by the Commission in the winter of 2007-2008 show evidence of truncation, omission, cutting and pasting, and the use of correction tape or fluid to cover over text—but not sufficient revision to remove all objectionable material, as evidenced by the passages cited above. They appear to be Saudi Ministry of Education textbooks, with some alterations but with identical wording in many sections of the texts.

Bilateral and International Commitments by the Saudi Government

The Saudi government is bound by more than just its 2006 confirmation of policies with the United States. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights not only guarantees religious freedom and bans discrimination and incitement to discrimination on a number of bases, including religion; it also provides specifically that education “shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups...” The UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination based on Religion or Belief also bans such discrimination, which it calls “an affront to human dignity,” a “disavowal of the principles of the [UN] Charter,” a violation of international human rights law, and “an obstacle to friendly and peaceful relations between nations.” That Declaration, moreover, specifically provides that “[t]he child shall be protected from any form of discrimination on the ground of religion or belief. He shall be brought up in a spirit of understanding, tolerance, friendship among peoples, peace and universal brotherhood, [and] respect for freedom of religion or belief of others. . . .” The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Saudi Arabia is a party, contains similar provisions mandating non-discrimination and the teaching of tolerance in education. The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination also calls on States Parties, which include Saudi Arabia, “to guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, color, or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law” in the enjoyment of rights including “the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.”

Those provisions stand in stark contrast to the problematic passages that continue to appear in the ISA textbooks. It is deeply troubling that high school students at a foreign government-operated school in the United States are discussing when and under what circumstances killing an “unbeliever” would be acceptable. The U.S. government must ensure that the Saudi government thoroughly reviews and, as necessary, revises the books it has distributed globally. In both the UN Human Rights Council and UN General Assembly, Saudi Arabia has co-sponsored and supported repeated resolutions urging UN member states to “take resolute action to prohibit the dissemination . . . of racist and xenophobic ideas and material aimed at any religion or its followers that constitute incitement to racial and religious hatred, hostility or violence” and to “ensure that all public officials, including . . . educators, in the course of their official duties, respect different religions and beliefs and do not discriminate against persons on the grounds of their religion or belief.” The U.S. government should insist that the Saudi government meet these commitments fully as a member in good standing of the international community.

Recommendations for the U.S. Department of State

The Commission reiterates its recommendations that the State Department should:

make available all textbooks that it has received from the Saudi government, so that their content and compliance with international human rights standards can be assessed; and

promptly create a formal mechanism to monitor and encourage implementation of the Saudi government’s 2006 policies as part of every meeting of the U.S.-Saudi Arabia Strategic Dialogue, and ensure that U.S. representatives to each relevant Working Group of the Strategic Dialogue, after each session, or at least every six months, report the group’s findings to Congress.
The Commission reaffirms that governments have a clear obligation to teach tolerance, not hatred. No government should be teaching children that it is justified to kill anyone on the basis of his or her religion or belief. The Commission is seriously concerned that the Saudi government is not abiding by the policies it confirmed in 2006 to promote greater religious freedom and tolerance, including by revising its school textbooks. The texts used at the ISA are only one example.


APPENDIX Islamic Saudi Academy Arabic-Language Textbooks Reviewed by the Commission

Monotheism (Tawhid), Twelfth Grade, Administrative, Social, Natural, and Technical Sciences Track

Monotheism (Tawhid), Twelfth Grade, Sharia and Arabic Sciences Track

Interpretation (Tafsir), Twelfth Grade, Sharia and Arabic Sciences Track

Interpretation (Tafsir), Twelfth Grade, Administrative, Social, Natural, and Technical Sciences Track


Hadith and Islamic Culture, Twelfth Grade, Administrative, Social, Natural, and Technical Sciences Track

Hadith and Islamic Culture, Twelfth Grade, Sharia and Arabic Sciences Track

Jurisprudence (Fiqh), Twelfth Grade, Natural Sciences Track

Jurisprudence (Fiqh), Twelfth Grade, Sharia and Arabic Sciences Track

The History of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Twelfth Grade, Natural Sciences Track

Sociology, Twelfth Grade, Sharia and Arabic Sciences Track

Studies from the Islamic World, Twelfth Grade, Administrative, Social, Natural, and Technical Sciences Track

Hadith, Seventh Grade

Hadith, Ninth Grade

Jurisprudence (Fiqh), Ninth Grade

Jurisprudence (Fiqh), Tenth Grade

Aspects of Muslim Political and Cultural History, Eleventh Grade, Administrative and Social Track, Sharia and Arabic Track

History of the Prophets, the Prophet’s Biography, and the Spread of Islam, Tenth Grade

Yes, the above is a lot of information. But we might need it later for reference, particularly if the original information is hacked or otherwise disappears.

Islamic Saudi Academy In Virginia: "Kill The Infidels And Take Their Property"

This is being taught by the Islamic Saudi Academy. This school is owned by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia. (Yes, the Academy is owned by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia. Click here to see the video of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. Go to the May 19th "Presentaions" and watch the video. The Saudi ownership is stated right at the outset.)

Muslim children are being taught to kill you and take your property, and that message is being paid for by the Saudi Royal Family.

(Photo on right: Gerry Connolly, Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors sure does look money, doesn't he? In my opinion, he smells like money too.)

Associated Press reports. They call it "troubling."

Troubling passages in texts at Va. school
By MATTHEW BARAKAT –

McLEAN, Va. (AP) — Textbooks at a private Islamic school in northern
Virginia teach students that it is permissible for Muslims to kill
adulterers and converts from Islam, according to a federal
investigation released Wednesday.

Other passages in the school’s textbooks state that “the Jews
conspired against Islam and its people” and that Muslims are permitted to take
the lives and property of those deemed “polytheists.”

The passages were found in selected textbooks used during the 2007-08
school year by the Islamic Saudi Academy, which teaches 900 students in grades
K-12 at two campuses in Alexandria and Fairfax and receives much of its funding
from the Saudi government.

The academy has come under scrutiny from critics who allege that it fosters an intolerant brand of
Islam similar to that taught in the conservative Saudi kingdom. In the
review, the panel recommended that the school make all of its textbooks
available to the State Department so changes can be made before the next school
year.

This indoctrination of children has been going on at the Islamic Saudi Academy for many years, and the AP is only now noticing it.

Our fellow Infidel, Always on Watch, attended the May 19th hearing, and reported that,

The Board Chairman also stated that those who voiced concerns about the
school were slandering the school, but that such slander came under the right of
freedom of speech. His tone was that of scolding those who had taken time from
their day to voice their concerns.

So, I wonder what the Chairman Gerry Connolly would have to say about these text books?

One has to wonder what the Saudis do for Gerry Connolly that he loves them so much. What the hell is he doing lecturing those who would be concerned? Of course, any decent American citizen ought to be concerned about the Saudis funding a school here in the United States.

In Saudi Arabia,

1) Apostates are killed

2) Women are not allowed to drive

3) Bibles are not allowed in the country

4) Jews are not allowed in the country

5) Homosexuals are killed

6) Sharia law is the Constitution of the Royal Kingdom

And, that's only the beginning. Saudi Arabia is probably the most medieval country on the face of the Earth. Of course, American citizens would be concerned. We ought to be apalled.

But, the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors scolds our friends?

Fuck him and the camel he rode in on.

Everyone pass this around. I want this info to get out. Gerry Connolly, the Chairman of Board of Supervisors had the nerve to scold American citizens who expressed concern about the Islamic Saudi Academy. In fact, one source told me he called them "bigots."

Just a week or so later, it was found that the Islamic Saudi Academy was, apparently, actively suppressing a report of child molestation:


Follow-up to this posting about the Islamic Saudi Academy, from NBC4 News in Washington, D.C.:

Islamic School Searched After Abuse Allegations SurfaceAuthorities Say School's Director Didn't Report Abuse Allegations

POSTED: 3:42 pm EDT June 3, 2008UPDATED: 6:52 pm EDT June 3, 2008

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. -- Fairfax County police searched the Islamic Saudi Academy's west campus last month in connection with an investigation into child abuse allegations.

A 5-year old girl told a teacher in mid-May that her father was sexually abusing her, News4's James Adams reported. Two teachers and the principal at the west campus put together a report and forwarded it to the school's director general, Adams said.

According to court documents, the school's director, Adalla Al-Shabnan, did not believe the girl's complaint.

He later told investigators that he recommended psychological counseling for the girl after meeting with her parents.

Authorities said Al-Shabnan never reported the allegations of abuse to a child protective or law enforcement agency.

Virginia law requires abuse allegations to be reported within 72 hours.

Related: Watch The Report

On May 23, detectives searched and seized computers, notes and records from the school's Fairfax campus.

According to court documents, Al-Shabnan directed the original report to be deleted from the school's computers.


I wonder what Gerry Connolly, Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors thinks about that? We "bigots" want to know.

I also would like to know what motivation Mr. Connolly has for aiding and abetting the Royal Saudi Embassy in the process of sustaining their lease.

Call me crazy, but I smell money. Isn't that money I smell? Anyone else smell money? I'm not sure. But, it smells like money.