From Other Sites on the Line: 26 Jun 08

Muslim Chutzpah

Cross posted from Monkey in the Middle:
http://findalismonkeyinthemiddle.blogspot.com/2008/06/pot-calling-kettle-black_26.html
Thursday, June 26, 2008

The pot calling the kettle black!

Thursday, June 26, 2008
I thought that I had heard of every Chutzpah that the Muslim world could throw at the West, but this time they have a new low of accusations. Now it seems that the Islamic Saudi Academy is the subject of Persecution because they are Muslims.View the clip from al Jazeera. This is the school that the US Commission on International Religious Freedom cited that the textbooks used in a American School promote violence, discrimination, or intolerance based on religion or belief. Given the fact that the ISA is run by Saudi Arabia, and that the textbooks used in the school are the same ones used in Saudi Arabia; the Commission was correct to condemn this school for the hatred that the school is espousing.

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.

So how did the ISA and the Saudi Government respond to this? Instead of changing the textbooks and removing the hatred, they decided to attack the Commission and the United States, calling both racist and Islamicphobic.

From the transcript of the tape:
Reporter: "We are at the Islamic Saudi Academy in the state of Virginia - the largest institution teaching the Arabic language and Islamic education on the East Coast of the U.S. However, this institution faces mounting pressure, and this is a nightmare for the families of the students enrolled in the academy. This pressure is being brought to bear by several Congressmen, known for their great hostility towards Arabs and Muslims. "

However, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which was established by Congress, has recommended that the academy be shut down, alleging that its religious curricula, which are taught in Saudi Arabia as well, included material inciting to racism and intolerance towards other religions. [The commission] did not even talk to those in charge of the academy, let alone visit it."

I guess that finally reading the hate filled textbooks was enough to understand exactly what is being taught at the ISA. Given the fact that the 1999 valedictorian of the school, one Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, has been convicted of conspiracy to assassinate the president, conspiracy to hijack aircraft and providing support to Al Qaeda. I am sure his picture is proudly displayed on their walls.Again from the transcript:
Reporter: "The local authority of Fairfax County, where the academy is located, has challenged the threats of closure. It determined that the allegations are invalid, and it approved the religious curricula after examining them. The non-Muslim teachers also expressed disgust and frustration at the allegations."Considering that the School's principal has been arrested for allegedly covering up a 5-year-old girl’s report of sexual abuse by her father.

And considering that the school has promised to clean up the offensive textbooks.Yet the school and Saudis are attacking the Commission even though it is now emerging that this school has been a hotbed of anti-American, anti-Christian, and anti-Semitic hatred for years and a breeding ground for terrorists. And when the US government after years of being stonewalled finally discovers what the true nature of the Islamic Saudi Academy is. They are being called racists.

And that is the pot calling the kettle black.

Posted by Findalis

A note from Radarsite: Another terrific article from Findalis at Monkey in the Middle. This is exactly the nature of the war we are in. Our victories in this war are, it seems, few and far between. We still have so much to learn, both about ourselves and about the enemy we face. Incredibly, seven years into this WOT, we have still not found the political will to clearly define our enemies and act effectively against them. -rg