Subscribe to Print Edition | Sat., April 19, 2008 Nisan 14, 5768 | | Israel Time: 22:17 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
  Back to Homepage
Rosner's Domain
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Advertising
Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File
Last update - 11:12 24/11/2007
U.S. senators, panel seek closure of Saudi Islamic school
By The Associated Press
Tags: Congressman Steve Israel 

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia - Twelve U.S. senators and a federal commission want to shut it down, and its most virulent critics have dubbed it "Terror High."

The teachers, administrators and about 900 students at the Islamic Saudi Academy in Fairfax County have heard the allegations for years - after the Sept. 11 attacks and then a few years later when a class valedictorian admitted he joined al-Qaida.

Now the school finds itself on the defensive again. Last month, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom issued a report saying the academy should be closed until it can conduct a review of the curriculum and textbooks.
Advertisement
Abdalla al-Shabnan, the school's director general, says the criticism of the school - where the courses are taught in English and Arabic - is based not on evidence, but on preconceived notions of the Saudi educational system.

The school, serving pre-kindergarten through grade 12 on campuses in Fairfax and Alexandria, receives financial support from the Saudi government, and the textbooks are based on Saudi curriculum. While there are other Islamic high schools in the United States, the academy is the only one with this kind of a relationship to Saudi Arabia.

Al-Shabnan said the school significantly modified those textbooks to remove passages deemed intolerant of other religions. And the Saudis themselves initiated their own textbook reforms several years ago in response to criticism.

At an open house earlier this month in which the school invited reporters to tour the school and meet with students and faculty, al-Shabnan seemed weary of the constant questions.

"I didn't think we'd have to do this," al-Shabnan he said of the open house. "Our neighbors know us. They know the job we are doing."

Indeed, many people familiar with the school say the accusations are unfounded. Fairfax County Supervisor Gerald Hyland, whose district includes the academy, has defended the school and arranged for the county to review the textbooks to put questions about the curriculum to rest. That review is ongoing.

The academy's Alexandria campus is leased from Fairfax County.

The schools that regularly compete against the academy in interscholastic sports - many of them small, private Christian schools - are also among the academy's strongest defenders.

Robert Mead, soccer coach at Bryant Alternative High School, a public school in the Alexandria section of Fairfax county, said the academy's reputation has been unfairly marred by people who have not even bothered to visit the school.

"We've never had one altercation" on the soccer field with the academy's players, Mead said. "My guys are hostile. Their guys keep fights from breaking out."

The controversy surrounding the school has been mirrored elsewhere in the U.S.

In New York City, the Khalil Gibran International Academy - a public school named after a Lebanese-Christian poet who wrote about peace - quietly opened its doors in September following criticism that it would indoctrinate young students in a manner akin to the hardline madrassas, or religious schools, in some parts of the Muslim world.

The school - the first Arabic-themed public school in the U.S. - was forced to change venue before it opened. A new head was also appointed after its first principal, a Muslim of Yemeni descent, resigned amid complaints about her refusal to condemn a youth group's use of the word "Intifada," which commonly refers to the Palestinian uprising against Israel. The new principal is a Jewish woman who does not speak Arabic.

In Virginia, the Islamic academy opened in 1984 and stayed out of the spotlight until the Sept. 11 attacks, which focused attention on the Saudi educational system. Critics said the Saudis propagate a severe version of Islam in their schools. The academy, as an offshoot of the Saudi system, also was scrutinized.

Those criticisms resurfaced in 2005, when a former class valedictorian, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, was charged in U.S. court with joining al-Qaida while attending college in Saudi Arabia. He was convicted on several charges, including plotting to assassinate President George W. Bush, and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Most recently, the commission issued its scathing report after saying it was rebuffed in its efforts to obtain textbooks to verify claims by the Saudi government that the textbooks had been reformed in recent years.

The commission recommended that the academy be shut down until the textbooks were reviewed to ensure they do not promote intolerance.

Since the report last month, the academy gave copies of the textbooks to the Saudi embassy, which in turn provided them to the State Department. The commission, an independent federal agency created by Congress, wants to conduct its own review and is waiting to get the books from the State Department.

On Nov. 15, a dozen U.S. senators, including Democrat Charles Schumer of New York and Republican Jon Kyl of Arizona, wrote a letter to the State Department urging it to act on the commission's recommendations. And on Tuesday, Reps. Frank Wolf, a Virginia Republican, and Steve Israel, a New York Democrat, introduced legislation to enact the commission's recommendations regarding the academy into law.

"All the peace treaties and diplomatic agreements in the world will not succeed as long as children are taught how to hate," Israel said in a statement.

Michael Cromartie, the commission's chairman, said he does not question the character of the student body or the faculty, most of whom are Christian. The commission is focused specifically on the textbooks, and has legitimate concerns given the problems that have been endemic in the Saudi curriculum, he said.

"It's not about whether the students are civil to their opponents on a ball field. It's about the textbooks," he said.

Cromartie said significant revisions need to be made to the texts, based on what he knows about the original Saudi material. He believes the books will provide a good window into the general atmosphere at the school.

"If the textbooks have been cleaned up, we'll be the first to say it," he said.

Academy officials have acknowledged that some of the original Saudi textbooks use intemperate language, but say they have made significant modifications at the academy to remove offensive passages. They have, for instance, removed instructions from teachers' versions of first-grade textbooks an excerpt instructing teachers to explain "that all religions, other than Islam, are false, including that of the Jews, Christians and all others."

At the open house, officials offered a tour of the school. The academy runs separate boys and girls schools for children in grades 3 and up, but Advance Placement classes are coed.

Many high school girls wear head scarves, but others do not. The library includes English and Arabic language books. A library video on the Crusades, a historical era in which western and Islamic interpretations vary greatly, is produced by The History Channel as opposed to an Arab broadcaster.

Also in the library is the Muslim World League Journal, a publication produced by the Muslim World League, a Saudi organization considered closely aligned with the kingdom's royal family. In various U.S. court cases, government officials have linked the Muslim World League to Muslim extremists.

Dozens of students, teachers and parents attended the open house, eager to clear up what they see as a misimpression of the school. High school seniors said they worry about the news accounts hurting their college applications. Most students said they were shocked when they heard that a government panel had recommended shutting down the school.

Omar Talib, a student in his final year at the school, said the school caters to students from across the Muslim world, not just Saudis. It makes no judgments on other religions or against Shiite Islam, as some critics have contended.

"There's no opinion" from academy teachers on the validity of Shiite or Sunni sects, Talib said. "It's just basic Islam."

"I have four children at this school. I've never heard them say, 'Mom, today we learned we should kill the Jews,'" said Malika Chughtai of Vienna, Virginia. "If I heard that kind of talk, I would not have them here.
Bookmark to del.icio.us  
 
A gentleman's word
Olmert tells Haaretz he knows Iran won't have nuclear capacity.
Farewell to arms
B'Tselem says IDF must ban wide-range shell that killed civilians in Gaza.
  1.   The general outlook... 09:10  |  Esther 24/11/07
  2.   Jewish Reign of terror against Muslims, Arabs in 09:15  |  New Yorker 24/11/07
  3.   Does anyone remember Sen. Joe McCarthy? 10:04  |  Jon Jaye 24/11/07
  4.   Saudi Schools 10:12  |  Naim S. Mahlab 24/11/07
  5.   u.s. senators need a lesson in american ideals! 11:25  |  eric 24/11/07
  6.   Arabs and Muslims should also monitor the Jewish Yeshiva 11:11  |  El-Birawi 24/11/07
  7.   US Senate, Nothing to be proud of! 12:24  |  El-Birawi 24/11/07
  8.   To the El-Birawi american 13:23  |  dovale 24/11/2008
  9.   To El-Birawi 13:39  |  dovale 24/11/07
  10.   SAUDI SUPPORTS WORLDWIDE TERROR SCHOOL NETWORK 13:56  |  B. HEDDEM 24/11/07
  11.   eric and el-birawi 14:17  |  Firefaught 24/11/07
  12.   Saudi funded schools must be closed, bravo America 14:22  |  Mark B. 24/11/07
  13.   School closures 14:26  |  food for thought 24/11/07
  14.   Reform Yourselves Muslims 14:40  |  Yosemite 24/11/07
  15.   1st Amendment rules, not Israel 14:41  |  W 24/11/07
  16.   Firefaught,do not fee sorry,contribute to my civility 14:54  |  El-birawi 24/11/07
  17.   @3 New Yorker Bull Shoes! 15:09  |  Petra 24/11/07
  18.   US REPUBLICAN SENATE_ NOT DEMS 15:22  |  Petra 24/11/07
  19.   Beheddom England AMEN TO THAT! 15:25  |  Petra 24/11/07
  20.   Mr. El-Barawi 15:30  |  Firefaught 24/11/07
  21.   Schools food for thought 15:35  |  Petra 24/11/07
  22.   Reform yourselves muslims -Yosemete 15:37  |  Petra 24/11/07
  23.   First ammendment rules not Muslim agendas 15:41  |  Petra 24/11/07
  24.   El bird brain use spell check and proof read your drivel 15:43  |  Petra 24/11/07
  25.   #2 New Yorker 15:49  |  Another New Yorker 24/11/07
  26.   # 3 Jihn Jaye 15:52  |  Ann 24/11/07
  27.   Saudi islamist schools in the US, what is happening? 15:56  |  Johnny 24/11/07
  28.   El Birawi, Jewish Yeshiva 15:59  |  Scott 24/11/07
  29.   #14 Reform? ARE YOU WILLING? 16:03  |  answer 24/11/07
  30.   #13 School Closure 16:07  |  Bart 24/11/07
  31.   # 15, 1st Ammendment, W 16:09  |  Howard 24/11/07
  32.   El Birawi #16 and Firefaught 16:13  |  Jess 24/11/07
  33.   To El-Birawi 16:14  |  dovale 24/11/07
  34.   @20 Petra, about Saudi oil money 16:23  |  Mark B. 24/11/07
  35.   Islamic Terror School 16:40  |  Zionist Providence 24/11/07
  36.   Yes, we have our idiots and you have yours 17:06  |  El-birawi 24/11/07
  37.   El Birawi 17:15  |  American 24/11/07
  38.   El-birawi #36 the crusades were instigated by the muslims 18:00  |  terrornator 24/11/07
  39.   Jewish Dominance 18:07  |  Jeff 24/11/07
  40.   Jon Jaye, who exactly attacked us on 9/11? 18:20  |  Figaro 24/11/07
  41.   El-Birawi, how many of the 9/11 murderers were Yeshiva students 18:23  |  Figaro 24/11/07
  42.   El-Birawi, if you do not like our senate/senators 18:25  |  Figaro 24/11/07
  43.   Al Whatshisname 18:39  |  Defender of the Fait 24/11/07
  44.   petra and el birawi 18:52  |  leroy 24/11/07
  45.   #35, Islamic Terror and Zion 19:22  |  Pete 24/11/07
  46.   #15, 31 First Amendment Has Been Violated By Saudis 19:32  |  Laguna Geno 24/11/07
  47.   Jeff # 39 in Chicago 19:33  |  Maureen 24/11/07
  48.   Petra, Petra, Petraaaaaaaaaaa 19:38  |  Janet 24/11/07
  49.   Petra 19:42  |  Craig 24/11/07
  50.   Parent`s have a right to teach their kids 19:44  |  Chris Linthwaite 24/11/07
  51.   `Just basic Islam` 19:58  |  Chick 24/11/07
  52.   Saudis, Arabs and Muslims should use their OIL power 20:18  |  Power 24/11/07
  53.   How Ironic Is It That We Can`t Do it In Saudi Arabia 20:22  |  Laguna Geno 24/11/07
  54.   No. 46: Only US gov`ts covered by US Constitution 20:31  |  W 24/11/07
  55.   # 50 # THE UK IS A BAD EXAMPLE OF FREEDOM 20:36  |  B.Heddem 24/11/07
  56.   Election time? 20:39  |  Gordon 24/11/07
  57.   #50 B Heddem 20:50  |  Chris Linthwaite 24/11/07
  58.   Not just textbooks... 21:09  |  Webster 24/11/07
  59.   #53 If our government cannot engage in such such activities, 21:14  |  Laguna Geno 24/11/07
  60.   #2 nEW yORKER 21:24  |  TOBIA 24/11/07
  61.   CRAIG WHO DECLARED WAR 21:34  |  TOBIA 24/11/07
  62.   Sauce for the goose.. 21:36  |  Colin Wright 24/11/07
  63.   Al Qaida = Mossad + CIA = 09/11/2001 21:42  |  Peter 24/11/07
  64.   # 11 to firefaught: of singleminded hate 21:42  |  eric 24/11/07
  65.   Jumping on the bandwagon 21:46  |  Colin Wright 24/11/07
  66.   #60 Tobia 21:48  |  Chris Linthwaite 24/11/07
  67.   #61 Tobia 21:52  |  Chris Linthwaite 24/11/07
  68.   #62 Colin Wright 21:56  |  Chris Linthwaite 24/11/07
  69.   # 10 and you b.heddem in LONDON 22:11  |  eric 24/11/07
  70.   islamic schools 22:26  |  Shmuelshachor 24/11/07
  71.   #62 The Issue Is Whether We Should Permit A Foreign Government 22:53  |  Laguna Geno 24/11/07
  72.   CAN they do the Saudi trick of locking girls in a burning school? 23:02  |  PETER S.M. 24/11/07
  73.   New Yorker #2 -- how confused are you? 23:06  |  bbl 24/11/07
  74.   Clin Wright -- what makes you think they are not? 23:14  |  bbl 24/11/07
  75.   Freedom of Religion & Speech trumps paranoia 23:44  |  Rick 24/11/07
  76.   # 11 to firefaught (2nd try) 23:59  |  eric 24/11/07
  77.   Rick#69 Can You Convince The Saudis To Be Tolerant? 00:18  |  Laguna Geno 25/11/07
  78.   The Pernicious Israel Lobby At Its Worst 00:26  |  chet 25/11/07
  79.   #61 Tobia - Only a few criminal Muslims attacked the US 00:28  |  Rick 25/11/07
  80.   WHERE Was the British Teachers Union when 12 Saudi School girls 00:44  |  PETER S.M. 25/11/07
  81.   THE CURRICULUM SHOULD BE IN HEBREW 00:50  |  indrajaya 25/11/07
  82.   THE CURRICULUM SHOULD BE IN HEBREW 00:50  |  indrajaya 25/11/07
  83.   #59 Laguna Geno - US Private schools can teach Christianity 00:50  |  Rick 25/11/07
  84.   WHERE WAS the UN Comission on Human Rights when Saudis murdered12 00:52  |  PETER S.M. 25/11/07
  85.   Petra & First Amendment 01:04  |  Mark of Lewiston 25/11/07
  86.   "JEFF" 60 million Conservative US Christians object to Islamist 01:05  |  PETER S.M. 25/11/07
  87.   #71 Laguna - because our government is better 01:06  |  Rick 25/11/07
  88.   "JEFF" The Senators objection is to Saudi hate textbooks 01:08  |  PETER S.M. 25/11/07
  89.   LINTHWAITE Brits censor the curriculum on the Holocaust not to 01:11  |  PETER S.M. 25/11/07
  90.   46 Laguna Geno - Read the First Amendment 01:12  |  Mark of Lewiston 25/11/07
  91.   Colin Wright - I Prefer the Constitutional Way 01:24  |  Mark of Lewiston 25/11/07
  92.   #72 Peter SM - because we`re better. 01:32  |  Rick 25/11/07
  93.   The issue is the textbooks, nothing else 01:37  |  Joseph 25/11/07
  94.   #67 CHRIS 01:37  |  TOBIA 25/11/07
  95.   Rick #75: Your Legaol Assertion is False 01:39  |  Laguna Geno 25/11/07
  96.   Gender equality 01:52  |  Ben Azai 25/11/07
  97.   What do yeshivahs teach? 02:01  |  Joseph 25/11/07
  98.   Not only close all Islamic schools, but also mosques and 02:02  |  Genuine Toseftat 25/11/07
  99.   "Where`s the Beef?" 02:41  |  Mark Lincoln 25/11/07
  100.   Cheap hypocrisy 02:45  |  Grif 25/11/07
  101.   Yeshiva teaches to obey the law of the land 03:00  |  Genuine Tosefta 25/11/07
  102.   Global Warming does not stand a chance 03:10  |  jonny 25/11/07
  103.   #84 Laguna - Is this a joke? 03:36  |  Rick 25/11/07
  104.   #93 Joseph - they did provide the texts 04:23  |  Rick 25/11/07
  105.   Rick #103: Why Are You Protecting the rights of the Saudi 05:12  |  Laguna Geno 25/11/07
  106.   Mark #90 The Constitution Needs To Be Amended 05:17  |  Laguna Geno 25/11/07
  107.   ISLAM MUST BE OUTLAWED AS A REBEL AGAINST HER MOTHER JUDAISM))))) 05:22  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 25/11/07
  108.   Does anyone remember 9/11? 05:32  |  lbc 25/11/07
  109.   # 55 to beeheadem 08:29  |  eric 25/11/07
  110.   106 Laguna Geno - 67 Senators, 292 Reps, 38 States 09:27  |  Mark of Lewiston 25/11/07
  111.   # 57 # 109 # YOU LACK COMPASSION AND REASON 09:35  |  B. H E D D E M 25/11/07
  112.   Are they also closing school of Christian terrorist TimMcVey? 11:04  |  Kim 25/11/07
  113.   Kach is a terrorist group, so should allJewish schools be closed? 11:18  |  Kim 25/11/07
  114.   School of Christian terrorist TimMcVey doesn`t turn out wave 11:22  |  Genuine Tosefta 25/11/07
  115.   Hateful Islamophobia, not terror 14:31  |  Khalid 25/11/07
  116.   WAKE UP EVERYBODY! THE HAND OF THE SAUDIS ARE IN IT EVERYWHERE!! 15:21  |  JOSH 25/11/07
  117.   #103 Rick 15:31  |  JOSH 25/11/07
  118.   #108 lbc..Does anyone remember 9/11?.**HOW QUICKLY THEY FORGET!!. 15:34  |  JOSH 25/11/07
  119.   #100 Grif Cheap hypocrisy**NOT AT ALL! 15:41  |  JOSH 25/11/07
  120.   #17Petra***Petra..ONCE BUSH GOES*** 15:51  |  JOSH 25/11/07
  121.   #151st Amendment rules, not Israel..AND YOUR SPURIOS ATTACKS ON.. 16:37  |  JOSH 25/11/07
  122.   # 85 Mark of Lewiston..Am going To cut And paste one paragraph 16:50  |  JOSH 25/11/07
  123.   #112 &113 THE GHOST OF MAUREEN ANN.. 17:11  |  JOSH 25/11/07
  124.   #115 Khalid..The Shulhan Aruch** CAN YOU EXPAND ON THAT PLEASE? 17:16  |  JOSH 25/11/07
  125.   122 JOSH - A Fine Line 19:44  |  Mark of Lewiston 25/11/07
  126.   Islamic Texts 19:24  |  Steve 19/04/08
  127.   Islamic Textss 19:55  |  Steve 19/04/08
 Read & React
Editorial: Israel can't demolish all of Gaza
Responses: 247
IDF troops do nothing as Hebron settlers threaten German MPs
Responses: 228
Rice: Syria 'most certainly an issue in nuclear proliferation'
Responses: 72
Carter meets Hamas leader, sets out plans for Israel-Hamas truce
Responses: 168
IDF: Attack on crossing is Hamas' most ambitious since Gaza pullout
Responses: 210
Rosner's Domain
The Passover test and The Passion of Passover
Just say no to Carter
Poll: What is Carter doing in the Middle East?
Let the debate begin: what's a "pro-Israeli" position?
Clinton: Massive retaliation if Israel attacked (WTR)


More Headlines
22:08 Barak: Hamas will pay for attack on Gaza crossing
21:44 Meshal to announce decision over Carter truce proposals Sunday
02:46 Egypt: 'Good progress' made in Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks
20:29 Bush: N. Korea must provide full declaration of its nuclear proliferation activities
20:40 Ben-Gurion airport placed on high alert over hazardous material leak
11:06 Pope Benedict XVI gets warm welcome at New York synagogue
15:42 The Passover test and The Passion of Passover
04:17 Qassam hits power line in Sderot causing blackout
04:20 Israel: PA can reopen 20 police stations in West Bank
07:30 IDF: Reuters reporter risked his life by going to Bil'in
23:25 Muslim preacher sentenced in Britain for supporting terrorism
19:38 Boim: 'Natural growth' reason for 100 new settlement homes
20:05 The Israeli 'settler' serving in Italy's parliament
Previous Editions
Special Offers
Advertisement
Learn Hebrew online
with Israel's best teachers Sign up for a trial lesson today
Pardes Institute Summer Sessions
Study Jewish texts and issues in Jerusalem, Co-ed, All Levels
Free the Palestinians from:
Corrupt Kleptocracy, Tyrannical Theocracy, Abysmal Anarchy
Fattal Hotel Chain
Perfectly located hotels on best resorts of Israel.
ISRAEL BONDS Build Israel
Israel bonds - a multi-purpose way to celebrate Israel's 60th
Eldan Rent a Car
Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on all online reservations
Junkyard
Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt
Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | Underground | Site rules |
Real Estate in Israel
Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
© Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved