Iranian & Saudi Textbooks Also Preach Intolerance Which Promotes Violence (updated Feb. 11)
By Andrew Cochran
On February 8, I wrote here about new textbooks used in Palestinian schools which promote hatred of other religions and support terrorism. But this problem certainly isn't isolated to that area; it appears to be more of a systemic effort by numerous Muslim educators worldwide to brainwash their children. Textbooks used in Iran refer to the United States as the "Great Satan" and to Israel as "the regime that occupies Jerusalem," according to a study released this week by the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace. In a separate policy statement, the co-authors write, "The books reveal an uncompromisingly hostile attitude towards the West, especially the United States and Israel. In fact, the curriculum’s declared goal is to prepare the students for a global struggle against the West which bears alarming Messianic-like features to the point of self-destruction." You can download the entire report from the CMIP site.
An outcry arose this week in the UK over textbooks funded by the Saudi Ministry of Education and used in the King Fahd Academy in West London. BBC Two's "Newsnight" programme translated textbooks used there and found that they preached intolerance of Judaism and Christianity. Phrases found in some of the books include the following: "(E)very religion other than islam is worthless... They are the Jewish observers of Saturdays whose youth God turned into monkeys and their elders into pigs as their punishment... The monkeys... are the Jews. And the pigs: they are the Christian infidels at Jesus' table." The Academy's principal waffled when pressed on BBC to remove the textbooks. At one point she promised to remove the offensive chapters, but at another point in the interview, she said that the books "have good chapters that can be used by the teachers." You can see the initial expose and interview of the Academy's principal here, and a followup story by "Newsnight" here.
This isn't the first time the Saudis have been discovered brainwashing Muslim youth. Last year, Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom released a report analyzing Saudi Ministry of Education textbooks in use for elementary and secondary students. The authors found that the books "(c)ommand Muslims to 'hate' Christians, Jews, 'polytheists' and other 'unbelievers,' including non-Wahhabi Muslims, though, incongruously, not to treat them 'unjustly'... teach that 'Jews and the Christians are enemies of the [Muslim] believers' and that 'the clash' between the two realms is perpetual" and "instruct that 'fighting between Muslims and Jews' will continue until Judgment Day, and that the Muslims are promised victory over the Jews in the end."
The Saudis' role in teaching intolerance has been the subject of inquiry by the U.S. Congress. In November 2005, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing titled, "Saudi Arabia: Friend or Foe in the War on Terror?" on the role of Saudis in disseminating hateful anti-American and anti-Israeli propaganda thoughout Islamic schools and mosques in the U.S. Contributing Expert Steven Emerson testified at that hearing. You can download his statement and those of other witnesses from the committee's website, and I posted about that hearing and a previous study of Saudi-sponsored propaganda in U.S. mosques and schools.
UPDATE, Feb. 11: Thanks to Philip Henika for sending me this December 2002 article by Steven Stalinsky for MEMRI on this subject, and also this August 2004 "American Prospect" article about the Wahhabi influence in Southeast Asia. Apparently nothing has changed in the past four years.
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/02/saudi_and_iranian_textbooks_al.php
Do Arab states really care about the Palestinians
An Alternative Approach to Israeli Political Commentary
Do Arab states really care about the Palestinians?
For all their talk of standing by the Palestinians, Arab regimes sure have a funny way of showing it.
I did a bit of research and discovered an interesting, yet largely unknown,little fact:
Arab states provide less than 3 percent of the annual budget of UNRWA, the UN agency that assists Palestinian refugees throughout the Middle East.
By contrast, Western countries cover some 95 percent of the organization's
finances each year.
Now, if they really truly cared about the fate of their Palestinian brethren,
would oil-rich countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain be so miserly and
cheap when it comes to improving their living conditions?
Read below and see for yourself.
UN pressing Arab states for more aid to Palestinian refugees
By Michael Freund
Despite their rhetorical pledges of support for the Palestinians, the Arab
states are providing an increasingly smaller amount of aid to the United Nations
Relief and Work Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), prompting the UN agency
to step up efforts to solicit more funds from Arab regimes throughout the
region.
At a press conference held Wednesday in Manama, the Bahraini capital, UNRWA
representative Peter Ford issued a plea to Arab countries to increase their
donations on behalf of Palestinian refugees, asserting that UNRWA is facing "a
financial crisis."
Over the past two decades, Ford noted, Arab states have provided a steadily
decreasing percentage of UNRWA's funding. In the 1980s, he said, their donations
amounted to 8% of the group's annual budget, whereas now, "Arab donors currently
contribute less than three percent of UNRWA's overall spending."
"The objective," he said, "is to return to that level of support at a time
when the innocent refugees, as always the victims of political problems, are
suffering more than ever."
Ford added that while funds from major donor countries have been "regular and
steady," the agency is now looking to tap into other sources, in particular the
Arab states, in light of growing demand for UNRWA's services among Palestinian
refugees.
"The situation for the refugees is ominously deteriorating because of Israeli
attitudes and Palestinian in-fighting," he said. "There is an increasing need
for funds from several sources, mainly Arab states."
Ford was in Bahrain to meet with government officials in an effort to drum up
additional pledges of support. He plans to visit several Gulf Arab states in the
near future as well.
According to UNRWA's Web site, the largest pledge received from an Arab
country in 2006 was $1.5 million from Kuwait, with Saudi Arabia promising just
$1.2 million. By contrast, Sweden pledged more than $41 million, the UK $27
million, and Denmark over $12 million.
Other Arab states were even less generous, with oil-rich Bahrain offering
$30,000 and Lebanon a mere $10,000.
The US was the largest supporter of UNRWA's activities, with more than $137
million of the group's budgeted expenditures of $462 million coming from
Washington.
As of October 31, the latest date for which figures are available, UNRWA was
expecting a funding shortfall in 2006 of $117 million, with total pledges
amounting to $345 million.
Nearly all of UNRWA's operations are financed by voluntary contributions from
governments and the European Union. In total, Western countries provide more
than 95% of the agency's finances.
--- from the February 9 Jerusalem Post
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AntiTerrorismCoalition/message/38110
I do not know how the left thinks we can solve the war on terror, with talking, when it is so provable, that they have evil intentions.
How sad that kids are taught to hate, beyond all reason.
None of them are our friends.