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SAUDI ARABIA ISSUE
It is said that no one is born knowing how to hate.
This destructive human impulse must be taught -- and that is exactly what the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is doing to its youth.
Saudi schoolbooks are a hate-filled portrait of a bizarre and fictitious world -- a place where the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is history text... where Israel does not exist on a map... where organizations such as the Freemasons, the Lions, and Rotary Clubs are bound together in a global Zionist conspiracy.
The textbooks are not the product of renegade religious fanatics. They are official publications of the Saudi Education Ministry -- the work of a monarchy that passes itself off as a moderate regime and American ally.
Is it any wonder that 15 of the nineteen 9-11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia -- where they might have first learned to hate from these books -- or that so much of the financing for international terrorism comes from Saudi Arabia?
And Saudi children are not just indoctrinated by schoolbooks. You may have read about the latest absurdity.
Saudi Arabia's religious police have banned Barbie dolls that they refer to as a "Jewish" toy, with their 'developed bodies and revealing clothes,' as being offensive to Islam.
The truth is, the world will never be safe -- not for Americans, not for Israel, not for Jews anywhere in the world -- as long as so many young people are being taught virulent hatred.
That's why I'm writing to you on behalf of the American Jewish Committee today.
Recently, we joined with the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace to conduct an investigation into Saudi schoolbooks. What we found was -- to put it quite plainly -- chilling.
Practically every lesson -- from grammar, to geography, to history -- was bent and twisted to transform it into a vehicle for teaching hate. It is as though Saudi Arabian schools have abandoned such academic basics as the three R's and are teaching intolerance instead.
Consider these excerpts from Saudi textbooks:
A text in "dictation" explains: "Now [Palestine] is occupied by the Jews, a people of treachery and betrayal, who have gathered there from every place: from Poland, Spain, America and elsewhere. Their end, by God's will, is perdition."
In geography books, "Palestine" is listed on maps, but Israel ("the gangs' state," as it is called) is not. One book says this about New York: "Many of its inhabitants are Jews who help strengthen the Israeli occupation of Palestine."
Saudi "history" texts preach a blend of intolerance and conspiracy theory.
"You will hardly find any sedition without the Jews having a part in it," one schoolbook says, by way of blaming Jews for such historical events as World War I and the French and Russian Revolutions.
And perhaps most tragically, Saudi religious instruction distorts Islam into a tool for hatred.
To take just one illustration, students are challenged to fill in this blank: "Those who have incurred God's wrath are _____." You will not be surprised to learn the correct answer: "the Jews."
Nor is the bigotry confined to Jews alone. Saudi textbooks teach youth to despise all that is Western as well.
Already we have caught glimpses of the destruction this hatred can cause. That is why you and I must do something about it.
The American Jewish Committee is uniquely positioned to do exactly that.
Our work on this report was instrumental in the introduction of a resolution in the US House and Senate condemning the bigotry in Saudi textbooks, calling on the Saudi monarchy to change its curricula and expressing "extreme disappointment" with the slow pace of education reform in Saudi Arabia.
Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor, was so impressed with the quality of our research that at a recent face-to-face meeting, she asked for six copies of our book to distribute to her staff.
Our investigation of Saudi textbooks follows in a long tradition of our work. For example, in the 1950s we investigated anti-Semitism in Catholic schoolbooks and after the fall of the Berlin Wall we looked into how Jews were portrayed in former Soviet Block Countries, just to name a few.
In each case, our involvement led to improvements.
Eduard Kukan, Foreign Minister of Slovakia, praised our efforts stating: "Your review of curricula in our country made a difference; the depiction of Jews in our schoolbooks is currently being revised."
And Foreign Minister Toomas Hendrick Ilves of Estonia said: "Through your research efforts, we have begun improving our textbooks and sensitizing our teachers to the Holocaust."
With three dozen offices across the United States, Europe, and Israel -- as well as partners in Latin America and Australia -- the American Jewish Committee commands respect and influence around the world.
Each year, in fact, we conduct more than 60 high-level diplomatic meetings at the opening of the UN General Assembly. It was at just such a meeting last year that we raised the issue of hate-filled textbooks with the Saudi Foreign Minister.
He promised changes -- but he also understated the problem. From where we sit, nothing has changed. It is clear that we must be vigilant in pressing for reforms.
And we need your help to do it.
Here's the challenge we face: What we've learned about Saudi textbooks may be just the tip of the iceberg. Saudi-sponsored schools around the world -- as well as other anti-Semitic regimes -- may be similarly poisoned. Without conducting further research, we just won't know. And to do this research right -- to do it thoroughly and accurately -- is highly expensive.
So is keeping up the diplomatic pressure on these regimes. In order to maintain our influence, we have to keep offices open all over the globe. Moreover, given the anti- Israel bent so often seen in the media, our only recourse for ensuring our message is heard is often paid advertising.
These activities, too, cost a great deal. Major newspapers like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal can cost over $100,000 for a one-page ad.
If you share our anger over Saudi texts, there are two ways you can help.
First, sign the online petition to your Congressman and Senators urging them to sign on to Congressional resolutions condemning the hatred taught in Saudi textbooks -- and return the petitions to us so that we may pass them on.
Second, make a secure online contribution to the American Jewish Committee.
Your support will enable us to keep up the pressure for change in Saudi books, conduct more investigations into other countries' texts, and continue our many other activities on behalf of Jewish interests.
Be assured your contribution will be well spent. The American Institute of Philanthropy has rated the American Jewish Committee as one of the most cost-effective major charities in the United States.
Most important, when you join the American Jewish Committee, you become part of a worldwide fight for the interests of Jews anywhere they are in need.
Sincerely,
David A. Harris
Executive Director
P.S. Saudi schoolbooks systematically teach intolerance toward Jews, Christians and the West -- but what is happening in Saudi Arabia may be just the beginning. The Saudi Education Ministry also operates eighteen international schools -- including one in the United States. Please support the American Jewish Committee's campaign to stop the teaching of hate in Saudi textbooks -- and our other efforts on behalf of world Jewry -- by joining us today.
SAUDI ARABIA ISSUE
It is said that no one is born knowing how to hate.
This destructive human impulse must be taught -- and that is exactly what the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is doing to its youth.
Saudi schoolbooks are a hate-filled portrait of a bizarre and fictitious world -- a place where the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is history text... where Israel does not exist on a map... where organizations such as the Freemasons, the Lions, and Rotary Clubs are bound together in a global Zionist conspiracy.
The textbooks are not the product of renegade religious fanatics. They are official publications of the Saudi Education Ministry -- the work of a monarchy that passes itself off as a moderate regime and American ally.
Is it any wonder that 15 of the nineteen 9-11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia -- where they might have first learned to hate from these books -- or that so much of the financing for international terrorism comes from Saudi Arabia?
And Saudi children are not just indoctrinated by schoolbooks. You may have read about the latest absurdity.
Saudi Arabia's religious police have banned Barbie dolls that they refer to as a "Jewish" toy, with their 'developed bodies and revealing clothes,' as being offensive to Islam.
The truth is, the world will never be safe -- not for Americans, not for Israel, not for Jews anywhere in the world -- as long as so many young people are being taught virulent hatred.
That's why I'm writing to you on behalf of the American Jewish Committee today.
Recently, we joined with the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace to conduct an investigation into Saudi schoolbooks. What we found was -- to put it quite plainly -- chilling.
Practically every lesson -- from grammar, to geography, to history -- was bent and twisted to transform it into a vehicle for teaching hate. It is as though Saudi Arabian schools have abandoned such academic basics as the three R's and are teaching intolerance instead.
Consider these excerpts from Saudi textbooks:
A text in "dictation" explains: "Now [Palestine] is occupied by the Jews, a people of treachery and betrayal, who have gathered there from every place: from Poland, Spain, America and elsewhere. Their end, by God's will, is perdition."
In geography books, "Palestine" is listed on maps, but Israel ("the gangs' state," as it is called) is not. One book says this about New York: "Many of its inhabitants are Jews who help strengthen the Israeli occupation of Palestine."
Saudi "history" texts preach a blend of intolerance and conspiracy theory.
"You will hardly find any sedition without the Jews having a part in it," one schoolbook says, by way of blaming Jews for such historical events as World War I and the French and Russian Revolutions.
And perhaps most tragically, Saudi religious instruction distorts Islam into a tool for hatred.
To take just one illustration, students are challenged to fill in this blank: "Those who have incurred God's wrath are _____." You will not be surprised to learn the correct answer: "the Jews."
Nor is the bigotry confined to Jews alone. Saudi textbooks teach youth to despise all that is Western as well.
Already we have caught glimpses of the destruction this hatred can cause. That is why you and I must do something about it.
The American Jewish Committee is uniquely positioned to do exactly that.
Our work on this report was instrumental in the introduction of a resolution in the US House and Senate condemning the bigotry in Saudi textbooks, calling on the Saudi monarchy to change its curricula and expressing "extreme disappointment" with the slow pace of education reform in Saudi Arabia.
Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor, was so impressed with the quality of our research that at a recent face-to-face meeting, she asked for six copies of our book to distribute to her staff.
Our investigation of Saudi textbooks follows in a long tradition of our work. For example, in the 1950s we investigated anti-Semitism in Catholic schoolbooks and after the fall of the Berlin Wall we looked into how Jews were portrayed in former Soviet Block Countries, just to name a few.
In each case, our involvement led to improvements.
Eduard Kukan, Foreign Minister of Slovakia, praised our efforts stating: "Your review of curricula in our country made a difference; the depiction of Jews in our schoolbooks is currently being revised."
And Foreign Minister Toomas Hendrick Ilves of Estonia said: "Through your research efforts, we have begun improving our textbooks and sensitizing our teachers to the Holocaust."
With three dozen offices across the United States, Europe, and Israel -- as well as partners in Latin America and Australia -- the American Jewish Committee commands respect and influence around the world.
Each year, in fact, we conduct more than 60 high-level diplomatic meetings at the opening of the UN General Assembly. It was at just such a meeting last year that we raised the issue of hate-filled textbooks with the Saudi Foreign Minister.
He promised changes -- but he also understated the problem. From where we sit, nothing has changed. It is clear that we must be vigilant in pressing for reforms.
And we need your help to do it.
Here's the challenge we face: What we've learned about Saudi textbooks may be just the tip of the iceberg. Saudi-sponsored schools around the world -- as well as other anti-Semitic regimes -- may be similarly poisoned. Without conducting further research, we just won't know. And to do this research right -- to do it thoroughly and accurately -- is highly expensive.
So is keeping up the diplomatic pressure on these regimes. In order to maintain our influence, we have to keep offices open all over the globe. Moreover, given the anti- Israel bent so often seen in the media, our only recourse for ensuring our message is heard is often paid advertising.
These activities, too, cost a great deal. Major newspapers like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal can cost over $100,000 for a one-page ad.
If you share our anger over Saudi texts, there are two ways you can help.
First, sign the online petition to your Congressman and Senators urging them to sign on to Congressional resolutions condemning the hatred taught in Saudi textbooks -- and return the petitions to us so that we may pass them on.
Second, make a secure online contribution to the American Jewish Committee.
Your support will enable us to keep up the pressure for change in Saudi books, conduct more investigations into other countries' texts, and continue our many other activities on behalf of Jewish interests.
Be assured your contribution will be well spent. The American Institute of Philanthropy has rated the American Jewish Committee as one of the most cost-effective major charities in the United States.
Most important, when you join the American Jewish Committee, you become part of a worldwide fight for the interests of Jews anywhere they are in need.
Sincerely,
David A. Harris
Executive Director
P.S. Saudi schoolbooks systematically teach intolerance toward Jews, Christians and the West -- but what is happening in Saudi Arabia may be just the beginning. The Saudi Education Ministry also operates eighteen international schools -- including one in the United States. Please support the American Jewish Committee's campaign to stop the teaching of hate in Saudi textbooks -- and our other efforts on behalf of world Jewry -- by joining us today.
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