Feds Recommend Closing Saudi School in Virginia
Charles Johnson
Thu Oct 18, 2007 at 8:32 am PDT • Views: 684
The Saudis have been quietly (and sometimes not so quietly) infiltrating America for decades, spending billions of oil dollars to build mosques and hardline religious schools in nearly every state of the union.
But now there appears to be at least one government agency that is awake to the danger.
McLEAN, Va. - A private Islamic school supported by the Saudi government should be shut down until the U.S. government can ensure the school is not fostering radical Islam, a federal panel recommends.
In a report released Thursday, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom broadly criticized what it calls a lack of religious freedom in Saudi society and promotion of religious extremism at Saudi schools.
Particular criticism is leveled at the Islamic Saudi Academy, a private school serving nearly 1,000 students in grades K-12 at two campuses in northern Virginia’s Fairfax County.
The commission’s report says the academy hews closely to the curriculum used at Saudi schools, which they criticize for promoting hatred of and intolerance against Jews, Christians and Shiite Muslims.
“Significant concerns remain about whether what is being taught at the ISA promotes religious intolerance and may adversely affect the interests of the United States,” the report states. The commission, a creation of Congress, has no power to implement policy on its own. Instead, it makes recommendations to other agencies.
The commission does not offer specific criticism of the academy’s teachings beyond its concerns that it too closely mimics a typical Saudi education.
Frank says: