Saudis Reform Little in Textbook Revision
May 23, 2006
Saudi Arabia has made a big deal out of supposed reforms in the textbooks it uses for its schoolchildren. In recent months, the Saudis have assured the West they have cleaned up these hate-filled books to remove intolerance. Sunday’s Washington Post found otherwise.
Here is just some of what’s left in the Saudi textbooks, following the “reforms”: “every religion other than Islam is false” (first grade); “the apes are Jews…while the swine are Christians” (eighth grade); “Jihad in the path of god…is the summit of Islam” (12th grade).
There’s much more: “the clash between this (Muslim) community and the Jews and Christians has endured, and it will continue as long as God wills.”
In a tenth grade Saudi textbook, students are taught a lesson based on the forged and anti-Semitic document known as “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”
And Saudi Arabia is our “friend” in the war on terror? I don’t think so and based on these textbooks, neither should you.
Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.
Originally published May 23, 2006.
