More coverage on the approval of the ISA expansion

Thanks to Snapped Shot

You may find more coverage on the approval of the ISA expansion at Crystal Clear Conservative, Snapped Shot, and Marooned in Marin.

The Fairfax County Times article Board approves expansion for Saudi private academy closes with the words of Supervisor John Foust (D-Dranesville):

“I think a lot of the charges that were directed at your school were misplaced,” Supervisor John Foust (D-Dranesville) said, speaking directly to academy representatives in the board auditorium. “We are fortunate in Fairfax County to have you as an educational alternative.”

Evidence of editorial bias on the part of the Fairfax County Times?

Foust's district abuts Sterling (Loudon County), where the All-Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) mosque is located, near the county line. According to the ADAMS website, ADAMS serves Chantilly, Centerville, Sterling, Great Falls, Ashburn, Leesburg, McLean, Herndon, and Reston. Membership is 2200 and ADAMS serves nearly 5000 families. Now you know who his constituents are.

Foust's district covers Herndon. Herndon is one node of Northern Virginiastan, the other being Falls Mosque, er, I mean, Falls Church. As noted in SperryFiles.com, the buildings at 500 and 555 Grove Street, right by the Herndon Post Office, housed dozens of Muslim shell organizations.

Approval Given For Expansion Of The Islamic Saudi Academy

At the madrassah's Popes Head Road location in southern Fairfax County.

Atlas Shrugs has the videos.

Jihad Watch also has coverage, and the comments section is quite lively.

HURRY to oppose ISA expansion!

As local activists know, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will vote on expansion of the Islamic Saudi Academy at its Monday, August 3 on 3:00 PM.

Keeping in mind that political officials often respond better to phone calls than letters, I called the offices of Linda Q. Smith, Supervisor, Providence District, and Sharon Bulova, Chair of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. Not surprisingly, Smith and Bulova were in meetings.

Smith's staff member asked if I supported or opposed expansion of the Islamic Saudi Academy, as Smith's office was keeping a tally. She took down my phone number and said that she would have Supervisor Smith to call me.

I shared the following talking points with her senior aide "Lynn":

* The re-sentencing of Ahmed Omar Abu Ali to life imprisonment only this past Monday

* The possibility that 2003 ISA grad Raed Abdul-Rahman Alsaif was attempting a 9/11-style coordinated attack.

* With respect to the concerns of Springfield District residents about traffic safety on Pope's Head Road, I pointed out the 2005 accident caused by ISA bus driver Abdelrazeg Abdalla.

No oral statements will be taken at the August 3 meeting; however, written statements, submitted for the record, will be allowed.

Supervisor Pat Herrity of Springfield District will make the motion on expansion of the ISA.

Please email or fax a written statement for the record to Nancy Vehrs, Clerk to the Board of Supervisors. Email: ClerktotheBOS@fairfaxcounty.gov; Fax 703-324-3926. Reference case number SE 2008-SP-025.

HURRY! Written statements must be submitted by COB Friday, July 31, 2009.

You are urged to read Urgent Action Alert: Help Defeat Terror School in Virginia from ACT! for America: Northern Virginia/Washington, DC Metro Chapter's Official Blog and ACTION ALERT - AUGUST 3, 3:00 PM from Saudi Watch for more information.

Also listen to a full hour of local perspective on the trouble with the Islamic Saudi Academy: Criminal, Legal, Land Use, and more via Radio Free Dar Al Harab (hat tip: ACT! for America: Northern Virginia/Washington, DC Metro Chapter's Official Blog)

From 30 years to life

Our favorite splindly terrorist wannabe and 1999 ISA valedictorian Ahmad Omar Abu Ali was re-sentenced today. He will now carry a life sentence, not the original thirty years.


The usual suspects (L to R): 9/11 Mosque iman Shaker Elsayed, lawyer Ashraf Nubani, and Abu Ali's dad, after the re-sentencing. The three men have been previously covered by Northern Virginiastan.

Abu Ali remained defiant:

"I would like to remind you that you too will appear before the divine tribunal with me and everyone else," he said in a brief statement to U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee. "That day there will be no lawyers ... If you are comfortable with that, you can decree what you will."

To which I say:

More legal jihad

I'm glad that Marooned in Marin made me aware of his/her blog.

Marooned in Marin found another story about legal jihad (see our story about Randall Todd "Ismail" Royer), this time featuring 1999 ISA valedictorian and everyone's favorite spindly terrorist wannabe Ahmed Omar Abu Ali.


Notable alumnus of ISA:
Ahmed Omar Abu Ali

The source for the story was the Wall Street Journal Law Blog.

Abu Ali went on hunger strike because prison authorities wouldn't let him read "Dreams from My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope" by Barack Hussain Obama (NMP). Prison authorities later recanted.


Mom and Dad Abu Ali:
I'd cover my face if he were my son.
At left is Shaker Elsayed, Imam at 9/11 mosque

According to the WSJ Law blog:

There are a couple of signs pointing to the idea that Abu Ali might sue. He already has a lawyer, who spoke to the AP briefly about this episode. Abu Ali also filed a handwritten prison complaint form, saying the Obama book rejections “violate my 1st Amend. rights.”

More coverage on the July 13 hearing on the Islamic Saudi Academy

Marooned in Marin commented on my article What I saw at last night’s Islamic Saudi Academy hearing:

"I was there and share many of your observations. I took video inside and outside the meeting as well."

You may find the video at Marooned In Marin: Public Hearing On Islamic Saudi Academy To Fairfax Board of Commissioners: Will Board Turn A Blind Eye To The Concerns Of Constituents?

Did ISA grad plan to execute 9/11-style attack?

Too important to be confined to Digg:


Raed Abdul-Rahman Alsaif

Ryan Mauro notes in his article Foiling the Next 9/11 and Not Even Knowing It for Pajamas Media that on June 4, the same day ISA alum Raed Abdul-Rahman Alsaif was arrested for concealing a knife:

... two other individuals, Roshid Milledge and Damien Young, were arrested in Philadelphia after sneaking a handgun onto a flight. The airline? U.S. Airways. The destination? Phoenix. The departing time? About 35 minutes from the flight Alsaif attempted to board, using the same airliner and with the same destination.

While the FBI initially denied any connection between the events, it later retracted and said that they were looking into connections.

But then, this is the same FBI that collaborated with CAIR for outreach to the Muslim community. The FBI broke ties with CAIR, only to replace CAIR with the equally suspect Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).

Update on July 13, 2009 hearing on the ISA

ACT! for America Northern Virginia/DC Metro area thanks ISA opponents for their support at the July 13 Fairfax County Board of Supervisors hearing It also features a transrcipt of the anti-American diatribe by Dr. Mabu Mohammed, a physician who has lived in the U.S. for 43 years. Disgusting. Why does this man remain in the U.S.?

Contrast that to our Egyptian apostate: as we were walking to our cars, we said that this man is a true patriot. Here is a man who was a student of Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, the blind cleric who masterminded the 1993 attack on the WTC, at Al-Azhar University, where BTW Barack Obama (NMP) spoke. Because he dared to ask questions, he had to flee for his life. America welcomes you, sir!

Video: Glenn Beck interviews James Lafferty of VAST on The Islamic Saudi Academy

What I saw at last night’s Islamic Saudi Academy hearing

This is not comprehensive coverage of last night’s Fairfax County of Supervisors hearing on expansion of the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA). It is simply my strongest impressions from the meeting.

While I had concerns about coordination among opponents of the ISA, opponents greatly outnumbered supporters.

Some opponents were not ideologically based: residents who live near the school complained about increased traffic and being downstream from septic fields. A petition to oppose the ISA based on land use was signed by 300 residents living near the ISA.

While a person representing an opponent who couldn’t make it because he was sick was not permitted to read a statement, one Christina Sheetz, an ISA alumna, was allowed to make a statement on behalf of Kamal Suliman. I called my district supervisor’s office about this double standard, and I was referred to Sharon Bulova’s office. Ms. Bulova rebuked ISA opponents twice for clapping, while supporters were not rebuked.

Reem Al-Hussain, a 2007 ISA alumna and now a student at GMU, said that equating one person (she was probably alluding to Abu Ali) with the whole of Islam was like equating Hitler with the whole of Christianity. Despite her over-the-top statement, I actually cut her some slack because of her relative youth. However, her statement that she felt that she was “stabbed” is symptomatic of Muslim victimology.

Dana Nicholas, who identified herself as an assistant principal at ISA, testified that ISA bus drivers would be educated in traffic safety and that ISA bus drivers had an excellent safety record. She is lying. Refer to our 2005 article WaPo conflates two bus accidents.

One opponent said that if the government didn’t serve the citizens, then overthrow the government. He dramatically turned to the audience when he shouted “overthrow the government.” He was subsequently rebuked by Katherine Cox Chenard, who identified herself as a teacher and curriculum development specialist at ISA.

I distance myself from his statement. It hurts the cause. Instead, I would have coldly told the Board of Supervisors that if they support ISA expansion (as sadly, I expect they will), then we will remember that at election time and vote them out.

Several ISA parents testified what a safe environment ISA provided: drug-free, fight-free, alcohol-free, teen pregnancy-free, yada yada yada. How are ISA students punished for transgressions? Did anyone else catch the irony of advocating a private school before the county government, which has oversight of Fairfax County Public Schools? Fairfax County Public Schools are obliged to serve all school-age children, whereas a private school can select its students. Moreover, what is being done to assure that Fairfax County Public Schools are drug-free, fight-free, alcohol-free, and teen pregnancy-free?

Finally, visit the comprehensive video coverage provided by Atlas Shrugs, especially the testimony of an Egyptian apostate who was not on the advance speakers list.

UPDATE: Snapped Shot couldn't attend last night's hearing. He notes that the final decision on the expansion of ISA has been deferred to August 3. Also refer to his links to Crystal Clear Conservative's report and live tweets.

July 13 is final hearing on expansion of ISA

I've set up an account on Digg to share stories about creeping Islamicism in the DC Metro Area and set up a Digg widget to feature the most recent stories on the sidebar to the right.

I decided that I needed to make this news item more visible by posting it on the Northern Virginiastan blog. The final hearing of the Fairfax Co Board of Supervisors on the expansion of the Islamic Saudi Academy on Pope's Head Road will be held this coming Monday, July 13, at 6 PM at:

12000 Government Center Parkway
Fairfax, VA 22035

Get there early to get a seat. ISA will pack the chambers with its supporters.

What else can you do?

Call Sharon Bulova, Chair, and your District Supervisor, to vote "No" on expansion of the ISA. To find your district supervisor, go to the application My Neighborhood, http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/gisapps/myneighborhood/myndefault.aspx?fxmResolution=1024x768, select "General Information" and enter your street address. Tell them that you, as a resident of Fairfax County, oppose expansion of the ISA.

I read that U.S. representatives are more influenced by phone calls than letters. It might work the same way with the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. You might want to follow up with a fax or e-mail of the flyer issued by the newly formed Virginia Anti-Shariah Task Force. I also suggest copying Robert Spencer's Why we fight on this Independence Day and formatting it on 8-1/2" x 11" paper to include in your email or fax.

NOTE Sharon Bulova appeared at the kick-off meeting for Esam Omeish's failed bid for Democratic candidate for the 35th District Virginia House of Delegates. In that way, she's a worthy successor to former Chair and now U.S. Representative Gerry Connolly.

* Share the flyer with others. I'm going to post it on my church bulletion board, even though one of our members was instrumental in getting the ISA established in Fairfax County.

The Islamic Saudi Academy — In The News Again

Not flattering, to say the least.

From this article at The Investigative Project:

A Saudi Arabian man living in Tampa is being held without bond after being arrested June 4 for attempting to board a US Airways flight carrying a concealed weapon. Raed Abdul-Rahman Alsaif was trying to fly to Phoenix.

According to a criminal complaint by Gregory J. Mertiz, Special Agent with the Transportation Security Administration in Tampa, Alsaif submitted three bags for screening to TSA officers. A Transportation Security Officer saw a large butcher knife inside one of the bags. The knife was "artfully concealed between the outside fabric and the expandable pull handles of the bag," the complaint said, and the weapon was stored in a way that would have been "accessible to him [Alsaif] in flight."

[...]

Raed Alsaif is a 2003 graduate of the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA) in Alexandria, Virginia, the same high school that was the subject of a report in June 2008 by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) which alleged that ISA was using radical Saudi textbooks. According to the report, passages in the textbooks used at ISA justify violent actions and intolerance to the reader including killing Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, apostates (converts from Islam) and adulterers. School officials say they have deleted the offending passages.

In 2003, the same year that Alsaif graduated from ISA, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, a U.S. citizen and ISA graduate and valedictorian was arrested in Medina, Saudi Arabia on terrorism related charges. In 2005, Ali was convicted on nine counts including providing material resources to Al-Qaeda and conspiracy to assassinate President George W. Bush. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Alsaif has been previously arrested on drug charges and driving without a license in Hillsborough County.

In addition to his current concealed weapon charges, authorities found that Alsaif has been living in the country illegally....

Go HERE to read the entire article, which has embedded links.

Meanwhile, on July 13 at 6:00 PM, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will hold a hearing to consider allowing expansion of the Popes Head Road location of the Islamic Saudi Academy. Never mind that when Fairfax Christian School held that same property, the Christian school was never allowed to expand nor even to rebuild one of the structures which burned to the ground in the early 1980's. Much of Popes Head Road remains a country lane, the reason given for previously denying expansion to Fairfax Christian School. Apparently, different rules now apply, never mind that the safety issues remain the same.

In fact, when the issue of the expansion of the Islamic Saudi Academy came before the Zoning Board this spring, the board unanimously approved the expansion over the objections of the neighborhood. The Zoning Board wasn't the least interested in the Wahhabist ideology being espoused at the Islamic Saudi Academy, and the board so stated.

Will the Board of Supervisors even care at the upcoming hearing that yet another graduate of the Islamic Saudi Academy has shown himself to be something less that the supposedly wonderful students which the school graduates?

Furthermore, why is Fairfax County rolling over for a group whose 12th grade textbooks teach that it’s fine and dandy to kill homosexuals, adulterers, or anyone who leaves Islam?

Any interested in speaking before the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on July 17 should immediately sign up.

But one doesn't have to speak to show objection to the expansion of the school. Just showing up and sitting with the objectors makes a statement.

Last time, only six objectors to the Islamic Saudi Academy showed up as compared to 600 ISA supporters. Let's change that ratio this time around. Arrive by 5:30 PM to get a seat.

The battle may be over ...

but The Long War continues.

By now, readers of Northern Virginiastan should know that Esam Omeish placed 3rd of four candidates running to be Democratic candidate for the 35th District Virginia House of Delegates.

Atlas Shrugs cheers the defeat of Esam Omeish, but Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch cautions:

If a candidate like Esam Omeish can get 16% of the vote despite his Islamic supremacist statements and connections, imagine what a stealthier jihadist could do.

Indeed. I am more and more inclined to believe that Barack Obama (NMP) is a stealth Muslim in the highest office in the U.S., particularly, given his recent speech in Cairo and the fact that he hasn't identified a church to attend in Washington, DC.

During the primary race, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had invited Esam Omeish to participate on a conference call on President Obama (NMP)'s Cairo speech. Rick Moran calls Clinton's invitation "the logical, insane conclusion" of Obama (NMP)'s outreach to Muslims.

On another front of The Long War, the Islamic Saudi Academy is back in the news. Always on Watch has covered the Islamic Saudi Academy extensively on this blog. On Thursday, June 11 (that's tonight!), the Fairfax Planning Commission will vote on building additions, site modifications, and increase in enrollment (hat tip ACT Northern Virginia/Richmond/DC Metro Chapter).

Some Texbook Revisions At The Islamic Saudi Academy

After years of asserting that no Wahhabist hatred fills the pages of their textbooks (more here), the Islamic Saudi Academy, owned by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, has done some backpedaling. From this source:

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- An Islamic school in northern Virginia with close ties to the Saudi government has revised its religious textbooks in an effort to end years of criticism that the school fosters hatred and intolerance.

While the Islamic Saudi Academy deleted some of the most contentious passages from the texts, copies provided to The Associated Press show that enough sensitive material remains to fuel critics who claim the books show intolerance toward those who do not follow strict interpretations of Islam.

The academy, which teaches nearly 900 students in grades K-12 at its campus just outside the Capital Beltway, developed new Islamic studies textbooks for all grades after a 2008 congressional report called portions of the previous editions troubling. The school provided the AP copies of the new textbooks, which revise language on hot-button issues such as requiring women to cover their heads and how Muslims should relate to people of other religions.

[...]

The school was founded in 1984 and largely stayed out of the spotlight until the Sept. 11 attacks, which focused attention on the Saudi educational system. In December 2001, two former ISA students, Mohammed El-Yacoubi and Mohammed Osman Idris, were denied entry into Israel when authorities there found El-Yacoubi carrying what the FBI believed was a suicide note linked to a planned martyrdom operation in Israel.

In 2005, a former ISA valedictorian, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, was convicted in federal court of joining al-Qaida while attending college in Saudi Arabia and plotting to assassinate President George W. Bush.

Last year, the school's then-director, Abdalla al-Shabnan, was convicted of failing to report a suspected case of child sex abuse.

Last year also was when the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released a report saying the school's textbooks contained several troubling passages, including one saying it is permissible for Muslims to kill adulterers and converts from Islam and another saying "the Jews conspired against Islam and its people."

The new books don't contain those passages. The AP reviewed them with assistance from Ali al-Ahmed, director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington, who has criticized the academy and the books used there and in schools in Saudi Arabia.

[...]

Al-Ahmed, whose group monitors politics and education in the Gulf, said the revised texts now being used at ISA make some small improvements in tone. But he said it's clear from the books that the core ideology behind them -- a puritanical strain of Islam known as Wahhabism that is dominant within Saudi Arabia -- remains intact.

"It shows they have no intention of real reform," al-Ahmed said.

Al-Ahmed cited other passages that, while not offensive, reflect what he sees as a medieval mentality despite the academy's efforts to modernize. One chapter deals extensively with sorcery, for instance, while another warns Muslims to be careful in accepting party and wedding invitations from non-Muslims.

"We don't live in the desert 1,000 years ago," al-Ahmed said. "It's disconnected from today because the authorities themselves are disconnected."

Not all agree wtih Al-Ahmed, as explained below:

Eleanor Doumato, a visiting fellow in international studies at Brown University who reviewed the textbooks at the academy's request, endorsed their contents.

These "books do not contain inflammatory material, nor do they encourage students to exhibit intolerance," she wrote in a letter co-signed by Gregory Starrett, an anthropology professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. "In addition, these books counsel patience, gratitude, kindness, honesty and other important moral qualities that are encouraged by Muslims and non-Muslims alike."

Doumato and Starrett were paid by the academy to conduct their review....

The problem all along in dealing with the ISA has been the school's conflict of interest with American values of freedom and democracy.

The school continues to operate. However, according to the article, a review

is being conducted by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, a regional accrediting body. The association initiated a review of the school's accreditation status last year, and is looking at the new textbooks as part of its review. Spokeswoman Jennifer Oliver said the review is ongoing.

Congressman Frank Wolf Attempts To Hold The Islamic Saudi Academy Accountable

Here at Northern Virginiastan, we have written frequently about the Islamic Saudi Academy. Despite numerous problems, the school continues to operate without impunity or adequate investigation. Most politicians and our own State Department refuse to hold the ISA accountable. But one Congressman is trying!

From the Mt. Vernon Gazette on September 24, 2008:

U.S. Representative Frank R. Wolf (R-10) has again called for a thorough investigation and review of curriculum textbooks being used by the Islamic Saudi Academy citing the U.S. Commission in International Religious Freedom's claim that they "promote violence and intolerance."

In a September 16 letter to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Wolf chastised the State Department for not answering his previous letters on the Saudi Academy textbook issue and for ignoring his plea to have the controversy settled prior to the commencement of the 2008-09 school year.

"I write to let you know that I just received my first response from the State Department after having written three letters over a two-month period regarding the Islamic Saudi Academy and concerns raised by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on the content of textbooks being used there," Wolf wrote.

"After seeming inattention to these concerns, the letter my office ultimately received in response did not address my repeated requests that you convene a meeting of relevant State Department and USCIRF representatives -- to include the expert analysts commissioned by USCIRF to translate and interpret the ISA textbooks as well as any analysts commissioned by the State Department...to conclusively determine what is being taught at ISA," he stated.

To buttress his request, Wolf included a recent report by the Heritage Foundation that stated "ISA is subject to the terms of the Foreign Missions Act" and that it is in the State Department's powers to declare ISA "a foreign mission of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."

IN THE LETTER to Wolf, signed by Matthew A. Reynolds, Acting Assistant Secretary, Legislative Affairs, the State Department indicated that, although they had not answered previous inquiries about ISA in writing, they had kept Wolf and his staff informed of their actions.

"Your letters have raised important issues. We have appreciated the opportunity to discuss these with you and your staff in recent months. No government should produce materials that are intolerant of religious, racial, or ethnic groups, nor include such material in its educational curricula," Reynolds wrote.

When questioned as to why his letter seemed to indicate that no contact had been made by the State Department relative to his ISA inquiries, Wolf insisted, "The State Department has never been by my office." However, he did not confirm or deny any contact between his staff and the State Department over the period of time of his correspondence with Secretary Rice.

"The matter is very simple. If there is no problem with the textbooks than the State Department should act to remove the cloud. If there is a problem then remove the books," Wolf said.

"Two scholars from the Religious Freedom Commission have looked at these text books and they say there is a problem. It needs to be resolved one way or the other," he said.

Reynolds also pointed out to Wolf that, "the school has reported that it is in the process of adopting new religious curricula and textbooks for the 2008-09 school year. The ISA has stated publicly that the new school year's textbooks are currently being reviewed by professors at two American universities." Neither the professors nor their universities were identified by Reynolds in his letter to Wolf.

DEBATE ABOUT the school's curriculum and textbooks ignited in October 2007 when the Religious Freedom Commission issued a report calling for the school's closure "until such time as the official Saudi textbooks used at ISA are made available for comprehensive public examination." The Commission also sought intervention by the State Department and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

The school building at 8333 Richmond Highway, is leased from Fairfax County. That lease recently came up for renewal and was renewed for one year with an option for two one year extensions on a motion from Mount Vernon District Supervisor Gerald Hyland, in whose district the school is located.

ISA's Director General Abdalla I. Al-Shabnan, who heads the school, has insisted all along that the textbooks do not contain hate and violence imbedded within the subject matter. He has also insisted that the textbooks of ISA are not those supplied by the Saudi Arabian government.

At the outset of the controversy, Hyland had a specialist in Arabic review the texts. Her report concluded that the curriculum texts did not, on their face, contain offensive language pertaining to hate, violence and religious intolerance. However, she did conclude that certain passage should be expunged because they could be misinterpreted.

Al-Shabnan submitted the curriculum texts to two independent university scholars to have them analyzed and evaluated. A report on those findings was to have been delivered to Hyland's office no later than Monday, Sept. 22. As of late afternoon Sept. 23 the report had not been delivered and phone calls to ISA and Al-Shabnan office were received by voice mail with no call back.

"We have not received the report or any explanation from the Academy as to why we have not received it," said Brett Kenney, chief aide to Hyland.

The entire matter including both the textbook issue and ISA's lease renewal was further complicated early this past summer when Al-Shabnan was arrested as a result of his failure to report a complaint from a five year-old female student that she was allegedly being sexually abused at home by her father. Virginia law requires reporting of all such accusations by school personnel.

Al-Shabnan was originally charged with two misdemeanors of failing to report and obstruction of justice. He said that he did not believe the girl and advised the parents to seek psychiatric help for her. However, he also ordered the school's computers to be purged of any report about the complaint.

In the final analysis he was fined $500 on the failure to report charge. The school also instituted an in-depth training program for all personnel on Commonwealth requirements dealing with such matters.

Following the vote to renew the lease, Fairfax County Board Chairman Gerald Connolly sent a letter to Secretary Rice asking the State Department to make a determination not only on the textbook matter but also the lease renewal. He noted that during the Board’s public hearing on the lease no objections were voiced by the State Department or the Commission "regarding either the renewal or the textbooks."

A reply from the State Department stated, "No authorization from the Department to renew the lease is required. The Department has not used the Foreign Missions Act to regulate private pre-school, elementary and secondary school curricula." Actions by the State Department on Wolf's requests remain unresolved.

What is it going to take to get our government, which is sworn to protect us, to take a hard look at the Islamic Saudi Academy?

A Slap On The Wrist For The Islamic Saudi Academy

From this July 30, 2008 article in the Washington Post:

The director general of a controversial private Islamic school in Fairfax County has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of failing to report child abuse and was fined $500.

Abdalla I.M. Al-Shabnan, head of the Islamic Saudi Academy on Route 1 in the Mount Vernon area, was arrested last month by Fairfax police after allegedly being informed of the possible sexual abuse of a 5-year-old student at the school. School authorities are required by law to report alleged child abuse within 72 hours.

Al-Shabnan was charged with misdemeanor counts of failing to report child abuse and obstruction of justice. In a plea agreement, Al-Shabnan pleaded guilty July 24 to the failure to report charge and Fairfax prosecutors agreed to dismiss the obstruction charge, according to court records.

Al-Shabnan did not return a phone message today seeking comment. His attorney, Robert C. Whitestone, also did not respond to a request for comment.

Whitestone is one of the premier defense attorneys in Fairfax County. As a local here in Northern Virginia, I well know the reputation of that particular legal firm. They are masters of plea bargaining and the attorneys' attorneys! And their fees match their skills, too.

Continuing now with the WaPo article:

Cultural differences may have led to the episode which resulted in Al-Shabnan's arrest.

[...]

Chief Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Ian M. Rodway said the plea agreement "was satisfactory to all the people involved in the case."

Rodway used to be a defense attorney - and a formidable one, at that. Still, I wonder how he would explain those aforementioned "cultural differences."

The case of Abdulla Al-Shabnan was supposed to come before the court on August 1. That won't happen now, of course.

Arabic Classes In America

[Image source]

Since 9/11, we have heard of the importance of more of us learning to speak Arabic. Indeed, more and more people today are studying the Arabic language, many of these students enrolled in community colleges and prestigious universities as well as uncounted others studying by using software such as Rosetta Stone. I personally know a few young people who have attempted such classes, only to abandon their study of Arabic; the reasons they gave me, their former teacher, were vague but typically included a level of discomfort with the material or the instructor.

A July 5, 2008 Washington Post commentary, written by a student at Harvard Law School, provides disturbing information about the material offered in such classes:

To study Arabic in America today is to be inducted into a world of longing, abandonment and regret. And that's before you even touch the political issues.

Most maps of the Middle East in "Al-Kitaab" [the curriculum used] do not include Israel, though a substantial minority of Israelis, both Jews and Arabs, are native Arabic speakers. Alongside simple Arabic poems, students read about anti-Western heroes such as Gamal Abdel Nasser.

The DVD that comes with "Al-Kitaab" includes footage of Nasser's mass rallies in Cairo -- including slogans in Arabic and French such as "Brother Nations in Struggle, We Are By Your Side." These scenes of totalitarian rage are fondly described by the narrator as "dreams of his youth."

The accompanying lesson describes the highlights of Nasser's career, including the nationalization of the Suez Canal and the formation of the United Arab Republic. No mention is made of Egypt's defeat in the Six-Day War or of Nasser's brutal, repressive rule. In my class, we were asked to recite a passage about Nasser to practice our vocalization. (I refused.)

The last lesson in the book -- which we skipped -- features Maha's mother speaking wistfully of her childhood in Palestine: "My childhood was taken from me!" Over mournful music on the DVD, she talks about returning to Jerusalem, as if she were a refugee, but the images suggest that she left voluntarily after the Six-Day War, when Israel offered citizenship to the Arab residents of East Jerusalem. The fact that Israel also claims Jerusalem as its capital is ignored.

My class watched three movies this semester, all with political themes. One was "West Beirut," which cast Christians as the prime bad guys in Lebanon's civil war (though, to be fair, there was plenty of hatred all around). Another was "The Tale of Three Jewels," an allegorical film about Palestinian nationalism that portrayed Israeli soldiers as bloodthirsty child-killers.

The third movie, "Destiny," told the story of the great medieval Islamic philosopher Averroes and his struggles against Islamic religious fundamentalism. It was a bit more nuanced than the first two. But the film omitted the fact that it was only through the Hebrew transcription of Averroes's writings by Jewish scholars in Egypt that his works were preserved for posterity.

Friends and relatives who have used "Al-Kitaab" at other American universities report similarly morose experiences.

[...]

...[T]here is something fundamentally wrong with this indoctrination into misery. Most introductory language classes avoid controversial political subjects. In fact, they often highlight the brighter side of different cultures. Particularly with the growing importance of Arabic, can't we do better?

The U.S. government has funded studies on anti-Semitism in Palestinian textbooks. Fairfax county officials have asked the State Department to investigate the teaching materials at a Saudi-funded school. "Al-Kitaab" is published by Georgetown University Press, with some assistance from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Perhaps we should also be looking into the content of the federally funded materials used in Arabic programs at our own universities.

According a friend of mine who studied Arabic as a second language in Saudi Arabia, lessons in The Kingdom included material much unlike primer readers to which most of us are accustomed. Specifically, beginning lessons used phrases such as "The sword is on the table," "The sword is under the table," and "The sword is behind the curtain." Certainly those phrases and their message are quite different from the early readers I encountered as a child, those primers including phrases such as "The cat is on the mat" and "See Spot run"!

Via a Google search of how language shapes thinking, I found the following essay entitled "Semanticide," by William Murchison at Human Life Review 1999:

George Orwell's stress on the distortive possibilities available in language remains fresh because of his descriptive and prophetic powers. Nineteen Eighty-Four sears the recollection, notwithstanding that when the title-year in question actually got here, the distorters-the Soviets-were stumbling toward ruin. Orwell's lesson is clear: Language shapes thinking; thinking shapes action. When language means other than it must, for a particular possibility to reach fruition, somebody is going to propose a new way of talking, and of understanding.

As the West rightly pursues the study of Arabic, precautions must be taken that the classes are not those of indoctrination and propagandizing. Instead, we have institutions such as the Islamic Saudi Academy instructing our military in Arabic. What else is being taught in those Arabic-language classes?

More Problems At The Islamic Saudi Academy

Previous Northern Virginiastan postings about the Islamic Saudi Academy are HERE.

The problems with the school just keep adding up!

Photo Credit: the Washington Post
From this June 27, 2008 article by Patrick Poole at Pajamas Media (via Jihad Watch):

The controversial school funded by the Saudi Embassy had its corporate charter revoked in 2004 and has never filed required tax forms with the IRS.

...[A] review of the corporate records on file with the Virginia State Corporation Commission finds that the Islamic Saudi Academy’s corporate charter was terminated by the state on December 27, 2004. There is no indication from state records that the incorporation has been revived or renewed, and the last corporate report the school has filed with the state of Virginia that we could find was 2004 — the same year its corporate charter was terminated. A check of corporations in neighboring District of Columbia and Maryland found nothing for the academy.

[...]

...As the academy has forfeited its Virginia incorporation and is now operating as a d/b/a of the embassy, and considering that the school is funded by the embassy, operates on property owned and leased by the embassy, the embassy speaks publicly on its behalf, and it uses Saudi government curriculum, it seems impossible to conclude anything but that it is solely an entity of the Saudi government controlled entirely by the Saudi Embassy in Washington DC — a position directly in opposition to the present claims of the State Department.

Our investigation also found that at no time has the Islamic Saudi Academy ever filed an IRS Form 990, which is required of every tax exempt organization, including private schools. And according to IRS Publication 78, at no time has the school ever requested or received a tax exemption letter from the IRS. Nor, apparently, has it ever filed corporate taxes with the US government as would be required if it were an entity independent from the Saudi embassy, as it has no recognized tax exemption.

If the school was a separate corporation as State Department officials have repeatedly claimed, it would have to have an active corporate charter (which it doesn’t appear to have since December 2004), and it would either have to file IRS Form 990s if it were operating as a tax exempt organization, or file tax returns if it were operating for-profit. That has not happened in either case according to our investigation. Rather, all evidence indicates that the Saudi Embassy is in full corporate control of the school, and it is operating entirely under its agency, which makes the school subject to the Foreign Missions Act and under the authority of the State Department. If it isn’t part of the Saudi Embassy, it seems that the academy is operating illegally.

This new evidence doesn’t give much leeway to the State Department to shirk the matter.

Read the entire article.

Apparently, in addition to the school's other problems, the school's charter was revoked and some required IRS filings were not done. Surprise, surprise! NOT!

Meanwhile, go HERE to see the MEMRI clip of Al-Jazeera's report on the Islamic Saudi Academy. At marker 2:28 on the clip, you will hear the word "madrassah," defined as follows by the American Heritage Dictionary:

A building or group of buildings used for teaching Islamic theology and religious law, typically including a mosque.

Those who have read this web page by Daniel Pipes, also know about other connotations for the word "madrassah."

The Islamic Saudi Academy (a madrassah) is coming under long-needed scrutiny. At this point, a Google search of the school yields over 9000 hits, and the number of hits increases every day.

Predictably, Moslems are complaining about the scrutiny of the school, never mind ISA's broken promises about revising the offending textbooks as well as various other problems at the school. From the MEMRI transcript for the above-linked video:

[T]his is a nightmare for the families of the students enrolled in the academy. This pressure is exerted by several Congressmen, known for their great hostility towards Arabs and Muslims.

[...]

What should be said about a commission that some say is unconstitutional and contradicts the very meaning of its name? This commission [which recently issured the report on the textbooks] calls upon all countries of the world to respect freedom of religion there, while the commission itself violates this freedom on its own land.

Um, ISA supporters, remove the beam from your own eye before trying to remove the speck from another's eye.

The Islamic Saudi Academy: Fairfax County Backpedals On The Lease (Updated June 25)

Photo Credit: the Washington Post

Background: Previous Northern Virginiastan postings about the Islamic Saudi Academy are HERE.

From this article in the June 24, 2008 edition of the Washington Post:

Fairfax County leaders asked U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday to determine whether the county should continue leasing property to the Islamic Saudi Academy following controversy surrounding the school's teachings.

With unanimous support from the county's Board of Supervisors, Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) sent a letter to Rice "formally requesting" that the State Department provide direction regarding the county's one-year lease renewal, approved last month, with the Saudi Arabian government for operation of the academy.

You might recall from earlier postings about the Islamic Saudi Academy that previously the County supervisors voted unanimously to renew the school's lease and called citizens who voiced concerns about the school "bigots engaged in slander." You can watch the May 19 pro forma hearing at the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors HERE; select "Public Hearings" from the May 19 links.

Continuing now with the above-cited Washington Post article:

At issue are recent reviews of teaching materials concluding that some textbooks used by the Islamic school in Fairfax contain language intolerant of Jews and other groups as well as passages that could be construed as advocating violence.

Read the entire report from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom HERE. The report is damning!

Please watch this NBC 4 video of June 23, 2008. The video is approximately three minutes in length.

(Crossposted to Always On Watch and Infidel Bloggers Alliance, and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS)

UPDATE FROM THIS ARTICLE IN THE JUNE 25, 2008 EDITION OF THE WASHINGTON TIMES:

Federal officials unable to act
State cites lack of authority

The State Department has no authority to close a Saudi-supported school criticized for violent teachings, a spokesman said Tuesday, despite an official request for guidance from the Northern Virginia county that leases space for the school's main campus....

[...]

"My understanding at this point is that this doesn't come under State Department jurisdiction," Mr. McInturff said. "It would have to be credentialed by the State Department as an embassy or as a consulate. That to my knowledge has not happened to this school."

However, the commission contends the act could give the secretary of state authority to take action to close the school. The act defines a foreign mission in part as "any mission to or agency or entity in the United States which is ... substantially owned or effectively controlled by a foreign government."

Read the entire article at the link for this update.

Director Of The Islamic Saudi Academy Arrested

The Islamic Saudi Academy is a school in Northern Virginia and is operated by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia.

From this source (hat-tip to Radio Free Dar al Harb):

Islamic Saudi Academy Director Arrested for Obstruction of Justice
June 16, 2008
Fairfax, VA

On June 9th, Fairfax County Police arrested the Director General of the
Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA), Mr. Abdalla I. Al-Shabnan, on the charges of
Obstruction of Justice without Force (VA Code 18.2-460). Charged and released on
the same day, Mr. Al-Shabnan is out on his own recognizance as he awaits his
first hearing at Fairfax County General District Court on August 1, 2008, at
9:30 a.m.

Mr. Al-Shaban’s arrest stems from an investigation into the ISA’s alleged failure to comply with State requirements for reporting child abuse. According to authorities, instead of reporting the child abuse, Mr. Al-Shabnan deleted the report, contacted the student’s parents, and recommended psychological counseling for the young victim. Mr. Al-Shaban’s June 9 arrest comes after a May 23rd police search of the ISA where they gathered evidence that has contributed to the charges against Mr. Al-Shabnan.

Years of Controversy Continue

The ISA has been at the center of controversy for many years. A 2007 United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) report promoted members of Congress to call for the closure of the school. The 2007 USCIRF report prompted a coalition of concerned grassroots organizations to request the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to delay the renewal of the ISA lease until a Federal investigation into the ISA was completed. During the hearing, County Supervisors dismissed concerns as slanderous, bigoted, and unfounded. During the course of the hearing, Fairfax County Chairman, and Democratic Candidate for the 11th Congressional District, apologized to Mr. Al-Shabnan for what he deemed slanderous accusations that impugned the integrity of the Islamic Saudi Academy.

Since that May 19 hearing, the Mr. Al-Shabnan has been arrested and the USCIRF has confirmed ISA textbooks justify murder as an Islamic right.

Only Supervisor Gross has responded to the issue, and she continues her support for the ISA, and its textbooks that contain passages filled with hate and incitement to violence. Chairman Connolly has yet to retract his apology to the ISA and Mr. Al-Shabnan. Supervisor Hyland has not yet commented on whether the texts cited in the USCIRF report are the similar to those he identified as “texts of concern” during his independent and undocumented investigation of the ISA.

These hateful passages remain despite a 2006 US State Department request for the ISA to remove all insensitive and offensive content from textbooks. The ISA’s non-compliance with the 2006 US State Department request has not been accounted for and raises concerns about what the ISA, as an extension of the Saudi government, considers offensive, and the level of accountability they have to their local hosts and Federal government.

Since the US Treasury Department still considers Saudi Arabia as one of the leading financiers of terrorism, and USCIRF reports identify Saudi Arabia’s education as filled with incitements to murder as a religious freedom, the US State Department has not commented as to whether they will extend this policy and allow Iran and North Korea to open official schools in the US as well.

The ISA’s has run afoul of Virginia law before in hiring a bus driver, Abdelrazeg Abdalla, who had a suspend license, seven traffic violations, a misdemeanor for kidnapping his wife and child at knife point, and a six month detainment by Homeland Security. Nevertheless, the ISA hired Mr. Abdalla as a bus driver. Mr. Abdalla, operating a faulty ISA, bus was responsible for a 2005 multi-car accident.

Additionally, the ISA winner of the superlative Most Likely to Be a Martyr, and 1999 class valedictorian, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, has been convicted on charges of terrorism and attempting to assassinate President Bush.

As a result for the a May 19 hearing, the ISA’s lease of Fairfax County property continues as the Board of Supervisors unanimously supports the ISA as a model school beyond reproach.

A video of the complete May 19 Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Hearing on the Islamic Saudi Academy can be found at: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/cable/channel16/vod.htm

Select “Public Hearings” from the May 19 links.

Of Note:

42:58 Fairfax County Chairman Connolly charges of slander remarks

49:35 Supervisor Gross: Latin can be violent and Parochial Schools contain material as equally offensive as the ISAs.

1:02 Supervisor Hyland begins testimony about why and how they’re is no documentation on his investigation.

Previous Always On Watch postings on the Islamic Saudi Academy are HERE and HERE.

Previous Northern Virginiastan postings on the Islamic Saudi Academy are HERE.

Previous IBA postings on the Islamic Saudi Academy.