Terrorist Son of Saudi Embassy Worker Attended Saudi Run School
Jawa report blog
The connection between indicted terrorist Ahmed Omar Abu Ali and the Saudi government grow deeper with each new revelation. Abu Ali was indicted in a federal court today on six charges linking him with an al Qaeda plot to assassinate the President of the United States.
While an American citizen by birth, his father Omar Abu Ali is a naturalized US citizen but works as a systems analyst at the Royal Saudi Arabian Embassy in Washington, DC. Further, the web page of the school attended by Ahmed Omar Abu Ali indicates that admissions priority is given to the children of Saudi diplomats (h/t: Kevin Aylward).
I have written the Saudi Embassy and asked two questions.
1) Does Mr. Omar Abu Ali carry diplomatic credentials?
2) Does Mr. Omar Abu Ali carry a valid Saudi Arabian passport, making him a dual citizen?
The Royal Saudi Embassy is also connected to the Virginia high school which Ahmed Omar Abu Ali was valedictorian of. The school is linked at the Saudi Embassy's web page here. A webpage since removed by the Saudi Embassy but which was cached by Google also claims "The Academy is an independent, non-profit educational institution, funded by the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."
Various press accounts have overlooked the Islamic Saudi Academy's ties to the Saudi Embassy. Further, press reports have overlooked that school's long history of teaching radical Islamist doctrines to its pupils.
Could Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, the man accused of being involved in an al Qaeda plot to assassinate President Bush be simply following the dictates of a conscience tempered by a radical Islamic education in suburban Virginia?
Was the Saudi government reluctant to press charges against Abu Ali because his father was a diplomat?
Was the Saudi government so slow in turning the suspected al Qaeda member over to American authorities for so long because of the embarassing connections between the Embassy, the school, and the House of Saud?
An investigagion of the Islamic Saudi Academy reveals that the following.
From the Islamic Saudi Academy website. Here is a portion of their Mission Statement:
The Academy’s educational mission is threefold: 1) to develop all students in mind, body, and character enveloping Islamic values and the Arabic language and culture; 2) to prepare students for further education both in the United States and abroad; and to prepare them to be contributing and responsible citizens of the world.
From their About Us page:
Since its establishment, the Islamic Saudi Academy has viewed its relationship with the community and culture as vital to the mission of the school. ISA not only promotes respect and mutual understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims, Arabs and Americans while keeping within the Muslim faith, it strives for its staff and students to uphold tolerance, honesty, integrity and compassion, qualities that represent the best of both American and Arabic cultures.
Tolerance in Saudi Arabia is expressed by not allowing freedom of religion. The death penalty is prescribed for those who leave Islam for another religion and for those who preach Christianity.
You'd think that the Valedictorian would have learned the core values of the school? From the school's course of studies you might realize why the man turned out to be a jihadi:
The Islamic Studies Program is unique and comprehensive. It stresses Islamic culture, tradition, heritage, and identity. It challenges the students academically and fosters an atmosphere conducive to the development of Islamic morals, values and ideals. With this foundation, students will continually seek knowledge, think critically, and become active learners. The program prepares students for the challenges they will face as they proceed in their educational and professional careers.
The Islamic Saudi Academy believes that it is important for all students to learn Arabic. Arabic is the language of the Holy Qur'an and Muslims are expected to be well versed in it and fully aware of its usage. Fluency in Arabic keeps students in close contact with their Arab heritage and culture through written and oral communication. The Arabic language is becoming more and more popular in cultural, political and economic world events; moreover, it has become one the major languages used at the United Nations. In general, the Arabic program follows the curriculum, syllabus, and materials established by the Saudi Ministry of Education.
There is also a link to al-Islam with an entire section devoted to The Superiority of Jihad:
Let those fight in the cause of Allah who sell the life of this world for the Hereafter, To him who fighteth in the cause of Allah - whether he is slain or gets victory - soon shall We give him a reward of great (value)....
Not equal are those Believers who sit (at home) and receive no hurt, and those who strive and fight in the cause of Allah with their goods and their persons. Allah hath granted a grade higher to those who strive and fight with their goods and persons than to those who sit (at home). Unto all (in Faith) hath Allah promised good: but those who strive and fight hath He distinguished above those who sit (at home) by a special reward.
and on the Superiority of the Mujahadin:
And spend of your substance in the cause of Allah, and make not your own hands contribute to (your) destruction; but do good; for Allah loveth those who do good.
Those who spend their substance in the cause of Allah, and follow not up their gifts with reminders of their generosity or with injury, for them their reward is with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.
From the Saudi Institute:
Saudi School in Alexandria Promotes Religious Intolerance"
By Erik Ruselowski - The Saudi Institute
“For the teacher: Explain that all religions, other than Islam, are false, including that of the Jews, Christians, and all others.” Not a good example of tolerance and freedom of religion as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States and echoed in classrooms across America! However, at the Islamic Saudi Academy, hostility toward Jews and Christians is embedded in the curriculum. The opening line is taken from a book given to first graders at the Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria, Virginia....
The Islamic Academy is a private institution wholly financed by the Saudi government. The director, Ibrahim Al-Gosair, and his Saudi staff are given diplomatic status. In fact, because of diplomatic immunity, the school lies only under the jurisdiction of the State Department. Saudi citizens constitute 50 percent of the student body while the remaining half includes Arab and Muslim-Americans. The Saudi Academy teaches an intolerant form of Wahhabi Islam to young Muslim children.
From Campus Watch reprinting a WND article:
A top textbook consultant shaping classroom education on Islam in American public schools recently worked for a school funded and controlled by the Saudi government, which propagates a rigidly anti-Western strain of Islam, a WorldNetDaily investigation reveals.
The consultant, Susan L. Douglass, has also praised Pakistan's madrassa schools as "proud symbols of learning," even after the U.S. government blamed them for fueling the rise of the Taliban and al-Qaida.
Douglass, routinely described as a "scholar" or "historian," has edited manuscripts of world history textbooks used by middle and high school students across the country. She's also advised state education boards on curriculum standards dealing with world religion, and has helped train thousands of public school teachers on Islamic instruction.
In effect, she is responsible for teaching millions of American children about Islam, experts say, while operating in relative obscurity.
WorldNetDaily has learned that up until last year Douglass taught social studies at the Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria, Va., which teaches Wahhabism through textbooks that condemn Jews and Christians as infidels and enemies of Islam. Her husband, Usama Amer, still teaches at the grades 2-12 school, a spokeswoman there confirmed. Both are practicing Muslims.
The Saudi government funds the school, which has a sister campus in Fairfax, Va.
"It is a school that is under the auspices of the Saudi Embassy," said Ali al-Ahmed, executive director of the Washington-based Saudi Institute, a leading Saudi opposition group. "So the minister of education appoints the principal of the school, and the teachers are paid by the Saudi government."
He says many of the academy's textbooks he has reviewed contain passages promoting hatred of non-Muslims. For example, the eleventh-grade text says one sign of the Day of Judgment will be when Muslims fight and kill Jews, who will hide behind trees that say: "Oh Muslim, oh servant of God, here is a Jew hiding behind me. Come here and kill him."
Al-Ahmed, a Shiite Muslim born in predominantly Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia, says the school's religious curriculum was written by Sheik Saleh al-Fawzan, a senior member of the Saudi religious council, who he said has "encouraged war against unbelievers." Al-Fawzan has authored textbooks used in Saudi schools.
Warriors for truth reports:
Eleventh-graders at the elite Islamic Saudi Academy in Northern Virginia study energy and matter in physics, write out differential equations in precalculus and read stories about slavery and the Puritans in English.
Then they file into their Islamic studies class, where the textbooks tell them the Day of Judgment can't come until Jesus Christ returns to Earth, breaks the cross and converts everyone to Islam, and until Muslims start attacking Jews....
"I wouldn't be surprised if some teachers are sometimes anti-American or anti-Semitic," said Abdulwahab Alkebsi, whose 12-year-old daughter attends the Islamic Saudi Academy. "But I don't want it to be that way....
The Islamic Saudi Academy does not require that U.S. history or government be taught, offering Arabic social studies as an alternative. Officials there said that only Saudis who intend to return home do not take U.S. history, though a handful of U.S.-born students who plan to stay in this country said they opted against it, too.
School officials would not allow reporters to attend classes. But a number of students described the classroom instruction and provided copies of textbooks.
Ali Al-Ahmed, whose Virginia-based Saudi Institute promotes religious tolerance in Saudi Arabia, has reviewed numerous textbooks used at the academy and said many passages promote hatred of non-Muslims and Shiite Muslims.
The 11th-grade textbook, for example, says one sign of the Day of Judgment will be that Muslims will fight and kill Jews, who will hide behind trees that say: "Oh Muslim, Oh servant of God, here is a Jew hiding behind me. Come here and kill him."
Several students of different ages, all of whom asked not to be identified, said that in Islamic studies, they are taught that it is better to shun and even to dislike Christians, Jews and Shiite Muslims.
Some teachers "focus more on hatred," said one teenager, who recited by memory the signs of the coming of the Day of Judgment. "They teach students that whatever is kuffar [non-Muslim], it is okay for you" to hurt or steal from that person.
Other teachers present more tolerant views, students said. Usama Amer, a veteran math teacher, is popular not only for his math skills but also for regularly allowing students free debate about topics within Islam.
Posted by Dr. Rusty Shackleford
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