School textbooks published by the Saudi government still promote violence or hatred against Jews, Christians, women, Shi'ite Muslims, and homosexual men, an analysis by the Anti-Defamation League shows.
"The United States must hold its ally Saudi Arabia to a higher standard," ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said. "The U.S. cannot look the other way while Saudi Arabia features anti-Semitic hate speech year after year in the educational material it gives to its children."
The report, "Teaching Hate and Violence: Problematic Passages from Saudi State Textbooks for the 2018–19 School Year" analyzes the books the kingdom released to schools, and translated several passages that promote hatred or violence. The books are also used abroad in Africa, Europe, and parts of Asia.
Saudi Arabia promised the United States years ago it would remove such passages from its textbooks at the end of the 2008 school year, points out the ADL, and as recently as September said the phrases had been resolved for some time.
"If you go back to around the time of 9/11, virtually every group of people that was demonized in Saudi textbooks then is still demonized in the kingdom's official textbooks today," said David Andrew Weinberg, ADL's Washington Director for International Affairs, who wrote the report.
"Saudi Arabia has made some undeniably significant social and religious reforms in recent years, but such steps have yet to address the hate-filled invective against Jews, Christians, and others that is being taught to the next generation of Saudis."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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