Note: I've entitled this Diary the way I did because of the old maxim, "silence gives consent".
Despite the fact that the following acts described herein are in violation of several American laws, there has been no mention of prosecution by the federal government.
I've done a lot of traveling throughout the world but I've yet to visit the "donkey hating" Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The Washington Times and New York Sun both have good articles detailing the fact that the government of Saudi Arabia continues to issue hate propaganda against any religion that is not Islam. And they're not just doing this in their own country or just in the Middle East, but in the United States itself. The organization Freedom House collected hundreds of samples of this kind of literature:
"We have ascertained that as of December 2004, Saudi-connected resources and publications on extremist ideology remain common reading and educational material in some of America's main mosques," explain the researchers, who compiled documents from more than a dozen American mosques - including a prominent one in New York, Brooklyn's Al-Farouq Mosque. The mosques maintain libraries or racks of literature for parishioners, and often run religious schools for Muslims.
The doctrine they teach is one of unending conflict. "It is basic Islam to believe that everyone who does not embrace Islam is an unbeliever and must be called an unbeliever, and that they are enemies to Allah, his Prophet, and the believers," reads one document published by the Saudi government and available to worshippers at a San Diego mosque. "That is why the one who does not call the Jews and the Christians unbelievers is himself an unbeliever."
Unsurprisingly, the Saudi government also publishes and distributes anti-Semitic tracts. It may be a bit of a surprise to find them in Brooklyn, where researchers found a book, The Truth About the Original Sin, published in English by the King Fahd National Library in Riyadh, which says of the Jews, "They broke their Covenant; they rejected Allah's guidance as conveyed by His messengers; they killed Allah's messengers and incurred a double guilt which included murder and deliberate defiance of Allah's Law; and they imagined themselves arrogantly self-sufficient, which means a blasphemous closing of their hearts forever against the admission of Allah's grace." Not only that, but "by means of usury and fraud they oppressed their fellow men."
A Saudi government textbook for seventh-graders, found at the Saudi-sponsored Islamic Center of Washington, D.C., instructs children that Jews "are worse than donkeys." A fourth-grade text, available at the Islamic Center of America in East Orange, New Jersey, teaches pupils about the "sinful conspiracy" of Israel and promises that "the Muslims will not rest until they cut off this disease and purify the land of Palestine from the plague of Zionism."
But wait, surely we're just talking about some wacky extremists writing this stuff, right? No, it's definitely the Saudi government:
In most instances, the report said, involvement by the Saudi government was immediately evident from the seal or name of a government department emblazoned on the cover of the literature.
Materials examined were easily identifiable as originating from the Saudi Embassy in Washington, the Education Ministry, the Saudi air force and other branches of the Saudi government.
The literature contained statements from Saudi religious figures appointed to government positions, and it was disseminated through mosques with known associations with the Saudi royal family, the report said.
These documents advised Muslims in the United States on how to snub Jews and Christians, for example by refusing to greet them and congratulate them on religious holidays.
In addition to demonizing "nonbelievers," documents call Muslims who practice a moderate interpretation of Islam and embrace tolerance traitors deserving of punishment, even death.
Says one document: "Those who reside in the land of unbelief out of their own choice and desire to be with the people of that land, accepting the way they are regarding their faith, or giving compliments to them, or pleasing them by pointing out something wrong with the Muslims, they become unbelievers and enemies to Allah and his messenger."
One particularly chilling tract urges Muslims to kill any Muslims who convert to another religion.
It says of Muslims who accept Judaism or Christianity: "If you do not repent, you are an apostate and you should be killed because you have denied the Koran."
This tract, published by the Saudi Ministry of Religious Affairs and written in Urdu, was collected at the King Fahd Mosque in Los Angeles and it quotes Sheik Bin Uthaimin as preaching this policy.
You can read the entire Freedom House report here, including these priceless pearls of wisdom:
The documents stress that when Muslims are in the lands of the unbelievers, they must behave as if on a mission behind enemy lines. Either they are there to acquire new knowledge and make money to be later employed in the jihad against the infidels, or they are there to proselytize the infidels until at least some convert to Islam. Any other reason for lingering among the unbelievers in their lands is illegitimate, and unless a Muslim leaves as quickly as possible, he or she is not a true Muslim and so too must be condemned. For example, a document in the collection for the "Immigrant Muslim" bears the words "Greetings from the Cultural Attache in Washington, D.C." of the Embassy of Saudi Arabia, and is published by the government of Saudi Arabia. In an authoritative religious voice, it gives detailed instructions on how to "hate" the Christian and Jew: Never greet them first. Never congratulate the infidel on his holiday. Never imitate the infidel. Do not become a naturalized citizen of the United States.
Regarding those who convert out of Islam, the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs explicitly asserts, they "should be killed".
So far the Saudi Government hasn't said anything much beyond "we haven't seen these items" or "we're working to update them". Nice, eh?
Far more sickening to me however is the fact that the American government has not condemned this report, even though it was published a week ago and received some media coverage.
I especially keep very close track on the U.S. State Department, where reporters have been unsuccessfully asking for a condemnation of this racist propaganda.
In fact, here is what the American government had to say, from the February 4, 2005 briefing:
QUESTION: Did you ever get an answer for the question that's been hanging for several days about the Freedom House report?
MR. ERELI: I don't have an update on that for you. The last time we talked about it, we said we'd be looking at the report. We also noted that the investigation into what activity -- what materials were distributed to whom and what laws or regulations were violated was not a State Department investigation; it was an investigation that would be done by other agencies. We have not heard back. So I'm not in a position to tell you that the -- what Freedom House reported is something that we have come to a conclusion that there's been wrongdoing done by diplomatic establishments.
QUESTION: So you don't have any opinion as yet on the merits of their conclusion that the Saudi Government participated in the propagation of hate propaganda in American mosques?
MR. ERELI: I do not.
Let me say this one more time so it is completely clear. Freedom House went to mosques and other Islamic centers and found hundreds of different pieces of hate-filled propaganda that were produced by the Saudi Arabian government.
Let me say it even more clearly - the Freedom House report is not talking about Al-Qaeda literature, Islamic Brotherhood literature, Hizb-ut-Tahir literature, Jaish-e-Mohammed literature, Jemaah Islamiya literature or any other independent propaganda. This is strictly speaking of stuff issued by the Saudi government. How can the United States government fail to strongly condemn them for printing this kind of stuff?
I think it's time for an extremely brief refresher of a few facts concerning the nutcases running Sunni Arabia:
- No democracy whatsoever, unless you count this
- Women cannot drive a car or hold a job or travel or get a divorce without permission of their husband or male relative
- Prisoners are routinely tortured
- People are flogged for participating in peaceful protests
- 15 of the 19 hijackers from 9/11 came from Saudi Arabia
- Religious expression other than official Wahhabism Sunni Islam is forbidden, including Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism and other Muslim sects such as Shi'a Islam
- The Saudi government has given Osama bin Laden at least 300 million dollars
- The Saudi government intervened after 9/11 and got many of its citizens permission to fly home, including members of the bin Laden family, before they could be questioned by the FBI
- Many members of the George W. Bush government, as well as H.W. Bush's government and H.W. Bush himself, have extensive business ties with the Saudi government
- Halliburton, who also does business in countries like Iran, also has a lucrative contract in Saudi Arabia
- Condoleezza Rice was a long-time member of the board of directors for Chevron oil (now Texaco Chevron), which also does lucrative business in Saudi Arabia
- Saudi Arabia has 750 billion dollars invested in the United States
- Saudi Arabia funded radical religious schools known as madrassas in Pakistan which "educated" members of the Taliban
- Saudi Arabia continues to fund these madrassas around the world, including in Pakistan, to this day
- Saudi Arabia exports 1.5 million barrels of oil every single day to the United States. That is 22 billion dollars a year if a barrel of oil costs $40.
- Saudi Arabia continues to shelter men who kidnap children away from their American or western wives.
- Last but definitely not least - Bandar Bush
Considering Bush's SOTU address as well as his speech during his inauguration about the "fires of freedom", it is absolutely sickening that the U.S. government has not released a statement condemning the Saudi government for publishing such hate-filled propaganda and distributing it inside the United States.
This is cross-posted from my blog, where you are humbly invited to visit
Pax