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Islamic Saudi Academy Hits Islamic Saudi Academy Hits: • Abigail Spanberger spent almost two semesters—from 2002 to 2003—working as an English Literature teacher at the Islamic Saudi Academy, even though school’s extremist reputation was widely known before she accepted the position. • Abigail Spanberger taught at the Islamic Saudi Academy, which did not require U.S. history or government be taught, offering Arabic social studies as an alternative. • Spanberger taught at a school at which court documents said anti-Americanism was “prominent” after 9/11, and that some students considered the attacks to be acceptable retaliation for the United States' treatment of the Muslim world. • The Islamic Saudi Academy—where Spanberger taught for two semesters—used Saudi textbooks that called Christianity ‘perverted’ and Judaism an ‘octopus’ that seeks to destroy Islam, compared Jews and Christians to apes and pigs, and forbid friendship with members of either religion. • Abigail Spanberger taught at the Islamic Saudi Academy, whose 1999 Valedictorian was convicted in 2005 for joining al Qaeda and attempting to kill President Bush. BACKUP: Abigail Spanberger spent almost two semesters working as an English Literature teacher at the Islamic Saudi Academy, from 2002 to 2003: Editor’s Note: Spanberger omitted her time at the Islamic Saudi Academy from the resume she submitted to the Virginia Government for consideration for a post on the Virginia Fair Housing Board. For a copy of that resume, please contact the NRCC. • Spanberger spent two semesters teaching English at a Saudi Embassy school beginning in December 2002. “Spanberger said her job teaching two semesters at a Saudi Embassy school outside Washington isn’t a secret, and it didn’t stop the CIA from entrusting her with two federal security clearances. It’s wrong, she said, for political opponents to exploit confidential personnel forms they shouldn’t have seen, regardless of who’s at fault for releasing them. She checked with her CIA recruiters before taking the job in December 2002 and teaching English for two semesters. ‘I basically was that person who overinformed them of every decision I was making,’ she said.” (Nicole Guadiano, “How a CIA Veteran- Turned-Candidate Got Branded with Terrorism Claims,” USA Today, 9/20/18) • Spanberger filled in for a teacher on maternity leave, and took the position after receiving a conditional offer of employment from the CIA. “Spanberger filled in for a teacher there who was on maternity leave during the spring semester of the 2002-2003 school year, continuing until the teacher returned part-way into the 2003 fall term. She took the job after she'd gotten a conditional offer from the CIA and was waiting for her security clearance.” (Laura Lozzella, “TV Ads Attack Candidate for Past Job at Islamic High School Brat Contends His Opponent Worked at ‘Terror High;’ She Stands by Anti-Terror Work with CIA,” Daily Press, 9/13/18) o Spanberger taught English Literature at the school. “Spanberger taught English literature at the Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria for part of the 2002-2003 school year, as she was waiting out the long security-clearance process needed to work as a postal inspector and CIA officer.” (Laura Lozzella, “TV Ads Attack Candidate for Past Job at Islamic High School Brat Contends His Opponent Worked at ‘Terror High;’ She Stands by Anti-Terror Work with CIA,” Daily Press, 9/13/18) Editor’s Note: Course descriptions of Grade 9-12 English are available on the 2002 archived version of the ISA website. Islamic Saudi Academy’s reputation—as well as extremism in Saudi textbooks—was widely reported on in 2002, the year Spanberger joined the school’s faculty: • In February 2002, Fox News reported on Islamic Saudi Academy’s curriculum and its textbooks, which taught “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.” “Can it be true? That Islamic schools in the United States teach hatred towards American Christians and Jews? The Washington Post on Monday revealed that one such school outside Washington, D.C., uses textbooks teaching 11th graders that ‘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.’” (Kenneth Adelman, Op-Ed, “U.S. Islamic Schools Teaching Homegrown Hate,” Fox News, 2/27/02) • Extremism in Saudi textbooks was reported on by the Boston Globe in March 2002. “At a public high school in this provincial town in the southwest part of the country, 10th- grade classes are forced to memorize from a Ministry of Education textbook entitled ‘Monotheism’ that is replete with anti-Christian and anti-Jewish bigotry and violent interpretations of Islamic scripture. A passage on page 64 under the title ‘Judgement Day,’ says: ‘The Hour will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews, and Muslims will kill all the Jews.’ US and some senior Saudi officials seem to agree that the education system needs reform and that the control the kingdom has given to the fundamentalist Wahabi religious institutions to shape it needs rethinking. But the more divisive question between the awkward Saudi and US allies is what role the system itself may have played in shaping the beliefs of Osama bin Laden's followers -- specifically the 15 young Saudi men who joined his Al Qaeda network to carry out the Sept. 11 attack on America.” (Charles M. Sennot, “Saudi Schools Fuel Anti-US Anger,” Boston Globe, 3/4/02) • In 2002, the Washington Post covered the Islamic Saudi Academy’s textbooks, reporting that an 11th grade textbook taught that one sign of the “Day of Judgement” would be Muslims fighting and killing Jews who would hide behind trees, and that the trees will say, “Oh Muslim, Oh servant of God, here is a Jew hiding behind me. Come here and kill him.” “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.’” (Valerie Strauss and Emily Wax, “Where Two Worlds Collide; Muslim Schools Face Tension of Islamic, U.S. Views.” Washington Post, 2/25/02) o Spanberger filled in for a teacher on maternity leave, and took the position after receiving a conditional offer of employment from the CIA. “Spanberger filled in for a teacher there who was on maternity leave during the spring semester of the 2002-2003 school year, continuing until the teacher returned part-way into the 2003 fall term. She took the job after she'd gotten a conditional offer from the CIA and was waiting for her security clearance.” (Laura Lozzella, “TV Ads Attack Candidate for Past Job at Islamic High School Brat Contends His Opponent Worked at ‘Terror High;’ She Stands by Anti-Terror Work with CIA,” Daily Press, 9/13/18) A parent at Islamic Saudi Academy told the Washington Post in 2002 that they “wouldn't be surprised if some teachers are sometimes anti-American or anti-Semitic,” and several students who attended the school in 2002 said teachers taught them to “focus on hatred” and to harm members of other religions, specifically Christians and 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.” (Valerie Strauss and Emily Wax, “Where Two Worlds Collide; Muslim Schools Face Tension of Islamic, U.S. Views.” Washington Post, 2/25/02) • Several students of different ages who attended Islamic Saudi Academy in 2002 said they had teachers who focused on teaching hatred, and even to harm other members of religions, specifically Christians, Jews, and Shiite Muslims. “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.” (Valerie Strauss and Emily Wax, “Where Two Worlds Collide; Muslim Schools Face Tension of Islamic, U.S. Views.” Washington Post, 2/25/02) o Spanberger filled in for a teacher on maternity leave, and took the position after receiving a conditional offer of employment from the CIA. “Spanberger filled in for a teacher there who was on maternity leave during the spring semester of the 2002-2003 school year, continuing until the teacher returned part-way into the 2003 fall term. She took the job after she'd gotten a conditional offer from the CIA and was waiting for her security clearance.” (Laura Lozzella, “TV Ads Attack Candidate for Past Job at Islamic High School Brat Contends His Opponent Worked at ‘Terror High;’ She Stands by Anti-Terror Work with CIA,” Daily Press, 9/13/18) The Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA) was an arm of and subsidized by the Saudi government, operating as a tax entity with the same tax number as the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia.
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