Islamic Saudi Academy Hits:

• 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 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 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, 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? 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. The academy also used textbooks based on Saudi curriculum—the only school in the U.S. with such a relationship to Saudi Arabia:

• “The ISA operated as an arm of the Saudi government. The ISA’s board is chaired by the Saudi ambassador to Washington, it is located on two properties, one of which is owned, the other leased, by the Saudi Embassy, and it shares the Embassy’s Internal Revenue Service employer tax number under the name of the ‘Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia.’ It is part of a network of 19 international schools run by the government of Saudi Arabia.” (United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, “Saudi Arabia: USCIRF Confirms Material Inciting Violence, Intolerance Remains in Textbooks Used at Saudi Government's Islamic Saudi Academy,” Press Release, USCIRF.gov, 7/11/08)

o The ISA was subsidized by the Saudi Government. “After the family moved to in the suburbs of Washington, Mr. Abu Ali attended high school at the Islamic Saudi Academy, a private school in Alexandria that serves hundreds of children of Saudi citizens and is subsidized by the Saudi government. He graduated in 1999 as valedictorian of his class.” (Eric Lichtblau, “American Accused in a Plot to Assassinate Bush,” Times, 2/23/05)

• Though not the only Muslim school in the U.S., ISA received funding from the Saudi government and had textbooks based on Saudi curriculum–as such, it was the only school in the country with such a relationship to Saudi Arabia. “The school receives financial support from the Saudi government, and the textbooks are based on a Saudi curriculum. While there are other Muslim high schools in the United States, the academy is the only one with this kind of a relationship to Saudi Arabia.” (“U.S. senators, Panel Seek Closure of Saudi Islamic School,” Arab American News, 12/1/07)

Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA) promoted a “dual American and Middle Eastern curriculum,” with separate schools for boys and girls, where students could maintain Islamic values and Arabic language and culture:

• Per ISA’s website, in 2002, the school operated with a “dual American and Middle Eastern curriculum,” and boys and girls were separated into different schools in third grade. “The Islamic Saudi Academy was founded in 1984 as a bilingual English-Arabic school with a dual American and Middle Eastern curriculum. The academy has two campuses, with Pre-K - 1st grade at the campus in Fairfax VA and grades 2-12 at the main campus in Alexandria, VA. The Alexandria campus is divided into Girls' and Boys' Schools. Girls and boys attend class together in second grade and are separated in third grade. The school day runs from 8:00 until 3:00 and is broken into eight fifty minute periods, including one period for lunch and prayer.” (Islamic Saudi Academy, “About ISA,” The Islamic Saudi Academy, Archived 8/9/02)

• ISA aimed to develop knowledge based on “Islamic morals, values and ideals” based on the divine revelations and Islamic primary sources. “The Islamic Studies Program is aims to instill the sound Islamic knowledge based on the divine revelations and Islamic primary sources. It challenges the students academically and fosters an atmosphere conducive to the development of Islamic morals, values and ideals. With this foundation, students will be prepared for the challenges they will face as they proceed in their educational and professional careers.” (Islamic Saudi Academy, “Curriculum/Program,” The Islamic Saudi Academy, Archived 8/9/02)

• “The Academy mission is primarily to enable Saudi children and other youth in the local community to excel academically, both in the United States and abroad, while maintaining Islamic values and the Arabic language and culture.” (Islamic Saudi Academy, “Mission Statement,” The Islamic Saudi Academy, Archived 8/9/02) Islamic Saudi Academy did not require courses in U.S. History or Government, offering instead Arabic social studies as an alternative. Court documents said anti-Americanism was “prominent” at the school after 9/11, with some students considering the attacks to be acceptable retaliation for the United States' treatment of the Muslim world:

• “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.” (Valerie Strauss and Emily Wax, “Where Two Worlds Collide; Muslim Schools Face Tension of Islamic, U.S. Views.” Washington Post, 2/25/02)

Editor’s Note: A Washington Post report of Islamic Saudi Academy peer schools noted that multiple similar schools did not display Israel on school maps, or crossed out Israel and labeled the area “Palestine.” ISA’s exact policy on this issue is unknown.

• Court documents in a case against a former student said anti-Americanism was “prominent” at the school after 9/11, and that some students considered the attacks to be acceptable retaliation for the United States' treatment of the Muslim world.” “Court documents in a case against one of the former students, Mohammed Asman Idris, said anti-Americanism was prominent at the school after the 2001 terrorist attacks and that some students considered the attacks to be an acceptable retaliation for the United States' treatment of the Muslim world, according to an account by the Associated Press.” (Robert Little, “Accused Man Once Worked at VA. School,” Baltimore Sun, 8/25/04)

As early as 1990—and as recently as 2007—the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA) used Saudi textbooks that called Christianity ‘perverted’ and Judaism an ‘octopus’ that seeks to destroy Islam. The same textbooks also compared Jews and Christians to apes and pigs, and forbid friendship with members of either religion:

• Saudi textbooks that compared Jews and Christians to apes and pigs were used at the Islamic Saudi Academy since at least the mid-1990s, and as recently as 2008. “A Saudi- funded academy in Fairfax County used textbooks as recently as 2006 that compared Jews and Christians to apes and pigs, told eighth-graders that these groups are ‘the enemies of the believers’ and diagrammed for high school students where to cut off the hands and feet of thieves, a Washington Post review of the books has found. Saudi officials acknowledged that the textbooks used at the Islamic Saudi Academy had contained inflammatory material since at least the mid-1990s but said they ordered revisions in 2006. School administrators said that they have been scrambling to change the texts and that all potentially offensive passages will be gone by the coming academic year. But, they said, teachers have always been told to avoid inflammatory material in the classroom.” (Jerry Markon, “Review Finds Slurs In ’06 Saudi Texts,” Washington Post, 7/15/08)

• After September 11, 2001, Saudi schools began reform efforts to stop “demonizing the West as well as Christians, Jews, and other ‘unbelievers.’” “S audi [sic] Arabia's public schools have long been cited for demonizing the West as well as Christians, Jews and other ‘unbelievers.’ But after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001--in which 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis–that was all supposed to change.” (Nina Shea, “This is a Saudi Textbook. (After the Intolerance Was Removed.),” Washington Post, 5/21/06)

o In 2004, the Saudi Government recognized the need for textbook reform after a Saudi royal study group found books “[encourage] violence toward others, and misguides the pupils into believing that in order to safeguard their own religion, they must violently repress and even physically eliminate the ‘other.’” “A 2004 Saudi royal study group recognized the need for reform after finding that the kingdom's religious studies curriculum ‘encourages violence toward others, and misguides the pupils into believing that in order to safeguard their own religion, they must violently repress and even physically eliminate the ‘other.’’ Since then, the Saudi government has claimed repeatedly that it has revised its educational texts.” (Nina Shea, “This is a Saudi Textbook. (After the Intolerance Was Removed.),” Washington Post, 5/21/06)

o The texts called Christianity “perverted” and Judaism an “octopus” that seeks to destroy Islam, forbidding friendship with members of either religion. “The books were also rife with anti-Semitic and anti-Christian messages. They called modern- day Christianity ‘an invalid, perverted religion’ and taught that the self- determination movement of the Jewish people, Zionism, is an “octopus” that seeks to destroy Islam and conquer the entire world. The books forbid befriending infidels, citing a Quranic verse that says not to take Christians or Jews as allies and calling such infidels ‘enemies of God’ whom it said Muslims are commanded to hate.” (David Andrew Weinberg, Op-Ed, “What Congress Can Do About Extremism in Saudi Textbooks,” The Hill, 8/11/17)

o A passage drawn from a Saudi Embassy text and translated by an independent translator taught eighth graders, “The apes are Jews the people of the Sabbath; while the swine are the Christians, the infidels of the communion of Jesus.’ God told His Prophet, Muhammad, about the Jews, who learned from parts of God's book [the Torah and the Gospels] that God alone is worthy of worship. Despite this, they espouse falsehood through idol-worship, soothsaying, and sorcery. In doing so, they obey the devil.” “EIGHTH GRADE ‘As cited in Ibn Abbas: The apes are Jews, the people of the Sabbath; while the swine are the Christians, the infidels of the communion of Jesus.’ ‘God told His Prophet, Muhammad, about the Jews, who learned from parts of God's book [the Torah and the Gospels] that God alone is worthy of worship. Despite this, they espouse falsehood through idol- worship, soothsaying, and sorcery. In doing so, they obey the devil. They prefer the people of falsehood to the people of the truth out of envy and hostility. This earns them condemnation and is a warning to us not to do as they did.’” (Nina Shea, “This is a Saudi Textbook. (After the Intolerance Was Removed.),” Washington Post, 5/21/06)

o A text for ninth graders teaches read, “The clash between this [Muslim] community (umma) and the Jews and Christians has endured, and it will continue as long as God wills.” “The clash between this [Muslim] community (umma) and the Jews and Christians has endured, and it will continue as long as God wills.” (Nina Shea, “This is a Saudi Textbook. (After the Intolerance Was Removed.),” Washington Post, 5/21/06)

• In 2007, a congressionally appointed panel found some of the Islamic Saudi Academy’s textbooks contained “language that was intolerant of other religions and could be construed as violent.” “Critics of the school cited the 2005 federal conviction of one of the academy’s graduates, , who was found guilty of joining an al- Qaeda conspiracy to kill then-President George W. Bush. Two years later, a congressionally appointed panel found that some of the school’s textbooks included language that was intolerant of other religions and could be construed as violent. School officials said they would alter the course materials.” (Antonio Olivo, “With Saudi School Headed to Herndon Area, Mt. Vernon Site Use is Uncertain,” Washington Post, 12/7/15)

Editor’s Note: Additional excerpts from Saudi textbooks, with more examples of quotes, can be found here.

Saudi textbooks were used by ISIS until the group was able to produce its own textbooks:

• Saudi Arabia distributes its textbooks worldwide to Islamic schools, even those it does not directly operate. “Saudi Arabia also distributes its religion texts worldwide to numerous Islamic schools and madrassas that it does not directly operate. Undeterred by Wahhabism's historically fringe status, Saudi Arabia is trying to assert itself as the world's authoritative voice on Islam – a sort of ‘Vatican’ for Islam, as several Saudi officials have stated-- and these textbooks are integral to this effort. As the report of the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks observed, ‘Even in affluent countries, Saudi-funded Wahhabi schools are often the only Islamic schools’ available.” (Nina Shea, “This is a Saudi Textbook. (After the Intolerance Was Removed.),” Washington Post, 5/21/06)

• ISIS used Saudi Arabian textbooks until it was able to publish its own. “In a huge embarrassment to the Saudi authorities, the Islamic State adopted official Saudi textbooks for its schools until the extremist group could publish its own books in 2015. Out of 12 works by Muslim scholars republished by the Islamic State, seven are by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, the 18th-century founder of the Saudi school of Islam, said Jacob Olidort, a scholar at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. A former imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Sheikh Adil al-Kalbani declared with regret in a television interview in January that the Islamic State leaders ‘draw their ideas from what is written in our own books, our own principles.’” (Scott Shane, “Saudis and Extremism: ‘Both the Arsonists and the Firefighters,’” New York Times, 8/25/16)

Islamic Saudi Academy’s 1999 Valedictorian was convicted in 2005 for joining al Qaeda and attempting to kill President Bush; additionally, two other alumni were barred from entering Israel after they were linked to an apparent martyrdom plot:

• In 2005, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, who had been ISA valedictorian in 1999, was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of joining an al-Qaeda conspiracy to mount a series of September 11th-style attacks and assassinations. “Ahmed Omar Abu Ali had been given a 30-year prison term after he was convicted in 2005 of joining an al-Qaeda conspiracy to mount a series of Sept. 11-style attacks and assassinations in the United States. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit upheld the conviction last year but sent the case back for resentencing, indicating that the sentence should be more severe. U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee obliged on Monday, saying he had reevaluated the case and concluded that the danger of ever releasing Abu Ali is too great. ‘I cannot put the safety of the American citizenry at risk,’ he said, citing Abu Ali's ‘unwillingness to renounce the beliefs that led to his terrorist activities.’ The resentencing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria marked an apparent end to one of the most emotional and highest-profile terrorism cases since the Sept, 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Prosecutors portrayed Abu Ali, who was valedictorian of his 1999 class at the Islamic Saudi Academy in Fairfax County, as an example of the threat of homegrown terrorism.” (Jerry Markon, “Falls Church Man's Sentence in Terror Plot Is Increased to Life,” Washington Post, 7/28/09)

o Abu Ali tried to kill President George W. Bush. “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.” (“Saudi Acedemy [sic] Uses 'Clumsy Ploy' to Mask Radical Teachings,” Targeted News Service, 3/13/09)

• “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.” (“Saudi Acedemy [sic] Uses 'Clumsy Ploy' to Mask Radical Teachings,” Targeted News Service, 3/13/09)

In 2004, a former Islamic Saudi Academy employee who had worked at the school for 14 years was arrested by federal officials for helping manage Hamas’ finances, and for being the custodian of almost $1 million in money transfers for the group:

• In 2004, Ismail Selim Elbarasse, a former accountant of 14 years at Islamic Saudi Academy, was arrested by federal officers for helping manage the finances of the radical Muslim group Hamas. “Ismail Selim Elbarasse, who is accused by federal officials of helping to manage the finances of the radical Muslim group Hamas, worked for 14 years as an accountant at a Saudi school in the Washington suburbs that has been criticized as a breeding ground for Islamic extremism. Officials at Islamic Saudi Academy in Northern Virginia said yesterday that Elbarasse - who was stopped with his family near the Bay Bridge on Friday after officers spotted his wife videotaping from their car - was ‘terminated’ from the school in 1998, the year he was jailed for refusing to cooperate with a federal investigation into Hamas' finances.” (Robert Little, “Accused Man Once Worked at VA. School,” Baltimore Sun, 8/25/04)

o Elbarasse was described as a “high ranking” Hamas operative and a “material witness” in a Chicago terrorism case. “A man described in a federal indictment as a ‘high-ranking’ Hamas operative was arrested in Maryland on Friday videotaping the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, authorities acknowledged last night. Ismael Selim Elbarasse of Annandale, Va., long suspected by authorities of having financial ties to the Palestinian terrorist group, was taken into custody as a ‘material witness’ in a Chicago terrorism case, according to Maryland's U.S. attorney's office.” (Stephanie Hanes, Lynn Anderson, Richard Irwin, “Alleged Hamas Figure Arrested by MD. Police,” Baltimore Sun, 8/24/04)

o From 1989 to 1993, Elbarasse received almost $1 million in money transfers— including hundreds of thousands from countries such as Saudi Arabia and Switzerland—for Hamas. “According to the Chicago indictment, Elbarasse worked as an assistant to Abu Marzook, helping transfer "substantial sums of money" to Hamas members. For four years, from 1989 to 1993, he used bank accounts in places including Cleveland, Milwaukee, New York, , Mississippi and Virginia to accept hundreds of thousands of dollars from countries such as Saudi Arabia and Switzerland. In June 1992, Elbarasse transferred $350,000 to four domestic and overseas accounts and received transfers totaling $900,000 from another co-conspirator, according to federal officials.” (Stephanie Hanes, Lynn Anderson, Richard Irwin, “Alleged Hamas Figure Arrested by MD. Police,” Baltimore Sun, 8/24/04)

In 2005, after the school’s valedictorian was accused of plotting with al Qaeda to kill the President, Sen. called for an investigation into Islamic Saudi Academy, fearing the school was becoming a “breeding ground” for terrorists:

• In 2005, after the valedictorian was accused of plotting with al Qaeda to kill President Bush, Sen. Chuck Schumer called for an investigation into the Islamic Saudi Academy, citing think tank reports and a fear that the school was becoming a “breeding ground” for terrorists. “Sen. Chuck Schumer yesterday called for a full-scale probe of the controversial Islamic school where the man accused of plotting with al Qaeda to assassinate President Bush was a valedictorian – fearing that it is becoming a ‘breeding ground’ for terrorists. In letters to Attorney General and Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Schumer expressed “deep concern” over the Saudi-funded Islamic Saudi Academy in northern Virginia, whose curriculum has been cited in numerous think- tank reports for promoting intolerance.” (Niles Lathem, “Schumer Targets Suspect’s ‘Terror HS,’” New York Post, 2/24/05)

Editor’s Note: After 9/11, the Islamic Saudi Academy, received the nickname of “Terror High.”

In 2007, more than a dozen senators, including Chuck Schumer, Jeff Sessions, Ron Wyden, and Orrin Hatch recommended that the Islamic Saudi Academy be shut down:

• In 2007, after an independent congressional commission investigation into the textbooks was rebuffed, more than a dozen senators signed a letter affirming the commission’s recommendation that the school be shut down until the commission could review the textbooks. “Most recently, the religious freedom commission — an independent federal agency created by Congress — issued its report, saying it was rebuffed in its efforts to obtain textbooks to verify claims they had been reformed. The commission recommended that the academy be shut down until it could review the textbooks to ensure they do not promote intolerance. Since the commission's report, the academy has given copies of its books to the Saudi embassy, which then provided them to the State Department. The commission is waiting to get the books from the State Department. On Nov. 15, a dozen U.S. senators, including Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., wrote a letter to the State Department urging it to act on the commission's recommendations. And on Tuesday, Reps. Frank Wolf, R-Va., and Steve Israel, D-N.Y., introduced legislation to write the commission's recommendations regarding the academy into law.” (Fox News, “Critics Dub Saudi Islamic School 'Terror High',” Fox News, 11/24/07)

• Co-signers of the letter included Chuck Schumer, Jeff Sessions, Ron Wyden, and Orrin Hatch.

(, “Letter to Sec. from Senators Jon Kyl, Chuck Schumer, et al,” Investigative Project.org, 11/15/07)

As of April 2019, legislation has been introduced in the House and Senate to require reports on religious intolerance in education materials distributed by Saudi Arabia:

• In 2019, Senators Marco Rubio, Ed Markey, and Ron Wyden introduced legislation to make the State Department “report on religious intolerance in education materials and curriculums distributed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.” “From his perch on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., wants the U.S. State Department to investigate Saudi education. Rubio paired up with Senate Democrats Ed Marley [sic] of and Ron Wyden of on Wednesday to showcase the ‘Saudi Educational Transparency and Reform Act’ which would make the State Department ‘report on religious intolerance in education materials and curriculums distributed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.’” (Kevin Derby, “Marco Rubio: State Department Needs to Examine Saudi Education,” Daily, 2/6/19)

• In 2017, Rep. Ted Poe introduced the Saudi Educational Transparency and Reform Act in the U.S. House “[t]o require annual reports on religious intolerance in Saudi Arabian educational materials, and for other purposes.” (H.R.4595, Introduced 12/5/17)

o The Saudi Educational Transparency and Reform Act has 19 bipartisan cosponsors. (H.R.4595, Co-Sponsors, Introduced 12/5/17)