Pages

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Textbook case

A Saudi-funded Muslim school in Britain was found to have textbooks calling Jews "apes" and Christians "pigs," as well as calling Judaism "repugnant" and calling Judaism and Christianity "worthless."

The school's reaction is a textbook case of how Muslims often lie, deny, and claim victimhood when confronted with evidence such as this. First the lies:
King Fahad Academy director Dr Sumaya Aluyusuf ...admitted the textbooks - translated for BBC Two's Newsnight programme by two independent scholars - were kept at the school.

But the translations were "taken out of context" and had "lost some of their meaning", she said.

She said the controversy had arisen from the misinterpretation of the material which was based on the Koran.
Since the Koran itself makes the statements comparing Jews to apes and pigs, there is very little room for misinterpretation.

Then the denial:
"I would like to make it clear that the controversial pages within the books are not taught within the academy," she said.

"However, in view of the public interest I have decided to remove those chapters from the books.

"The school is currently moving towards an international curriculum and new books are being developed for that curriculum."
Will anyone follow up to see if they actually went through scores of books and ripped out the offensive passages? Will anyone check in a year or so the "international curriculum?" Would any teacher currently employed there admit if he or she had taught from these sections?

And finally, the victimhood:
She said pupils and parents had suffered discrimination and intimidation as a result of the controversy.

One local shop had put up a sign saying pupils from the school were not welcome and a passer-by had shouted abuse at a parent waiting outside the school gate.

"The local MP called me and said he was very concerned about the safety of the children and asked if we would like him to send extra police around the area.
Was any of this corroborated by the British media?

This is the classic response to untold numbers of similar cases over they years, and the Muslim reactions are so predictable that one can imagine that they have their own textbook on how to deflect criticism.