First it issued a statement about Saudi textbooks:
This was followed today with more comprehensive report on Saudi hate speech.
The report shows that HRW didn't even do its own research on the textbooks, instead relying on previous State Department and Freedom House reports from many years past.
So why is HRW suddenly concerned with Saudi hate speech now, while essentially ignoring it since 9/11?
And why is this report only about hate speech in Saudi Arabia and not the equally if not more virulent hate speech throughout the Arab world?
The cynic in me thinks it is because Saudi Arabia is now cozying up to Israel, which to HRW is the biggest crime imaginable.
Because, seriously - this information was public and available for well over a decade. The amount of original research for this report is fairly small. Why else would HRW suddenly care about Saudi hate speech specifically, and why only now? And why has it ignored the far worse hate speech from others?
Interestingly, HRW takes pains to say that this is not Islam but only an extremist interpretation of Islam.