Steven Stalinsky, the executive director of MEMRI, had an interesting article on the anti-Christian and anti-Jew indoctrinaiton/education that goes on in Saudi Arabia. In summary, what the Saudis have been saying in English doesn't jive with what they've been saying in Arabic -- nothing new.
MEMRI's report has identified the main characteristics of Saudi Arabia's education system, raising many questions for the Saudi government to answer. Their initial response is commendable for its acknowledgement of the need to reform the Saudi education system. But for the most part these statements have been presented to the Western world in English, not to the Saudi people, and certainly not to the larger Arab-Muslim world. At the same time, however, statements in Arabic by Saudi government officials have consistently defended the religious teachings associated with jihad and hatred of Jews and Christians which have been a cornerstone of the Saudi education system and the controversy surrounding it.
The Saudis are not our friends. Eventually we'll have to deal with them -- one way or another.
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