High school students in Saudi Arabia Image by Getty Images The House Foreign Affairs Committee made history this past week by taking serious action for the first time ever regarding Saudi Arabia’s anti-Semitic state textbooks to take a proactive approach to monitoring and calling out the systematic incitement to hatred and violence in the Saudi curriculum This bill was already endorsed in the last session of Congress by the U.S Commission on International Religious Freedom as well as a broad range of civil society groups and Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain This is because what Saudi Arabia teaches in its textbooks matters According to a State Department-funded study, assorted religious schools have adopted Saudi state textbooks in a variety of countries around the world. These texts were even adopted at one point in territory controlled by ISIS By dehumanizing non-Muslims and other vulnerable groups in the name of God these textbooks exacerbate Mideast instability and make it harder to combat terrorism ADL published a comprehensive report in December on incitement in Saudi Arabia’s state textbooks for the 2018-2019 school year Despite claims of comprehensive reforms in this area we found that the kingdom’s 2018-2019 curriculum still encouraged hatred or violence against Jews All were subject to some degrading or dehumanizing characterizations and described as targets for violence after reviewing the kingdom’s newest edition of these books that were published for the fall of 2019 it is clear the kingdom has failed yet again to expunge most of the objectionable content The kingdom did remove all three passages that were featured on the cover of ADL’s last report as well as a handful of other problematic lines about Christians it is deeply disappointing that the majority of hateful passages that we highlighted last year remain intact The Jewish people are still particular targets for such educational anti-Semitism even as the kingdom pursues important efforts at détente with Israel and engagement with Jewish communities around the world and suggest that the Jewish religious connection to the Holy Land is a forgery the kingdom’s textbooks still propagate anti-Semitic conspiracy theories by teaching that Zionist Jews use control of media and drugs as part of a supposed scheme to conquer much of the Arab world a Saudi high school monotheism textbook for the fall of 2019 teaches that Christians and Jews are “the enemies of Islam and its people” and even the enemies of God These books still explicitly instruct students to hate such non-Muslims and even recommend violence against them unless certain extenuating circumstances apply The kingdom’s monotheism textbooks likewise continue to admonish against closeness to Shi’ite Muslims They teach that it doesn’t matter what good deeds somebody may do in life if they adhere to Shi’ite Islam and that faith in Shi’ism is sometimes a justifiable reason to fight somebody Yet the textbooks reserve their most violent content for men or women who engage in adultery and anybody who mocks or converts away from Islam Saudi Arabia’s state textbooks still teach students that all of these people should be killed Saudi Arabia assured the U.S. in 2006 that all of this content would be completely removed from its textbooks by the start of the 2008 school year Yet because of inconsistent follow-up across multiple American administrations no consequences were ever imposed for failing to meet this goal by over a decade The Saudi Educational Transparency and Reform Act would finally change that This bipartisan bill would ensure that resolving such educational incitement is treated by the U.S government as one of the priorities in its alliance with Saudi Arabia once and for all David Andrew Weinberg is the ADL’s (Anti-Defamation League) Washington Director for International Affairs The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Forward. 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Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience majority of who are former members of armed anti-Rwanda militia the Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) said who were arrested in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo at various times face a number of charges including: terrorism conspiring to topple a legitimate government as well as forming and being members of armed groups 34 of the suspects are former members of militia groups while 23 are civilians according to the RIB’s acting spokesperson Dominique Bahorera who added that their files had already been forwarded to the prosecution The 34 former militia members come from the P5 CNRD and FDLR groups all which are based in eastern DR Congo Rwandan publication The New Times reported The civilians will be tried in civilian courts while the soldiers will be tried in a military tribunal Some of the rebels who spoke to the local media were remorseful about their actions which they perpetrated before their arrests said the current Congolese administration had come down on them harder than the previous one Iyamuremye was arrested by the Congolese army in Uvira region in 2019 while on a trip to visit his wife “It’s after I returned home that I realized how weak we were Considering what I now assess I really regret the time I have lost in life I only appeal to the few of my former colleagues still in Congo to stop and return home if they ever want to have a chance in life.” The New Times quoted Iyamuremye as saying that the remaining Rwandan rebel groups in the DR Congo “have no real direction now or fighting capacity He added that it was difficult for those remaining across the border to return as they were still held hostage by their superiors The remains of Mrs Mary Theresa Nwobu have been laid to rest at Uruana village Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State the late Mrs Nwobu was described as a woman who made her home open and available for all and was exemplary in service to God and humanity At her funeral mass at Saint Theresa’s Catholic Church the Auxiliary Bishop of Enugu Catholic Diocese reminded Christians that life on earth is a journey only God determines time of entry and exit and that God will remain impartial in His judgment when man is called to give account of life and encouraged Christians to nourish their souls by living righteous life in order to have eternal life He described the deceased and her family as charitable and accommodating to people including the religious and advised people to have love of God and humanity reminding them that a good name is better than any other wealth Speaking after the deceased was interred at her compound was a woman for the people and that they are considering establishing a foundation in her honour to continue her good deeds said that doing good to people was what her mother was known for and which she shall be upheld who said that the late Mrs Nwobu took her as a daughter from childhood added that love for God and serving humanity endeared her to many affirmed that the deceased was a very good woman who made her home accommodative to all urging the family to remain united and to sustain the legacies of the deceased