IV 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 262 

Expressing the sense of Congress regarding Saudi Arabia’s policies relating 

to religious practice and tolerance, including Saudi Arabia’s commitment 

to revise Saudi textbooks to remove intolerant and violent references. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 15, 2007 

Mr. ISRAEL (for himself, Mr. WOLF, and Mr. WEINER) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 

Foreign Affairs 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of Congress regarding Saudi Arabia’s 

policies relating to religious practice and tolerance, including Saudi Arabia’s commitment to revise Saudi textbooks to remove intolerant and violent references. 

Whereas, in September 2004, the Secretary of State, as the 

President’s designee, designated Saudi Arabia as a 

‘‘country of particular concern’’ (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6401 

et seq.) for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom; 

Whereas, in July 2006, as a result of bilateral discussions 

mandated by Saudi Arabia’s CPC designation, the Secretary of State identified and announced, and the Government of Saudi Arabia confirmed, policies that the 


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Government of Saudi Arabia was ‘‘pursuing and will continue to pursue for the purpose of promoting greater 

freedom for religious practice and increased tolerance for 

religious groups’’; 

Whereas as a result of the Government of Saudi Arabia confirming such policies, the Secretary of State, as the 

President’s designee, continued to waive the application 

of actions under section 405(a) of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, as authorized by section 407 

of such Act; 

Whereas such policies include a comprehensive review and revision of educational materials and other literature sent 

outside Saudi Arabia to ensure that all intolerant references are removed, including, when possible, attempting 

to retrieve previously distributed materials that contain 

intolerant references; 

Whereas such policies include revising Saudi textbooks to remove intolerant references that disparage Muslims or 

non-Muslims or that promote hatred toward other religions or religious groups; 

Whereas the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 

Commission Act of 2007 (Public Law 110–53) requires 

the President to report to Congress on progress made by 

the Government of Saudi Arabia ‘‘to facilitate political, 

economic, and social reforms, including greater religious 

freedom . . .’’; 

Whereas members of United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) traveled to Saudi 

Arabia in May and June of 2007, and found that the 

Government of Saudi Arabia has made insubstantial 

progress toward implementing its July 2006 policies reVerDate Aug 31 2005 05:04 Nov 16, 2007 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HC262.IH HC262

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lating to religious practice and tolerance, and has not 

been transparent in the implementation of such policies; 

Whereas USCIRF found that the Government of Saudi Arabia permits the public practice of only one interpretation 

of Islam in Saudi Arabia and requires public behavior to 

conform to this interpretation, thereby violating standards of universal human rights and resulting in discrimination and human rights violations against members of 

indigenous Muslim communities who follow other interpretations of Islam, such as Shi’as, Ismailis, and nonconforming Sunnis; 

Whereas the Government of Saudi Arabia’s harsh enforcement of its interpretation of Islam adversely affects the 

human rights of women in Saudi Arabia, including freedoms of speech, movement, association, and religion, freedom from coercion, access to education, and full equality 

before the law; 

Whereas the Government of Saudi Arabia’s harsh enforcement of its interpretation of Islam also adversely affects 

the human rights of both Muslim and non-Muslim expatriate workers; 

Whereas between two million and three million non-Muslim 

workers, including Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, and 

others, reside in Saudi Arabia for temporary employment; 

Whereas labor contracts in Saudi Arabia often include provisions requiring expatriate workers to conform to Saudi 

religious customs and traditions, thereby violating the expatriate workers’ human rights; 

Whereas the Government of Saudi Arabia’s Commission to 

Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice exercises largely unchecked power to curtail the freedoms of speech, assemVerDate Aug 31 2005 05:04 Nov 16, 2007 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HC262.IH HC262

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bly, and association, and the courts in Saudi Arabia offer 

neither due process to protect the individual nor effective 

remedies for violations of such rights; 

Whereas official school textbooks in Saudi Arabia have previously included language encouraging violence that adversely affects the interests of the United States; 

Whereas several studies, including studies by Saudi experts, 

point to serious concerns that language encouraging violence toward others misguides students into believing that 

in order to safeguard their religion, they must violently 

repress, and even physically eliminate, the ‘‘other’’; 

Whereas a 2006 report by the Center for Religious Freedom 

and the Gulf Institute analyzing several Saudi textbooks 

from the 2005–2006 school year found that ‘‘a ninth 

grade Saudi textbook on Hadith teaches teenagers in 

apocalyptic terms that violence towards Jews, Christians 

and other unbelievers is sanctioned by God’’; 

Whereas such textbook states, ‘‘the hour [of judgment] will 

not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill 

them’’; 

Whereas the Government of Saudi Arabia claimed publicly 

that it revised its textbooks and removed language that 

promotes intolerance and encourages violence; 

Whereas the Government of Saudi Arabia, despite repeated 

requests by the Secretary of State and Members of Congress over a period of several years, has failed to make 

a complete set of its current textbooks available to support its claim that such language has been eliminated; 

Whereas, in June 2007, during its visit to Saudi Arabia, 

USCIRF found evidence that intolerant and inflamVerDate Aug 31 2005 05:04 Nov 16, 2007 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HC262.IH HC262

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matory text remains in textbooks provided by the Government of Saudi Arabia; 

Whereas Saudi textbooks are used outside Saudi Arabia, including in the United States; 

Whereas the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA), with campuses in 

Alexandria and Fairfax, Virginia, is the only school in the 

United States that operates with the direct authority of 

the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia; 

Whereas the ISA operates on two northern Virginia properties owned or leased by the Royal Embassy of Saudi 

Arabia, with property being leased by ‘‘the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia d/b/a (doing business as) the Islamic Saudi Academy’’; 

Whereas Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the United States is 

the chairman of the ISA’s board of directors, which, according to the ISA’s Web site, ‘‘oversees the educational 

and administrative operation’’ and ‘‘provides direction 

and guidance to every aspect of’’ the ISA’s operations; 

Whereas the ISA is funded by the Government of Saudi Arabia, and, on numerous occasions, officials from the Royal 

Embassy of Saudi Arabia have spoken to the press on the 

ISA’s behalf, including in response to inquiries about the 

ISA’s curriculum; 

Whereas the ISA uses the Government of Saudi Arabia’s 

‘‘curriculum, syllabus, and materials’’ in the portion of 

its programming taught in Arabic; 

Whereas USCIRF has recommended that the Secretary of 

State open diplomatic talks with the Government of 

Saudi Arabia in order to obtain official Saudi textbooks 

used at the ISA; and 


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Whereas USCIRF recommends that the ISA should be closed 

until the official Saudi textbooks used at the ISA are 

made available for comprehensive public examination and 

are found to be consistent with the Government of Saudi 

Arabia’s commitment to revise such textbooks to remove 

intolerant and violent references: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 

2 concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that— 

3 (1) the Secretary of State, as the President’s 

4 designee, should continue to designate Saudi Arabia 

5 as a ‘‘country of particular concern’’ under the 

6 International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 

7 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.) for engaging in systematic, on8 going, and egregious violations of religious freedom; 

9 (2) the Secretary of State should create a for10 mal mechanism to monitor implementation of the 

11 Government of Saudi Arabia’s July 2006 policies re12 lating to religious practice and tolerance as part of 

13 every meeting of the United States-Saudi Arabia 

14 Strategic Dialogue, and ensure that United States 

15 representatives to each relevant working group of 

16 such Strategic Dialogue, after each session, or at 

17 least every six months, submit to Congress a report 

18 on their findings; 

19 (3) the Secretary of State should submit to 

20 Congress a report on progress by the Government of 

21 Saudi Arabia toward implementing its July 2006 


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1 policies relating to religious practice and tolerance, 

2 including— 

3 (A) the transparency of the Government of 

4 Saudi Arabia toward the implementation of 

5 such policies; and 

6 (B) any benchmarks or timetables estab7 lished for implementation of such policies; 

8 (4) the Secretary of State should immediately 

9 begin diplomatic discussions with the Government of 

10 Saudi Arabia with the goals of— 

11 (A) having the Government of Saudi Ara12 bia close the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA) 

13 until such time as the official Saudi textbooks 

14 used at the ISA are made available for com15 prehensive public examination in the United 

16 States; and 

17 (B) ensuring a verifiable prohibition of any 

18 scheme aimed at continuing funding by the 

19 Government of Saudi Arabia to the ISA 

20 through other indirect means; 

21 (5) the Secretary of State should conclude such 

22 discussions not later than 90 days after the date of 

23 the adoption of this concurrent resolution, and, while 

24 the discussions are ongoing, the Secretary should 

25 also be preparing to take action under title II of the 


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1 State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 

2 U.S.C. 4301 et seq.) (relating to authorities relating 

3 to the regulation of foreign missions), if such action 

4 becomes necessary; and 

5 (6) at the conclusion of the 90-day period, the 

6 Secretary of State should submit to Congress a re7 port on the results of such discussions, including— 

8 (A) if the Secretary secured the release of 

9 the Saudi textbooks used at the ISA for com10 prehensive public examination, and if the Sec11 retary has determined that such textbooks con12 tain language encouraging violence, what ac13 tions the Secretary plans to take in response 

14 under applicable United States laws, including 

15 under title II of the State Department Basic 

16 Authorities Act of 1956; and 

17 (B) if the Secretary did not secure the re18 lease of the Saudi textbooks, what actions the 

19 Secretary plans to take under title II of the 

20 State Department Basic Authorities Act of 

21 1956 to close the ISA on the grounds that the 

22 nondiplomatic activities of the ISA cannot be 

23 conducted by and through an embassy, and be24 cause significant concerns remain about wheth25 er what is being taught at the ISA promotes reVerDate Aug 31 2005 05:04 Nov 16, 2007 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HC262.IH HC262

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1 ligious intolerance and may adversely affect the 

2 interests of the United States. 

Æ 


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