Simulating jihad in high school

By Michelle Malkin  •  November 29, 2006 09:29 AM

Jihad sympathizers run amok in Australia:

A SIMULATION exercise in which Year 11 students played Arabs and Israelis has been dropped by NSW schools after parents complained it was creating racial tension and painted terrorists in a sympathetic light.

An inquiry by a senior Education Department officer found the simulation exercise, devised by Macquarie University’s centre for Middle Eastern studies, risked creating disharmony in schools and the community and that there was a “significant risk” of harm to the “welfare and wellbeing of students from particular minorities”.

Documents given to The Australian show the inquiry was prompted by complaints from parents that background notes presented to the students gave positive descriptions of groups such as Hamas’s Qassam Brigades and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Students were not told the groups are listed terrorist organisations and support for them is an offence under Australian law.

The profile of Hezbollah accurately said that its long-term aims were to rid Palestine of the Jewish population and create an Arab state but no mention was made of its terrorist activities, only philanthropic ones.

A profile of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was presented without mention of his sponsorship of international terrorism.

Rather, his goal was listed as trying “to bring the internet to Syria”.

Who’s behind the brainwashing exercise?

The schools simulation is being run by Andrew Vincent, who runs the Macquarie University centre for Middle Eastern studies and was recently criticised in federal parliament for alleged anti-Israel bias. Mr Vincent said he devised the program to help students “work out the passions” of the Arab-Israeli conflict…

…In a submission to the Education Department late last year, the Jewish Board of Deputies said the support material provided by Dr Vincent to schools comprised “unsupported and prejudicial partisan opinion without even elementary historical context” and depicted terrorist organisations in “sympathetic terms”.

The board said that the character profiles of Israeli/Jewish characters were, with one exception, unsympathetic whereas terrorists were depicted favourably and with empathy.

The profile of Hamas said it was founded by the crippled cleric Sheik Ahmed Yassin “who fell victim to a targeted assassination carried out by Israeli helicopter gunships”, without mentioning the dozens of suicide-bombing attacks that Yassin had ordered against Israeli civilians.

The profile said Hamas supported “a community of schools, mosques, health clinics and even sports leagues”.

International lawyer, former university lecturer and expert on the Arab Israeli conflict David Knoll, who was allowed to give a presentation to the students to provide some balance, said: “The students engaged in the simulation exercise without being given even the most basic historical context. If they had at least completed the Year 12 Arab Israeli history module they would have a balanced historical framework for the exercise.”

According to the board, the material provided by Mr Vincent was not only biased but “riddled with grammatical, syntactical and spelling errors”.

As they say in Australia: Crikey.

Why do I have the sinking feeling this curriculum will somehow end up in our diversity-and-dhimmi embracing public schools?

Flashback: What are your kids learning about Islam?

~ For the latest breaking news, be sure to join Michelle's e-mail list ~
Posted in: Uncategorized

See what others have said

Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.

You must be logged in to post a comment.


First Day of 2012 Open Thread & Aspirin-Swapping Roundtable

January 1, 2012 11:45 AM by Doug Powers

235 Comments

Happy new year!

Reports: Miners trapped in Mullan, Idaho; 6 hospitalized

December 15, 2011 01:34 AM by Michelle Malkin

23 Comments

Pinheads at Penn State

November 10, 2011 02:50 AM by Michelle Malkin

186 Comments

10 years ago: My generation’s bloody wake-up call

September 10, 2011 10:07 PM by Michelle Malkin

44 Comments

Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene Open Thread

August 28, 2011 12:25 PM by Doug Powers

104 Comments

Quake alert: Shake, rattle, and roll!

August 23, 2011 02:03 PM by Michelle Malkin

231 Comments

Happy Mother’s Day!

May 8, 2011 11:07 AM by Doug Powers

57 Comments

Christ the Lord is risen today

April 24, 2011 09:32 AM by Michelle Malkin

100 Comments


Categories: Uncategorized

Babalu Blog

» Greece is Burning
Follow me on Twitter Follow me on Facebook