Virginia Democrat gubernatorial nominee worked at Saudi school known for Hamas links, jihadi grads

The Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Virginia worked for a Saudi government-controlled school just after 9/11, at a time when the Islamic academy was already controversial for being controlled by the Saudi royal family and for its extremist textbooks which taught hatred of non-Muslims.

Abigail Spanberger, a former Democratic congresswoman from Virginia, is currently the favorite to be the state’s next governor, according to polling averages. When it was revealed during her first congressional run in 2018 that she had worked for the Islamic Saudi Academy in northern Virginia during the 2002-2003 school year, Spanberger said that she was “proud” and “not ashamed” of her work history, despite the fact that, when she chose to work at the school, it was also already well known for its links to the terrorist group Hamas and for its recent graduates who had seemingly considered carrying out a jihad-inspired suicide attack in Israel.

The problematic nature of the Saudi academy — known as the ISA in shorthand — would be revealed even further in the years which followed.

Accusations of radical Islamic views

A review by Just the News of hundreds of contemporary and historical news reports found that the following facts were widely-reported and well-established by the time that Spanberger chose to take her brief job at the ISA:

• The school was controlled and funded by the Saudi government;

• Numerous local citizens in northern Virginia were opposed to the relocation and expansion of the ISA due to concerns about the school’s teachings, about its control by and funding from the Saudi government, and about the Saudi government’s human rights record;

• A top leader of Hamas had sent his children to the school;

• The school’s comptroller had been linked to Hamas;

• Then-recent graduates of the school had come under suspicion by federal authorities of potentially seeking to carry out a suicide attack in Israel;

• The school’s textbooks contained hateful language, including animosity toward non-Muslims and Jews in particular;

• The ISA had withdrawn from membership in a major accreditation organization; and

• The ISA’s own website stated that it was controlled by the Saudi government and was guided by the Saudi Ministry of Education.

Spanberger did not respond to a request for comment sent to her campaign by Just the News.

Spanberger has said she worked at the Saudi academy during the spring semester of the 2002-2003 school year and during the fall semester in 2003, and news reports and her leaked personnel file indicates she began working at the school in December 2002. Spanberger has not disputed the authenticity of her once-private personnel file.

Associates linked to Hamas

It was reported in 1997 that Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, the first chairman of Hamas’s political bureau, had been living in northern Virginia while leading Hamas operations and had been sending his children to the Saudi academy.

It was then reported in 1998 that Ismail Selim Elbarasse, the comptroller for the Saudi academy, shared a bank account with Marzook and was himself also linked to Hamas. A search of Elbarasse’s northern Virginia home in 2004 later provided crucial evidence for the DOJ’s Holy Land Foundation case.

There were a host of reports in The Washington Post and The Baltimore Sun in the 1990s that locals in northern Virginia were opposed to the relocation and expansion of the Saudi academy over concerns about the Saudi government’s control of the school and the Saudi government’s history of human rights abuses and religious oppression.

It was further reported by multiple national outlets in March 2002 that Mohammed Osman Idris and Mohammed el-Yacoubi — both then-recent graduates of the Saudi academy — had been denied entry to Israel in December 2001 after coming under suspicion that they may have been planning to carry out a suicide attack. The men were ultimately not charged for this alleged plot, although Idris pleaded guilty to making false statements on his passport application.

The Post reported in February 2002 that the textbooks for the Saudi academy students “tell them the Day of Judgment can’t come until Jesus Christ returns to Earth, breaks the cross and converts everyone to Islam, and until Muslims start attacking Jews.” The outlet said at the time that an 11th grade textbook stated that one sign of the Day of Judgment will be that Jews will hide behind trees that say: “Oh Muslim, Oh servant of God, here is a Jew hiding behind me. Come here and kill him.”

The outlet also later said that “Saudi officials acknowledged that the textbooks used at the Islamic Saudi Academy had contained inflammatory material since at least the mid-1990s.”

The Post further reported in July 2002 that the Saudi academy withdrew its membership from the Virginia Association of Independent Schools after the accrediting organization probed how the school was being funded and governed.

The Saudi academy’s website also said in late 2002 that “ISA is an educational institution funded by and subject to the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

Spanberger said in late August 2018 that “I am proud of my background and my service, and not ashamed of the information I submitted. I have nothing to hide in my background.” She also said then that the children she had taught were “normal kids.” 

There is no evidence that Spanberger personally knew or worked directly with any of the Saudi academy-linked people who were subjects of legal investigation.

In her congressional runs in both 2018 and 2020, Spanberger would push back on GOP criticisms about her work at the Saudi academy by releasing ads featuring ex-CIA officer John Sipher, who would go on to sign the infamous Hunter Biden laptop letter in October 2020.

Local opposition to the Saudi academy over its ties to the Saudi government

Local residents of northern Virginia made their opposition to the Saudi academy known, repeatedly and publicly pointing to the school’s inextricable links to the Saudi government for nearly a decade before Spanberger’s teaching role at the school began.

The Saudi academy reportedly attempted to relocate and expand from Alexandria, Virginia, into Montgomery County in Maryland in the mid-1990s. The Baltimore Sun reported at the time that “critics condemned the school” at the time “over Saudi Arabia’s record of human rights abuses” and its poor “record on religious freedom.” The outlet said that, in 1995, local Maryland residents “stopped the academy’s move to western Montgomery County, after rejecting a $5 million ‘gesture of goodwill’ offered by the Saudis.”

The Baltimore Sun reported in 1998 that, of the 185 Islamic academies in the U.S., the ISA “is the only one paid for entirely by a foreign government.”

The Washington Post reported in 1998 that most of the students at the Saudi academy “are the children of diplomats or professionals with roots in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Sudan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, and other countries” and that “almost all of the students are Muslim.” 

The outlet said that “the Saudi government … pays their tuition.” The outlet further reported that Arabic and the study of Islam “are mandatory subjects” at the school, and that there was a regular Muslim call to prayer over the loudspeakers at the school, and that “girls and boys pray twice daily at separate times in the low-ceilinged mosque in an adjacent building.”

Local residents oppose expansion

At a January 1998 town hall meeting about the possible relocation and expansion of the Saudi academy from Fairfax County to the city of Ashburn in Loudoun County, a number of local residents raised their opposition. Wayde York reportedly said that “Islam deals with persecution of people” before Republican Loudoun County Supervisor Lawrence S. Beerman II interrupted him. The Post said that the meeting lasted two hours and that “audience members lingered for an hour or more afterward, discussing the school and debating their neighbors.”

James Ahlemann, the pastor of the local Christian Fellowship Church, reportedly said during a January 1998 Sunday sermon that “I cannot support any application for a country to build a school and religious center in the United States of America when that country is killing Christians in their country. There is great persecution and killing of Christians by Islamic extremists in our world today, and I must speak out against it.”

Ahlemann reportedly gave a February 1998 sermon where he again opposed the expansion of the Saudi academy.

“Saudi Arabia … is a nation that has a background of killing and imprisoning those who do not share the faith of Islam,” Ahlemann told the congregation. “They are proposing a school. It would be the largest [Saudi school] in our country. It is being built by a [foreign] government. I am against their right to do this when they are killing Christians.”

The Post said that “churchgoers interviewed after the service generally praised the sermon.” Carin Bednar reportedly said that “I think churches need to take a stand” while Kristin Layton argued that “I absolutely have no problem with his sermon” and that “it’s inappropriate to build the school, simply because it’s being built by the Saudi government.”

Then-President Bill Clinton reportedly made positive comments about the ISA in January 1998 in his efforts to promote cultural tolerance. The historically failed Democratic presidential candidate, George McGovern, also reportedly wrote to the chairman of the Loudon County Board of Supervisors at the time urging acceptance of the ISA. The Post reported on a February 1998 public hearing before the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors “which lasted six hours and attracted 100 speakers” discussing the Saudi academy.

Local resident Virginia Welch reportedly argued that “the Saudis execute their own people who convert from Islam” and that “we are deeply offended at the injustice of the request” by the Saudi academy as she argued to the board that “on behalf of common sense, I urge you to do the right thing.”

In support of the Saudi academy, resident Ray Chamberlain reportedly called his local city “Bigotsville” and lamented that “this issue has drawn a great deal of rhetoric, much of which embarrasses me as an American.”

The Baltimore Sun also reported in February 1998 about the Saudi academy’s efforts to relocate and expand in northern Virginia, writing: “On one side are those who say the academy will be a good neighbor and is being unjustly politicized by anti-Arab opponents. On the other are critics who call the academy an agent of an abhorrent Saudi government that should be barred on principle alone. The resulting feud has divided the community against itself.”

The outlet said that some residents had received fliers warning of a “Saudi invasion” that would turn the local community into a “training academy” for “foreigners from Muslim Terrorist Countries.”

“The last thing we need in Loudon County is an institution run by a repressive government,” Sandra Elam reportedly said during the six-hour public hearing. “Would we let the Soviet Communists build a facility here in the 1950s? Never. And we should not let the Saudi government build a facility here in the 1990s.”

The outlet also said one local resident argued that the alleged anti-Arab bigotry “would make [Nazi propagandist Joseph] Goebbels blush.”

“Denying the school is un-American,” Omar Kamhieh of the D.C.-based American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee reportedly said. “This is how the African-Americans were treated in the 1960s. Racism and bigotry are behind these objections.”

The Post also published a slew of letters to the editor both in favor of and in opposition to the Saudi academy’s expansion.

Schwarzkopf weighs in: “We Americans always practice freedom of religion”

Retired General Norman Schwarzkopf, the former leader of U.S. Central Commander who led forces in the First Gulf War, wrote a February 1998 letter “strongly” in support of the Saudi academy, claiming that “we Americans always practice freedom of religion, and to block a school because of their religious beliefs would be directly contrary to what we were fighting for in the Gulf War” and that “Islam is a religion that is completely tolerant of other religions, especially Christianity.”

Mazen Bedri wrote that “I was dismayed to learn about the controversy around the Saudi school” and claimed that “some Loudoun County residents have revealed a disconcerting lack of understanding and tolerance of our Muslim neighbors here in America.”

But Derek Bethay wrote a letter that month arguing that “our country was founded by men and women who wanted to escape the tyranny of governments like that of Saudi Arabia” and that “if our elected officials continue to allow such governments to buy our land and stake a claim in our free soil, then those men and women gave their lives in vain.”

Sandra Elam argued in her letter that “the last thing we need in Loudoun County is a tax-exempt facility funded by the oppressive Saudi government” as she pointed out that “the dictators who rule Saudi Arabia, the Saud family, will build and own the academy” and that “the Saudi ambassador, Prince Bandar, will run the facility.” She added: “Would we have let the Nazis build a facility here in the 1930s? No. Would we have let the Soviet Communists build a facility here in the 1950s? Never. And we should not let the Saudi government build a facility here in the 1990s.”

And Denise Crammer wrote in a letter that month that “a lot of people may see this as just a school — but it goes a lot deeper than that” because “we’re talking about a Saudi government that will build and run the biggest Islamic school in the country.”

Loudoun County officials approved the relocation and expansion project for the Saudi academy in March 1998 in a 7 to 2 vote by the Board of Supervisors.

Republicans Helen Marcum and Steven Whitener were the two county officials who voted no.

Marcum reportedly contended that the Saudi academy “is neither cohesive nor compatible with the community.”

Whitener reportedly said that “any more than we would not grant a day-care license to a child molester, we cannot turn a blind eye to the obvious atrocities and persecutions of … the Saudi Arabian government.” He also reportedly argued that the Saudi academy “violates the First Amendment [which] prohibits government-funded religion.”

Hamas leader sends kids to the Saudi academy

One of the top leaders of Hamas — who ended up getting arrested and deported — was known to have sent his kids to the Saudi academy many years before Spanberger took a teaching position there.

The Post reported in February 1997 that Mousa Abu Marzook — “the self-acknowledged leader of the political wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement, otherwise known as Hamas” — had been living in Falls Church in Virginia since 1991, and that his children attended the Saudi academy. The outlet wrote that “those who are strongly Islamic send their children to the Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria” and that “Marzook’s wife, Nadia, said one of the main reasons they moved to the Washington area was the academy’s low tuition.”

The outlet stated: “The military wing of his [Marzook’s] movement has claimed responsibility for many of the devastating suicide bus bombings that have killed some 200 Israelis, most of them civilians, since 1994. And, so, when he and his wife, Nadia, and children arrived at Kennedy Airport in New York in July 1995 on a flight from London, he found himself taken into custody and held for 12 hours while officials determined who he was and why his name had suddenly appeared on the U.S. government’s terrorist list. He has been in jail ever since, while his lawyers have fought his extradition to Israel. Last month he dropped his appeal, and negotiations over his future are continuing.”

The DOJ later noted that Marzook was designated in 1995 as a Specially Designated Terrorist “in connection with his actions to undermine peace in the Middle East.” The DOJ said that “Marzook was arrested in 1995 while trying to reenter the United States at JFK airport” and that “Marzook was eventually deported to Jordan.”

Saudi academy’s comptroller possibly linked to Hamas

The comptroller for the Saudi academy was also publicly linked to Marzook and Hamas years prior to Spanberger beginning her teaching gig there.

The Post reported in October 1998 that Mohammad Salah, a Quran instructor who helped at his local Illinois mosque, was being investigated by the FBI, with the outlet saying that the bureau believed Salah “made several trips to the West Bank and Gaza to help a top Hamas leader” — Marzook. The outlet also reported that “the FBI says Salah’s idea of “zakat” [charity] included nearly $1 million in donations to the Palestinian extremist group Hamas, some of it for Uzis, rifles and other weapons.” 

The outlet said that “the FBI has outlined a complex series of covert real estate deals it says were designed to launder $820,000 from a Saudi company to Hamas” and that “most of the money ended up in Salah’s bank account after transfers from accounts controlled by Marzook” in McLean, Virginia.

Salah was later arrested in August 2004 and was charged with a racketeering conspiracy for allegedly conducting the affairs of Hamas. Marzook, who was no longer in the U.S., also had an arrest warrant issued against him, but he had been deported in 1997. Salah was acquitted of the racketeering charge in February 2007, although he was found guilty of the lesser charge of obstruction related to a civil case seeking answers about the murder of American student David Boim in the West Bank in May 1996. U.S. District Court Judge Amy J. St. Eve of the Northern District of Illinois later sentenced Salah to 21 months in prison in July 2007.

The Post further reported in October 1998 that Ismail Selim Elbarasse, an accountant from Falls Church in Virginia, was “in prison in New York for refusing to appear before a grand jury investigating money-laundering” and that “agents are reviewing the funds handled by Elbarasse, including bank accounts he shared with Marzook.” The outlet noted that “Elbarasse worked as comptroller of the Islamic Saudi Academy” prior to his arrest.

Elbarasse’s lawyer, Stanley Cohen, reportedly said that his client was “a freedom fighter without a gun” and accused the FBI of running a “witch hunt” to discourage Muslims from sending money to areas under the control of Palestinians.

Elbarasse was not charged, but it was also not the end of him being linked to Hamas.

The Justice Department later wrote that, during the early 1990s, Elbarasse worked in the U.S. with Marzook, who then was the top political leader of Hamas. The DOJ said that “Elbarasse and Marzook shared a bank account, and checks drawn on this account were paid to the HLF [Holy Land Foundation].” The DOJ said that “Marzook was eventually deported to Jordan and Elbarasse was thought to have left the United States voluntarily” but that “nearly a decade later, however, a Maryland State Trooper posted near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge made a routine traffic stop of a vehicle that happened to contain Elbarasse and his family.” 

The DOJ added: “The Elbarasse documents included schematics showing the structure and organization of the Palestine Committee, rosters of its members, annual reports, meeting agendas, minutes, financial records, and lists of affiliated personnel. The documents confirmed that HLF, referred to as ‘the Treasury,’ was established and operated in accordance with instructions from the Palestine Committee to ‘collect donations for the Islamic Resistance Movement,’ also known as Hamas.”

George Washington University’s Project on Extremism and the Investigative Project on Terrorism both stated that records obtained through federal searches of Elbarasse’s home in 2004 were used in the Holy Land Foundation prosecution.

The DOJ in 2004 announced an indictment against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development and seven of its senior leaders “for providing and conspiring to provide material support to Hamas.” Five of the Holy Land Foundation’s leaders were convicted for this crime in 2008, and they were sentenced to decades in prison in 2009.

Saudi academy grads fly to Israel for possible terror plot

The FBI suspected that recent graduates of the Saudi academy had intended to travel to Israel in December 2001 to carry out a terrorist attack — a fact widely reported on prior to Spanberger’s stint at the school.

It was reported by multiple national outlets in March 2002 that Mohammed Osman Idris and Mohammed el-Yacoubi — both former students of the Saudi academy — had been denied entry to Israel in December 2001 after coming under suspicion that they may have been planning to join the jihad with a suicide attack in Jerusalem. The men were ultimately not charged in this alleged plot, although Idris pleaded guilty to passport fraud.

CNN posted the full criminal complaint written by FBI special agent John Wyman on its website in March 2002.

The FBI agent wrote that, in December 2021, he was advised of the travels of Idris and Yacoubi, who attempted to fly from JFK International Airport to the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. The agent said that a search prior to their flight showed Yacoubi was carrying a letter in an envelope addressed to himself that appeared to have been written to him by his brother, Abdalmuhssin El-Yacoubi, also a graduate of the Saudi academy. Idris and Yacoubi left behind the letter and other items in their rush to get on the plane to Israel, but were denied entry when they arrived in Israel, and they were sent back to New York.

“A copy of the letter carried by Mohammed El-Yacoubi was translated by language specialists at the FBI Washington Field Office,” the FBI agent wrote. “Based upon my experience, the experience and impression of the two language specialists who translated the letter, and the experience of other law enforcement agents with whom I work, the letter appears to be a farewell letter to Mohammed El-Yacoubi from his younger brother, Abdalmuhssin El-Yacoubi, for a suicide mission in the name of ‘Jihad’.”

The letter from the younger brother to the older brother said that “when I heard what you are going to carry out, my heart was filled with the feeling of grief and joy because you are the closest human being to my heart and the dearest friend to me and my love to you is more than my love to myself, and when I see you contented and happy, I myself will be contented.”

“I have no right to prevent you from your migration to Allah and his holy messenger, but it is incumbent upon me to encourage you and help you, because Islam urges Jihad for the sake of Allah,” the younger Yacoubi wrote to the elder. “Our period in this life is a short trip in our complete trip and we must do for our hereafter as if we were dying tomorrow and the best actions for Allah, to whom be ascribed all perfection and majesty, is Jihad for the sake of Allah.”

The letter stated that “I ask God to love you and be your hearing with which you hear and your sight with which you see, and your hand with which you attack and your leg with which you walk.”

The letter added that “I also ask Allah that your action be in compliance with Allah’s order and sacrifice for His sake and propagation of Tawhid doctrine and in defense of Islam and the homelands and territories of Muslims, and to raise high the word of Allah, this is the Jihad for the sake of Allah.”

The FBI agent also said that “the translators both believe that the letter indicates that Mohammed El-Yacoubi was going to place himself at grave risk of injury or death for the sake of his Jihad.”

CNN also reported in March 2002 that “Idris and El-Yacoubi are school friends who attended the same elementary and high school, Islamic Saudi Academy.” The outlet added that a witness had contended that Idris was very focused on Palestinian issues and was full of “Jewish paranoia and hatred.”

The Post reported in March 2002 that the trio in question had all attended the Saudi academy. The outlet added: “According to the criminal complaint filed against Idris, he and El-Yacoubi wanted new passports because their old ones had Saudi stamps that they feared would alienate Israeli authorities. Idris is charged with lying to the grand jury for allegedly saying he lost his passport in January 2001, even though he told the passport office he discovered it on Dec. 4, 2001. Bank records show he used it to cash a check Dec. 5, the complaint says. El-Yacoubi, whose father is of Palestinian heritage, said he was simply planning to celebrate the end of Ramadan in Jerusalem. But FBI experts said the Arabic letter he was carrying had far more sinister connotations.”

The New York Times also reported in March 2002 that the three men had attended the Saudi academy, and that a witness said Idris had allegedly expressed hatred for Jews. The Los Angeles Times reported in March 2002 that Idris and the elder El-Yacoubi had been complaining to friends for months that Israel and the Jews were responsible for society’s problems.

The Post reported in August 2002 that Idris had pleaded guilty to making false statements on his passport application and had been sentenced to four months in prison. The outlet claimed that “federal sources said they found no links between Idris and terrorism.”

The Associated Press reported that month that Idris insisted he was “a proud American” and that the investigation “all got out of hand.” Idris added: “With every fiber of my being, I never wanted to hurt anyone. It’s not in me.”

Saudi academy teaches hatred for non-Muslims

The Saudi academy’s textbooks and lessons included extremist rhetoric and hatred for non-Muslims — something that was publicly revealed months prior to Spanberger taking a job there.

The Post reported in February 2002 that the textbooks for the 11th graders at the Saudi academy “tell them the Day of Judgment can’t come until Jesus Christ returns to Earth, breaks the cross, and converts everyone to Islam, and until Muslims start attacking Jews.” The outlet said the textbook detailed that the Day of Judgment would include Jews hiding behind trees that declared: “Oh Muslim, Oh servant of God, here is a Jew hiding behind me. Come here and kill him.”

The outlet said that “several students of different ages … said that, in Islamic studies, they are taught that it is better to shun and even to dislike Christians, Jews, and Shiite Muslims.” One teenager said some teachers “focus more on hatred” and that “they teach students that whatever is kuffar [non-Muslim], it is okay for you” to harm that person.

Abdulwahab Alkebsi, whose daughter attended the school, told the outlet that “I wouldn’t be surprised if some teachers are sometimes anti-American or anti-Semitic. But I don’t want it to be that way.”

Ali Al-Ahmed, the head of the Virginia-based Saudi Institute (which was later renamed the Institute for Gulf Affairs), told the outlet that he had reviewed multiple textbooks and “said many passages promote hatred of non-Muslims and Shiite Muslims.”

The Post then reported in July 2002 that the Saudi academy had withdrawn from its membership in the Virginia Association of Independent Schools and “has lost its accreditation with the group after the organization asked questions about how the academy is funded and governed.” The outlet cited anonymous sources who said the accrediting group “probably would have stripped accreditation from the school if it had not withdrawn” and that some board members at the accrediting group “were concerned about aspects of the school’s curriculum.”

Spanberger’s time there overlapped with jihadist teachings

The WayBack Machine captured how the Saudi academy’s website appeared in December 2002 — roughly when Spanberger began her work there.

The school’s “Mission Statement” said the goal “is primarily to enable Saudi children and other youth in the local community to excel academically…while maintaining Islamic values and the Arabic language and culture.”

The school’s “Curriculum” subsection said in late 2002 that “the Islamic Studies Program aims to instill the sound Islamic knowledge based on the divine revelations and Islamic primary sources” with the goal of “the development of Islamic morals, values and ideals.” The academy stressed the importance of learning Arabic because it “is the language of the Holy Qur’an and Muslims are expected to be well versed in it and fully aware of its use.”

The “Useful Links” section of the school’s website included links to the Saudi Embassy and to Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Education, which itself included links to the Saudi government’s educational curricula.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) pointed out in 2007 that the Saudi academy, “according to its own web site, uses Saudi government ‘curriculum, syllabus, and materials’ in the portion of its program that is taught in Arabic.”

The Post reported in 2008 that the Saudi academy “as recently as 2006” — and likely much earlier — used textbooks “that compared Jews and Christians to apes and pigs” and told 8th graders that these groups were “the enemies of the believers.” The outlet said that “Saudi officials acknowledged that the textbooks used at the Islamic Saudi Academy had contained inflammatory material since at least the mid-1990s but said they ordered revisions in 2006.”

The outlet said that some students “said material from the textbooks was sometimes taught in class.” The outlet also reported that Islamic studies textbooks used in 2006 “still contained passages that extolled jihad and martyrdom” and said that the killing of apostates was “justified.” 

The outlet further said that an 8th grade monotheism book from 2005 “contains a Koranic verse about Allah turning people into apes and pigs” and that it included the following footnote: “It is said: The apes are the people of the Sabbath, the Jews. The swine are the unbelievers of Jesus’ table, the Christians.”

The outlet also reported that a 12th grade Islamic studies textbook used in 2006 referenced jihad as “the pinnacle of Islam” and said that “in martyrdom in the path of Allah is a type of honorable life.”

One Saudi government source reportedly told the outlet that “we’ve always conceded there are problems with the textbooks” and that “there are some things that shouldn’t be taught to children.”

The USCIRF assessed in 2008 that the Saudi academy “is unlike any conventional private or parochial school in the United States in that it is operated by a foreign government and uses that government’s official texts.” The commission said that “some passages clearly exhort the readers to commit acts of violence.”

Students taught murder is permissible

“In a twelfth-grade Tafsir (Koranic interpretation) textbook, the authors state that it is permissible for a Muslim to kill an apostate (a convert from Islam), an adulterer, or someone who has murdered a believer intentionally,” the commission said. “A twelfth-grade Tawhid (monotheism) textbook states that ‘[m]ajor polytheism makes blood and wealth permissible,’ which in Islamic legal terms means that a Muslim can take the life and property of someone believed to be guilty of this alleged transgression with impunity. Under the Saudi interpretation of Islam, “major polytheists” include Shi”a and Sufi Muslims, who visit the shrines of their saints to ask for intercession with God on their behalf, as well as Christians, Jews, Hindus, and Buddhists.”

Another book used by the Saudi academy said: “The cause of the discord: The Jews conspired against Islam and its people.”

The commission also said that a book used at the school also stated: “In these verses is a call for jihad, which is the pinnacle of Islam. In (jihad) is life for the body; thus it is one of the most important causes of outward life. Only through force and victory over the enemies is there security and repose. Within martyrdom in the path of God (exalted and glorified is He) is a type of noble life-force that is not diminished by fear or poverty.”

Spanberger does not appear to have weighed in on what her day-to-day was like at the Saudi academy, nor does she appear to have weighed in with her thoughts on the school’s textbooks or curriculum. She told USA Today in August 2018 that she did not teach any of the students who were later publicly linked to terrorism, and that “I was teaching kids who, to my mind, were normal kids.”

Saudi government’s dominance of the academy

The Saudi government has always asserted control over the Saudi academy — something that was publicly known before Spanberger started working there.

The Post reported in July 2002 that “the school was founded in 1984 to educate the children of Saudi diplomats, and it also accepts other students” and that “Muslim educators say the academy is unlike other Muslim schools in the United States, many of which struggle for resources, in part because it is heavily funded by Saudi Arabia.” The outlet reported that the school “has a governing board that is headed by the Saudi ambassador to the United States and says much of its funding comes from the Saudi government.”

Nail Al-Jubeir, the deputy director of information at the Saudi Embassy, reportedly told the outlet that the embassy views the school as independent, but that the school is also “part of the royal court.”

The WayBack Machine shows what the Saudi academy’s website looked like in December 2002 — right around when Spanberger started working there. The website said in late 2002 that “ISA is an educational institution funded by and subject to the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

The school’s homepage at the time touted a September 2002 visit to the school by “His Excellency, Dr. Mohamed Ahmed Al-Rasheed, The Minister of Education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.” The homepage said that “a reception was held in his honor, attended [by] some of the Diplomats in The Embassy of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, The Cultural Attache, Dr. Mazyed Al-Mazyed, The Military Attache, General Ahmed Al-Robayan, as well as other Saudi Arabian scholars, educators, and Department Heads of the Embassy.” The event included a speech by Al-Rasheed as well as a “Recitation from the Holy Quran” and “The Saudi Royal Anthem.”

USCIRF assessed in 2007 that “the ISA purports to be a private school” but that “it operates on two northern Virginia properties owned or leased” by the Saudi embassy, that “the Saudi Ambassador to the United States is the chairman of the school’s board of directors” which has ultimate authority over the school, that “on numerous occasions, Saudi Embassy officials have spoken to the press” on the school’s behalf, and that “the school appears to be substantially funded by the government of Saudi Arabia.”

USCIRF said the school is “a branch of the embassy, being chaired by the Saudi ambassador and occupying property owned or leased by the embassy” and that “Internal Revenue Service records show that the school’s tax federal employer number belongs to the Saudi embassy.”

Magistrate Judge John Facciola of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued findings of fact in 2012 which included that “the Chairman of the Board of the ISA is always the Ambassador of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia” and that “certain employees who work at the ISA are actually employed by the Ministry of Education of Saudi Arabia.”

Arrest of Saudi academy valedictorian prompts involvement of Schumer and others

Saudi academy graduate and valedictorian Ahmed Omar Abu Ali was arrested in Saudi Arabia in June 2003 — a number of months after Spanberger had started working at the school — and was extradited to the U.S. in February 2005. The DOJ alleged that “in or around September 2002, Ali advised a co-conspirator whom he had met on previous travels to Medina, Saudi Arabia, of his interest in joining al-Qaeda” and that Ali “intended to become a planner of terrorist operations like Mohammed Atta and Khalid Sheik Muhammad, well-known al-Qaeda terrorists associated with the September 11, 2001 attacks.”

The DOJ said that, later that year, Ali was “convicted of plotting to assassinate the U.S. President [George W. Bush] as well as attack and destroy civilian airliners.” Ali had reportedly been voted “Most Likely to be a Martyr” during his days at the Saudi academy.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., sent out a press release in February 2005 titled, “Schumer: Is Saudi Academy in Virginia Another Madrassa? Islamic Saudi Academy Graduate Accused of Helping to Plot Killing of President Is Not the Only Instance of School’s Potential Links to Terrorism. Urges Saudis to Disclose Funding and Nature of Academy Immediately.”

The press release said that “Schumer immediately called for an investigation into the funding of the Academy by the Justice Department, and is now urging the Saudi Arabian Ambassador, Prince Bandar, to further disclose the nature and funding of the school.”

Schumer told then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that “I urge you to immediately investigate the means by which the Islamic Saudi Academy is funded to determine whether there is any link to terrorism.” The Democratic senator also told Bandar that “the continued association of the ISA with individuals linked to terror and the teaching of hateful ideology within the United States must be addressed.”

Schumer and eleven other senators also sent a November 2007 letter to then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, arguing, “It is important for the Saudi government to carry out its promised textbook reforms. The U.S. government has the responsibility to stop foreign governments from engaging in acts on our soil that could adversely affect U.S. interests.”

Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., said in 2017 that “while it is impossible to say that Mr. Abu Ali was directly radicalized by the textbooks used at the Islamic Saudi Academy,  the use of the books that promote religious discrimination and  the justification of violence toward non-believers cannot be  tolerated, certainly not in Fairfax County, not in Virginia,  not in America, but quite frankly, anywhere around the world.”

Spanberger’s role at the Saudi academy revealed

Spanberger’s campaign biography in 2018 did not mention her job at the Saudi school.

She did a May 2018 interview with the Richmond-Times Dispatch, which reported that “she was accepted in the CIA four years after a 2002 job offer” and that “in that time, she worked as a waitress at a restaurant in Arlington County, was a substitute teacher at a private school, and worked for 2½ years in Washington as a federal postal inspector.” The outlet did not specify that her teaching gig had been at the Saudi academy.

The conservative group America Rising filed a Freedom of Information Act request related to Spanberger’s time with the federal government, and the U.S. Postal Service responded by improperly providing a copy of her personnel file, which included her time at the Saudi academy. America Rising provided the information to the conservative Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF).

Democratic intelligence apparatus stands behind Spanberger

Many former national security officials supporting Spanberger — most of them Democrats — sent a late August 2018 letter to then-Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats stating that “it was with surprise, anger, and profound disappointment that we recently learned that our government—whether intentionally or not—violated the trust of one among our ranks” and demanding answers.

Spanberger also held a late August 2018 conference call with reporters featuring Ned Price, a former special assistant to President Barack Obama and future Biden State Department spokesman. Price called the release of Spanberger’s questionnaire “jaw dropping.”

The Post’s editorial board in late August 2018 said that “something is rotten here” and said that the CLF “should have known better than to weaponize confidential personnel records.” Ironically, The Post has often relied upon Supreme Court rulings that true information lawfully obtained is protected by the First Amendment.

The same day, Spanberger sent a cease and desist letter to the CLF saying that she felt “shock and in anger … that you have tried to exploit my service to our country by exposing my most personal information in the name of politics” and demanding that the group stop using the information they had obtained. She suggested that her personnel file was “presumably illegally obtained — perhaps taken in a state-sponsored adversary’s attack on our government’s national security” although the Postal Service inspector general later said it was released by USPS improperly.

Spanberger said her lawyer was Graham Wilson of Perkins Coie. Clinton campaign lawyer Marc Elias of Perkins Coie hired the opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which in turn hired British ex-spy Christopher Steele in 2016. The Federal Election Commission fined the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, run by Elias, over an investigation into alleged misreporting of spending related to the now-infamous Steele dossier.

Elias and Wilson represented the same client — DNC IT leader Yared Tamene Wolde-Yohannes — in front of the House Intelligence Committee in 2017, and Wilson reportedly joined the Elias Law Group as a partner in 2021. She never filed a lawsuit against CLF.

CLF spokesperson Courtney responded to Spanberger’s legal demand letter: “It should surprise no one that Ms. Spanberger would want to hide from voters that she worked at a school that produced some of the world’s most dangerous terrorists,” Alexander said at the time. 

“CLF follows the letter of the law in examining any candidate’s background and Ms. Spanberger was no different. That she’s threatening legal action, however, should raise serious questions for voters about what else she is trying to hide. For any interested parties, CLF is happy to provide redacted copies of the information Ms. Spanberger is trying to hide from voters in Virginia.”

America Rising CEO Joe Pounder said in late August 2018 that “why the USPS disclosed certain information in response to the FOIA is for their response” and that “at the end of the day, this Democrat candidate is trying to block the one thing FOIA is meant to provide, transparency.”

America Rising released a statement saying that “the real story is what Abigail Spanberger is trying to hide about her background.” The group said: “On The Campaign Trail, Abigail Spanberger Has Never Mentioned Her Work For The Saudi-Funded Islamic Saudi Academy. On Her Campaign Website … She Does Not Mention Her Work As A Teacher.”

Despite his repeated harsh criticisms of the Saudi academy in the past, Schumer in 2018 sought to push back against Republicans who were using his words to criticize Spanberger for having worked at the school.

“My comments about ISA were made in 2005, immediately following my earliest concerns about graduates of this school,” Schumer said. “I strongly condemn anyone using those comments about this school as a way to attack an upstanding patriot and former CIA officer Abigail Spanberger, who had left the school years before and had absolutely nothing to do with my concerns.”

The New York Times reported in late August 2018 that Spanberger “applied for a job at the CIA” in 2002 “and was told in December that she had a conditional offer pending her background check, which she was told could take at least six months.” The outlet added that “she waited tables in the interim, and a colleague asked her if she would be interested in a temporary job teaching English at the academy to cover for another instructor’s maternity leave, Ms. Spanberger said.”

The Post reported in September 2018 that “Spanberger filled in for a teacher there [at the Saudi academy] who was on maternity leave during the spring semester of the 2002-2003 school year, continuing until the teacher returned partway into the 2003 fall term. She took the job after she had gotten a conditional offer from the CIA and was waiting for her security clearance. She updated her clearance application, known as Standard Form 86, to note that she had taken the teaching job, identifying the school by name. She later got a job as a postal inspector and finally started with the CIA in 2006.”

USA Today reported in September 2018 that “Spanberger said the substitute teaching gig was one of several short-term jobs she took while waiting to start a career in public service. She was waiting tables when a restaurant co-worker, who also worked at the school, told her she might be able to fill in for a teacher taking maternity leave.”

The outlet said that “she checked with her CIA recruiters before taking the job in December 2002 and teaching English for two semesters” and Spanberger contended that “I basically was that person who overinformed them of every decision I was making.”

The Republican Party of Virginia said in early September 2018 that “Spanberger went apoplectic with conspiracy theories to try to bury the lede about her work at the controversial school with extensive links to terrorism and radicalization.”

“Either Abigail Spanberger is the least observant CIA operative in history, or she knew about the Islamic Saudi Academy’s link to terrorism and tried to conceal it,” the GOP state party executive director John Findlay said. “What kind of person would willingly work at a school that indoctrinates children to hate?”

The CLF released a late September 2018 ad which said: “We already know some of Abigail Spanberger’s secrets. Teaching at ‘Terror High’ then trying to hide it from us. … The more we learn, the worse it gets.”

Former lawmaker: “They’re called Terror High”

Now-former Rep. Dave Brat, R-Va., the incumbent at the time whom Spanberger would successfully unseat that year, critiqued Spanberger over her link to the Saudi academy in early September 2018.

“They’ve produced terrorists. They’re called ‘Terror High,’ ” Brat said. “They’re openly anti-American, anti-women, anti-Israel, anti-Semitic and anti-Christian. All of that is out there. In five seconds of blogging, you can find out about the school by reputable news reports back then.”

“I do think it is an issue,” Brat said. “I think it’s a big deal, and we’ll see — we’ll see what the voters want to know the basic facts, and so far they have not been reported.”

“Why does she hide this from voters? Why isn’t this teaching at [the] Islamic Saudi Terror High on her resume? And if that’s not there, what else isn’t there?” Brat said.

Spanberger retorted at the time that “I’m not sure what Congressman Brat has done to fight terrorism, but I was a CIA case officer working counterterrorism cases abroad and running a large-scale program aimed at thwarting the terrorist threat.”

“I have nothing to hide and never have,” she said. “If Congressman Brat thinks he is a better judge of whom should receive clearances, he is welcome to take that up with CIA, in the interim, I look forward to debating the issues with him.”

An audit by the Postal Service inspector general released in December 2018 revealed that Spanberger’s information had been released in error by USPS and not through surreptitious means by America Rising or the CLF. The watchdog said that “upon receiving the America Rising request and OPF [official personnel file] from NARA [the National Archives and Records Administration], an HR-HQ administrative assistant forwarded a complete copy of Ms. Spanberger’s OPF to America Rising without authorization.”

Republicans raised the Saudi academy issue again in 2020 when State Delegate Nick Freitas, R-Va., unsuccessfully sought to defeat Spanberger, who was running for reelection.

The National Republican Congressional Committee released a September 2020 ad critical of “The Islamic Saudi Academy in Virginia.”

“Textbooks there referred to Christians and Jews as ‘apes and pigs’ … The school has been tied to Al-Qaeda and Hamas … and Abigail Spanberger taught there,” the ad said. “Senator Chuck Schumer even called it a breeding ground for terrorists… and Abigail Spanberger taught there after 9/11. … Abigail Spanberger. What she doesn’t tell us should frighten us all.”

Spanberger spokesperson Connor Joseph responded that month that “it’s ridiculous to question Abigail’s strong national security and law enforcement background — and this ad belittles and insults her record of service.”

Spanberger relies on future Hunter Biden hoax laptop letter signer to shield her

During her first run in 2018 and then her successful reelection bid in 2020, Spanberger repeatedly relied upon future Hunter Biden laptop hoax letter signer John Sipher to defend her against the GOP’s attacks.

Spanberger tweeted on September 11, 2018 that “in our latest TV ad, John Sipher, a 28-year veteran of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service, discusses my work protecting Americans and keeping our country safe from threats.”

Sipher said in the ad that “associating Abigail with terrorism is laughable.” He argued: “The CIA trusted her with top secret security clearances. For Dave Bratt or anybody else to twist that and turn it against her and claim that Abigail aided terrorists? It’s dangerous and unpatriotic.”

Spanberger again turned to Sipher for a September 2020 ad pushing back against Republican criticisms of her work at the Saudi academy.

“Abigail Spanberger was one of our quiet warriors who worked overseas… Abigail put her life on the line to serve our country… These attacks against her have been discredited and condemned. To suggest that somehow she is unpatriotic is not just absurd it is disgusting,” he said in the ad.

Sipher, a co-founder of Spycraft Entertainment and a senior fellow at The Atlantic Council, previously said he was proud to have played his part in influencing the 2020 election in favor of Biden — before backtracking and claiming he was being sarcastic. Sipher later donated $250 to Spanberger’s congressional campaign in 2022, according to Open Secrets.

The laptop letter signer said this June on the Jack Hopkins Show that “some of the people that I’ve gotten to meet since I’ve retired and become friends with in the political space, who I really am impressed by, are women like Abigail Spanberger, who’s running for governor here in Virginia.”

Hopkins told Sipher that “you’re somebody I know I would enjoy having a beer with.” Sipher replied that they should get drinks with Denver Riggleman, a former Republican congressman from Virginia who worked with Hunter Biden’s lawyers to undercut stories about the laptop.

“Well, that’s what we need to do,” Sipher said. “We need to go to Denver Riggleman’s place and get free bourbon from him. I think he owes that to us. Yes, and I think I can get one of the Vindmans there and maybe I can get Abigail Spanberger.”

It remains to be seen whether the Hunter Biden laptop letter signer will be called upon to defend Spanberger once more.