Shiites, not Jews, emerge as a touchstone of Saudi moderation
By James M. Dorsey To watch a video version of this story on YouTube please click here. A podcast version is available on Soundcloud, Itunes , Spotify , and Spreaker . Saudi Arabia has removed anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli references from Islamic studies schoolbooks, according to an Israeli textbook watchdog. The watchdog, the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), said the deletions were part of a broader textbook revision that also eliminated anti-Christian references and toned-down negative portrayals of infidels and polytheists. Instead of explicitly referring to infidels and hypocrites, the revised textbooks asserted that on the Day of Judgement. Hell, “the home of painful punishment,” would be reserved for "deniers," rejecting Mohammed's prophecy. Deniers replaced the term infidel or hypocrite. In its 203-page report, Impact-se further noted that problematic concepts of jihad and martyrdom were also