A BRITISH Muslim school is teaching children that Jews are “repugnant apes” and Christians “pigs”, a former teacher claims.
Colin Cook, 57, says when he raised his concerns to chiefs at the Saudi government-funded King Fahad Academy in West London he was told: “This is not England. It is Saudi Arabia.”
Some of the 1,250 pupils at the faith school are alleged to have been heard idolising Osama bin Laden, praising 9/11 and saying they want to “kill Americans”.
Mr Cook — himself a Muslim — warned yesterday: “The school could produce a dangerous harvest.
“It is clearly racist and very divisive. It’s deeply immoral to put such ideas into the heads of young children.
“The vast majority of Muslims, including myself, are law-abiding, tolerant of others and peaceful. I understand now why pupils express anti-Western views at the school. Similar concerns at the sister school in Bonn, Germany, gave rise to the fear that the Academies could become breeding grounds for terrorists.”
Mr Cook taught English at the school in Acton for 19 years until he was sacked in December. He had complained that pupils were allowed to cheat by taking textbooks into a GCSE exam.
The dad of three, of Feltham, West London, is claiming unfair dismissal from his £35,000 job, race discrimination and victimisation. The school denies all his allegations, saying he was rightly sacked for misconduct connected to exams.
Mr Cook makes his claims in legal papers lodged at Watford Employment Tribunal.
He says kids as young as five are told other faiths are “worthless”. He adds: “School books describe Jews as ‘monkeys’ or ‘apes’ and Christians as ‘pigs’.
“The textbooks apparently state that the Jews are cursed. Pupils are asked to ‘mention some repugnant characteristics of Jews’ ”.
A witness due to support him at the tribunal later this year adds in other papers: “Recently, pupils have stated they wished to kill Americans, that 9/11 was good, and that Osama bin Laden was a hero.”
Mr Cook, who is seeking £100,000 compensation, insists he was “set up” for whistleblowing.
He had told examining board Edexcel that pupils had taken annotated books into an English language exam in August 2006.
Academy director Dr Sumaya Alyusuf would not comment.
But it is believed the school will claim Mr Cook was disciplined for allegedly showing his daughter — a pupil there — a letter of complaint made about him by one of the boys who sat the exam.
He denies doing that. Yesterday, his legal team said he had made his allegations to protect pupils.
A spokesman said: “The word Islam means peace and the faith preaches tolerance and understanding, in particular towards Jewish and Christian communities. It is because British pupils are put at risk that we’ve taken the extraordinary step of issuing a statement.”
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007060106,00.html
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