Egypt seems REALLY upset at idea of teaching the Holocaust

I recently mentioned that UNESCO had completed a study of which nations' schools teach about the Holocaust.

In the wake of that report and its recommendations, Egyptian newspaper Vetogate has no less than seven articles that are against the idea of Egyptian schools teaching the Holocaust.

Besides the main article about the UNESCO report, it published:

Dr. Sana Juma, a curriculum development expert at the Ministry Center of Education, said adding the Holocaust to the Egyptian school curriculum was "nearly impossible" since it would take so much effort.

Dr. Nawal Shelby, a former director of the Center for Curriculum Development of the Ministry of Education, said "there is no need" to add the Holocaust to the curriculum.

Mohammed Fathallah, "educational expert," called UNESCO's guidelines an interference into Egypt's affairs, adding that UNESCO must respect that each state has the full right to determine their own curricula which are part of its sovereignty, and that Egypt has a capable experts to determine the required curriculum according to scientific studies. He added that UNESCO's report is a kind of cheap political trade, saying that "Israel committed numerous massacres and holocausts in Palestine and the Arab states and still practices it, and UNESCO and other organizations are not taking into account the feelings of the Arab countries."

A second interview with Fathallah, this time called a "parenting expert," said that any subject taught should be subject to the curriculum experts and review by reliable educational leaders. He added thateducation should not be politicized.

Reza Massad, "educational expert," said that the Ministry of Education can not permit teaching the Holocaust, particularly as the Holocaust id disputed by historians and teaching it would lead the ministry into political controversy.

Dr Hassan Shehata, an "expert educator and professor of curriculum" at Ain Shams University, said that the goal behind teaching of this "incident" is to promote sympathy with the Jews and show that they have suffered. This is, he says, inconsistent with the reality of the Arab in his struggle with the Jews throughout the ages, noting that they are performing many massacres every day against the Palestinians and no one calls for the teaching of such facts in history.

The UNESCO report sure seems to have touched a nerve in Egypt.