First page of official PA 7th grade reading textbook that incites kids to hate. UNRWA schools use it. |
The Jerusalem Post reported this week:
Over 200 US-government approved textbooks used in hundreds of Palestinian UNRWA-sponsored schools are reportedly teaching Arab children between the first and ninth grades to kill Israelis, and sacrifice themselves as martyrs to drive Jews out of the country.Of course, UNRWA denies this.
The violent narrative can be found in 240 books – ranging from civics to mathematics – in over 400 UNRWA schools in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, said experts at a Tuesday conference for the Center for Near East Policy Research in downtown Jerusalem.
David Bedein, who heads the research institute and Israel Resource News Agency, said the disputed books were purchased from a warehouse owned by the Palestinian Authority and then carefully vetted by a team of researchers.
I asked Bedein if he could send me examples, because I like to check things out for myself.
They check out.
UNRWA already admits that it uses the PA curriculum, as it uses the curricula of the host countries in every area it operates.
The specific textbooks that the Center for Near East Policy Research looked at are indeed part of the current curriculum - because all of those textbooks (from first through eight grades) are online. And I verified for the worst examples that I saw were in the books being used, today, that can be downloaded online.
Finally, I verified the translations done by Dr. Arnon Groiss with my Arabic expert "Ibn Boutros."
So what is UNRWA teaching its schoolkids, today?
Here is part of a poem called We Are Returning:
I found the book it was from as well; here's the entire page:
From the book "Reading and Texts," grade 8, part 1, there is a poem called "Palestine" that starts off with "O brother, the oppressors have exceeded all bounds and Jihad and sacrifice are necessary…"
The documentation I was sent said it was on page 44, but in fact it is on page 66:
What is most outrageous is that the US government supposedly researched these issues in 2013 and concluded that nothing was wrong in the textbooks, a position they reiterated this year.
Here is absolute proof that the PA and UNRWA are teaching hate.
The State Department needs to explain itself, and the US must stop funding this hate immediately.
(h/t Josh K)