ICWV Newsmonitor 2022

ICWV News Monitor 2022

A look at what Palestinian Authority schools teach about Jews, Israel

The three fundamentals are delegitimizing Israel’s existence and the presence of Jews, demonizing Israel and Jews, and inciting against Israel and Jews.

Palestinian Authority schoolbooks feature three fundamentals:

Delegitimization of Israel’s existence and the Jews’ very presence in the country, which includes denial of their history and the existence of any Jewish holy places there.
Demonization of both Israel and Jews, with implications regarding the Jews’ image in the eyes of children who hail from a traditional society.
Incitement and the absence of a call for peace with Israel. Instead, there is a call for a violent struggle for the liberation of the whole country.

Delegitimization

Israel’s Jewish citizens are considered foreign colonialists: “We will think and discuss: I will compare the tragedy of the Indians, America’s original inhabitants, to the tragedy of the Palestinian people.” (Social Studies, 2020, Grade 8, Part 2, p. 34)
The country’s Jewish history is denied, including the existence of archaeological items proving that “the conqueror has built for himself an artificial entity that derives its identity and the legitimacy of its existence from tales, legends and fantasies and has tried in various ways and means to create live material evidence for these legends, or archaeological architectural proofs that would determine their truth and authenticity, but in vain.” (Arabic Language, 2020, Grade 10, p. 68)
Existence of Jewish holy places in the country is denied, including the Western Wall. “The Al-Buraq Wall has been named after Al-Buraq [the divine beast] that carried the Messenger [of God, i.e., Muhammad] during the Nocturnal Journey [from Mecca to Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, according to Islamic belief] and the Ascension [to Heaven]. The Al-Buraq Wall is part of the western wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque. Al-Aqsa Mosque, including the wall, is Palestinian land and an exclusive right of the Muslims.” (Islamic Education, 2020, Grade 5, Part 1, p. 63)
Having been considered foreign settlers, Jews in the country are not counted as legitimate inhabitants, and the cities they built, including Tel Aviv, are absent from maps in the textbooks used in PA schools. One PA school map, titled “Map of Palestine,” does not show any Jewish city, except Eilat, which appears under its Arabic name, “Umm al-Rashrash.” (Social Studies, 2020, Grade 6, Part 1, p. 6)
Jews’ historical and religious ties to Jerusalem are ignored. According to PA textbooks, Jerusalem was built by the Palestinians’ Arab ancestors (i.e., the “Arabized” Canaanites and Jebusites): “Jerusalem is an Arab city built by our Arab ancestors thousands of years ago. Jerusalem is holy only to Muslims and Christians.” (National and Social Upbringing, 2020, Grade 3, Part 1, p. 29)
A short historical description of the city’s names features a huge gap of 1,000 years between the Jebusites and the Romans, that is, the Jewish historical period. The name “Jerusalem,” with its various forms used in hundreds of languages around the world, is completely absent: “The city of Jerusalem was known as ‘Jebus’ after the Arab Jebusites who built it 5,000 years ago. When the Romans occupied it they named it ‘Aelia.’ Later on it came to be known as ‘Al-Quds’ or ‘Bayt al-Maqdis’, after the Muslims had conquered it at the hands of Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab in 637 CE.” (Geography and Modern and Contemporary History of Palestine, 2020, Grade 10, Part 1, p. 43)

Closed IDF base guards world’s largest Torah collection

Military Rabbinate researches and preserves over 400 Torah scrolls, some of which are centuries old and many of which came from Jewish communities that no longer exist.

Hundreds of Torah scrolls, some more than 700 years old, are housed at a surprising location – a closed IDF base. Israel Hayom was allowed a rare look at the enormous storeroom at the IDF Rabbinate’s Shura where over 400 Torah scrolls are being safeguarded.

Lt. Col. Shoham Orkaby, head of the Military Rabbinate’s Halacha (Jewish law) department, says “There’s nothing like this in the world. The sense inside is as if you’ve gone down a time tunnel through the history of the Jewish people.”

Because the scrolls are sacred, they cannot be displayed in a museum, and because they are housed on a closed military base, the general public cannot see them.

“We’re happy to tell the story of the largest holy ark in the world through you [Israel Hayom],” Orkaby says.

UAE textbooks promote tolerance, but leave Israel off maps – study

Report on Emirati school lessons gives high marks for urging respect toward Jews and showing trend away from negative portrayals of Israel, but some remain.

Textbooks in the United Arab Emirates promote peace and religious tolerance toward Jews, but Israel is still missing from maps, according to a study released Thursday.

The report by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), titled “When Peace Goes to School: The Emirati Curriculum 2016-21,” examined 220 Arabic-language textbooks in government schools in grades 1-12, covering civics, history, Arabic literature, and Islam.

The curriculum “praises love, affection, and family ties with non-Muslims,” read the report. “Interfaith relations, particularly with Christianity, are evident along with expressions of tolerance toward Judaism. The report did not find examples of antisemitism or incitement.”