The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has pointed to a new study revealing that incitement to hatred and murder of Jews in Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority (PA) continues unabated. The study, conducted by Gal Berger, a journalist focusing on Palestinian affairs with Israel’s Reshet B radio station, examined some 70 PA educational books for the 2015-2016 school year, covering 1st grade to 12th grade, and found that the PA education system continues to encourage terror against Jews. These texts also completely ignore the Shoah in history books discussing World War II, and continue to systematically erase the State of Israel from PA maps and texts. The full results were presented as part of Reshet B’s ‘All Things’ program.
Some examples from Mr. Berger’s study:
- A textbook on Islam for ninth grade explained a Quranic verse as meaning that martyrs who fall “for the glory of God” will not have died in vain, and that Allah will forgive their sins and place them on the highest level of Heaven.
- Already in first grade, students are taught that the answer to the question, “Who are they that Allah is angry towards and how will His wrath consume them?” – is the State of Israel and the Jews.
- Different books include texts glorifying the “battle heritage” of shahids [martyrs] going back to the early days of Islam, and students in fourth grade are required to write an essay on a Palestinian shahid.
- Textbooks for tenth and twelfth grades include entire chapters about World War II without any mention of the Holocaust and the murder of six million Jews.
- The State of Israel is notably absent from maps, but also in texts. An eighth grade geography textbook describes Tiberias, Haifa, Caesaria, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Be’er Sheva and other Israeli cities well within the 1949 armistice lines as Palestinian cities.
- The land of “Palestine” is specified as 27,000 square kilometers, a measure that is only obtained by replacing all of Israel (Ido Ben-Porat, ‘Continued incitement against Jews, Israel in PA textbooks,’ Israel National News, March 1 2016).
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “We have repeatedly called for terminating U.S. aid to Abbas’ P.A. on account of its pro-terror, anti-peace words and deeds, of which incitement to hatred and murder of Jews is a prominent feature.
“In October, Abbas called for a ‘day of rage’ when the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem was temporarily closed, describing the temporary closure as a ‘declaration of war.’ He also warned against allowing Jews to ‘contaminate’ with their ‘filthy feet’ the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site.
“When Abbas commissioned the official emblem for his Fatah party, it depicted all of Israel as ‘Palestine’ covered by a keffiyeh (Palestinian scarf), with a picture of the terrorist Yasser Arafat and a Kalashnikov rifle in the center.
Abbas’ PA regularly holds parades and ceremonies glorifying deceased terrorists, and names streets, schools and sports teams in their honor. Large posters of these terrorists are on display in PA schools, universities and public places, honoring these murderers instead of condemning them. The PA pays pensions to suicide bombers and Jew-killing terrorists. The greater the number of Jews murdered, the higher the pension. And rather than distance itself as much as possible from Hamas, Abbas’ PA embraced this U.S.-designated terrorist group, whose charter calls for the murder of Jews and the destruction of Israel.
“Mahmoud Abbas is not a leader who is trying to calm tensions and encourage peace with the Jewish State of Israel. He is leading a campaign of incitement, terrorism, and delegitimization against Israel and Jews. U.S. aid to the P.A. should be terminated forthwith.”