EU committee votes to freeze $17m in Palestinian aid over school book incitement
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EU committee votes to freeze $17m in Palestinian aid over school book incitement

Cultural Tolerance monitoring forum finds text books glorify martyrdom and violent resistance, contain hate speech against Israel

By JTA 28 September 2018, 12:13 am 1 Edit
Illustrative: Pupils gather in front of a school run by the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza City on August 29, 2018, on the first day of classes after the summer holidays. (AFP PHOTO / Mahmud Hams)
Illustrative: Pupils gather in front of a school run by the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza City on August 29, 2018, on the first day of classes after the summer holidays. (AFP PHOTO / Mahmud Hams)

A European Parliament committee voted to freeze more than $17 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority over incitement against Israel in its textbooks.

The Budgetary Committee’s bill is an amendment to the European Union’s draft budget, which will go to a plenary vote in late October.

If the budget passes, the EU will withhold the money from the Palestinian Authority until it commits to reforming its textbooks.

The money represents five percent of EU aid to the Palestinians, i24 reported. The EU is the largest financial backer of the Palestinian Authority and the major financer of the Palestinian education system, according to i24.

The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education, or IMPACT-se, said in a new report that its analysis of the new Palestinian textbooks for grades 1-12 aimed to encourage Palestinian children “to sacrifice their lives in the name of religion” and glorified martyrdom and violent resistance.

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