Greek textbooks provide fair education about Israel and Judaism, watchdog finds

IMPACT-se says Greek schoolbooks teach widely and respectfully about the Holocaust, while a problematic passage about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians has been removed

By Zev Stub

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3 December 2025, 7:09 pm

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Zev Stub is the Times of Israel's Diaspora Affairs correspondent.

School textbooks in Greece provide extensive and respectful coverage of Judaism, Jewish traditions and the Holocaust, according to a new report by The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se).

The study, part of IMPACT-se’s Europe-wide research program, examined primary and secondary school textbooks across multiple subjects, measuring them against UNESCO-based standards for peace and tolerance in education.

The textbooks included detailed Holocaust content, including the deportations of Greek Jews, Auschwitz, the “Final Solution,” and survivor-focused materials such as The Diary of Anne Frank, the survey found.

However, the curriculum could be further enhanced by content on the history and contribution of the Greek Jewish community, including more explicit discussion of antisemitism and Israel, the report said.

“Given the rampant rise in antisemitism across Europe, it is heartening to see how Greek textbooks present Judaism, Jewish traditions and the tragedy of the Holocaust with depth, thought and respect,” said IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff.

The report found that textbooks in religious education provide respectful and informative overviews of Judaism, introducing major festivals, the role of synagogues, and key aspects of Jewish life, like Shabbat and the significance of Jerusalem.

Educational curricula also provide informative and detailed coverage of the Holocaust, the report found. Greek actions to protect Jews, such as the rescue of all 275 Jews on the island of Zakynthos, are highlighted as examples of solidarity with Greek Jews.

A man holds a banner reading, ‘Racism Kills, Let’s Learn From the History,’ in front of a train wagon that was used by the Nazis to carry Jews from Thessaloniki to Auschwitz during WWII, in the Greek northern town of Thessaloniki, on Sunday, March 15, 2015 (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)

However, the report points out, the term “antisemitism” does not explicitly appear in any of the reviewed textbooks, a gap that could limit students’ understanding of the historical nature of anti-Jewish prejudice.

Coverage of the State of Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains minimal, but researchers noted that a problematic passage in a textbook blaming Jews for the suffering of Palestinian children has been entirely removed from new 2025–26 editions.

Greek authorities removed the content following criticism that it contained antisemitic elements and violated the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child by depicting armed children, the report said. The section has been replaced with a general text about children in war zones, without reference to specific political entities.

“It is commendable that offensive content which previously existed on Israel has recently been removed from textbooks,” Sheff stated. “These are all important indications that the Greek authorities understand the danger of antisemitism and are committed to an education which will see young Greeks grow up with respect for Judaism, Jewish heritage and the Jewish national story.”

Previous investigations by IMPACT-se have found positive trends in countries like France, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. More worrying trends have been identified in school curricula in European countries like Ireland and Poland.