Despite promising change, Palestinian Authority still teaching antisemitism in school, study finds

A new study examining Palestinian Authority textbooks for the first time in four years finds that no changes have been made to them, despite the PA promising reforms.

The PA had previously reassured the US and the European Union that it would revise the educational materials taught in the Palestinian territories to remove content that promotes hatred and violence. However, a new study by the IMPACT-SE institute — which examines the textbooks used in the current school year — finds that no changes have been made.

According to the study, passages in the textbooks portray Jews as manipulative, inherently corrupt, or as enemies of Islam. This also includes imagery and terminology related to global conspiracy theories — of Jewish greed and control over the media and financial institutions.

In one instance, an 11th-grade history textbook contains antisemitic imagery of Jews controlling the world.

Under the words “cultural colonialism” — which, according to the textbook, is “the most dangerous form of colonialism” — there is a small black-and-white drawing of two arms holding the globe: one bearing an American flag, and the other an Israeli flag.

In an 11th-grade Islamic education textbook, Quranic verses are used to teach that the “Children of Israel” are corrupt, destined for destruction, and will be punished.

This is also reflected in the fact that the name “Israel” does not appear on the maps in the textbooks; instead, only “Palestine” is shown as the entity between the Jordan River and the sea, including in a 6th-grade social studies book that presents the “borders of Palestine” and in a civics and nationalism textbook for another grade. In addition, according to the study, Israel is frequently referred to in the textbooks as “the Zionist entity” or “the Zionist occupier.”

There are also instances of incitement to terrorism within the textbooks.

Dalal al-Mughrabi, a Fatah member who carried out the 1978 Coastal Road massacre, in which 38 Israelis — including 13 children — were murdered, features as a main figure in a fifth-grade Arabic language text.

The ten-page text praises the attack as an act of “heroism” and lauds al-Mughrabi. Separately, in an 11th-grade history book, the deadly attack on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics is presented as a legitimate method of Palestinian struggle.

The report covers textbooks published for the 2025–2026 school year for grades one through twelve. These are the books used by the PA’s public-school system in the West Bank, as well as in the Gaza Strip, and also by UNRWA, which teaches the textbooks issued by the Palestinian Authority in both the West Bank and Gaza.

The full study presents 210 examples, drawn from a total of 290 textbooks and 71 teachers’ guides examined. The books reviewed are used to teach history, Christian education, Islamic education, Arabic, science, mathematics, social studies, civics, and geography.