Dutch ministry says it’s not responsible for ‘anti-Israel’ textbook

The Dutch education ministry distances itself from a textbook that contained statements deemed anti-Israeli.

The ministry’s statement on the book follows complaints by Jewish students and parents over the description in the book of Israel’s establishment as the result of widespread murder of Palestinian villagers. It also questioned Israeli former prime minister Menachem Begin’s credentials as a peacemaker, noting he was “known as a terrorist and extremist.”

The ministry “does not approve textbooks, they are selected by individual schools,” a ministry spokesperson tells JTA Wednesday. He declines to comment on the assertions in the book.

Israel’s embassy in the Netherlands last week said the assertions in the “Geschiedeniswerkplaats,” or “History Workplace” textbook by the Noordhoff Uitgevers were “outrageous.”

— JTA