EU official says Palestinian textbooks have ‘deeply problematic content’ — watchdog

Illustrative: An image of a girl smiling as 'heretics' are burned in a Palestinian textbook. (IMPACT-SE)
Illustrative: An image of a girl smiling as 'heretics' are burned in a Palestinian textbook. (IMPACT-SE)

The acting director of the European Commission, the European Union’s executive branch, has said that official Palestinian school textbooks contain “very deeply problematic content” and that changes are “essential,” according to an Israeli watchdog group.

The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-SE) says in a statement that the comments were made this morning by Henrike Trautmann during a meeting of the EU Parliament’s Working Group Against Antisemitism in Brussels.

“It is very clear that the study does reveal the existence of very deeply problematic content… changes to the curriculum are essential,” said Trautmann, whose directorate oversees all aid to the Palestinian education sector, according to IMPACT-SE.

“Full compliance of all educational material with UNESCO standards of peace, tolerance, coexistence and non-violence must be ensured as must any reference of antisemitic nature need to be addressed and taken out,” she adds.

No operative decision has been made to cut any funds. The parliament’s Budget Committee will make that — and other — decisions at a meeting later this month.

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