EU Parliament passes motion condemning ‘hate and violence’ in UNRWA textbooks

The European Parliament has passed a resolution expressing concern about “hate speech and violence” taught in textbooks and schools run by the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA.

The resolution urges the agency to remove the offending content, stressing EU aid should be made conditional on educational materials “complying with UNESCO standards of peace, tolerance, coexistence and non-violence.”

Israeli watchdog IMPACT-se, which analyzes Palestinian textbooks, hailed the “unprecedented” resolution.

“This is a really important step in the fight to prevent UNRWA from inciting many thousands of children every school day to violence, extremism and antisemitism. It is the very first time a legislature has stepped up said to UNRWA, ‘enough,’” IMPACT-se chief Marcus Sheff says in a statement.

He adds: “The European Parliament has shown the way for all those who do not want to write blank checks to this deeply flawed organization. It is crystal clear that an external audit of UNRWA’s teaching materials is necessary before millions of taxpayer dollars are transferred to finance the daily radicalization of children.”

#EU Parliament passes unprecedented resolution condemning UNRWA for teaching hate and incitement to violence in its schools pic.twitter.com/ndXfLQYgdn

— Marcus Sheff (@marcusjsheff) April 28, 2021