British lawmakers demand changes in Palestinian, UNRWA textbooks
Members of the British Parliament have said they want answers as to why textbooks used to “radicalize” children in schools run by the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) remain unchanged.
Arpingstone/Wikimedia Commons.
Member of Parliament Jonathan Gullis led a Westminster Hall debate with help from more than 20 members, where he exhibited a reading comprehension textbook for 10-year-olds that glorifies Palestinian terrorist Dalal al-Mughrabi, who killed 38 Israelis, including 13 children on a bus in 1978.
The United Kingdom provided £65.5 million (nearly $81 million) in aid to UNRWA and the Palestinians in 2019-20.
Gullis also cited findings of the research institute IMPACT-se, which examined 202 textbooks from the current curriculum and found “a systematic insertion of violence, martyrdom and jihad across all grades and subjects where the possibility of peace with Israel is rejected,” according to the MP.
MP Stephen Crabb said, “Concerns have been constantly raised by members across parties in this house about the use of inciteful language in textbooks, which whether directly or indirectly, U.K. aid has helped to finance. One of the questions we need an answer to this afternoon is why there has been so little progress.”
Several MPs also asked when the long-awaited European review of Palestinian textbooks, which was due to be completed by September 2019 but only began that month, will be finished and demanded it be made public.
Minister of State James Cleverly said in response that “antisemitism is unacceptable in all its forms,” and that the government is “deeply concerned” about the incitement of hatred and violence towards Israelis in P.A. textbooks and “reports of radicalization in the Palestinian education system.”
“These are serious allegations, and we take them seriously,” he said.
JNS
