What Israel and its supporters have been insisting on for years — that UNRWA textbooks are shot through with antisemitic venom and the glorification of terrorism that results in the murder of Jews, like those that took place on October 7 — has finally been accepted by the European Parliament in its latest series of resolutions. More on the EP’s denunciation of the UNRWA schoolbooks, and its linking of those texts to Hamas’ atrocities, can be found here: “European Parliament Denounces UNRWA Role in Inciting Violence, Antisemitism,” by Dion J. Pierre, Algemeiner, April 11, 2024:
Antisemitic incitement and glorification of terrorism in Palestinian textbooks issued by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was a cause of Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, the European Parliament (EP) declared in a series of resolutions passed last week.
The resolutions mark the latest denouncement of the Palestinian education by the EP and some of the first to address strong evidence that over a dozen UNRWA staff aided Hamas’ raping and slaughtering of Israeli civilians. Together, they rued the possibility that European tax dollars were funneled into Hamas and called for a complete restructuring, as well as increased oversight, of the Palestinian education system to ensure that antisemitic themes are purged from curricula in the Palestinian territories so long as the institutions administering them receive European aid.
“Today the European Parliament condemned the problematic and hateful contents encouraging violence, spreading antisemitism and inciting hatred in Palestinian school textbooks,” German Member of European Parliament (MEP) Niclas Herbst said in a statement praising the action. “The European Parliament reaffirmed in the context of despicable terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas on 7th October 2023 that education to hatred has direct and dramatic consequences on the security of Israelis, as well as the perspectives of a better future for young Palestinians. Therefore, the EP requests the Commission to closely scrutinize that no UNWRA funds are allocated to the use of such hateful materials.”
As The Algemeiner has previously reported, UNRWA textbooks are among the most antisemitic and inciting in the world. No discipline is untouched by the problem. From math to theology, to literature and science, their content promotes blistering hatred for Jews and Israel, indoctrinating students as young as six to commit their lives to “martyrdom” and inter-generational war. Compromise with Israelis is described as betraying Palestinian identity, suicide-bombings as intrinsic to it and a prerequisite for entry into heaven….
Impact-se has been a leading critic of the role Palestinian curricula plays in stoking the embers of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and fostering religious extremism. In March, the organization unveiled transcriptions of recordings confirming the roles of Yusef Zidan Sliman Al-Hawajri and Mamdouh Hussein Ahmad Al-Qek — both of whom were hired as educators by the organization — in Oct. 7, citing them as evidence that UNRWA has violated its mandate.
Both Al-Hawarji, a Hamas member, and Al-Qek, a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, entered Israel on October 7 and took part in the atrocities committed by Hamas and PIJ. Here is the damning evidence, from recordings of calls made by both of them: “Watchdog Identifies UN Agency Staff Who Participated in Oct. 7 Hamas Massacre,” by Dion J. Pierre, Algemeiner, March 6, 2024:
“We have female hostages, I captured one,” Al-Hawarji, who is both an Arabic teacher at the UNRWA-funded Deir al-Balah Boys’ Elementary School and a member of the Hamas Central Campus Brigade, can be heard saying in recordings obtained by IMPACT-se. “We will enter Al-Aqsa Mosque … they did actions for liberations [sic], God willing.”
Al-Hawarji also specifically alluded to kidnapping a “sabaya,” a term jihadists use to describe sex slaves.
In a separate recording quoted by the watchdog group, Al-Qek — both an UNRWA elementary school teacher and a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s (PIJ) Rafah Brigade — celebrated infiltrating Israeli territory during a phone call to family members, saying, “I’m inside! I’m with the Jews.”
Al-Hawarji is a member of Hamas, and Al-Qek a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Both took part in the atrocities of October 7, and both were recorded making telephone calls to family in Gaza, describing their great deeds. Al-Hawarji boasted of capturing an Israeli “sabaya” or sex slave, whom he would be bringing back to Gaza for his private delectation — or might he share her with his pals in Hamas? Al-Qek, of the PIJ, spoke excitedly to someone in Gaza — likely a family member — that “I am inside! I’m with the Jews!”
And we all know what terrible things he and the other terrorists did when they were “with the Jews” on that day. Both, of course, had their day jobs as school teachers in UNRWA schools. Fortunately for them, October 7 fell on a Saturday, which meant they could take part in the atrocities without missing a day of school. That, of course, wouldn’t be right.
The UNRWA textbooks used by the Palestinian Authority not only inculcate antisemitism, but also teach that women are inferior to men. This is normative Islam. After all, a Muslim man may have up to four wives, while a woman can have only one husband at a time. A Muslim woman’s testimony in court is worth only half that of a man. A Muslim daughter inherits half of what a son normally receives. A Muslim husband may get a divorce merely by reciting the triple-talaq; a wife needs to go to court, for what can be a long and arduous proceeding, to obtain a divorce. Muslim women are taught to sacrifice not just themselves, but their children, to the “jihad.” Such teachings lead to the spectacle of Palestinian mothers taking evident pride in a son who dies as a “suicide bomber,” having murdered two dozen aged celebrants at a Passover dinner, or is killed after having shot a Jewish family of four to death. Indeed, Palestinian mothers routinely proclaim, with a diseased pride, their readiness to sacrifice their other, still living, children, as “martyrs.”
Now the EP has had quite enough of UNRWA promises to cleanse its textbooks, promises never fulfilled. It knows that dozens of UNRWA employees participated in the October 7 attacks, and thousands more of the agency’s employees expressed their enthusiasm for the atrocities committed that day. It has at long last recognized the link between the contents in those UNRWA schoolbooks and the behavior of the terrorists. It has stated clearly that the “antisemitic incitement and glorification of terrorism in Palestinian textbooks issued by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was a cause of Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel.” What could be clearer?
Now let us see what the UNRWA does this time. Will it continue to hem and haw, promise and then fail to fulfill its promises to “clean up the textbooks” which it has gotten away with for so long, when it now has hanging over it the threat of a permanent loss of donors, not just the United States, but also the equally deep-pocketed European Union itself? The atrocities carried out in Israel by Hamas and PIJ have made a great difference. There is no longer any tolerance for those inculcating in Palestinian children the murderous antisemitism that was on such horrific display on October 7.
Cynthia says
They always knew about the toxic curriculum in UNRWA schools and have been happy to have the Palestinians do the job of eradicating the Jewish state. Time to look at the mosques and Islamic schools in Europe before it’s too late. It’s the same enemy.
Shalom says
Here, here.
Rick Gordon says
After all these years I am amazed to see the Europeans making this statement. Better late than never!