U.S. calls for oversight of Palestinian textbooks that incite violence
Congress presents bipartisan support for the Peace and Tolerance in Palestinian Education Act
The bipartisan Peace and Tolerance in Palestinian Education Act was reintroduced to U.S. Congress on Friday in light of “incitement and violence in the curriculum taught to Palestinian schoolchildren” with U.S. dollars and through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
The legislation would obligate the U.S. State Department to oversee and report on “educational materials” produced by the West Bank's Palestinian Authority (PA) and UNRWA, “in light of their continued inclusion of violence, incitement, and antisemitism.”
One example was a 5th-grade textbook that encouraged students to emulate a convicted terrorist who perpetrated a massacre that killed 38 civilians - including 13 children.
“American dollars must be spent in a way that reflects American values of tolerance and peacebuilding,” Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman said in regard to the U.S. being the top donor to the Palestinian people.
He added that the children “deserve quality education that nurtures their future instead of manipulating them to cut that future short by engaging in senseless violence.”
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The bill passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously in both the 117th and 116th Congress, reaching 46 bipartisan cosponsors in Congress’s previous session.
“The Peace and Tolerance in Palestinian Education Act is a critical first step in addressing the abhorrent, disgusting, and completely unacceptable presence of violent antisemitism in the curriculum used in United Nations Relief and Works Agency schools across the West Bank and Gaza,” Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik added. “UNRWA’s incendiary curriculum has violent consequences.”
The State Department previously raised concerns and urged the PA and UNRWA to take corrective action. And even recommended legislative action to improve its abilities to report and act.
The international community recently increased pressure to end the incitement in Palestinian education. On Thursday, the EU Parliament passed a resolution condemning the hate-filled and inciting content in PA textbooks.
Moreover, in an effort to “put an end to antisemitism,” U.S. President Joe Biden declared May 2023 as Jewish American Heritage Month, and said, “I will not remain silent in the face of this anti-Semitic venom, vitriol, and violence.”