Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER
Factual Reporting: HIGH
Country: Israel
MBFC’s Country Freedom Rank: MODERATE FREEDOM
Media Type: Website
Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY
Summary:
Jul 7, 2022 UNRWA textbooks still include hate, antisemitism despite ... violence against Israel and hatred of Jews, despite promises to remove such content.
An Israeli watchdog group called IMPACT-se has found that UNRWA textbooks still contain incitement against Israel and Jews, despite promises to remove such content.
Specifically, the textbooks encourage jihad, violence, martyrdom and promote anti-Semitism.
UNRWA has removed the problematic content from its public education portal but not from actual classrooms.
Exercises in the textbooks teach about sacrificing blood to liberate Jerusalem and resisting the enemy courageously.
A poem teaches that dying as a martyr by killing Israelis is a hobby.
Islamic education material depicts Jews as inherently treacherous and hostile to Islam.
Israel is described as an imperialist conspiracy to divide the Arab world and Israeli cities are labeled as Palestinian.
IMPACT-se says the textbooks do not align with UN values of neutrality, human rights and non-discrimination.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield called the textbook content a "red line."
Similar criticisms have been made of Palestinian Authority textbooks, but Palestinians reject the claims of incitement.
