Shutterstock
Yesterday, for the fourth consecutive year, the EU Parliament passed a resolution condemning the Palestinian Authority (PA) for promoting antisemitism and incitement to violence in school textbooks.
The resolution called for the EU to freeze its funding to the PA until its curriculum is aligned with UNESCO standards and hate speech is removed.
The vote passed with 421 in favour, 151 against, and five abstentions.
The resolution directly linked the problematic textbooks to acts of violence, stating that “education and pupils’ access to peaceful and unbiased textbooks is essential, especially in the context of the rising implication of teenagers in terrorist attacks”. It added that the EU “deplores the problematic and hateful material in Palestinian school textbooks and study cards which has still not been removed”.
Palestinian children as young as 13 and 14 have carried out recent terror attacks against Israelis, including two stabbings and one shooting attack.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen recently met with the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi, to discuss the issue of incitement in Palestinian textbooks, with the Commissioner confirming that the EU “will make sure it’s not funding Palestinian textbooks that incite against Israel”. Minister Cohen said: “Israel does not oppose aid to the Palestinian Authority, but we will not allow a situation in which those funds indirectly fund terrorism or incitement against Israel”.
