Archive – 2020

Spectator Australia — December 23, 2020
Schools being operated by the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) are teaching Palestinian children as young as six to hate, kill and martyr themselves, according to a recently-completed study by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), an international group of educators, linguists and lawyers who research, translate and expose the inculcation of extremism and intolerance in school textbooks in each of the countries of the Middle East and other parts of the world. The study notes that the examples it analyzes are in direct violation of educational standards prescribed in UNESCO’s Declaration of Principles on Tolerance and its Integrated Framework for Action on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Democracy. UNRWA is now doing far more to perpetuate conflict between Israel and the Palestinians than to prepare the Palestinians for peace and statehood. It is time for Australia to look for new, more constructive partners through which to channel its assistance.

Israel Hayom — December 20, 2020
Saudi authorities have been removing antisemitic and anti-Zionist content from the country’s textbooks for the coming school year, a report by the Jerusalem-based Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education has found. The report came amid growing speculation of a potential rapprochement between the Jewish state and the Arab Gulf power. Saudi Arabia’s neighbors, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, normalized ties with Israel in September in a deal brokered by the United States. The monitoring group said that while it “did not find that new tolerant material had been injected into the curriculum, a substantial amount of offensive material had been removed.” Responding to the findings, a U.S. State Department official told Time Magazine that Washington is “encouraged by the report that finds positive changes in influential textbooks used throughout Saudi Arabia.” Director of International Interreligious Affairs at the American Jewish Committee Rabbi David Rosen presented the report to senior kingdom officials when he visited Riyadh at the invitation of ruler King Salman, the statement said.

Other news outlets based on Israel Hayom story include:
EJPress
JNS
Cleveland Jewish News

TOI (French) — December 17, 2020
There is a noticeable reduction in antisemitic and anti-Zionist content in Saudi Arabian textbooks for the coming school year, a Jerusalem-based watch group found in a report released Tuesday. “While the latest report … did not find the addition of new tolerant material to the school curriculum, it found that a substantial amount of offensive material had been removed,” said IMPACT-se, [Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education], which reviews educational materials. “Looking at the trend in our 2002, 2008 and even 2019 reports on the Saudi school curriculum, it is clear that these new 2020 textbooks represent an institutional effort to modernize the Kingdom’s school curriculum,” said Marcus Sheff, CEO of IMPACT-se. “The Saudi authorities have started a process of eradicating anti-Jewish hatred,” though the institute found thta hatred of Jews and Israel still remains. The report came as there was recent talk of a possible normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, as part of a regional shift that saw Israel agree to open relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco. Saudi Arabia has insisted that any normalization between it and Israel can only come in parallel with a lasting peace agreement involving a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But mutual concern over Iran has gradually brought Israel and the Gulf countries closer together, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had secret talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia last month, fueling rumors that a normalization agreement could be pending.

Mosaic — December 17, 2020
When the Islamic State established its own schools in Iraq and Syria, it used textbooks produced in Saudi Arabia, and over the past decades educational materials coming from the kingdom have encouraged hatred of Jews and Israel, among other ills, throughout the Muslim world. Finally, that situation may be changing, writes Kimberly Dozier [in Time Magazine] ” The kingdom’s latest batch of textbooks has for the first time removed sections calling for non-believers to be punished by death, and predicting an apocalyptic final battle in which Muslims will kill all Jews. . . . That said, the books, which are used in the public K-12 curriculum and made freely available throughout the Arab world, still characterize Jews and Christians as “enemies of Islam.” They say that infidels “do not have any good deeds” and will spend eternity in hell.” This is the second major revision of the nation’s textbooks during the Trump administration. Last year’s version dropped many of the worst racist and anti-Semitic references but was still “suffused with extremism,” [IMPACT-se CEO] Marcus Sheff, [an expert on the subject], says: “….The reforms of the 2020 textbooks include removing most references to jihad. . . . Just a decade ago, [by contrast], the curriculum centered around preparing students for jihad and martyrdom.”  IMPACT-se Report

CBN — December 17, 2020
Saudi Arabia may not have made peace with Israel and joined the Abraham Accords yet, but they are taking steps to revise their narrative for future generations. A new report shows that much of the hate and incitement that was present earlier in Saudi textbooks have been removed from this year’s curriculum as well as significant amounts of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel material and most jihad-related content. IMPACT-se, a research institute that analyzes school textbooks, released a follow-up to its January 2020 report, evaluating the new 2020-21 textbooks. “Examining the trend-line of our 2002, 2008, and even 2019 reports of the Saudi curriculum, it is clear that these new 2020 textbooks represent an institutional effort to modernize the Kingdom’s curriculum,” said Marcus Sheff, CEO of IMPACT-se. “The Saudi authorities have begun a process of rooting out anti-Jewish hate, including a notorious hadith that fueled antisemitism in the Muslim world,” Sheff said.

Other outlets based on CBN story include:
Harbinger’s Daily

JNS — December 14, 2020
In a ground-breaking move and in response to the lack of change in the Palestinian Authority school curriculum and the continued insertion of anti-Semitism, hate and incitement to violence and martyrdom in its textbooks, the Norwegian parliament endorsed a cut in aid last week to the PA. In 2018, the United Kingdom commissioned a report on Palestinian textbooks from the Germany-based Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research (GEI), which then published a report that was found to be riddled with mistakes. The European Union then decided to commission another report, due to be completed this month, again using the GEI. Marcus Sheff, CEO of the Jerusalem-based NGO Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), expressed shock that the European Union Commission dealing with this matter is appointing the GEI, which Sheff believes has essentially disqualified itself as an honest player by making so many, seemingly intentional mistakes in its research findings. Citing the most recent research by IMPACT-se, MEPs associated with the Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI) interparliamentary group also asked the E.U. executive branch in an open letter to discontinue its collaboration with GEI. According to Sheff, much of the faulty research by GEI was purposeful, and the E.U. is intentionally denying it. “Members of European parliaments have complained, but the commission continues as if it all does not matter,” he said. “The E.U. is used to batting back questions that came from its own parliament,” he said. “But when other parliaments like Westminster and the Norwegian parliament start getting involved, you would imagine they would feel this is a bigger issue.”

The Jerusalem Post — December 12, 2020
Norway’s legislature has backed cuts in aid to the Palestinian Authority amounting to some 30 million Norwegian krone, equivalent to $3.4 million. The move comes in response to the Authority’s failure to reduce incitement to violence against Jewish Israelis in its school curriculum. This is not the first time Norway has withheld money from the PA over hate education. In June, Foreign Affairs Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide announced that the government would withhold half of the year’s funding due to the PA’s education system unless it stopped using textbooks which incite hatred and violence. This decision followed a cross-party endorsement by the Storting in December 2019 to withhold funding from the PA. That decision was made following a report issued by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), which the coalition of MPs said displayed “examples of content in the school books” that were “devastating to the peace process and the development of democracy in the region.” Commenting on this week’s decision to again withhold funding, IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff said: “Last December, the Norwegian parliament voted to withhold funds to the Palestinians until the textbooks were changed. That change did not happen … Norwegian legislators from across the political spectrum are simply not satisfied with the same worn platitudes coming from Ramallah and parroted in Europe about improvements to the textbooks being imminent: It is clearly not.” he said. “And until the hate and incitement is removed from Palestinian textbooks, the EU and European nations need to take note of Norway’s leadership on the issue, and to stop being a party to the daily incitement of Palestinian schoolchildren and to the embarrassing abuse of their own taxpayers’ funds.”

i24 — December 10, 2020
Norwegian lawmakers have voted to cut the financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA) over antisemitic outbursts and incitement to violence in its educational materials. This includes both cuts in the assistance to the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian territories as such. “Norwegian taxpayers will not pay the monthly salary to terrorists,” lawmaker Himanshu Gulati, deputy chair of Friends of Israel in the Storting, said in a statement posted on the FrP website. The PA has been frequently accused of spreading antisemitic and radical views among school kids through the materials it uses in its schools. In late September, IMPACT-se reported that the Palestinian textbooks still maintained most of the controversial messages, including encouragement of jihad and martyrdom, despite PA pledges to the contrary.

Other news outlets based on the i24 story include:
YNET

EJP — December 10, 2020
In a groundbreaking move, the Norwegian parliament has approved a cut to the Palestinian aid because of the lack of change in the Palestinian curriculum and the continued insertion of antisemitism, hate and incitement to violence and martyrdom this school year. Progress Party MP Himanshu Gulati declared that “not a single krone should go to Palestinian education until this is clarified and they have stopped the hate education.” Over the last month, IMPACT-se, the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education, an organization that documents hate speech in Palestinian educational materials, briefed the major parties from left to right of the Norwegian parliament on the lack of change in the Palestinian curriculum and the continued insertion of antisemitism, hate and incitement to violence and martyrdom this school year. IMPACT-se CEO, Marcus Sheff said: ”Last December, the Norwegian parliament voted to withhold funds to the Palestinians until the textbooks were changed. That change did not happen. This year, parliament has again shown its responsibility by endorsing a cut to the PA aid budget.” He added: ‘’Until the hate and incitement is removed from Palestinian textbooks, the EU and European nations need to take note of Norway’s leadership on the issue, stop being a party to the daily incitement of Palestinian schoolchildren and to the embarrassing abuse of their own taxpayers’ funds.”  IMPACT-se Report

The Telegraph — December 16, 2020
Hardline Islamist and anti-Semitic content has been removed from Saudi Arabia’s curriculum, according to a new report, in what researchers say marks a historic shift in attitudes in the Gulf Kingdom. A study of the latest Saudi teaching materials found that official state textbooks – distributed to 30,000 schools in Saudi Arabia and abroad – no longer contained calls for non-believers and gay men to be punished by death, nor the anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that Jews control the world. Marcus Sheff, Chief Executive of IMPACT-SE, which has reviewed official textbooks since 2003, said that in previous years, lessons had been heavily influenced by Wahhabism, a puritanical form of Sunni Islam, including “very radical” content. “The latest textbooks reflect a real leap forward and an institutional effort to remove some references to hate, including anti-Semitism, jihad, and homophobia,” he said. “There is more work to be done, but these revisions are a real cause for optimism.” Note:  Telegraph has Paywall Complete Article  HERE

Time — December 15, 2020
Students in Saudi Arabia, like so many around the world, have traded in-person classrooms for logging onto an app during the COVID-19 pandemic. But they’re also experiencing other major shifts in Saudi Arabia’s official, country-wide curriculum, with new reforms stripping out lessons of hatred toward the “other”—whether Christian, Jewish, or gay—and dictats to defend the Islamic faith through violence. The Kingdom’s latest batch of textbooks has for the first time removed sections calling for non-believers to be punished by death, and predicting an apocalyptic final battle in which Muslims will kill all Jews, according to a report released Tuesday by a Jerusalem-based think tank that analyzes global curricula for extremist and intolerant views. The “trend line is cause for optimism,” says Marcus Sheff, CEO of the nonprofit Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education, or IMPACT-se. “We do see a significant change … a real institutional effort … at the highest levels to make a change to modernize the curriculum to remove offense.”

This follow-up report of Saudi 2020–21 textbooks by IMPACT-se shows that while many problematic examples have been removed from the curriculum, some still remain. The removal of the problematic content however, should certainly be seen as a significant improvement and an encouraging development, representing a step toward moderation. Our sense is that the Saudi kingdom, along with some other countries in the region, is gradually moving in a direction that could bring it in line with UNESCO-derived standards of peace and tolerance—contingent on whether the remaining issues are addressed. Report

The Jerusalem Post — October 23, 2020
Is the European Commission serious about ending Palestinian hate education? Given the recent debacle on the matter within the European Union institutions over the last few months, some parliamentarians are beginning to suspect that it isn’t, particularly. The issue has been raised in Brussels at least since January 2008 when Britain’s Taxpayers’ Alliance released its report Funding Hate Education. A follow up report in 2011 drew widespread support from across the political spectrum. President Barack Obama stated at the time: “[The Palestinians] have to deal with incitement issues.” Further reports, including two by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-SE), an Israeli NGO, and votes within the European Parliament for action placed mounting pressure on the commission to act, and so in May 2019 the EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, announced that a full-scale review of the Palestinian curriculum was to take place. In September 2019 the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research (GEI) embarked upon this review. Only, there was a problem: the researchers weren’t comparing like for like. The example of the firefighters had actually come from an Arabic-language textbook produced by the Jerusalem Municipality for use by Arab-Israeli children living in Israel, not a textbook issued by the PA. In short, the researchers were using Israeli examples of tolerance to make a case that the PA was growing more tolerant. How could such a basic error have occurred? Could it really be that difficult to hit upon the right books? “It’s spectacularly easy to get the right books,” Marcus Sheff, CEO of IMPACT-SE told The Jerusalem Post. “In this business of reviewing the core curricula, you really only have one job and that’s to get the right books.” Two weeks ago the matter came to a head in the German press when, in an interview with Der Tagesspiegel, the director of the study, Dr. Riem Spielhaus, admitted that the team had simply made a mistake. It had indeed reviewed the wrong books…

Israel Today — October 15, 2020
As Israel Today has reported in the past, Palestinian schoolbooks have been inciting Arab children to hate Israel for generations, notwithstanding the ebbs and flows of cooperation with Israel over the last 25 years. Now, a recent “optimistic” report commissioned by the European Union (EU) claims that it found no incitement against Israel in current Palestinian textbooks for schoolchildren. (The report was carried out by the German George Eckert Institute.) However, a group of over 20 Members of EU Parliament disagree. These MPs are from the three largest parties in the European Parliament from the left, center and political and come from 15 countries. They are calling, in an open letter, on the European Commission to temporarily reduce funding for the Palestinian Authority until Ramallah stops anti-Semitic incitement in textbooks. The members of parliament who signed the letter are connected with the Trans-Atlantic Institute in Brussels (TFI), of the American Jewish Committee. They cited the IMPACT-se Institute’s new Palestinian textbook study as completely disproving the EU  report and therefore called on the European Commission to end its cooperation with the George Eckert Institute.

EJP — October 12, 2020
Two German leading newspapers, Die Welt and Der Tagesspiegel, have expose a flawed European Union study of Palestinian textbooks conducted by a German institute for ignoring antisemitism and hate, labeling terror as “resistance” and presenting Israeli textbooks as Palestinian. IMPACT-se, the Jerusalem-based textbook monitoring institute, had already discovered earlier this year that antisemitism, incitement to violence and hate in the Palestinian textbooks were ignored by the Georg Eckert Institute (GEI) and that researchers had in fact been reviewing Israeli Jerusalem Municipality textbooks, presenting them as belonging to the Palestinian Authority. Criticizing the German government payments to the PA education sector that promotes antisemitism in textbooks, the two German newspapers ran with the headlines “How Germany Helps Finance Antisemitism” and “Bombs in Books,” adding to increasing international criticism of the study and raising serious concerns as to its credibility. Dr. Riem Spielhaus, who heads the study at the GEI, admitted in a recorded interview with Der Tagesspiegel that the Israeli textbooks were indeed mistakenly included in the review, which according to Die Welt, directly contradicted earlier justifications given by the EU for the inclusion of Israeli textbooks. Last week, 21 members of the European Parliament, in a letter, called on the EU “to undertake a thorough investigation and take immediate intervention” regarding the Palestinian Authority textbooks written and used by education sector employees whose salaries are funded by the EU, as the books contain “antisemitic content and imagery, hate speech and incitement to violence, martyrdom, jihad.” The letter highlighted the errors made by the Georg Eckert Institute and called for the partnership between the EU and the Institute to be terminated and for the study to be completed by an alternative institute.

Sputnik — October 11, 2020
Members of the European Parliament have called on the EU to withhold the funds the bloc gives the Palestinian Authority, following the release of a study that showed PA textbooks still harboured notions of hatred and intolerance towards Israel and the Jewish people. It was only in May that the Palestinian cabinet promised to implement changes to its curriculum for the 2020-21 school year, vowing to eradicate hatred and incitement against Israel that was present in its textbooks. Now, however, after the school year kicked off, a study by IMPACT-se, an Israeli research, policy and advocacy organisation that monitors the textbooks of the region, shows that the word given by the Palestinian Authority has not necessarily been kept. Quite the opposite was true, the study claims, stating that “the newly published textbooks were found to be more radical than those previously published.” Addressing the issue, Sadek Al Khadour, the spokesman of the PA’s education ministry, rejected Israeli claims that the Palestinian curriculum has become more radical and pointed the finger of blame at the Jewish state for trying to demonise the Palestinians. “When you teach your children that their biggest achievement in life is to become martyrs and kill as many Jews as possible, you realise that the notion of peace is as remote as ever before,” Prof. Abraham Sion, a former chair of the Centre for Law and Mass Media at Ariel University, told Sputnik in July.

EJP — October 9, 2020
Several members of the European Parliament have called on the EU “to undertake a thorough investigation and take immediate intervention” regarding Palestinian Authority (PA) textbooks written and used by education sector employees whose salaries are funded by the EU, as the books contain “antisemitic content and imagery, hate speech and incitement to violence, martyrdom, jihad.” They said “the textbooks are replete with troubling insertions of anti-Semitic content and imagery, hate speech and incitement to violence, martyrdom and jihad across all grades and subjects and … violate each of the UNESCO standards for peace, tolerance and co-existence in school education. The MEPs cited research by IMPACT-se, a Jerusalem-based watchdog which monitors peace and cultural tolerance in school education, which found that there had been virtually no positive changes made to the Palestinian curriculum, despite commitments made by the Palestinian Prime Minister and Education Minister that changes would be made. In their letter, they also asked the European Commission to discontinue its collaboration with the Georg Eckert Institute. The Germany-based institute was tasked in 2019 with analyzing the Palestinian textbooks, but a presentation of its interim report has revealed a series of grave professional errors.

YNET — October 8, 2020
Over 20 members of the European Parliament from 15 different countries have called on the continental organization to withhold funding for the Palestinian Authority until it rids its school textbooks from hate and incitement against Israel. The call came following a report published by the German-based Georg Eckert Institute that claimed it had not found any incitement against Israel in Palestinian school books. Only later was it reported that the textbooks reviewed by the institute were actually Arabic-language Israeli textbooks for schools in East Jerusalem, which were falsely presented as Palestinian schoolbooks promoting peace with the Jewish state. Another report by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) has found little improvement in the Palestinian Authority’s 2020-2021 curriculum, with some textbooks appearing more extreme than in past editions. Following the IMPACT-se report’s findings, members of the cross-party Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI) interparliamentary group wrote an open letter addressed to EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, and Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi, urging the commission to cut ties with the Georg Eckert Institute and to … withhold funding for Palestinian education, pointing out that the salaries of PA education sector civil servants are funded by the EU.

The Jerusalem Post — October 8, 2020
More than 20 Members of the European Parliament, hailing from 15 nations, have called upon the European Union commission to partially withhold funding to the Palestinian Authority until it purges antisemitic and inciting content from its school textbooks. The call came in an open letter from members of the cross-party Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI) interparliamentary group, addressed to the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and Neighborhood Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi. “We are… gravely alarmed by reports that the Germany-based Georg Eckert Institute, tasked with assessing the Palestinian textbooks, produced the results of an Interim Report in presentation form that is so riddles with glaring errors that it casts serious doubt as to the credibility and usability of the entire project,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter. In fact, a recent review of the 2020-21 Palestinian Authority curriculum has shown that no improvements have been made, and in some instances the curriculum is more extremist than in past iterations. Some 82% of the books remain unchanged from last year, while 152 modifications were found within the remaining 40 books, according to an analysis of the new books by IMPACT-se. However, 88% of those adjustments either keep the problematic material intact or amplify it.

The Algemeiner — October 9, 2020
A multi-party group of more than 20 European Parliament members issued an open letter on Wednesday to top EU officials demanding that the supra-national body withhold certain funds from the Palestinian Authority until it expunged racist and antisemitic incitement from its school textbooks. The letter—signed by MEPs associated with the Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI) group in the European Parliament—said in part, “Palestinian Authority textbooks are replete with troubling insertions of antisemitic content and imagery, hate speech and incitement to violence, martyrdom, and jihad across all grades and subjects.” TFI Chair MEP Lukas Mandl of Austria, commented, “It’s unacceptable that the EU is funding Palestinian textbooks which glorify terrorism and peddle antisemitism.” Marcus Sheff, CEO of the research group IMPACT-se, which examines and reports on racism and incitement in Palestinian textbooks, said, “This initiative brings together just some of the hundreds of European Parliament members who voted overwhelmingly to condemn the hate, antisemitism and incitement to violence in Palestinian textbooks.” “The final straw is the Palestinian Authority completely ignoring the stream of European officials who demanded the textbooks are changed, received assurances they would, only to be told the new curriculum is as full of hate as ever,” he asserted.

Mida (Yoram Ettinger) — October 7, 2020
According to a September 2020 report on the Palestinian School Curriculum conducted annually by IMPACT-se, the 2020–21 PA school curriculum is more inciteful, violence-oriented and martyrdom-driven than prior years. Education plays a major role in shaping the personality of individuals and society at-large, especially in non-democratic societies, such as the Palestinian Authority. While free societies foster education as a hothouse of tolerance, peaceful-coexistence and innovative ideas and technologies, rogue regimes exploit education as a hothouse of fanaticism and violent intolerance, as well as terrorism. The PA curriculum highlights antisemitism and portrays Jews as corrupt enemies of Islam, demonizes and repudiates Jewish history as forgery, and delegitimizes and dehumanizes Israel and Israeli Jews. The Palestinian curriculum has enticed almost two generations of young Palestinians to pursue the path of terrorism “in the service of Allah.” Western policy-makers, who rightly condemn and don’t tolerate hate-education in their own societies, ignore a critical prerequisite and precondition to a constructive peace process: uprooting—not merely adjusting—hate-education.

J-Wire — October 5, 2020
Documents obtained under the Official Information Act by the Israel Institute of New Zealand show that, for the first time ever, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) briefed the minister about hate and incitement to violence taught in NZ-funded UNRWA schools. However, officials maintain it is still acceptable for New Zealand taxpayers to continue funding the curriculum. The attempt to justify continued taxpayer funding of hate is deeply concerning. There is abundant evidence that the Palestinian Authority textbooks delegitimize both Israel’s existence and the very presence of Jews in the country—including the denial of the existence of Jewish holy places there—demonize both Israel and Jews, and advocate violence instead of educating peace and coexistence. According to a 2019 study by The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance for School Education (IMPACT-se), in the Palestinian Authority curriculum. An even more recent report of the 2020 curriculum shows that there have been no significant changes made and in some ways the problem has gotten worse. Palestinian children are being taught that Jews control finance, media, politics and indeed the entire world.

MENA-Watch (German) — October 4, 2020
Palestinian textbooks continue to preach hatred against Israel. An announcement by the Palestinian Cabinet in May approved a plan to change the PA’s curriculum for the coming school year. However, according to a report by IMPACT-se, no substantial changes have been made to the new Palestinian curriculum. The school books remain openly anti-Semitic and continue to encourage violence, jihad and martyrdom. Peace is still not presented as desired or even possible. In fact, IMPACT-se found 152 changes in the 40 newly revised textbooks for the first semester, but around 88 percent of them are adjustments that leave the problematic material intact or even worsen it. The textbooks promote antisemitism, reject peace, promote martyrdom and jihad, insert violence into examples of scientific and mathematical exercises, glorify terror, spread dangerous slander, erase Israel from the map, dehumanize and demonize Israelis, delegitimize Jewish self-determination and history and do not address tolerance and coexistence.

JNS — September 30, 2020
IMPACT-se, a research and policy institute that analyzes schoolbooks and curricula through UNESCO-derived standards of peace and tolerance, has released an updated report on the new Palestinian school curriculum taught in PA and UNRWA schools in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem for the 2020-21 academic year. The problem, according to the organization, is that these textbooks incite to terrorism and violence. A Palestinian student in fourth grade opens his math book and is asked to count the number of martyrs in Palestinian uprisings based on an accompanying photograph of raised coffins at a mass funeral. A reading exercise with the letter “h” for first-graders includes the word shahid (“martyr”), placed in a list of other words that include hujum (“attack”) and harab (“run away”) says IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff: “it is disastrous that over 1 million Palestinian children are condemned to yet another year of sitting in PA and UNRWA schoolrooms being fed hate and incitement on a daily basis.”

Other news outlets based on JNS story include:
Cleveland Jewish News
J-Wire

Legal Insurrection — September 26, 2020
The Palestinian Authority’s new school curriculum infuses antisemitism in young minds and glorifies jihad terrorism, reveals a recently released report by IMPACT-se, an NGO that monitors school textbooks around the world. The report, which analyzed 222 textbooks for the 2020-21 academic year, found that they “remain openly antisemitic and continue to encourage violence, jihad and martyrdom.” Contrasting both Israeli and Palestinian curricula based on an IMPACT-se study, David Gerstman noted in June 2020 that “Israeli texts promote the idea of coexistence with the Palestinians, which is diametrically opposed to Palestinian textbooks’ denial of Israel’s right to exist and the promotion of terror and violence. These are not entirely new insights. Western and European governments who shell out millions of dollars in taxpayers’ money are well aware of them. The EU Parliament passed a resolution in May 2020 raising concern that “problematic material in Palestinian school textbooks has still not been removed and is concerned about the continued failure to act effectively against hate speech and violence in school textbooks.” A significant part of teachers’ salaries and educational budget are financed by the European Union countries.

Newsweek — September 25, 2020
On September 14th, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Qatari counterpart signed an accord on cultural exchanges to advance what the State Department lauded as the countries’ “shared ideals of tolerance and diversity.” The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) has issued the most extensive study ever on Qatar’s official school curriculum with regard to topics of peace and tolerance, and the results are sobering. Its findings indicate that Qatar’s textbooks are on par with those issued by Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority as the worst in the region, and perhaps the world, with regard to government-published antisemitism and other forms of hate. The results of IMPACT-se’s new study are especially striking when viewed according to the rubric of the Anti-Defamation League’s new toolkit for assessing antisemitic tropes: Antisemitism Uncovered: A Guide to Old Myths in a New Era. The Qatari textbooks investigated by IMPACT-se propagate nearly all of the antisemitic tropes identified by ADL’s guide: power, disloyalty, greed, deicide, blood libel, Holocaust denial and anti-Jewish slanders that are framed as critiques of Zionism or Israeli policy.

Jewish Journal — September 25, 2020
A new report from The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) highlighted anti-Semitism permeating Qatari textbooks. Additionally, the 2019 Qatari curriculum calls Israel “Palestine” and urges Muslims to “liberate Palestine.” The report also didn’t find any mentions of the Holocaust in the more than 200 Qatari textbooks that it reviewed. IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff and Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Washington Director for International Affairs David Andrew Weinberg wrote in a Sept. 25 op-ed for Newsweek that the report shows that Qatari textbooks “propagate nearly all of the anti-Semitic tropes identified by ADL’s guide: power, disloyalty, greed, deicide, blood libel, Holocaust denial and anti-Jewish slanders that are framed as critiques of Zionism or Israeli policy.”

i24 — September 23, 2020
The Qatari school curriculum has moved towards modernization, says an interim report published by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-SE), yet remains anti-Zionist, anti-Western and anti-Semitic. The report, published in August, details a study of Qatari textbooks and is titled “Understanding Qatari Ambition—The Curriculum 2016–2020.” IMPACT-se, an NGO monitoring school textbooks around the world, lauded apparent efforts to moderniz the curriculum in line with international guidelines, but questioned whether these efforts were genuine in indicating progress. Muslim Brotherhood teachings have long been a cornerstone of Qatar’s educational system, IMPACT-SE said, and the apparent shift may be an attempt to appease international critics. The report said the ruling Al Thani family is trying to foster good ties with international powers like the U.S., UK and China. “Israel is demonized,” the report said. “Textbooks teach Jews control and manipulate world powers and markets.” Britain is praised for its role in the Middle East in recent editions, although Christians are still considered “kafirun,” or infidels “expected to go to hell.” IMPACT-se’s methodology is based on UNESCO and UN declarations, recommendations and documents on education for peace and tolerance.

The Jerusalem Post — September 22, 2020
The Palestinian Authority’s newly released educational curriculum shows no substantive changes for the better, despite assurances earlier this year that egregious examples of antisemitism and hate education would be eliminated. An analysis by the new curriculum by IMPACT-se, a research and policy institute that analyzes schoolbooks and curricula through UNESCO-derived standards on peace and tolerance, has found that educational textbooks for use in Palestinian schools throughout the West Bank remain openly antisemitic, encourage violence, and promote jihad and martyrdom. “It is disastrous that 1.3 million Palestinian children are condemned to yet another year of sitting in PA and UNRWA schoolrooms to be fed hate and incitement on a daily basis,” Marcus Sheff, CEO of IMPACT-se said. The NGO recently released a report on moral education within the United Arab Emirates which found that that curriculum does meet UNESCO-derived standards, demonstrating that peaceful coexistence between Jews and Arabs in the Middle East is possible. “There is positive change as textbooks in the region are being improved,” Sheff said.

Jewish News (UK) — September 22, 2020
This month, Palestinian children and young people will begin a new school year in which they will be taught from a curriculum which incites violence, extols the virtues of martyrdom and glorifies terrorists. This isn’t a new development: the Palestinian Authority introduced a new curriculum in its schools three years ago in September 2017. Through the Department for International Development, UK taxpayers’ aid funds the salaries of some 33,000 teachers and civil servants in the PA Education Ministry.  The agreement between the UK and the PA which governs aid clearly states that Ramallah must take action against “incitement to violence, including addressing allegations of incitement in the educational curriculum.” From reports of the PA curriculum over a period of four years, the NGO IMPACT-se found that the new curriculum “exerts pressure over young Palestinians to acts of violence in a more extensive and sophisticated manner”; has expanded its focus from the “demonization of Israel to providing a rationale for war”; and is “more radical than ever, purposefully and strategically encouraging Palestinian children to sacrifice themselves to martyrdom.” Reports commissioned and paid for by the UK and then the EU were to be carried out by the Georg Eckert Institute have raised serious concerns by IMPACT-se as to the professionalism and accuracy of the process, while ministers are still writing the checks the PA needs to inflict this dangerous and divisive curriculum on Palestinian children and young people.

The Yeshiva World — September 18, 2020
Textbooks for Emirati students in grades 1-12 already include lessons about the peace treaty between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, media news outlets reported this week. The textbooks praise the Abraham Accords, stating that “the historic agreement stems from the values of our true Islamic religion” and notes the importance of global peace initiatives. “It is remarkable that a textbook that teaches about the UAE-Israel treaty was on the desks of schoolchildren in the Emirates just two weeks after the announcement of the agreement,” said Marcus Sheff, CEO of IMPACT-se, a research and policy institute that analyzes schoolbooks and curricula within the prism of UNESCO-defined standards on peace and tolerance. “The treaty is not just presented as a fact in the textbook,” Sheff elaborated. “Students are presented with the religious, ethical and national reasons to support the agreement and employ critical thinking in completing an exercise about the importance of peace-making. An earlier IMPACT-se report on the UAE’s “Moral Education” curriculum, incorporated into the Emirati school system in 2016, was found to be groundbreaking in the region for its modern worldview and its emphasis on diversity, inclusivity and global peace.

Times of Israel — September 15, 2020
An Israeli non-profit that analyzes curricula in the Arab world is praising the United Arab Emirates for including a section backing an agreement to normalize ties with Israel in a sixth-grade textbook. “It is remarkable that a textbook that teaches about the UAE-Israel treaty was on the desks of schoolchildren in the Emirates just two weeks after the announcement of the agreement,” IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff says in a statement. “The treaty is not just presented as a fact in the textbook. Students are presented with the religious, ethical and national reasons to support the agreement and employ critical thinking in completing an exercise about the importance of peace-making.” Last week, IMPACT-se published an analysis of the UAE “Moral Education curriculum,” which is taught from grades 1-12. It showed that the young generation of Emiratis are being raised to embrace the values of tolerance and religious pluralism. “Clearly, the citizens of a country that teaches peace-making, conflict resolution and the acceptance of the Other at school, will be more likely to embrace peace treaties signed by their leaders,” Sheff says.

The Jerusalem Post –September 15, 2020
The United Arab Emirates has already begun including mention of the recent agreement between the UAE and Israel in the 2020 Islamic Studies curriculum and textbooks, according to an IMPACT-se report. The textbook, part of the Moral Education curriculum for grades 1-12 introduced into the UAE in 2016, commends the Abraham Accords and teaches the importance of peace initiatives in real world settings. It also adds that the UAE is fully supportive of future efforts of reconciliation between the IsraeliS and Palestinians. “It is remarkable that a textbook that teaches about the UAE-Israel treaty was on the desks of schoolchildren in the Emirates just two weeks after the announcement of the agreement,” said IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff. “The treaty is not just presented as a fact in the textbook. Students are presented with the religious, ethical and national reasons to support the agreement and employ critical thinking in completing an exercise about the importance of peace-making,” Sheff added.

Persecution.org — September 14, 2020
A new report produced by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education studied 238 Qatari textbooks over the last four academic years. The report looks at two separate parts of the curriculum as it relates to Christians. The overall conclusion was that the curriculum does not promote religious tolerance. It noted some improvements with the Qatari curriculum in that it gives much information about Christian-Muslim interactions during the Middle Ages. There are more exercises related to cultural sharing. However, the curriculum is suspicious of missionary activities, generally defined within the spheres of education, deceptive charities, and medical treatments. It warns that such activities are meant to “destroy Islam.” The IMPACT-se report for its part warns that pan-Islamic, pan-Arab nationalism, Salafism, and the Muslim Brotherhood “dominate the religious tenor of the curriculum.”

Liputan6 (Indonesia) — September 14, 2020
According to  a report from the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), Qatari textbooks present a negative view of Christianity and Judaism. The two religions have been blamed for causing divisions among Muslims. “The (Qatar) curriculum does not meet international standards for peace and tolerance,” said IMPACT-se. Another report was done on the United Arab Emirates’ Moral Education curriculum which was praised for meeting international standards of peace and tolerance. The IMPACT-se report says students in the UAE are taught values of tolerance and respect for themselves and others.

London Jewish News — September 14, 2020
In a new report by IMPACT-se, an Israeli organization which analyzes textbooks and school curricula all over the Arab world, the UAE is shown to be streets ahead of some of its neighbors in its attitude to Israel and what its young people are being taught. In its 2020 Islamic Studies textbook, there is praise for the peace deal and an emphasis that co-operation and peace are not just fundamental Islamic values, but also “UAE national characteristics.” Students are asked to create a presentation on the importance of peace treaties and the UAE’s role in achieving peace. The new section of the textbook also states that the UAE supports efforts towards reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians. Marcus Sheff, the UK-born chief executive of IMPACT-se, said: “It is remarkable that a textbook that teaches about the UAE-Israel treaty was on the desks of schoolchildren in the Emirates just two weeks after the announcement of the agreement. The treaty is not just presented as a fact in the textbook. Students are presented with the religious, ethical and national reasons to support the agreement and employ critical thinking in completing an exercise about the importance of peace-making.”

i24 — September 14, 2020
IMPACT-se, a research and policy institute that analyzes schoolbooks and curricula within the prism of UNESCO-defined standards on peace and tolerance, has released a preliminary report evaluating the current United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Moral Education curriculum, taught in all schools, both public and private, from grades 1-12. The books state that cooperation and peace are fundamental Islamic values and UAE national characteristics and are already teaching about the normalization of ties between it and Israel, barely two weeks after the announcement of the deal. Peace is highlighted as the preeminent goal for global society in textbooks as early as the fourth grade. Students are taught that one of the UAE’s national characteristics is to place central importance on the value of peaceful conflict resolution. “It is remarkable that a textbook that teaches about the UAE-Israel treaty was on the desks of schoolchildren in the Emirates just two weeks after the announcement of the agreement,” said IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff

EJP — September 14, 2020
Just two weeks after the announcement of the agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel to normalize their relations, a textbook teaching about the peace treaty is on the desks of schoolchildren in the Emirates, reported IMPACT-se, the Jerusalem-based NGO Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education. The text praises the peace initiative with Israel, stating that cooperation and peace are fundamental Islamic values and UAE national characteristics. Uniquely for the region, UAE schools teach a “Moral Education” curriculum from grades 1-12.  Separate from religious studies, this stand-alone course incorporates values of peace and tolerance into a traditional education system. A social studies textbook mentions Judaism as belonging in the Arab region. Israel, The West Bank and Gaza are separately delineated on topological map of the Arab world. “Clearly, the citizens of a country that teaches peace-making, conflict resolution and the acceptance of the Other at school, will be more likely to embrace peace treaties signed by their leaders,” IMPACT-se noted.

The Algemeiner — September 14, 2020
A new textbook in United Arab Emirates schools endorses the soon-to-be signed peace agreement with Israel, it was reported on Monday. The IMPACT-se organization—which analyzes textbooks used in the Arab world—found that a sixth-grade Islamic studies textbook quotes Dr. Muhammad Matar Al Kaabi, head of the UAE General Authority for Islamic Affairs and Endowments, expressing support for the normalization deal. Al Kaabi stated that the accord was “historic” and “stems from the values of our true Islamic religion,” which support “building bridges of cooperation.” Among the assignments given to students is a presentation on peace treaties and the UAE’s role in them. A new addition to the textbook states that the UAE also works for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff commented, “It is remarkable that a textbook that teaches about the UAE-Israel treaty was on the desks of schoolchildren in the Emirates just two weeks after the announcement of the agreement.” “The treaty is not just presented as a fact in the textbook,” he observed. “Students are presented with the religious, ethical and national reasons to support the agreement and employ critical thinking in completing an exercise about the importance of peacemaking.”  Report on Moral Education Curiculum

Al Arabiya — September 13, 2020
The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) recently reviewed 238 Qatari textbooks from the last four academic years.  It also reviewed textbooks from the UAE’s “Moral Education” curriculum—a government initiative launched in 2016 for public and private schools in the country. The organization found glaring differences between how the two Gulf countries are teaching young people about people of different religions and backgrounds. While IMPACT-se concluded that Qatar’s “curriculum does not meet international standards of peace and tolerance,” it found UAE’s Moral Education curriculum “aligns with UNESCO standards and UN declarations.” “I would describe the Qatar curriculum as falling short of UNESCO standards in school education,” said IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff in an interview with Al Arabiya English, while the Moral Education curriculum introduces UAE students to “the values of tolerance and respect for themselves, and others, both national and global.”

Ahval (UAE) — September 13, 2020
Turkey and Iran are presented in a positive light in the texts of Qatar’s education system, while religious minorities, such as Christians and Jews, are viewed negatively, according to a new report from a non-profit education watchdog. Qatar’s government curriculum promotes intolerance of religious minorities according to a UNESCO and UN guidelines and recommendations on education for peace and tolerance, Saudi broacaster Al Arabiya cited a report by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) as saying. “Christians, along with Jews are blamed for causing divisions among Muslims,” in Qatar’s curriculum, the report, based on a study of 238 Qatari textbooks from the last four academic years, said. An alternate report on rival nation’s the UAE’s ‘Moral Education’ curriculum, “aligns with UNESCO standards and UN declarations,” by introducing students to the “values of tolerance and respect for themselves and others, said IMPACT-se

WIN — September 11, 2020
The head of an Israeli watchdog group that monitors the content of Arab education materials said Friday the education program in the United Arab Emirates that teaches tolerance of Israel and Jews might be a model for use in other countries. The Jerusalem-based Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) monitors the content of school textbooks around the world with an emphasis on the Middle East to see how they educate in relation to religion, societies, cultures, democratic values and tolerance. An IMPACT-se report released this week praises the UAE education system for its Moral Education curriculum, which is taught in all public and private schools from grades 1 to 12. “We think this particular stand-alone Moral Education curriculum, unconnected to religious studies courses could be a model for the region,” IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff told World Israel News. The report said the Moral Education course breaks ground and is unique in the region, reflecting the UAE leadership’s reform program for textbooks.

The Jerusalem Post — September 10, 2020
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has broken new ground in the region with the introduction of a Moral Education curriculum designed to teach morality to enable students to navigate the modern world successfully. Remarkably, it is the first curriculum in the region to separate moral education from religious education. The finding came in an initial report by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), a research and policy institute that analyzes schoolbooks and curricula within the prism of UNESCO-defined standards on peace and tolerance. Well-versed in the content of school textbooks throughout the region, IMPACT-se found that the Moral Education curriculum was unique in the region for its willingness to embrace an outward-looking, inclusive worldview. “The fact that this Moral Education curriculum is independent of religious education makes it unique to the Arab world, IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff said, adding: “It is a highly visible result of Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan’s stated aim to take back control of the education ministry from the Islamists who originally wrote the country’s textbooks. The material we have reviewed so far is a roadmap for young Emiratis towards moderation, respect for the”Other,” peace-making and tolerance.”

This preliminary IMPACT-se report focuses on the United Arab Emirates’ “Moral Education” curriculum, taught in all Emirates public and private schools, from grades 1-12. The research looked at the textbooks and teacher guides that make up the “Character and Morality” section of the UAE curriculum, measured against IMPACT-se’s UNESCO-derived standards of peace and tolerance. While the current research covers only this limited spectrum of the UAE curriculum, it is noteworthy that the content goes a long way to incorporate the values of peace and tolerance into a traditional education system. As such, this stand-alone course is unique in the region and may reflect UAE’s emerging leadership in the reform of textbooks. Preliminary Report

EJP — September 1, 2020
Qatari textbooks often feed classic anti-Semitic tropes proposing that Jews control the world, manipulating governments and markets powers. Even though the Qatari education system is heavily influenced by Western educators and is the source of much pride for the government, the hate renders it unfit for the modern world. “The Qataris have pumped over $1 billion into elite U.S. universities since 2011, money that would be better spend deradicalizing their curriculum at home,” said Marcus Sheff, CEO of IMPACT-se. antisemitism has remained prevalent and is a central element of the school curriculum and education in Qatar, according to a report “Understanding Qatari Ambition” released by IMPACT-se, the Jerusalem-based NGO. “For years, leaders have allowed their children to be exposed to one of the most radical jihadi curriculums in the world,” the report noted. The textbooks used in schools of the Gulf country regularly promote demeaning examples of Jews and Israel as well as calling for “jihad” and violence towards “infidels,” the report said. The IMPACT-se reported examined over 238 Qatari textbooks used between 2016–20 and compared them to international standards based on UNESCO and other U.N. declarations.

Szombat (Hungarian) — August 27, 2020
Qatari children are taught about hatred of Jews and Israel, identification with the Palestinian cause, and jihad, according to a recent report by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), which deals with the analysis of school textbooks in circulation worldwide. The interim report, entitled “Understanding Qatari Ambition” was prepared based on an examination of 238 Qatari textbooks used between 2016 and 2020 for grades 1-12. Its findings are as follows: the standard of education in Qatar does not reach the international standard; children are taught that Jews are evil and immoral, and directed world events, including World War I, to their own advantage; the purpose of Zionism is to gain Jewish world domination. Marcus Sheff, CEO of IMPACT-se, said: “Jewish hatred is central to education in Qatar. According to the textbooks, Jews manipulate the great powers, dominate the world market, are traitors and killers of prophets. … Qataris are proud of their education system, which have strong Western influences. However, the promotion of hatred is intolerable in today’s world.”

The Jerusalem Post — August 26, 2020
Qatar’s children are being taught to hate Jews and Israel, to identify with the Palestinian cause and to engage in violent jihad, a new review of the Qatari curriculum has found. The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) examined 238 textbooks published within the calendar years 2016–20, used to teach grades 1-12, for its interim report: Understanding Qatari Ambition. The report, which found that Qatari education does not meet international standards, unveiled texts teaching children that Jews are evil and immoral, that they have manipulated world events including the First World War to their advantage, and that Zionism aims at achieving Jewish global dominance. “Jew-hate remains a central element of Qatari education. Textbooks teach Jews control and manipulate world powers and markets, are treacherous and killers of prophets,” Marcus Sheff, CEO of IMPACT-se said. “Qataris are proud of their education system, which is heavily influenced by western educators. But the hate renders it unfit for the modern world. The Qataris have pumped over $1 billion into elite US universities since 2011. They might want to put some of that money into deradicalizing their own curriculum.”

IMPACT-se’s interim review of 238 textbooks of the Qatari curriculum for the calendar years 2016-20, used international standards based on UNESCO and UN declarations and other recommendations and documents on education for peace and tolerance. The curriculum appears to be in in a change-mode, moving in a direction from jihadi radicalism toward open engagement with the world. While somewhat less radical than previous versions, the process of moderation is in its infancy. Some particularly offensive material has been removed after decades of radical propaganda in Qatari schools, but while heavily influenced by Western educators, serious issues remain regarding peace and tolerance.   Interim Report   Exec Sum   Centrality of Antisemitism in the Qatari Curriculum   Problematic Content in the Qatari Curriculum_Selected Examples

JForum.fr (French) — August 26, 2020
In April 2018, the UK commissioned a report on Palestinian textbooks from the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research (GEI), based in Germany. But its “initial report,” introduced before an eventual full report, turned out to be riddled with inaccuracies and translation errors. The European Union then joined the process, but has now decided to issue its own “interim report,” now classified, and a final report, again using GEI. Marcus Sheff, CEO of the Jerusalem-based NGO, IMPACT-se, obtained a presentation of GEI’s classified interim report, calling it “bizarre.” He said that “the report was an accumulation of errors from start to finish. Researchers examined the bad textbooks, taking textbooks made for Israel’s Arab schools in Jerusalem, sincerely praising them and presenting them as coming from the Palestinian Authority’s curriculum,” he said. Sheff further said that the GEI report “contains embarrassing translation errors from basic Arabic, a lack of familiarity with Palestinian culture and, oddly, the quotes from the textbooks are non-existent. “It is not a particularly complex project to carry out. It’s hard to understand how it turned out so badly,” he said. What is clear is that something is wrong with the EU and Sheff is trying to find out why.

Times of Israel — August 21, 2020
A post-Brexit row, described as “a comedy of errors,” has broken out between the European Union and Britain over a review of Palestinian school textbooks that was commissioned before Britain left the EU on January 31, 2020. Israel-based education watchdog IMPACT-se states that preliminary reviews of the textbooks, carried out by the German Georg Eckert Institute, contained numerous errors. First among them: IMPACT-se claims that the institute was actually looking at the wrong textbooks. According to IMPACT-se, the institute examined books used in Israel’s Jerusalem municipality Arab schools, and not those used in the Palestinian territories. After IMPACT-se analyzed the preliminary German research, which it obtained through a Freedom of Information request, the nonprofit concluded it was “plagued by poor comprehension of Arabic, missing terminology and factual inaccuracies.” According to three Conservative British parliamentarians who have voiced their concern to Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, an IMPACT-se breakdown of the material in the as-yet unpublished interim report says there are “troubling examples of incitement to violence and antisemitism [which] appear to have inexplicably been entirely overlooked.” “If accurate, IMPACT-se’s allegations seriously undermine the credibility of the textbook review and call into question its utility as a means to deal with the issue of incitement to violence in the PA curriculum,” added Labour Friend of Israel Vice Chairman, MP John Spellar.

EJP — August 20, 2020
A preliminary report of the EU-funded Palestinian textbook study has proven to be riddled with errors, casting serious doubt over the validity of its findings, said Jerusalem-based NGO Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se). The report, which contains factual inaccuracies, shows the institute’s poor Arabic comprehension, unfamiliarity with Palestinian culture, and contains factual inaccuracies, the institute told European Jewish Press. A presentation of the Interim report that came to light revealed that the study covers Arabic textbooks produced by the Israeli Jerusalem Municipality and used in East Jerusalem schools, mistaking them for Palestinian Authority textbooks and praising them for showing improvements stating that they “promote peace or show tolerance towards Israeli individuals.” “These mistakes are deeply troubling and expose the reviewing institute’s incompetency in being able to carry through this review,” said IMPACT-se. “Despite the well-publicized errors, the EU is still refusing to publish interim findings.”

JNS — August 19, 2020
In April 2018, the United Kingdom commissioned a report on Palestinian textbooks from the Germany-based Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research (GEI), following subsequent parliamentary demands for a review into how taxpayer money has been spent on incitement in the P.A. and the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). GEI subsequently published what was called the Inception Report, which lays out the introduction to an eventual full report, but has been found to be riddled with mistakes and mistranslations. The European Union then joined in the process, but has now decided to issue its own Interim Report, which is now classified, and a Final Report, again using the GEI. Marcus Sheff, CEO of the Jerusalem-based NGO IMPACT-se, obtained a GEI presentation of the classified Interim Report, calling it “bizarre.” “Both the EU and U.K. initiated the reviews following research by IMPACT-se which showed Palestinian textbooks contain an overwhelming amount of incitement to violence, terror, martyrdom, jihad and anti-Semitism. The review has been a comedy of errors from start to finish. The researchers have reviewed the wrong textbooks, taking textbooks for Israel’s Arab schools in Jerusalem, earnestly praising them and presenting them as coming from the Palestinian Authority’s curriculum. This is really regrettable, the European Union and the U.K. had the opportunity to add to our collective understanding of these extreme textbooks and to fulfill their duty of care to Palestinian students,” said Sheff.

Other news outlets based on JNS story include:
Cleveland Jewish News

Jewish News — August 14, 2020
Lawyers this week poured scorn on an EU-commissioned review of incitement in Palestinian textbooks amid accusations that researchers looked at the wrong books. Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) and UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI ) said the review, conducted by the Georg Eckert Institute, appeared to have considered textbooks used by Arab children in Israel, not those under the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. An interim report was obtained by an Israel-based pressure group, IMPACT-se, which said it “has detailed serious flaws” with the review. Marcus Sheff of IMPACT-se said the review had been “a comedy of errors from start to finish,” with “the researchers having reviewed the wrong textbooks”. LFI chair Steve McCabe MP said: “The British government was first alerted to the problem of incitement to violence in the PA’s new curriculum by LFI nearly three years ago. It first denied the existence of this problem, then pursued a series of delaying tactics. We now find it has spent UK taxpayers’ money on a review which appears deeply flawed and which we may never have the chance to see.”

ZF — August 14, 2020
In April 2019, the Institute for Monitoring of Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) issued a comprehensive report of their assessment of textbooks from the Palestinian school curriculum being taught in Judea and Samaria / the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and UNRWA schools for the 2019–20 academic year. Despite expectations that the new curriculum would be more moderate compared with previous curricula taught between 2000 and 2016, the main findings of IMPACT-se’s analysis showed the new Palestinian curriculum to be more radical than those previously published, with a marked deterioration in content meeting UNESCO standards. The Georg Eckert Institute (GEI) was appointed to carry out the review with a scheduled start date for spring 2019, with results to be made available by September 2019. An Inception Report outlining the methodology of the study was issued on April 12, 2019 but was, however, only made public on  June 18, 2020 following an FOI request! In short, IMPACT-se describes the EU-commissioned GEI report as “a comedy of errors from start to finish,” adding that “It is hard to fathom how it went so wrong” given that the review was “not a particularly complex project.”

The Jewish Chronicle — August 13, 2020
Conservative Friends of Israel has called on the government to publish a joint European Union/UK review into the Palestinian Authority curriculum. It follows doubts over the reliability of the study commissioned in April 2019 to investigate claims that Palestinian Authority textbooks were inciting hatred and violence in contravention to UNESCO standards on peace and tolerance in education. It was claimed this week that the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research wrongly included Israeli Arabic textbooks categorizing them as Palestinian Authority textbooks. The commission followed a report by the Jerusalem-based NGO IMPACT-se, which reviewed a selection of Palestinian materials and found that they were even more radical than previous editions. In a letter to Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, CFI Parliamentary Chairmen Stephen Crabb MP and Lord Pickles and CFI Honorary President Lord Polak CBE expressed “serious concerns” over the as yet unpublished report. According to IMPACT-se, the document has revealed numerous issues with the report, including methodological irregularities, translation errors and Israeli textbooks in Arabic being investigated in place of PA textbooks. IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff said. “The European Union and the UK had the opportunity to add to our collective understanding of these extreme textbooks and to fulfill their duty of care to Palestinian students. Instead, the review has been a comedy of errors from start to finish.”

The Jerusalem Post — August 12, 2020
An investigation commissioned by the UK and the EU into Palestinian education has been slammed as a “comedy of errors” and criticized by a British lawmaker as “unsatisfactory.” A presentation on the interim report appears to have revealed a myriad of mistakes and issues with the way the investigation is being conducted. Oddly, the institute also appears to have used Israeli textbooks in place of Palestinian books in some instances, leading to a false picture of radicalism within the Palestinian curriculum. In April 2019, a study was commissioned to investigate claims that Palestinian Authority textbooks were inciting hatred and violence in contravention to UNESCO standards on peace and tolerance in education. The commission followed a report at the time by the Jerusalem-based NGO Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), which reviewed a selection of Palestinian educational materials and found that they were even more radical than those previously published. Taken as a whole, the presentation is “really regrettable,” IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff said. “The European Union and the UK had the opportunity to add to our collective understanding of these extreme textbooks and to fulfill their duty of care to Palestinian students. Instead, the review has been a comedy of errors from start to finish.”

Follow-up JP Article:
UK MPs Demand Answers on Botched Inquiry Into Palestinian Education (Aug 13,2020)

i24 News — August 12, 2020
A presentation of a classified EU report “praising” Palestinian textbooks for their “careful consideration” of the Arab-Israeli conflict revealed on Tuesday that EU researchers had erroneously attributed them to being part of the Palestinian Authority curriculum. According to a report released by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), the source is actually from Israel’s Jerusalem Municipality Arabic textbooks and edited by Israeli educators. IMPACT-se describes the report conducted by EU researches as “a comedy of errors from start to finish,” adding that “It is hard to fathom how it went so wrong” given that the review was “not a particularly complex project.”

Israel Hayom — August 12, 2020
A European Union-sponsored study to examine whether textbooks used by schools in the Palestinian Authority incite against Israel, actually examined textbooks in Arabic used in the Israeli school system. The study was ordered by former EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini following criticism from EU lawmakers and non-governmental organizations that the EU was essentially funding incitement against Israel rather than educating toward peace. The study said that PA textbooks not only do not incite against the Jewish state, but actually promote coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis. With that, IMPACT-se, an international research and policy institute that analyzes school textbooks throughout the world and has a proven track record of examining PA textbooks, suspected from the outset that the EU study was unprofessional and intended to whitewash the facts.

Other news outlets based on Israel Hayom story include:
European Jewish News

WIN — August 12, 2020
The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) has pointed out severe flaws in a European Union report by the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research on Palestinian Authority (PA) textbooks. IMPACT-se said that the report, which took two years and nearly $260,000 to complete, is “plagued by poor comprehension of Arabic, missing terminology, and factual inaccuracies.” The purpose of the EU study was to investigate incitement against Israel in the PA school curriculum. While the report was intended to increase understanding of the PA education system, IMPACT-se claimed that it was instead “a comedy of errors from start to finish.” The report praised Palestinian textbooks for their “careful consideration” of the Arab-Israeli conflict. owever, IMPACT-se says that the researchers had actually examined Arabic textbooks from Jerusalem, which had already been edited by Israel’s Education Ministry, and erroneously attributed them to being part of the PA curriculum. The group said, “This is not a particularly complex project. It is hard to fathom how it went so wrong.

The Jerusalem Post (via JTA) — June 4, 2020
Norway said Thursday that it will withhold half of the year’s funding to the Palestinian Authority’s education system until it stops using textbooks that promote hate and violence. Foreign Affairs Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide made the announcement in response to a parliamentary question on the issue. The European Union commissioned a report by the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research following a report by the NGO IMPACT-se that found incitement to hatred, violence and martyrdom in PA textbooks. said IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff: “In carrying out the declaration of the Norwegian parliament to cut Norwegian aid to Palestinian education until the hate is removed from textbooks, the minister has taken a principled stand, championing the teaching of respect for the Other, tolerance and peacemaking as the way to resolve

JTA — June 4, 2020
Norwegian Foreign Affairs Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide said Thursday that it will withhold half of the year’s funding to the Palestinian Authority’s education system until it stops using textbooks that promote hate and violence. She said Norwegian aid to the Palestinian education sector does not go for textbooks or other educational material, and is part of a larger program that includes donors from several countries. In 2019, the program included the construction of 220 new classrooms and 63 new public schools. The European Union commissioned a report by the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research following a report by the NGO IMPACT-se that found incitement to hatred, violence and martyrdom in P.A. textbooks. In May, the European Parliament passed resolutions that condemn the Palestinian Authority for continuing to teach hate and oppose EU aid to the Palestinian Authority being used for this purpose.

Other news outlets based on JTA story include:
Cleveland Jewish News
Jewish Journal
The Times of Israel
Jewish News
i24 News (French)

EJP — June 4, 2020
Norway’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Ine Eriksen Søreide, has announced that more than half of this year’s planned funding to the Palestinian Authority’s education sector had been withheld until tangible improvements are made to the PA curriculum. The cross-party parliamentary decision cited a “credible” report by IMPACT-se, showing systematic insertions of violence, martyrdom and jihad across all grades and subjects in the Palestinian textbooks. IMPACT-se is a Jerusalem-based watchdog which monitors peace and cultural tolerance in school education. The parliament called the PA curriculum “devastating to the peace process.” IMPACT-se and the Norwegian pro-Israel group MIFF presented [IMPACT’s findings] to the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee members and the media, triggering the parliamentary declaration.

The Algemeiner — June 4, 2020
Norway’s foreign minister on Thursday announced that funds earmarked for the Palestinian Authority’s education sector would be withheld until changes were made to schoolbooks that promoted anti-Semitism and terrorist violence against Israelis. The decision followed a vote last December in the Norwegian parliament to demand such changes after the publication of a report by IMPACT-se—an NGO that analyzes school textbooks around the world for signs of intolerance—that demonstrated systematic insertions of violence, martyrdom and jihad across all grades and subjects in the textbooks used by the PA. A statement from IMPACT-se praised Søreide for her “unprecedented decision.”

The Jerusalem Post (Marcus Sheff) — May 25, 2020
On Monday, the Palestinian Cabinet approved plans to make changes to their educational curriculum. The PA has for years aggressively resisted all attempts at change, obfuscating about the contents of the textbooks to the governments that fund it. Having debated the Minister of Education at a hearing at the European Parliament, we have first-hand experience of this tactic. But that game is now up. Governments and legislators know exactly what the content is in the textbooks and they will no longer suffer it. We do not see, nor have we seen in the past, any evidence from the PA, on its official and semi-official outlets, or through discussions with interlocutors, that it is ready to give up on the strategy of radicalizing over a million children every single school day and then using these children as tools in a violent struggle. We will check if Israel is characterized as a peace partner, whether Jews are represented decently and whether Jewish history in the Land of Israel is denied. We will be checking every line of every book come September.

Israel Today — May 25, 2020
The Palestinian Authority Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, approved a comprehensive plan for making changes to Palestinian textbooks for the coming school year. The announcement comes less than a week after the decision made by a majority vote of 60% in the European Union Parliament to denounce the Palestinian Authority for its continued failure to remove content from its textbooks that promote incitement and violence. IMPACT-se  played a central role in the initiative and provided the for the European lawmakers who submitted the proposal to denounce the PA. Said IMPACT-se COO Arik Agassi: “Currently, it appears that the Palestinian Authority is under increasing pressure to provide textbooks that promote tolerance and peace to 1.3 million students. We are all hopeful that the pressure will prove successful at lowering the level of hatred among the next Palestinian generation.”

The Jerusalem Post — May 21, 2020
The Palestinian Cabinet approved plans to make changes to the educational curriculum in Palestinian schools on Monday, following pressure from the European Parliament and national governments in Europe. According to an Arabic-language briefing on the meeting on the council’s website, the council stressed that any development of the curriculum would be an independent Palestinian national decision, taken only to provide the best education for Palestinian students within an overall strategy to improve the education system. Marcus Sheff, CEO of IMPACT-se, a research and advocacy organization which monitors and analyzes education to prevent the radicalization of young people, said: “This is clearly a reaction by the Palestinian prime minister and government to the legislation passed by the European Parliament on Thursday.” The legislation was driven by IMPACT-se report on Palestinian textbooks. “The question remains as to whether we will see the change in the textbooks that the donor countries are demanding and Palestinian schoolchildren need, or whether it is a further tactic to appease European donor states and play for time,” Sheff said.

i24 — May 20, 2020
The Palestinian Authority (PA) cabinet, under pressure from the European Union and national European governments, has agreed to amend the educational curriculum in Palestinian schools. The PA’s decision comes less than a week after the European Parliament passed a resolution criticizing “problematic materials” in Palestinian textbooks. Israeli-based NGO IMPACT-se (The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education) has been highly critical of the content in Palestinian textbooks. Its CEO Marcus Sheff welcomed the news, but sounded words of caution whether the move represented “a further tactic to appease European donor states and play for time.” The Palestinian curriculum has frequently been criticized for rabid antisemitism, glorifying martyrdom, erasing mention of peace agreements and wiping Israel off the map.

YNET — May 20, 2020
The Palestinian Authority (PA) cabinet has agreed to amend the educational curriculum in Palestinian schools on Monday, following pressure from the European Union and national European governments. An Arabic-language briefing on the council’s website about the meeting stressed that any developments of the curricula would be an “independent Palestinian national decision.” The PA’s decision comes less than a week after the European Parliament passed a resolution criticizing “problematic materials” in Palestinian textbooks. The resolution followed an investigation and campaign by Israeli-based NGO IMPACT-se (Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education), which has been highly critical of the content in Palestinian textbooks. CEO Marcus Sheff welcomed the Palestinian decision but warned that it may just as well be a facade to distract donor states.

EU Reporter — May 18, 2020
The European Parliament passed three resolutions which condemn the Palestinian Authority (PA) for continuing to teach hate and violence in its school textbooks and which oppose European Union aid to the PA being used for this purpose. German MEP Niclas Herbst of the European People’s Party stressed that “EU funds should be spent on peace and mutual understanding. Paying teachers to teach anti-Semitism and incitement to violence through Palestinian schoolbooks should never be subsidized by EU-money. The result of votes today is a strong signal on this regard.” Marcus Sheff, CEO of IMPACT-se noted that EU officials told the group that its [pending] report on Palestinian curriculum will be classified. “There now must be a moment of truth for the European Union. Will it continue to ignore the parliament that oversees its spending? Will the commission now publicly release the freshly- minted report on the Palestinian Authority’s textbooks? Governments, legislators and over a million Palestinian children know what’s in the textbooks. Classifying the report is senseless and frankly, seems highly suspicious,” he said.  IMPACT-se Report

JTA — May 18, 2020
The European Parliament passed three resolutions that condemn the Palestinian Authority for using school textbooks that promote hate and violence. One of the resolutions calls on the European Commission to make sure that “no Union funds are used to finance textbooks and educational material which incite religious radicalization, intolerance, ethnic violence and martyrdom among children.” The NGO Impact-se worked with legislators in the parliament to draft the resolutions. “This parliament, which oversees the spending of the European Commission, is clearly exasperated by the continued payment of massive grants to the Palestinian educational sector, which is then promptly turned into one of the most hate-filled, violent and extreme curricula worldwide,” Impact-se CEO Marcus Sheff said.

Other news outlets with JTA story include:
Cleveland Jewish News
Jewish News (UK)

The Times of Israel — May 15, 2020
The European Parliament on Thursday passed a resolution condemning the Palestinian Authority for continuing to include hate speech and violent material in school textbooks. The resolution said the European Parliament, the legislative branch of the European Union, “is concerned that problematic material in Palestinian school textbooks has still not been removed and is concerned about the continued failure to act effectively against hate speech and violence in school textbooks.” The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), an Israeli watchdog that analyzes Palestinian textbooks, said the European Parliament “is clearly exasperated by the continued payment of massive grants to the Palestinian educational sector, which is then promptly turned into one of the most hate-filled, violent and extreme curricula worldwide.”

Jewish Journal — May 15, 2020
The European Parliament, which is the legislative branch of the European Union (EU), passed a resolution on May 14 denouncing the anti-Semitic incitement permeating Palestinian textbooks. “We applaud the European Parliament for calling out hate in Palestinian Authority textbooks, exposed by IMPACT-se’s research,” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted. CEO of IMPACT-se Marcus Sheff told the Jewish Chronicle after the passage of the European Parliament’s resolution, “We are proud to have worked with members to pass these resolutions. There now must be a moment of truth for the European Union. Will it continue to ignore the parliament that oversees its spending? Will the [European] Commission now publicly release the freshly minted report on the Palestinian Authority’s textbooks?” In September, IMPACT-se issued a report stating that Palestinian curricula in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has gotten worse since 2000.

The Jewish Link — May 15, 2020
The European Parliament passed resolutions Thursday condemning the Palestinian Authority for continuing to teach hate and for using European Union aid to fund Palestinian textbooks that feature incitement against Israel. The resolutions came after ongoing briefings of European legislators by the watchdog group IMPACT-se, which documented in detail the PA’s refusal to change textbooks that teach hate speech and violence in opposition to European standards. IMPACT-se director Marcus Sheff said the aim is to prevent the abuse of EU aid used to pay the salaries of Palestinian teachers who teach hate and incitement. The parliamentary resolutions called on the European Commission to ensure that hundreds of millions of Euros in annual EU funding to the PA will only used to promote peace and tolerance in Palestinian schools.

Israel Hayom — May 14, 2020
The European Union issued on Thursday a strong condemnation of the Palestinian incitement against Israel in school textbooks. The European Parliament, which is generally pro-Palestinian in its resolutions, published the results of its vote on whether to condemn the Palestinians on Thursday, with surprising figures: 402 were in favor, compared to 263 who voted against the measure, and 13 who abstained. The measure may suggest that the MEPs were affected by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) and other organizations, which have over the past several years taken pains to show just how common spread the anti-Israel incitement is in Palestinian Authority schools. The MEPs also voiced concern over the use of European taxpayer’s money to fund programs in Palestinian schools because of its potential misuse to promote terrorism.  Hebrew Article   IMPACT-se Report

European Jewish Press — May 14, 2020
European Parliament passed three resolutions which condemn the Palestinian Authority (PA) for continuing to teach hate and violence in its school textbooks and which oppose European Union aid to the PA being used for this purpose. The legislation notes that problematic material in Palestinian school textbooks has still not been removed, points to the continued failure to act effectively against hate speech and violence in Palestinian textbooks. It calls on the European Commission to ensure that salaries of teachers and education sector civil servants financed by the European Union are used to teach curricula that reflect UNESCO standards of peace, tolerance, coexistence and non-violence. IMPACT-se, a Jerusalem-based watchdog which monitors peace and cultural tolerance in school education, initiated the resolutions and adoption of these measures, keeping the Palestinian curriculum a hot-button issue in the European Union Commission and Parliament. In respnse to that an upcoming EU-commisioned report might be classified, IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff, “There now must be a moment of truth for the European Union. … Classifying the report is senseless and frankly, seems highly suspicious,” he said.

The Jerusalem Post — May 14, 2020
The European Parliament called on the European Commission to make sure funds in future budgets do not go to any parties linked to terrorism, in its annual document reviewing past budgets set to be approved on Thursday. In addition, the discharge report calls on the European Commission to ensure that “no Union funds are used to finance textbooks and educational material which incite religious radicalization, intolerance, ethnic violence and martyrdom among children.” David Siegel of ELNET, an organization dedicated to strengthening Europe-Israel relations, called the report an “excellent result,” which lays the groundwork for coexistence. Marcus Sheff of IMPACT-se, which monitors textbooks, said the European Parliament “is clearly exasperated by the continued payment of massive grants to the Palestinian educational sector, which is then promptly turned into one of the most hate-filled, violent and extreme curricula worldwide.” IMPACT-se Report

The Jewish Chronicle — May 14, 2020
The European Parliament has passed a series of resolutions which condemn the Palestinian Authority for continuing to teach hatred in school textbooks. The resolutions, passed in Brussels on Thursday with a 60 per cent majority, also opposed European Union aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) being used to “incite religious radicalisation, intolerance, ethnic violence and martyrdom among children.” The legislation noted that problematic material in Palestinian school textbooks had still not been removed despite pledges by the PA to act. An IMPACT-se report into the Palestinian school curriculum released earlier this year noted:’’There is a systematic insertion of violence, martyrdom and jihad across all grades and subjects in a more extensive and sophisticated manner, embracing a full spectrum of extreme nationalist ideas and Islamist ideologies that extend even into the teaching of mathematics and science, including: physics, chemistry and biology.

i24 — May 14, 2020
The EU parliament passed Thursday a resolution voicing concern over “problematic material in Palestinian school textbooks.” It urges the European Commission to make sure that “no Union funds are used to finance textbooks and educational material which incite religious radicalisation, intolerance, ethnic violence and martyrdom among children.” Textbooks prepared by PA’s Education Ministry for use in Palestinian schools have been frequently criticized by Israeli NGOs and politicians over incitement to violence against Israelis and a frivolous approach to history. According to a comprehensive study by IMPACT-se, an NGO focused on education, textbooks on a number of subjects for Palestinian students encouraged acts of violence and promoted race-based hatred.

The Algemeiner — May 14, 2020
The European Parliament passed three resolutions on Thursday expressing concern that Palestinian educational materials contained hate speech and incitement to violence. The resolutions noted “the need to guarantee that no Union funds … are used to finance textbooks and educational material which incite religious radicalization, intolerance, ethnic violence, and martyrdom among children.” They also pointed out that “problematic material in Palestinian school textbooks has still not been removed,” and raised alarm “about the continued failure to act effectively against hate speech and violence in school textbooks.” Marcus Sheff — CEO of the watchdog group IMPACT-se, which examines and critiques Palestinian educational materials—said the resolutions showed that the European Parliament was “clearly exasperated by the continued payment of massive grants

Times of Israel — April 26, 2019
An Arabic-language teacher at a Palestinian school in Hebron posted a grammar lesson for students to review at home during the coronavirus pandemic that glorifies the 1978 Coastal Road Massacre that killed 38 Israeli civilians, along with a female terrorist who took part in the attack. Nasser al-Rajabi uploaded the reading comprehension and grammar lesson to YouTube on February 28, and it was twice shared on his Wasyah Al-Rasoul Elementary School for Boys Facebook page early last month. The lesson is based on a 2019 Palestinian Authority Arabic-language textbook for fifth graders, according to an Israeli watchdog that analyzes Palestinian textbooks, the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se). IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff said the Hebron teacher’s video demonstrates that “even when studying at home, Palestinian children cannot escape the hate. The violence and incitement of the official Palestinian curriculum is being neatly migrated online by official and unofficial educational initiatives and fed into their living rooms.”

Borgen Magazine — April 22, 2020
On December 18, 2019, the House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously passed the Peace and Tolerance in Palestinian Education Act, a bipartisan bill that takes issue with the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) modified curricula for Palestinian schoolchildren published in 2016–17. According to the bill, the content of the curricula does not meet internationally accepted UNESCO standards for peace and tolerance and “encourages violence, antisemitism, hate and intolerance.” The Act, which must now be considered by the full House, is based on a September 2019 report from the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se). IMPACT-se monitors textbooks throughout the Middle East and assesses whether they promote the values of peace and tolerance. According to the Jerusalem Post, the IMPACT-se study “found that all textbooks in social studies, history, Arabic and national education for grades two to 12 contained problematic content.” This includes content that incites violence, promotes hatred of “the other” and is disturbing or inappropriate in some other way.

The Algemeiner — April 21, 2020
Despite the coronavirus pandemic shutting down schools operated by the Palestinian Authority, a new report showed that educational materials containing incitement, hatred and violence are now being used extensively online. The materials were revealed by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Textbooks (IMPACT-se), and showed numerous instances of the disturbing lessons being taught to Palestinian children. One video shows a teacher using the story of Palestinian terrorist Dalal al-Mughrabi, one of the perpetrators of the 1978 Coastal Road Massacre, in which 38 Israeli civilians were killed, to teach reading comprehension to ten-year-old kids. The presentation used graphic images of violence, and the teacher at one point praises “the suicide operation that caused the deaths of many of the Occupation’s soldiers.”

The Jerusalem Post — April 20, 2020
Children in schools run by the Palestinian Authority are continuing to be indoctrinated with antisemitic hatred through educational materials, even while studying at home during the coronavirus lockdown. IMPACT-se, a research, policy and advocacy organization that monitors and analyzes education, has uncovered content inciting children to violence in a range of online materials, including YouTube videos and online lessons. Palestinian children have long been subjected to propaganda found within their school textbooks, but the creation of online educational materials prompted by the coronavirus lockdown the world over has taken on a sinister aspect in the Palestinian territories, as teachers have brought the text to life in creative and graphic ways. According to IMPACT, a textbook grammar lesson which revolved around a passage on terrorist Dalal al-Mughrabi was brought to life in a YouTube video. Screenshots of the video show an illustration of al-Mughrabi on a bus pointing a gun, while a woman lies dead in the aisle. A Palestinian flag has been planted next to her body. Text on the screen, taken from the textbook reads: “She took out of her bag the flag of Palestine, kissed it and then hung it inside the bus.”

FDD/LWJ — March 30, 2020
Following up on several recent studies of the Saudi curriculum by ADL, the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Education in School Textbooks (IMPACT-se) just completed a longer, comprehensive review of Saudi textbooks since 2016, using standards for peace and tolerance outlined by UNESCO as a benchmark. The results are eye-opening. In some respects, progress has been made. Yet, on the other hand, the latest Saudi curriculum remains plagued by intolerance. In essence, the latest Saudi curriculum seems to be something of a contradiction. On the one hand, there appears to be a real attempt to move away from jihadism. On the other, deep and destructive prejudices remain, including those that are used by extremists to justify religious violence against people demonized as the Other.  Although the kingdom has undertaken rapid reforms in several other areas—such as expanding women’s rights and curtailing the abusive religious police—the kingdom’s rulers have yet to show that they are giving similar priority to the urgent removal of incitement from government-published textbooks.

European Jewish Press — March 11, 2020
Last year, the European Union announced that it would fund a study on Palestinian school textbooks with a view to “identifying possible incitement to hatred and violence and any possible lack of compliance with UNESCO standards of peace and tolerance in education,” after the presentation by IMPACT-se of a report reviewing selected examples from the new Palestinian school curriculum for the 2018–19 academic year and concludeing that the material was”more radical than those previously published.” “We are deeply concerned about the reports of radicalization in the Palestinian education system and specifically the concerns around the Palestinian Authority’s textbooks and the incitement of hatred and violence towards Israelis,” declared Minister of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development, James Cleverly, during a debate in Westminster Hall in London. The UK is a major donor to the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Education. Last week, IMPACT-se briefed members of the House of Commons and House of Lords in preparation for the debate…

The Jerusalem Post — March 10, 2020
Palestinian Authority and UNRWA schools continue to use textbooks that radicalize children against Israel, parliamentarians in the UK, a major donor to the PA, lamented on Tuesday. Gullis cited research by IMPACT-se, a research institute analyzing textbooks, which reviewed 202 such books from the current Palestinian curriculum, finding “a systematic insertion of violence, martyrdom and jihad across all grades and subjects, where the possibility of peace with Israel is rejected.” MP Stephen Crabb questioned “why there has been so little progress” in removing incitement from textbooks, pointing out that “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, UK aid has helped to finance.”

YNET — February 22, 2020
Despite recent suggestions that relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia are warming, students in the kingdom are still being taught that Israel is the “Zionist enemy,” Jews are monkeys, and that the country is in fact plotting to expand its borders to reach from the River Nile to the River Euphrates according to a report published by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), which analyzed the contents of Saudi textbooks for the 2016-19 academic years. The study also examined how the textbooks relate to LGBT, women, Iran and Turkey, Christianity, the West and more, in what is the first comprehensive study of Saudi textbooks published in the last decade.

Daily Mail — February 21, 2020
UK foreign aid is helping fund schools in Gaza and the West Bank that use textbooks on martyrdom in lessons. The money goes via UNRWA, a UN agency that some other nations have chosen to stop financing because of concerns. The textbooks include a reading exercise for six-year-olds with the words ‘martyr’ and ‘attack’, plus poems for eight-year-olds which include phrases such as ‘sacrifice my blood’ to ‘eliminate the usurper from my country’ and ‘annihilate the remnants of the foreigners’. Much of the information has come to light based on recent reports by Israeli-based Impact-se, an organisation that monitors school textbooks. CEO Marcus Sheff said: “British taxpayers are paying for UNRWA to support the radicalization of over 300,000 children every single school day.'”
Ministers pledged urgent action last night after it emerged that British foreign aid cash is funding schools where textbooks on martyrdom and radical Islamism are used.

Jewish Journal — February 20, 2020
A British textbook was removed for sale when backlash ensued to a passage in the book asking if “the creation of Israel was a long-term cause of the 9/11 terror attacks.” The question from the book went viral after British pro-Israel activist David Collier tweeted a screenshot of the question on Feb. 19, writing: “How could it be argued that the creation of Israel was a long term cause of the 9/11 attacks? This is ‘Israel is the cause of all the wars in the [Middle East]’ conspiracy poppycock.” Marcus Sheff, the CEO of the textbook watchdog group Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), told The Jerusalem Post that the 9/11 question “is the kind of conspiratorial nonsense and delegitimization of Israel we are used to seeing in Middle East textbooks, not in British educational materials.” He added that “more care needs to be taken in reviewing teaching materials before they are published.” IMPACT-se Textbook Methodology

The Jerusalem Post — February 20, 2020
A UK history textbook currently in use by high schools in the country asks how the September 11 terrorist attacks perpetrated by al-Qaeda could be connected to the establishment of the State of Israel”“How could it be argued that the creation of Israel was a long-term cause of the 9/11 attacks?” the textbook asks in a “reflect” box amid the narrative. In addition, aspects of the page’s content were historically inaccurate. Marcus Sheff, CEO of the Impact SE education watchdog group, said Hodder Education had “dropped the ball in the most embarrassing way possible, putting Jews in the UK at risk in the process. This is the kind of conspiratorial nonsense and delegitimization of Israel we are used to seeing in Middle East textbooks, not in British educational materials,” he said. “Hate gets into textbooks because an extremist puts it there, and it can slip through without proper review. Obviously, this needs to be removed. But more fundamentally, more care needs to be taken in reviewing teaching materials before they are published,” Sheff said.  IMPACT-se  Textbook Methodology

Sputnik — February 17, 2020
Palestinian textbooks reject Israel’s right to exist and teach kids that assault on civilians were permissible, a recent study found, prompting an EU investigation into the curriculum of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas-controlled Gaza. Israel has long been blaming the Palestinian leadership for the incitement that prompts individuals to carry out terror attacks against Israel and the Jewish people. The study, by IMPACT-se, a Jerusalem-based research institute that monitors education, shows that the Palestinian schooling system bears some responsibility for the existing problem. The institute analysed 2019-2020 school textbooks, and found that all books in social studies, history, Arabic and national education for grades two to twelve contained problematic content. The study detailed numerous instances of incitement and prompted an EU probe into the Palestinian curriculum, which relies heavily on European donations.

Mosaic — February 13, 2020
Brief summary of Time magazine article citing recent [IMPACT-se] report; Saudi textbooks continue to instruct students to hate Christians, the West and Jews amid gradual changes and small efforts at reform.

The Jerusalem Post — February 12, 2020
A study of Saudi Arabia’s national school curriculum covering 2016–19 textbooks by IMPACT-se found that, similar to Palestinian textbooks, extremism and anti-Jewish hatred persists, although it also noted that certain changes hint at increasing moderation in Saudi Arabian society. While “Jews and Israelis are eternally treacherous, murdering prophets, committing irreparable evil and determined to harm Muslim holy places.” and Israel is seen as “conspiring and striving to control the Middle East,” there is also “reduced attention on early Islam-Jewish conflicts and “some of the theological arguments against Christianity have been softened or removed.” The biggest shift as it pertains to Jews and Israel, according to IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff, is that the curriculum now sharply criticizes and takes responsibility for terrorism committed by Muslims. “There is a way to go for Saudi textbooks to meet international standards of peace and tolerance,” Sheff said. “Improvements have appeared in recent years, and while they are welcome, there remains too large an amount of unacceptable and intolerant material, especially in religious textbooks for higher grades.” He said that the positive changes are largely related to the Vision 2030 plan of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, which according to the Saudi Arabian government’s website, is focused on building a vibrant society, a thriving economy and an ambitious nation. The prince “is clearly educating a young generation, including girls, [regarding] a new Saudi national identity, entrepreneurship and economic cooperation with the West,” Sheff said.

JNS — February 11, 2020
The first full review of the Saudi curriculum in more than a decade shows that while improvements have been made, extremist content still exists. For example, Jews are blamed as assassins, described as monkeys, and will be fought and killed in the day of resurrection, according to a new report by IMPACT-se, a research institute that analyzes schoolbooks and curricula in accordance with UNESCO-defined standards on peace and tolerance. “There is a way to go for Saudi textbooks to meet international standards of peace and tolerance,” said IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff in a statement. “Improvements have appeared in recent years, and while they are welcomed, there remains too large an amount of unacceptable and intolerant material, especially in religious textbooks for higher grades.” IMPACT-se has presented the report at the White House, National Security Council, State Department and Congress, as well as to top European officials.

Other news outlets with JNS story include:
Cleveland Jewish News
The Algemeiner
Israel Hayom
Heritage Florida Jewish News

Time — February 10, 2020
A recent Time Magazine article published on February 10, under the headline, “Saudi Arabia Rebuffs Trump Administration’s Requests to Stop Teaching Hate Speech in Schools,” lays out IMPACT-se’s main findings in it’s recent report on the Saudi Arabian curriculum, including the persistence of anti-Semitism in the textbooks. IMPACT-se presented the Saudi textbook report and policy recommendations at the White House, National Security Council, State Department, and Congress along with the ADL, a leader in researching Saudi textbooks and presenting policy recommendations to the U.S. Administration. IMPACT-se also presented its report to top European officials.

IMPACT-se — February 2020
This interim report on Saudi Arabia’s national curriculum covers 2016-19 textbooks, analyzed by IMPACT-se according to UNESCO-derived standards of peace and tolerance. The Saudi curriculum, at this stage, should be viewed as a reflection of the efforts being made to transform an exclusively traditionalist Islamic society into one that incorporates more Western economic values and its pre-Islamic heritage. However, while the curriculum tries to evolve with such inherent contradictory elements, the radical orthodoxy of the Wahhabis remains dominant. The narrowing of the gap between the kingdom’s modernization goals and their practical application—both within the curriculum and throughout Saudi society—is in the beginning stages of a work in progress. Interim Report  Executive Summary

The article describes the peace and conflict educational approaches found in the Jewish-Israeli curricula between the years 2000–2017, and extracts the dominant themes and messages towards Muslim, Arab and Palestinian “others.” The study follows 123 textbooks recommended by the Israeli Ministry of Education for grades 7–12 of the Jewish state and state-religious sectors for the 2000–19 academic years. The academic subjects or disciplines represented in the  study include history, geography, civics (Jewish) religious studies, and Hebrew language and literature studies. Study findings indicate that current Israeli textbooks do not contain any overt racism or incitement against Palestinians. However, ethnocentric perceptions and victim mentality are two themes that still dominate curricular discourse and are counterproductive to peace education goals. Additionally, the paucity of Palestinian narratives is another potential hurdle to achieving peace education goals.  Complete Study

World Israel News — January 5, 2020
A report by the Israeli branch of the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) has revealed for the first time the contents of Palestinian matriculation exams that prove the Palestinian Authority (PA) is still promoting incitement and hatred of Israel to its student body. It found that three quarters of the matriculation tests in language and the humanities contained questions that supported violence or erased Israel from maps of the Middle East. Twenty-six exams were reviewed altogether along with the teaching presentations from official ministry websites, and not one had content that promoted peace with Israel, non-violence or acceptance of the Other. Israel is referred to as the “Zionist Occupation,” the report said, that “will disappear as the fog over the sea.”

Israel Hayom — January 3, 2020
The Israeli branch of the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), an international research and policy institute that analyzes school textbooks throughout the world, has looked into the high school matriculation exams held in the Palestinian Authority last year, which were supposedly based on new books that are free from incitement against Jews or Israel—and found that was not the case. The IMPACT-se study exposes the truth about ‘incitement-free’ PA matriculation exams and uses international standards of acceptance of Others, set by UNESCO, to evaluate 26 PA matriculation exams. The team found that 75% of the exams in humanities and social studies subjects included radical content that promoted violence or incitement to violence and hatred of others, the same material that was taught in classrooms and on the exam prep sites operated by the Palestinian Authority Education Ministry. This is the first time that the content of the PA matriculation exams has been made publicly available. IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff said when the results of the study were announced that “Palestinian students go through 12 years of radical education …  with its messages of extremism and violent struggle.” COO Arik Agassi added, “The Palestinian matriculation exams require the study of material that incites to hatred, violence, and conflict. No Palestinian student can pass the exam without being versed in hatred of Others.”