Israel’s Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism announced the launch of an online campaign focused on incitement in the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s education system.
Videos and banners are being posted on a variety of platforms, including “significant” news websites and social media, in the United States and Europe, according to a statement announcing the campaign’s launch earlier this week.
Israeli officials have long criticised the PA for what they say is inflammatory, violent and antisemitic content in its schools’ textbooks and curriculum. Several other countries, including the United States, along with the European Parliament, have joined in the chorus, demanding changes.
“Our new campaign reveals to the world the truth about the systematic incitement that is rooted in the Palestinian education system,” Hadas Maimon, head of international campaigns at the Diaspora Ministry, wrote. “Through targeted advertising on central websites and leading digital platforms, we bring the facts to the attention of international public opinion, and show how education for hatred directly contributes to the continuation of violence.”
“Israel and Western countries share values of freedom and democracy. It is time for the world to understand what messages are being conveyed to children under the rule of the Palestinian Authority,” Maimon wrote. “The propaganda war is a daily war and is critical to the State of Israel in terms of its legitimacy in the world.”
In 2020, then MP and former teacher Jonathan Gullis told Parliament of how Palestinian children are growing up “in an environment of institutionalised radicalisation” as textbooks teach them to count "martyrs" and that "Jews control the world".
“Palestinian children are not taught what peace will even look like … Peace agreements and proposals with Israel that previously appeared in Palestinian Authority schoolbooks have been removed," said the-then MP for Stoke-on-Trent North.
“Ten-year-olds are taught that Jews are enemies of Islam and eight-year-olds learn in their textbooks that Jerusalem is a holy city only for Muslims and Christians … Make no mistake: this is antisemitism, and we must condemn it as strongly as we fight antisemitism at home”, he added
