Kids’ Textbooks in Some Muslim Polities: The Bad, the Ugly, and the Good
Some countries are starting to improve!
Last January 27 and 28 Israel was rocked by two terror attacks in Jerusalem. The first killed seven civilians; the second wounded a civilian and his son, an off-duty soldier. The second, though, was more horrific than the first in one respect: that the terrorist was all of thirteen years old.
In the course of his attack, young Muhammad Aliwat of East Jerusalem was wounded by gunfire from the already-wounded off-duty Israeli soldier and a nearby civilian. (The terrorist in the more murderous Jerusalem attack was killed by police.)
On January 31, an op-ed by Marcus Sheff in The Times of Israel noted that “the 8th-grader,” Aliwat,
has had quite an education in martyrdom, jihad, and antisemitism this school year and last. For example, he studied comprehension through a story promoting suicide bombings, in which Palestinians “cut the necks of enemy soldiers.” In Islamic education, a textbook devotes an entire chapter to teaching that martyrdom is “obligatory,” that it brings honor, glory, and promises entrance to paradise….
Jews are depicted as conspiratorial, powerful, evil, and impure, posing a threat to the sanctity of Islam. A teacher guide for the 7th grade teaches that Jews crushed children’s heads, set them on fire, and threw them into wells. Even the science classes Aliwat attended take advantage of the opportunity to teach hate. He learned Newton’s Second Law through the action of a slingshot aimed at soldiers, and biology through a violent clash with the IDF that asks about its effects on one’s bodily organs.
Sheff is the CEO of IMPACT-se, an NGO that describes itself as
a global leader in the field of textbook analysis…translat[ing] and analyz[ing] full textbooks on all school subjects within national curricula taught in Grades 1–12.... IMPACT-se presents a clear picture of how different societies educate their children in relation to religion, cultures, human rights, inclusion and the Other.
I’ve long admired IMPACT-se for its important work in monitoring Palestinian textbooks and exposing—for those open-minded enough to look at the unlovely sight, a category that unfortunately excludes many—their jihadism and antisemitism. And by studying the textbooks of other polities as well, mostly (though not only) Arab and Muslim ones, IMPACT-se produces an interesting mix of findings, ranging from the appalling to the much more encouraging.
To start at the bottom, IMPACT-se “analyzed textbooks and new ‘study cards’ produced by the Palestinian Authority (PA) for the 2021–22 school year, which are used in the curricula of the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and UNRWA [United Nations Relief and Works Agency] schools…. Contrary to the assurances made by the PA…that improvements would be made rapidly to improve the 2020–21 curriculum, IMPACT-se found that there were no revisions.”
The study cards, in particular, give a sorry picture and include “additional justifications for violence not found in textbooks.” For instance: “Students are directly incited to violence and instructed to commit jihad against Israelis and die as martyrs liberating the Al-Aqsa Mosque”; “Israel is…literally described as Satanic…and…accused of forging or destroying Palestinian antiquities to falsify historical facts”; “One of the ‘rules of jihad’ includes those who die as martyrs while killing infidels (i.e., Christians, Jews, polytheists); they will receive God’s grace and be greatly rewarded”; “The ‘Right of Return’ into Israel proper will occur though violence, using ‘all the means of warfare’ against Israel and rescuing the land from the ‘filth of the occupation,’ and not through negotiation…the ‘Return is envisioned as being ‘painted with the blood of martyrs’”; “Women may gain equality through sacrifice and martyrdom.”
The Palestinians continue to be the apple of much of the Western world’s eye and to be lavished with aid and sympathy. Although a case can be made for maintaining the West Bank–based Palestinian polity as a lesser evil than the Hamas-ruled Palestinian polity in Gaza (still the stance of most of the Israeli defense establishment), such support needs to be—and can be, since the Palestinians need the support—accompanied by heavy pressure on the Palestinians to renounce the culture of murderous hatred, which perpetuates the conflict and makes peace impossible.
Sharing the bottom rung with the Palestinians is Iran. Based on “new sets of textbooks in the Iranian curriculum created for the…2021–2022 academic year,” IMPACT-se states:
The Iranian curriculum openly teaches hate. Those that choose to not participate in a jihad war are warned of heavenly punishment…. Foreigners are depicted as irredeemable; they will never stop fighting against Iran…. Arab governments are portrayed as illegitimate…. The curriculum calls for a total war against Israel until it is completely eradicated. The existence of Israel blocks Iranian efforts to hegemonize the region. Israel’s destruction is presented both as an ideal, and as a realistic goal…. The blood of the martyrs and jihad are presented in the context of the nuclear project and the obligation to protect the achievements of the revolution…. The US is considered a Satanic enemy of God; the slogan Death to America is praised…. Nazi atrocities are often downplayed, while their achievements are praised.
It’s been a vicious regime since it took power in 1979 because it defines itself by a vicious ideology. Israel is fighting it actively, including militarily, but Israel’s efforts to persuade the US and Europe to start taking truly effective measures against this regime remain an uphill struggle.
So much for the bottom rung.
Qatar is another Islamic country with a record of promoting hatred and terror. It has been accused of supporting Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hizballah, and other terror groups—and at the very least has harbored financiers of such organizations. Qatar also sponsors the Al Jazeera network, “a purveyor of Islamist extremism, jihadism, and Salafism” as well as Holocaust denial and antisemitism.
IMPACT-se finds, however, that:
Over the last two years, Qatar’s textbooks have slowly improved with adjustments made toward moderation, including lessons on tolerance and racial discrimination. Significant progress was observed in removing antisemitic and anti-Christian content as well as examples of violent jihad. While the curriculum still disproportionately focuses on Israel, the hostile tone is lessened. Other problematic content remains, including antisemitic material, violent interpretations of jihad, hateful material against infidels and polytheists, demonization of Israel, and rejection of Arab-Israeli normalization.
Still bad, but with some improvement. That improvement may well be an effect of Qatar’s hosting the 2022 World Cup and its ambition to eventually host the Olympics. Whether it can join the circle of civilized nations is still far from proven.
Saudi Arabia is, of course, a key Middle Eastern, Arab, and Islamic country that not long was the world’s main ideological and financial fount of Sunni jihadism and terror. Over the past decade, though, Saudi Arabia has undergone a moderation process, to the point that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made it a major goal to incorporate it in the circle of Abraham Accords countries that now includes Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan.
IMPACT-se finds that Saudi Arabia’s moderation process is, to a considerable extent, reflected in the education it provides to its young people. The NGO’s 2022 annual update on Saudi textbooks reports
an overall trend of improvement following major reforms since 2020. Whereas only a decade ago, focus was put on encouraging students to prepare for jihad and martyrdom, the majority of references to violent jihad justifying and praising violence and murder on behalf of the Prophet Muhammad have now been removed from the textbooks. And while some problematic content such as negative depictions of Jews, Zionism and Christians remain or have even been made worse, others, particularly instances of the kind of antisemitism based on modern European tropes, have largely been removed.
Among the Abraham Accords countries, the United Arab Emirates (UAR) has been the most active in forging overt diplomatic, economic, and cultural ties with Israel. And according to IMPACT-se’s findings, it makes sense; the NGO’s exploration of 220 textbooks from the UAR’s national curriculum from 2016 to 2021 found that they present
lessons on peace, tolerance, and cooperation with the world and non-nationals, which are taught to be closely associated with prosperity and national identity. The language and moral education programs especially encourage cultural diversity, curiosity, and happiness. Additionally, the Abraham Accords are taught, and anti-Israeli material has been moderated. The research did not find antisemitism or incitement to violence, and UNESCO guidelines for peace and tolerance are generally met.
This has happened, it has to be emphasized, without any concurrent letup in the “Israeli-Palestinian conflict” (i.e., Palestinian terror and Israeli self-defense)—long held to be a sine qua non for any overall progress in Israel’s relations with Arab countries. But it turned out that many of those countries were far less fixated on that “conflict” than so many Western officials, analysts, and activists.
And finally, this year IMPACT-se has offered its first report on education in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country with a population of at least 270 million. IMPACT-se found that ”changes were introduced in 2016, 2017, and 2018,” and among its main findings are:
The Indonesian curriculum is committed to peace and tolerance at home and abroad…. The textbooks teach the Pancasila philosophy, which unites all Indonesians through a belief in the one and only God…. The curriculum…combats bias against minorities—particularly Indonesians of Chinese descent. Islamic education textbooks teach peace, and that killing and fighting are strictly prohibited…. The curriculum condemns jihadi terrorists [and] is free of religious hatred, and there is no anti-Christian polemic or [in Buddhist textbooks] Islamophobia. Most mentions of Jews in Islamic Education textbooks are neutral or positive, although limited stereotypical biases exist.… Chapters covering World War II ignore Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.
What can we make of all this? Islamic supremacism and jihad are important elements of Islam, and polities like the Palestinian Authority and today’s Iran draw on them liberally (among other factors) to foment hatred, terror, and war. But Muslim polities are capable of setting those elements aside in their education and conveying messages of respect for humanity at large. Even when they do, a problem with Jews—and especially their sovereignty in a tiny sliver of Middle Eastern land—remains, but at considerably lower intensity in abovementioned cases. No polity—not the Palestinian Authority or Iran—should be regarded as a lost cause, though in a case such as Iran, regime change is a prerequisite for improvement. Israel, in fighting Palestinian terror and Iranian aggression while reaching out for peace with the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and others, sets an example for other Western countries to follow.
The encouraging developments especially in the UAE and a few other countries give me great hope for the future and are something I never would have imagined a decade ago. Let's hope it's a sign of greater changes as more countries and peoples throughout the region come to see that the Jews are home and Israel is here to stay. Children everywhere deserve to be raised and educated in love and respect, not hate.