Ministry for Diaspora Affairs | October 2024

Chapter 1 Antisemitism and Indoctrination Promoting the Destruction of Israel in Textbooks and Teacher Manuals

…Why did they slaughter my childhood before my eyes and murder the roses in the fields? Why did they kill the butterflies in our gardens and scare the birds? Why did they hide the sun, spread darkness, and block the roads?”

“But the Jews [in the city of Medina] did not honor the treaty [they made with Muhammad] and resorted to all kinds of betrayal, treachery, and hostility, which forced the Muslims to fight them.”

(“Islamic Education,” 7th grade, Part A) Moreover, Jews are portrayed as enemies of all the prophets of God and, by implication – enemies of God Himself. Here is the first lesson from a series of classes in the chapter about Jesus Christ: “1. To expose the nature of the Children of Israel and their hostility to the prophets”

From “The Arabic Language,” Grade 8, Part A 34 There is a case of dehumanization where the teacher asks the students to “recall the description of the enemy by the poet.” The answer: “The wild beast on the roadside.” (Teacher’s Guide, Arabic Language 1, 11th grade) 35 As emphasized, demonization in a religious context carries significant weight, especially when concerning holy places Jews are portrayed as infidels and helpers of Satan. An excerpt from a poem studied in class: “Where are the horsemen [who will ride] to [the Al Aqsa Mosque] to free it from the fist of infidelity, from the helpers of Satan?” From “The Arabic Language,” Grade 7, Part A 36 Furthermore, Jews are demonized outside the context of the conflict as enemies of the Prophet Muhammad and Islam from its early years, and traits such as betrayal and hostility are attributed to them. This turns them into eternal enemies of Muslims, even today:

(From the book “Islamic Education,” Grade 9, Part B) 37 Demonization of Jews also occurs outside the conflict context. They are described as a fundamentally corrupt nation: “The spread of corruption in the land is inherent to the Children of Israel.”

(From a Quran Studies book, Grade 11 [Sharia track]) 38 The culmination of this is the association of massacres with Jewish ideology. The teacher’s guide has an example of a student performance assessment sheet with three topics (outlined in red). The third topic (outlined in red) is relevant to our discussion: It illustrates the indoctrination aimed at intensifying hatred toward Jews:

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