Why do we tolerate giving money to schools that teach antisemitism?

The ‘David Dukes’ Of The Middle East

By Stephen M. Flatow

My column from the Jewish Press.

Imagine if David Duke or some other white supremacist leader opened his own private elementary school with a blatantly anti-Semitic curriculum, and a United States senator proposed giving Duke’s school a government grant. Naturally we would all be outraged.

So why isn’t there similar outrage when a senator proposes giving a government grant to Palestinian Arab schools that feature a blatantly anti-Semitic curriculum?

At a July 3 press conference, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) spoke
about the importance of what he called “maintaining a constructive dialogue with the Palestinian Authority.”

As an example of something which harms America’s “ability to have that kind of discussion and dialogue,” Sen. Van Hollen said it was wrong for the U.S. to “cut off assistance” to the PA “for things like…schools.” Because, after all, who can object to helping schools? Is there a more innocent and deserving cause than educating little children?

The answer to that question can be found in a recent report by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) called “Palestinian Authority Education: A Recipe for Hate and Terror.” This is not the first report on the subject by PMW. On the contrary, it is just the latest of many such studies that PMW has published over the years. PMW spokesmen have even testified before Congress about the anti-Semitism in Palestinian Authority schools. Perhaps Senator Van Hollen was absent that day.

Here are the report’s main findings:

• “The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Education, as well as PA-sponsored informal education…are actively ensuring that the conflict, terror and war will continue into the next generation.”
• “Palestinian education is indoctrinating Antisemitism. PA children are taught to see Jews as their enemy and the enemy of Allah. Jews are said to be cursed by Allah, descended from monkeys and pigs and ‘the most evil of creations.’ Children who recite these messages on children’s programs are applauded, not corrected.”
• “PA schoolbooks teach that Islam mandates that Muslims fight Israel and Jews, ‘until Resurrection.’”
• “The Palestinian Authority has named dozens of schools after terrorists, and honors them in ceremonies and events, guaranteeing that Palestinian children see terrorists who murdered Israelis as heroes and role models.”
• “Palestinian children are taught to reject Israel regardless of its policies, since Israel’s existence in itself is intolerable. All of Israel is said to be ‘Palestine’ and eventually Israel will be erased.”

This PMW report includes a foreword by the Association of Secondary School Teachers in Israel. Here’s what the association says:

Sadly, this report by the research institute Palestinian Media Watch shows that the Palestinian Authority leaders have not yet chosen this path. The PA teaches its children to reject Israel’s right to exist, encourages them to view Jews as evil and directs them to embrace terrorist murderers as role models.

This report exposes a world of demonization, incitement and hate that Palestinian children are urged to adopt. Children deserve to be brought up valuing peace, but Palestinian children are being deprived of a peaceful future and are victims of their own leaders.

So, let’s maintain one standard: No U.S. government funds for David Duke or other white supremacists, and no U.S. government funds for the David Dukes of the Middle East and their schools of hate.

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My book, A Father's Story: My Fight for Justice Against Iranian Terror is available at Devon Square Press.