• Shopping Cart Shopping Cart
    0Shopping Cart
Campaign Against Antisemitism
  • Link to X
  • Link to Tiktok
  • Link to Instagram
  • Link to Facebook
  • Link to Youtube
  • Link to LinkedIn
  • Link to Mail
  • ANTISEMITISM
    • Definition of Antisemitism
    • Recognising Antisemitism
    • The Law of Antisemitism
    • Resources for Teachers
  • RESEARCH
    • Prevalence of Antisemitism
    • Antisemitic Crime Levels
    • Prosecutions for Antisemitism
    • Effects on British Jews
    • Antisemitism in Political Parties
    • EHRC
    • Antisemitism in Universities
    • Antisemitism in Local Authorities
  • NEWS
    • Latest News
    • Media Centre
  • PODCAST
  • ABOUT US
    • Our Work
    • Spokespeople
  • HELP US
    • Subscribe
    • Volunteer with us
    • Intern with us
    • Work with us
    • Become a Student Ambassador
    • Donate
  • CONTACT
    • General Enquiries
    • Media Enquiries
    • Licensing
  • Click to open the search input field Click to open the search input field Search
  • Menu Menu
Politics, United Kingdom UK-only e-mail list (not for international stories), Website

Numerous MPs appear to excuse antisemitism in Palestinian Authority textbooks in Parliamentary debate

Numerous MPs from across parties appeared to excuse antisemitism in Palestinian Authority textbooks in a debate in Parliament today.

The debate focused on a recent “EU Review into Palestinian school textbooks”, which revealed that Palestinian Authority textbooks are rife with antisemitism. As Caroline Ansell MP put it, opening the debate, “The EU report clearly identifies evidence of anti-Jewish racism within the curriculum.”

Nevertheless, despite the evidence of incitement to murder Jews and glorification of terrorism against Jews in those textbooks, several MPs in the debate obscenely appeared to claim, without foundation, that Israeli textbooks might exhibit similar incitement, or that Israel was somehow to blame for the incitement in Palestinian Authority textbooks, or that the incitement did not really matter.

Labour Party MP Julie Elliott made the case for moral equivalence, insisting that “There is no doubt that there is room for improvement, but there is also room for improvement in Israeli schools. That is the nub of the problem.”

Her colleague Andy Slaughter blamed the Jewish state for anti-Jewish racism in the textbooks, conceding that there are “regrettable passages” in the textbooks but proceedings to say: “Above all, there is an inequality of arms. What the Israelis have been able to do to the Palestinians over 53 years of military occupation, with 650,000 Israelis in illegal settlements, and many other things during this crisis, needs to be addressed. That is the real root of the problem that has to be dealt with.”

The SNP’s Brendan O’Hara made a similar argument: “Perhaps we would pay greater heed to the howls of protest from the Benches opposite about the content of Palestinian children’s schoolbooks if they were equally vociferous in calling out the outrageous human rights abuses that those same Palestinian schoolchildren face every single day of their young lives.”

Alistair Carmichael of the Liberal Democrats seemed to suggest that antisemitic incitement did not really matter, saying: “If we really are concerned about the impact on young Palestinians…we should be considering that many Palestinian children may soon be fortunate to have any schools at all in which to have textbooks, because the hard fact is that no fewer than 53 Palestinian schools are slated for demolition by the Israeli Government. If there are no schools, frankly the content of textbooks becomes pretty academic.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “It is extraordinary that MPs from a variety of parties would look not to condemn antisemitic incitement in textbooks but to excuse or downplay it. There is little point condemning antisemitism when it arises in British schools while rationalising it when it occurs abroad. Racism is racism, and it should have no place in the education of children, no matter where in the world they happen to be learning.”

Earlier this year, Australia announced a review into UNRWA funding after a watchdog monitoring peace and tolerance in the Middle East accused UNRWA of distributing educational materials containing antisemitism and calling for jihad.

Antisemitism in Palestinian Authority and UNRWA textbooks funded by Britain, the EU and Western nations has been an ongoing problem for many years.

Related

      
30/06/2021
Search Search
  • CAA calls for Gary Lineker to be removed from post after sharing inflammatory video13/05/2025 - 17:21
  • As arrests are made across the nation, the Government must heed our calls to proscribe the IRGC12/05/2025 - 18:18
  • We won’t let the pressure let up on Kneecap06/05/2025 - 21:09
  • BBC reiterates commitment to thematic review of Gaza coverage06/05/2025 - 10:37
  • University Rector wins appeal following dismissal over comments which made students “fear for their safety”02/05/2025 - 14:03
  • Kneecap dropped from Plymouth venue, following CAA action01/05/2025 - 15:01
  • Kneecap dropped from Eden Sessions festival, following CAA action30/04/2025 - 14:54
  • Vindicated: Harvard University publishes damning report on campus antisemitism30/04/2025 - 11:02
  • We will privately prosecute Kneecap if necessary28/04/2025 - 20:04
  • Jordan announces ban on Muslim Brotherhood24/04/2025 - 10:43

We are seeking to recruit a General Counsel a Creative Communications and Events Officer a Communications and Research Manager an Education and Outreach Intern to join our London office

Join the fight

Subscribe
Volunteer
Donate

Campaign Against Antisemitism is a volunteer-led charity dedicated to exposing and countering antisemitism through education and zero-tolerance enforcement of the law. Everything that we do is done by people who volunteer their time, using donations contributed by members of the public. Join the fight against antisemitism by subscribing to our updates, volunteering, or donating.

Related

Justice, justice, you shall pursue - צדק צדק תרדף
© Copyright - Campaign Against Antisemitism, all rights reserved. Our logo is a registered trademark.
Campaign Against Antisemitism is a charitable incorporated organisation registered with the Charity Commission (number 1163790).
Use of our website is subject to our terms. Trees are planted every year to keep our work carbon neutral.
  • Link to X
  • Link to Tiktok
  • Link to Instagram
  • Link to Facebook
  • Link to Youtube
  • Link to LinkedIn
  • Link to Mail
Link to: Antisemitism increases in Germany with 1,909 reported incidents in 2020 Link to: Antisemitism increases in Germany with 1,909 reported incidents in 2020 Antisemitism increases in Germany with 1,909 reported incidents in 2020 Link to: Stop Funding Hate accused of “militant prejudice” over strategic advisor defending inflammatory tweets Link to: Stop Funding Hate accused of “militant prejudice” over strategic advisor defending inflammatory tweets Stop Funding Hate accused of “militant prejudice” over strategic advisor...
Scroll to top Scroll to top Scroll to top

We use cookies to track use of our website and your preferences. Use of our website is subject to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Read more.Accept cookies and our terms of use

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Google Analytics Cookies

These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.

If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Other cookies

The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

Terms of use and privacy policy
Accept settingsHide notification only
SIGN UP FOR UPDATES BY E-MAIL

By default you will receive weekly e-mails, but when you receive the first e-mail you can change to daily or monthly e-mails instead.

If you prefer to subscribe later, you can do so by scrolling right to the bottom of this page.