Report shows “improvement” in levels of antisemitic material in Saudi textbooks, but “a few examples of antisemitism remain”

Education authorities in Saudi Arabia have begun to remove antisemitic material from school textbooks.

The research group, IMPACT-se, has been tracking the progress of this project and the report they have produced has reached mixed conclusions.

The report says that there is “a continuing overall trend of improvement” in what Saudi children will learn about Jews in the present. This includes the removal of references to Jews being “disobedient” and Qur’anic verses about Jews being turned into monkeys, as well as the repetition of the idea that one of the goals of Zionism is to bring about a “global Jewish government”.

Also removed were lessons that involved students writing down attempts by “the Jews” to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem, and denials of the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount.

However, the report notes that “a few examples of antisemitism remain. Jews and Christians in pre-Islamic times are presented as wrongdoers. Israel remains omitted from maps; and Zionism still described as racist”.

With antisemitism increasing worldwide, Campaign Against Antisemitism reports on antisemitic incidents globally.