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by Dion J. Pierre
European Union flags flutter outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, March 24, 2021. REUTERS/Yves Herman
Members of a high ranking body of the European Union Parliament have called on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to crack down on antisemitic textbooks in Palestinian schools it funds and manages.
Citing a July report on the problem by Israeli education watchdog Impact-se, EU Committee on Foreign Affairs member Reinhard Bütikofer on August 31 said he is “weary of having to go back to the same conversation year after year.”
“I think it is an easy task to make sure that no antisemitic material will ever be financed,” Bütikofer told UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini. “So, please — work on the problem[s] instead of insulting those that raise them.”
Other members called the issue an “endless saga,” and vice chair of the committee MEP Željana Zovko of Croatia told Lazzarini that his comments about it imply “that we are all stupid.”
Educational material for Palestinian students provided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) promotes jihadi violence and incites antisemitism, Impact-se’s report found.
Examples include a grammar lesson that uses the sentence, “The Palestinians sacrifice their blood to liberate Jerusalem,” and “Arabic Drill Cards” for 9th graders which read: “When the [Muslim] nation is negligent in protecting al-Aqsa, then the Jews will dare to defile it.” Neither does Israel appear on any maps.
Much of the material, Impact-se continued, is “UNRWA branded.”
EU leaders noted that UNRWA receives much of its money from European taxpayers. A substantial portion of it is earmarked for education. Last month, the EU authorized €261 million in funding for the body, €15 million of which will pay for food in areas affected by the War in Ukraine.
UNRWA Commissioner Philippe Lazzarini recently extolled the quality of Palestinian education in a statement to the United Nations (UN) Security Council on the “existential danger” that decreased funding poses to the agency’s work.
“We reached gender parity in our schools a long time ago and we are the only public-like educational institution to have rolled out a comprehensive human rights curriculum in our 700 schools across the region,” Lazzarini said.
He then claimed that UNRWA has “made unparalleled investments in promoting UN values and UNESCO standards.”
The Algemeiner asked Impact-se to comment on this story.
