News Digest — 8/19/22
Not Just A Slip Of The Tongue: Palestinian Textbooks Rife With Holocaust Denial
Palestinian Leader Mahmoud Abbas eventually walked back his controversial Holocaust remarks made in Germany on Tuesday (16th), having drawn outrage in Israel and abroad.
In a written statement on Wednesday (17th), he claimed he did not intend to deny “the singularity of the Holocaust – the most heinous crime in modern history.”
But, that same Mahmoud Abbas back in the day, claimed in his doctorate that the Holocaust was nothing more than a “fantastic lie.” And it appears he continues to nurture this belief in his role as the leader of the Palestinian Authority.
The textbooks distributed to over a million students in the West Bank, including in schools belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), appear to be rife with anti-Semitism, including Holocaust denial.
Under Abbas’ directive, the Palestinian Education Ministry implemented a comprehensive curriculum reform, following which, the content in school textbooks became significantly more radical – compared to previous years.
The reworked educational material now includes calls to Jihad, violence, and incitement against Israel and Jews. Additionally, previous attempts to reach peace with Israel, such as the Oslo Accords, have been deliberately omitted from the new textbooks.
Despite Abbas making it clear that he didn’t intend to deny the Holocaust, the new Palestinian textbooks do not mention the genocide of Jews at all. The Holocaust was completely omitted from the history books that teach about World War II and its influence on the course of history.
Surprisingly, the United Nations, which often favors Palestinians vis-a-vis Israel, is also criticized in the textbooks. The students are ordered to have a mock trial in which they prosecute the UN for not protecting the Palestinians during the Nakba, also known as the Palestinian Catastrophe.
In addition, the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre of Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists is described in a positive light, and is presented as an example of a legitimate Palestinian struggle.
Textbooks also include demonization of Judaism rather than just Israel – as was the case prior to Abbas’ education reform.
Teachers are also instructed to lower the grades of students who don’t make a connection between “Zionist massacres and the Jewish religion.” A history book taught in the 11th grade suggests that Jews rule the world, using classic anti-Semitic imagery of an arm decorated with David’s Star holding the globe.
Palestinian students also learn that Jews are racists who control all the world’s money, media and politics, exploiting it for their own good. The Jews are also characterized as liars and corrupt, and as “enemies of Islam.”
Some textbooks also speak openly of the genocide that is waiting for Jews at the end of days, similar to the content that appears in the Hamas Covenant.
The content also glorifies murder of civilians in terror attacks. The terrorist, Dalal Mughrabi, who led the attack on an Israeli bus in 1978 that ended with the murder of 38 Israelis – including 13 children – is idolized as a role model in a textbook intended for fifth grade.
The Arabic language is taught through a shocking story, which depicts wearing explosive, suicide belts. The story describes Palestinians who “cut the throats of enemy soldiers” and “wear explosive belts that turn their bodies into a fire that burns Zionist tanks.”
A new report by IMPACT-se, an Israeli non-profit organization that monitors the content of school textbooks, analyzed hundreds of pages of the new UNRWA school books, and found the Palestinian Education Ministry continues to incite violence as well as erase Israel from geography maps.
Chief Of Staff Revealed ‘Third Country’ Was Attacked During Gaza Operation
Israel attacked a ‘third country’ during the recent Operation Breaking Dawn in Gaza, IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi said, Thursday (18th).
Kochavi made his statements as he participated in an educational conference sponsored by the Federation of Local Authorities in Israel.
According to Kochavi, “Ten days ago, the IDF hit, with great precision, Tayseer al-Jabari, who was an arch terrorist, and at the same time conducted a wave of arrests in Judea and Samaria, and parallel to this, attacked in a third country and protected the rest of the country’s borders.”
He did not name the third country which was allegedly attacked.
“If there is no operation, then there is defense,” he said. “This was a very complex task which must not be taken for granted. You saw the elimination of al-Jabari, the arch-murderer, in a 14-story building, and we carried out the task. Twenty Givati soldiers needed to be very exact and the danger was very great…there was a very high level of risk.”
Kochavi said “Jabari was the top Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander killed in the Israeli bombing of an apartment In the Gaza Strip during Operation Breaking Dawn… He was in charge of the terrorist group’s rocket arsenal and was its primary coordinator with Hamas.”
Jabari had replaced Baha Abu Al-Ata, another Islamic Jihad commander, who Israel killed in a similar airstrike in November 2019.
(isnn.com)
China Cautions Israel Against Allowing US Pressure To Dictate Relations
Senior Israeli Foreign Ministry sources said that one of China’s top diplomats last week warned Israel not to allow American pressure to harm relations with Beijing, reported Axios.
Liu Jianchao, the head of the Chinese Communist Party’s international affairs department, reportedly conveyed the message during a meeting with the Israeli ambassador to China, Irit Ben-Abba.
Axios described the overture as the most straightforward to date that Beijing has conveyed regarding the “US-Israel-China triangle.”
“This is a critical test for the relations between China and Israel,” Liu reportedly said, adding: “The Jewish people have a lot in common with the Chinese people. There is no reason for us to hurt each other. If Israel hurts China because of external pressure, it will make the wrong policy decision.”
Liu specifically urged Israel to avoid being “dragged” into the US position that China is perpetrating genocide against Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang province according to the report.
Israel ratified a resolution at the UN Human Rights Council in June criticizing China’s conduct in the region, reportedly under pressure from Washington.
Ben-Abba reportedly responded by saying that China’s pro-Palestinian votes at the UN were not helping to foster better relations.
In recent years, Israel has permitted massive Chinese investments in the Jewish State’s infrastructure, agriculture, and ports, moves which have sparked repeated warnings from the American government.
In May, China threatened to downgrade ties if an Israeli newspaper did not remove from its website an interview with Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu.
(jns.org)
False And Malicious Catch Phrases And Buzzwords In The Palestinian Context – Amb. Alan Baker
→ The international media repeat certain catch phrases and buzzwords in order to dictate and influence a partisan political narrative against Israel. This tendency increasingly obstructs any genuine attempt to achieve reconciliation between the Palestinian and Israeli people. Moreover, such catch phrases and terms are often legally inaccurate and blatantly misleading.
→ In fact, and in law, no “State of Palestine” exists and has never existed. Attempts by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) to gain recognition as a full-fledged, voting member-state of the UN has never been accepted.
→ As part of the 1993-95 Oslo Accords, a “Palestinian Authority” was established to administer parts of the territories in the West Bank. The title “Palestinian National Authority” was never agreed to or established by the Oslo Accords and the use of the term by the Palestinian leadership constitutes a clear and deliberate violation of the accords.
→ According to the international law and practice of armed conflict, occupation is not illegal. It is an accepted legal situation referring to a provisional status pending an agreed resolution of a conflict.
→ Moreover, “occupation” does not reflect the case in the West Bank and Gaza, since these areas had never been considered sovereign Jordanian or Egyptian territories. The areas were not taken from states that held prior legitimate sovereign status, and legitimately came under the authority of Israel while defending itself during an offensive war imposed on it by its neighbors in 1967.
→ The phrase “Occupied Palestinian Territory” (OPT) is incorrect both factually and legally. The territories are neither occupied nor are they Palestinian. Any use or acceptance of this term undermines the agreed commitments in the Oslo Accords.
The writer, who heads the international law program at the Jerusalem Center, is former legal counsel to Israel’s Foreign Ministry and participated in the negotiation and drafting of the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians.
(jcpa.org)
Chief Rabbi Of Moscow Says Russian Jewish Community Being Held “Hostage” – Hanan Greenwood
Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, 59, served as chief rabbi of Moscow for over 30 years, until Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He and his wife, Dara, left their home in the Russian capital on March 7, 2022, and came to Jerusalem to live.
“Day by day I’m realizing I did the right thing, for the Jewish community, too. Now I’m in a place where I can help them, and I can talk freely. I’m much calmer now, because it’s a relief to talk after not being able to express myself for years. If I were still there, I wouldn’t be able to say a word. Now I’m helping refugees.”
“I reached the realization that today, from every perspective, it’s better for Jews not to be in Russia. Today, it’s not like it was during the Holocaust, when there was no way to get out. I have led the way for many families who decided to make aliyah after I did. The political situation creates questions about the future of the Russian Jewish community, because in many senses Russia is reverting to the days of the Soviet Union.”
“It’s a very real possibility that the Iron Curtain could come down again. The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that soon, no more visas would be issued for Western countries….There is danger for Jews, no doubt. The Jewish community is being held hostage in the diplomatic war between Russia and Israel.”
