Blinken Acknowledges UN Schools Teach Antisemitism
![Many Palestinian children attend UNRWA-run schools in the Gaza Strip and West Bank [Mohammed Salem/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/d9fba20d45d84d3bbafea462222ebb6f_18.jpeg?resize=770%2C513)
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken confirmed for the first time in his own voice that the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) disseminates antisemitic and anti-Israel information in its educational materials, as part of a testimony he gave at a June 8 Senate Appropriations Committee.
UNRWA is the United Nation’s dedicated body for dealing with the Palestinian “refugee” issue. The Palestinian Arabs are the only refugee population out of many genuine refugee populations in the world to have its own dedicated UN body.
In response to a question from Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen, Blinken described UNRWA’s hate speech as “abuses of the system.” He stated that while the Biden Administration intends to renew funding for the United Nations, the US is “determined” to see reform in UNRWA. ”We are determined to pursue very necessary reforms in terms of some of the abuses of the system that have taken place in the past, particularly… in disseminating in its educational products, antisemitic or anti-Israel information.” (Emphasis added)
He went on to say that the US State Department would “look very carefully” at the existing mechanisms under UNRWA for dealing with incitement in educational materials.
This is the first time that a Democratic administration has acknowledged the existence of antisemitic and violent content in UNRWA’s educational materials.
The IMPACT-se Research and Policy Institute, which researches and analyzes textbook content around the world, contacted and briefed the offices of the Senate and Congressional members of the Appropriations Committee prior to the Blinken hearing on UNRWA textbook content.
In February, the US State Department asked IMPACT-se to provide it with policy recommendations following a briefing the institute had with the team tasked with renewing funding and relations with UNRWA.
In January, IMPACT-se released the first study analyzing the teaching materials produced and written by UNRWA (with the UN agency logo). IMPACT found that the materials are full of hatred, encouragement of jihad and violence, and devoid of any content promoting peace, peace-making and tolerance.
In April, the EU Parliament became the first legislature in the world to adopt a formal condemnation of UNRWA for inciting hatred and violence in its teaching materials. The parliament demanded the removal of these materials immediately after dozens of members of parliament from all leading political parties in Brussels had been made aware of the issue over the last half a year.
IMPACT-se Director General Marcus Chef said: ”UNRWA had been telling donor countries for years that it combats incitement in the Palestinian textbooks. In fact, we found that, in places, UNRWA’s own content is even worse than that of the Palestinian Authority. It is right and proper that the US State Department is now going to focus on eradicating hate education in UNRWA schools. The era of UNRWA trying to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes while teaching hate every day needs to be well and truly over.”
VP of IMPACT-se Eric Agassi said this is the beginning of a process of changing the trend in the administration’s response by demanding UNRWA reforms in education in exchange for returning the funding it pledged. This follows the institute’s quiet and effective work with the State Department and Congress.
5 comments:
I appreciate you having the editorial integrity to publish my comments, as I realize you are a committed, "Israeli" loving Zionist and I am an observant Jew. Nevertheless, this story, quoted above , is nothing more than Zionist propaganda. A Jew is someone born of a Jewish mother or whose conversion was recognized by a a Beth din. A Zionist, and their state, "Israel" are not Jewish at all. There are in fact more Christian Zionist Israeli-firsters than there are Jewish Zionists. Nevertheless, hating "Israel" would come naturally to anybody Jewish or not who understands that its very existence violates the Torah and its history is that of a brutal apartheid state. How do you throw people off of their land in the west bank, start an occupation that you call a "Settlement", where only Zionists can live and Arabs are banned and consider that at all consistent with Halacha? Is there anywhere in the Torah that would ever justify that? How do you desecrate graves to build a highway, something even the so-called "Reform" Jews consider sacrilegious and disgusting?
If you understand that the founders of Israel were wannabe Christians, who hated the religion, and the current leadership is happy to eat bacon, keep their heads uncovered and desecrate the Sabbath, it is easy to understand why both Religious Jews and non-Jews alike "Hate" the Zionist state.
Please pray for the dismantlement of the state of "Israel" and that it be done peacefully and speedily, with no more death , whether it be Arab, Jew or Zionist.
Teitelbaum, your comments are welcome even though I abhor them.
Your views, as expressed in the above drek, are the views of ultra Orthodox Jews who constitute a small fraction of the Jewish community.
By the way, I am not a Zionist, never have been. I'm just a refugee from Nazi Germany who recognizes that Israel is the only place of refuge for Jews who are hated and persecuted in other countries.
I hope you'll find it in your Jewish heart to forgive me for writing this on the Sabbath.
As a Jew I am commanded to treat all, even the people I most disagree with, with respect. My main point is “Israel” is not a Jewish state , it is a Zionist state. That, I would imagine, we agree on. A Jewish state would, at least in theory, follow the teachings of our religion. The actions of the Zionist state cannot be justified based on our religion. They are heretical to traditional notions or even reform or conservative notions of what it means to be a Jew. As a Jew I am not “ chosen” as I am superior, I am chosen as a responsibility to act with morals, ethics, integrity and love for my fellow man, whether he is a Jew or Muslim, Christian or Palestinian. The behavior exhibited by the Zionists may well be( in their minds) justified because of the horrors that you and my family members suffered during the Holocaust, but it can’t be justified by our religion. We are not a people who act with the brutality and
Sadism of the state of Israel. We, as Jews, are better than that.
Ps. If you ever come to Brooklyn, we would love to meet you and welcome you with love and understanding. Knowing you lived through the hell of the Holocaust certainly changes my perspective. If I ever come to the great state of Texas I’d love to meet a fellow tribe member.
I may change your views, you may change mine.
Wishing you all of the best as a member of both the Jewish community and a fellow member of humanity.
May the almighty continue to bless you and yours.
Thank you for your kind words.
My traveling days are over. I'm 94 and not in good health.
When my family came to America in 1936, we lived in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. I had a good army buddy from Williamsburg and spent a lot of time there with him after the war. I've lived in NY off and on in the '50s.
If you do come to Texas, you will be welcomed in my home, but you better make it soon because I don't think I'll be alive much longer.
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