The move is “another step towards the transformation of a curriculum into an educational framework which encourages tolerance, peace and greater equality,” said IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff.

By: JNS.org

Saudi Arabia has removed practically all anti-Semitism and anti-Israel material from its schoolbooks, in a major shift from the past and a harbinger of a better future, a study released Tuesday found.

The study, conducted by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-SE)—an international research organization—found a “marked reduction” in anti-Israel content in the Saudi curriculum, which no longer teaches that Zionism is a “racist” European movement, nor denies the historical Jewish presence in the region dating back 3,000 years.

In addition, according to the study, hostile references to Israel in the textbooks have been modified, while the word “Palestine” has been removed from maps of Israeli sites.

The study also noted that all remaining violent interpretations of jihad, which had been in place for years, were removed or altered in this year’s textbooks.

References to homosexuality as a “monstrous atrocity,” or claims that emulating the opposite sex is a “deviation from normality,” were removed, as well. While retaining a traditional approach to gender roles, there has been a notable improvement in the depiction of women, the study revealed.

“Saudi textbooks published for the 2023/24 school year constitute another step towards the transformation of a curriculum into an educational framework which encourages tolerance, peace and greater equality,” said IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff. “Having already removed anti-Semitism from the textbooks, it is particularly encouraging that Saudi curriculum designers have made further revisions which portray Israel in a more positive light. These changes bode well for the future of the region as a whole.”

The significant positive changes in the Gulf Kingdom’s educational curriculum come amid renewed reports of a United States-brokered Saudi-Israeli normalization deal. This is despite Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on the Jewish state—which some Mideast analysts assess was launched, in part, to scuttle such a deal—and the ongoing war in Gaza.

In other news, JNS reported on Tuesday that the head of Israel’s Upper Galilee Regional Council received threatening WhatsApp messages on Tuesday from a source claiming to belong to Hezbollah, according to Israeli media reports.

“To the settlers of the north, if you do not ask your government to stop the aggression against Gaza, there will be no homes left to return to,” read one message sent to Amit Sofer, according to Kan News.

Another message read, “The only equation is: stopping the aggression against Gaza = your return to the north. Hezbollah.”

Other text messages to Sofer ostensibly from the Iran-backed terror group included, “[Israeli Defense Minister Yoav] Gallant is selling you illusions. You must live with reality, we are here forever and ever.”

“Hezbollah does not scare us; the ball is not in their court but with the Israeli government and its policies,” Sofer told Kan.

“We have already said several times: We have patience, but the government should not interpret our patience as consent to a situation where the economy is collapsing and the north is losing its residents. I expect the government to bring back security to the north and take actions that will improve the quality of life in every aspect,” he added.

Hezbollah has carried out near-daily attacks on northern Israel since Oct. 7, killing 20 Israelis and an Indian worker and inflicting considerable damage.

(JNS.org)