Introduction

To use the term “anti-Semitism” would be understating the degree of hostility displayed in Syrian school textbooks towards Jews and Israel. Professor Bernard Lewis defines anti-Semitism as an unprecedented degree of hatred which is “unique in its persistence, its universality, its profundity, and above all its theological and psychological origins. Unlike other forms of ethnic and racial prejudice, anti-Semitism goes beyond mere denigration or even persecution, and attributes to its adversary a quality of cosmic and eternal evil”*.

However enlightening this definition may be, it does not encompass all the dimensions of Syrian hatred towards Jews and Israel, as disclosed in a recent report released by the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace (CMIP) on school textbooks in Syria. CMIP reviewed 68 schoolbooks which were in use during the school year 1999-2000, for grade 1 to grade 12, in the following disciplines: Language-Literature-Readers (26), Grammar (8), History (7), Geography (7), Civics (3), National-Socialist Education (6), Islamic Education (6) Christian Education (3). See CMIP internet site: www.edume.org

Syrian hostility towards Jews and Israel would be better defined as a singular combination of de-legitimization, de-humanization, racism, criminalization, and justification of genocide and “politicide”**.

De-Legitimization

According to the Syrian textbooks, contrary to the Zionist claim, the Jewish people and the State of Israel have no legitimacy whatsoever. They are “a false people”, an “imaginary nation”, an “artificial entity”. The religious bond alone “cannot make them an independent nationality”. They lack the characteristics of a nation, such as “territory, culture, language, mental composition, common history and economic unity” [Reader, Grade 12, pp129-130]. In other words they have no historic, religious, cultural, national, political rights whatsoever that could justify their existence as a people or a nation.

Discreditation and De-Humanization

Jews and Israelis are depicted as racist and arrogant. The Jews are “pushed by their racism to claim that they are the cream of creation and the favorites of God” [Islamic Education, Grade 11, p33]. They display “hostility and disdain towards the nations”. The Israelis nurture “black malice” against the Arabs and against humanity, and they “are possessed by thirst for bloodshed”. They are repugnant, look like devils and smell bad: “A permeating smell returned to my consciousness, It is [the wolf’s] smell that my nose cannot miss. Suddenly I saw him among the bushes” [“Palestine is Arab” in Selected Stories, Grade 6, pp64-65]. The Israelis kill the flowers and the children: “The teacher said: the enemy is infatuated with killing children..They kill the children so that they would not grow up and defend their nation” [“Hunting the Wolf Alive”, Short Stories, Grade 5, pp78-79]

Racism

Although denied as a people or a nation, the Jews are singled out as having an evil and criminal nature: they are avaricious, they conspire and revolt, they are treacherous, they stir up quarrels among the Arabs, they are full of cunning, “deception and conspiracy”, they are disloyal. All these evil traits are rooted in the personality of the Jews, in their “nature” and “soul”. “Islam unveils their cunning and evil nature” [Islamic Education, Grade 11, p33], “the treacherous intention harbored in the Jews’ soul” [Islamic Education, Grade 6, p127], ” it points to the hostile [and] evil tendency that is rooted in Jewish personality” [Islamic Education, Grade 10, pp115-116].

Criminalization

In those textbooks, the Jews and Israel are depicted as having committed the greatest crimes. The Jews are racist and they are the enemies of God. Israel is the enemy of peace and of mankind. It displays contempt for the principles and ideals of humanity, and does not respect international law: ” [you should be] showing that this state was established in war, and is based on the continuation of war.. that nothing will break its vigor and arrogance except the language it understands, because it does not respect [any] right, nor does not abide by [any] obligation, and it ignores all international agreements and conventions” [Homework, National-Socialist Education, Grade 8, p148].

Genocide

Coexistence with the Jews is impossible because of the evil and criminal tendencies that are ingrained in their personalities. They endanger the very existence of Islam and of the Arabs and threaten them with destruction and extinction. “Therefore the logic of genuine justice decrees against them one verdict the carrying out of which is unavoidable. Their criminal intention should be turned against them by way of their elimination [isti’sal]” [Islamic education, grade 10, pp115-116].

Politicide

The Syrian textbooks claim that Israel is a threat to the entire Arab world, an obstacle to its unity and a cause of its backwardness. The Arabs are threatened with extinction by Israel and should work to “liquidate the Zionist existence” on the Arab land and liberate the entire occupied Arab soil. “This is a great victory [the 1973 war]! But the greatest victory [will be] when the Zionist entity is driven out of Palestine and the entire Arab soil is recovered. Then we shall have our greatest joy”. [Principles of Grammar, Diction and Script, Grade5, p21].

Conclusion

Motifs of racism, genocide and politicide against Jews and Israel are found again and again in Syrian school textbooks. These motives are in total contradiction with the terms and the spirit of the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Convention for the elimination of Racism, the UN Convention for the Prevention and Repression of Genocide. Should the International Community remain silent and accept this kind of teaching?

* Pr. Yehuda Bauer, Editor, Present-Day Anti-Semitism, Vidal Sassoon International Center for Anti-Semitism, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1988, pp59-60.
** Pr. Yehoshafat Harkabi, “The Arab Position in their Conflict with Israel”, Dvir, Tel-Aviv, 1968, pp46-48. (Hebrew).

Presented to the Symposium on “The Arab-Israeli Conflict and Anti-Semitism” organized by the CSS Intelligence Corps Information Center for Intelligence & Terrorism, CSS Auditorium, July 25, 2001.

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