Germany, which presents itself as a democratic power, is now the leading donor state of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) which services the  Palestinian refugees of 1948 was… and their descendants.

Yet 54% of the current UNRWA budget is allocated to an education system which indoctrinates Arab children to make at war with  Jews.

The most recent tabulation of donations from UNRWA donor nations was issued on March 14, 2020.

As such, Germany shoulders a responsibility to assure the people of Germany and the Jewish people that their money is not channelled in a non-peaceful direction.

One of the best and simplest ways of doing that is checking the attitude of textbooks issued by the Palestine Liberation Organization, and used in UNRWA schools, toward the Israeli/Jewish “other” and to the issue of peace with that “other”.

All 364 UNRWAbooks  have now been examined by three journalists with PhD’s in Islamic Studies

It is imperative that an effort be made to provide this information to the German reader in his/her own language.

Schoolbooks are the most revealing source of information regarding the values and aspirations a society would instil in the minds of its youngsters.

Following a protracted state of war, these texts serve as a trustable indicator of the existence, or non-existence, of peace education.

The Oslo Accord signed by the State of Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1993 opened a new phase in the Middle East in which both parties were supposed to advance towards a peaceful solution of that war.

In 1994, the Palestinian Authority (PA) was established by the PLO to rule the West Bank and the Gaza Strip which, until then, were fully administered by Israel.

The PA assumed most governmental powers in those areas, including education. In 2000 it started issuing its own schoolbooks in a process that lasted until 2006. A newer set of PA schoolbooks was published between the years 2016-2018.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for the 1948 Palestinian refugees and their descendants, which has been operating in Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza (as well as in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon) since 1950, use the PLO books in its schools. UNRWA, as a UN agency, is bound by the UN-endorsed principle of resolving all conflict peacefully, as well as by UNESCO principles of peace education [See chart below] As a UN agency, all UN agencies  should treat all member states equally, including the State of Israel

It is imperative for the German powers that be to know whether the PLO textbooks used in UNRWA schools (as well as in all other schools in Jerusalem,  West Bank and Gaza Strip) advocate peace or call for an armed struggle, recognize the existence of Israel as a sovereign state in the region and the presence of its six-million Jews in the country as well as their holy places there, treat Jewish/Israeli individuals as ordinary human beings, renounce terrorist activity against civilians, employ self-criticism in this regard, etc.

Germany, more than any other nation, should be extra-careful while dealing with issues closely connected to the wellbeing of the citizens of the Jewish State.

A few months ago, I visited the Bundestag German Parliament, accompanied by professionals who had examined all UNRWA textbooks, and by Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

We briefed seven German political parties with films and studies which documented the new UNRWA war curriculum.

The office of German Chancellor Angela Merkel would not meet with us.

After our visit, Germany increased its funds to UNRWA, granted with no conditions.

Now we must find a way to translate all these films and studies into German

We must return to Germany to make a high profile presentation in Berlin.

We must hold German Chancellor Merkel accountable.

Remember: German instigation of the holocaust commenced in the classroom.

“Never Again”.

David Bedein is the Director of the Israel Resource News Agency and Center for Near East Policy Research

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David Bedein
David Bedein is an MSW community organizer and an investigative journalist.   In 1987, Bedein established the Israel Resource News Agency at Beit Agron to accompany foreign journalists in their coverage of Israel, to balance the media lobbies established by the PLO and their allies.   Mr. Bedein has reported for news outlets such as CNN Radio, Makor Rishon, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, BBC and The Jerusalem Post, For four years, Mr. Bedein acted as the Middle East correspondent for The Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010. Bedein has covered breaking Middle East negotiations in Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, and Vienna. Bedein has overseen investigative studies of the Palestinian Authority, the Expulsion Process from Gush Katif and Samaria, The Peres Center for Peace, Peace Now, The International Center for Economic Cooperation of Yossi Beilin, the ISM, Adalah, and the New Israel Fund.   Since 2005, Bedein has also served as Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research.   A focus of the center's investigations is The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In that context, Bedein authored Roadblock to Peace: How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict - UNRWA Policies Reconsidered, which caps Bedein's 28 years of investigations of UNRWA. The Center for Near East Policy Research has been instrumental in reaching elected officials, decision makers and journalists, commissioning studies, reports, news stories and films. In 2009, the center began decided to produce short movies, in addition to monographs, to film every aspect of UNRWA education in a clear and cogent fashion.   The center has so far produced seven short documentary pieces n UNRWA which have received international acclaim and recognition, showing how which UNRWA promotes anti-Semitism and incitement to violence in their education'   In sum, Bedein has pioneered The UNRWA Reform Initiative, a strategy which calls for donor nations to insist on reasonable reforms of UNRWA. Bedein and his team of experts provide timely briefings to members to legislative bodies world wide, bringing the results of his investigations to donor nations, while demanding reforms based on transparency, refugee resettlement and the demand that terrorists be removed from the UNRWA schools and UNRWA payroll.   Bedein's work can be found at: www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com and www.cfnepr.com. A new site,unrwa-monitor.com, will be launched very soon.