Introduction

• The schoolbooks issued by the Palestinian Authority (PA) are mandatorily used in all areas of Judea, Samaria, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem (In schools that follow the PA curriculum) – in government, private and UNRWA schools. The books surveyed here are of the latest edition and are used in the current school year. They were mostly published in 2020. Teachers’ guides, mostly published in 2018, were examined as well. They shed special light on the PA indoctrination process which is also applied in UNRWA schools.
• There are three fundamentals in these books related to the conflict:
• De-Legitimization of the State of Israel’s existence and of the mere presence of its Jewish citizens in the country, which also includes denial of their history and the very existence of their holy places there.
• Demonization of Israel, as well as the Jews – not only in the context of the conflict, but also from a religious point of view, which carries grave implications as far as the Jews’ image is concerned in the eyes of Palestinian children who mostly grow up in a traditional society.
• Absence of any advocacy for peace with Israel. Instead, the books call for a violent struggle for the liberation of the country in its entirety, including Israel’s territory within its pre-1967 boundaries. This struggle is given a religious character, and terror constitutes an integral part thereof – with the accompanying meaning that the killing of Jews is to be encouraged.
• Following are selected examples of these three fundamentals taken from schoolbooks and teachers’ guides in use in UNRWA’s school system (grades 1-10).

When the morally degenerate international community brands the world’s only Jewish nation as a pariah you can guarantee that it won’t stop there.

The next step is to label the Jewish People as pariahs.

This word is commonly defined as “someone who is avoided or not accepted by a social group, especially because he or she is not liked, respected or trusted. Basically, they are an outcast.”

Looking back over the last two thousand years or so does this not perfectly fit the attitudes and actions of the rest of the world towards their local Jewish inhabitants? I did not use the word “citizens” because, for much of that period, Jews were denied full civil rights. Even when full citizenship was grudgingly given, it did not, in the long run, guarantee any equal opportunity for a safe and tranquil future.

The oppressed masses that fled from the pogroms of Russia, Poland and other hate-soaked European countries to the seemingly welcome shores of the Golden Medina (America) quickly discovered that university quotas existed to keep them out of the Ivy League universities and medical schools. Eventually, after much hardship and effort, these new immigrants clawed their way up the economic ladder, with some of them acquiring an acceptable status in society.

This acceptability was always going to be transient. With Jewish refugees from Nazism shut out and large vocal support for fascism and isolationism those who thought that pariah status was a thing of the past started to worry. The horrors of the Holocaust and post-war euphoria for re-establishing Jewish sovereignty seemed to herald a new golden era for American Jewry.

Recent realities should have shattered these myopic mirages not only in the USA but also on every continent where the ancient virus has reawakened with renewed deadly effects.

Pariah status has once again become the designated label by which the Jewish State and Jews worldwide are becoming known.

For those in the Diaspora who had been seduced by a few years of tolerance and tranquillity, this restored reality has come as a shattering shock. Once released from the bottle the genies of hate cannot be put back. No amount of wishful thinking and sweeping under the carpet will banish the brutal truth that dangerous times are here again.

Who could have imagined that universities would once again morph into bastions of Jew hate with mobs demanding that the likes of Hillel and Chabad be banned because they “support” Israel? Slogans daubed on Jewish school walls and gunfire directed at such places has become a daily feature. In some countries, the police stand helplessly by as demonstrators hurl vile invective and shout the most deranged chants against Jews.

One of the most bizarre phenomena is those purporting to be Jews who have joined these groups mouthing slanderous lies against Israel.

This shameful spectacle is only surpassed by the sight of self loathers participating in mass orgies of organized hate festivities. One can understand the actions of Jewish communities who are virtual hostages in their respective countries. The Jews of Iran have no alternative but to show solidarity with their Government. We could question why they are still residing there. However, the sight of Neturei Karta leaders from overseas marching in solidarity with mobs shouting death to Israel and mourning the demise of Iran’s President highlights an incurable malady.

Some worry that being labelled a pariah is akin to a death sentence.

That is exactly what our accusers want us to be afraid of because by succumbing to this bogey, we help the haters achieve their aims. If only Jews would surrender en masse, lie down and disappear the rest of the world could do what it does best. Eulogizing us and perhaps standing for a minute’s silence will follow, although given today’s reality, that is not guaranteed.

The fact that Israelis fight back is something the rest of the world finds intolerable, especially as the age-old Jewish default position was one of defenceless submission.

When the real pariah nations are themselves getting away with murder and escaping any sort of retribution you know that there is something seriously wrong.

When UN members stand in silent tribute to the deceased “butcher of Tehran” and democratic leaders issue nauseating obituaries, you should be able to detect more than a whiff of craven appeasement.

When reports suggest that the Biden Administration is urging allies not to rebuke and censure Iran over its nuclear duplicity, it is obvious that nothing serious will be done to thwart their genocidal ambitions.

When the head of the IAEA plaintively reveals that Iran is not cooperating and has almost reached nuclear breakout capability and the rest of the world reacts by yawning, it is time to prepare for action.

When the failed Government of South Africa hauls Israel in front of the ICJ and all the other real pariah nations line up to the lynching, you can surmise that the lunatics have already taken over the asylum.

When Israel’s Ministers are threatened with arrest warrants while countless leaders of countries engaging in real genocidal acts against their own citizens and others get away with murder, it is patently obvious that something rotten is festering.

The German Chancellor was asked to respond to the threat of international arrest warrants against Israel’s officials. He responded that Germany would, if such warrants were issued, comply with its demands. This response shocked some naïve people but in reality they should not have been surprised. Germans have a proven track record when it comes to following orders against Jews, no matter how illegal and outrageous they may be.

Take the recent decision of Norway, Ireland and Spain to recognize a fake Palestine based on equally fake 1967 “borders” with Jerusalem as its Capital.

The name Quisling will always be associated with Norway because he and the Norwegian Nazis made every effort to persecute and deport Norwegian Jews to concentration camps. Jews were made pariahs and ended up paying the ultimate sacrifice. The name Oslo will forever be associated with one of the greatest acts of folly to be perpetrated against Israel.

Ireland’s refusal to join the war against Germany and remain neutral was a symptom of the deep hate that the Irish nationalists had against the British. Irish hypocrisy reached a peak when following Hitler’s death, the Irish Government issued official condolences to the Nazi administration, which only had a short while to exist. Today, Irish support for the terror aspirations of the PLO/Hamas and their associated willing partners is expressed in joining every anti-Israel condemnation.

Spain has a long and sordid history of turning Jews into pariahs with its inquisitions, forced conversions and mass expulsion. For a very short while it seemed that a golden age for Jews had returned but current policies threaten to return the situation back to the bad old days.

Proof that recognizing “Palestine” plays into the hands of those whose agenda is the eradication of Jews “from the river to the sea” can be seen in the map published by the PA’s Fatah movement. In thanking countries for recognition the map shows the whole of Israel “from the river to the sea” as Palestine. This is the reality which Norway, Spain and Ireland and no doubt the rest of the UN have signed up to.

Those who lemming-like to yearn to reward terrorists with yet another terror State should take note of what Ernest Bevin stated in 1947. The British Foreign Secretary at the time and certainly no friend of Jews and their desire to regain sovereignty made this statement as the UK prepared to give up the mandate.

“HM Government has been faced with an irreconcilable conflict of principles. For the Jews the essential point of principle is the creation of a sovereign Jewish State. For the Arabs the essential point of principle is to resist to the last the establishment of Jewish sovereignty in ANY part of mandated Palestine.”

 Take note that this statement was made after the Arabs rejected the very notion of an Arab State living in democratic peace and tranquility with a Jewish State.

If Ernest Bevin could understand the fundamental agenda of the rejectionist Arabs, what is it that today’s sponsors of a terror State do not want to internalize?

The simple answer is that they prefer to trip down the well-worn path of tarring Israel, the historic State of the Jewish People, with the age-old badge of being a pariah.

We have suffered and survived this appellation many times during our long historical journey.

I have no doubts that we will do so again well after our adversaries have been trashed and vanished.

Michael Kuttner is a Jewish New Zealander who for many years was actively involved with various communal organisations connected to Judaism and Israel. He now lives in Israel and is J-Wire’s correspondent in the region.

Ahuvia Sandak, z”l, was tragically killed in a police-car chase in December 2020. The police car collided with the car Sandak was in with four other boys, causing it to overturn. The boys have been indicted for various charges. Honenu Attorney David HaLevi, who is representing one of the boys, petitioned the Jerusalem Magistrates Court to cancel his indictment because of claims of abuse of process. The petition itemizes how the Yehuda and Shomron Police and the Police Investigation Unit corrupted the investigation of the incident and attempted to blame Sandak’s death on his friends.

Attorney HaLevi cited how the PIU and the police handled the investigation together, despite the inherent conflict of interest: The PIU is the authority responsible for investigating police officers. He further explained how the State Attorney and the Attorney General arrived at the scene of the incident to silence public rage over the cover-up of the failures in the investigation.

Attorney HaLevi: “This outrageous case should never have been opened, and now it should be closed. Therefore, we petitioned the court with a reasoned request to cancel the indictment because of abuse of process. I sincerely hope that the court will agree to our request and put an end to the very injustice of prosecuting my client.”

Ahuvia Sandak, z”l, was killed on 6 Tevet, 5781 (December 21, 2020). Honenu has been representing the family and defending the many who are detained while demonstrating for a change in police behavior. Please click here for a list of posts connected to the case.

DM signs five administrative orders on holiday eve

On April 28, Yehuda and Shomron Police officers detained five Yehuda and Shomron residents who took part in searches for Binyamin Ahimeir, Hy”d, who was murdered while grazing a flock of sheep near the Malachei HaShalom farm in the Binyamin region. Some of the detainees are married and have children. The youngest is a 16-year-old minor. Later in the day, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant signed administrative detention orders against all five residents. The orders are for three, four, and six months. Honenu Attorneys Adi Keidar, Daniel Shimshilashvili, Shalom Ben-Shabbat, and Nati Rom are representing the detainees. The previous week, in a 4:00 AM raid, police forces detained eight residents on similar suspicions. All of them were released several hours later.

Honenu Director Shmuel (Zangi) Meidad strongly criticized the orders: “The current Israeli government broke a historical record for serving Jews with administrative orders. And this is during one of the toughest wars Israel has fought. The deafening silence of politicians in the nationalist camp in response to Defense Minister Gallant’s irrational actions only serves to intensify this crime and sends a message to our haters all over the world who, in turn, want to put Minister Gallant himself under administrative detention. Where can we hide our shame?”

On May 9, the Israel Police informed the attorneys representing the Beit El resident detained one week earlier on suspicion of killing a Hamas activist that they would not appeal the decision of the Jerusalem Magistrates Court to release him to his home. Honenu engaged the services of Attorney Ariel Atari and Attorney Asaf Gonen to represent the detainee.

The Israel Police had requested a seven-day remand extension, and they asked the court to delay his release to give them time to appeal the decision.

Attorney Atari reacted to the decision saying: “The [Jerusalem] Magistrates Court ordered the release of the detainee and thereby expressed what we had claimed from the beginning: The Beit El resident suspected of killing a Hamas terrorist is innocent. We expect the GSS to do some soul-searching and direct their energy to interrogating Hamas terrorists, not innocent citizens.”

Attorney Gonen added, “As we claimed from the first moment, there is absolutely no evidential basis for the charges, and certainly not for detention. We thank the court for accepting our claims and exercising judicial review.”

Legal campaign for Israeli citizens under sanctions continues
In February, the governments of several countries, among them the US, the UK, France, and New Zealand imposed sanctions on several Jewish farm owners in Yehuda and Shomron based on claims that they had attacked Arabs. Subsequently, the bank accounts and credit cards of the farmers were frozen. Additionally, France and New Zealand announced that they would bar the entry of several dozen Yehuda and Shomron residents to their countries. In an effort to have the sanctions lifted, Attorney Nick Kaufman has been working on behalf of Honenu with the governments that imposed them.

Attorney Kaufman also wrote a letter to the Israeli Foreign Ministry asking how the government of Israel plans to react to the sanctions, which, in his opinion, are an attack on all Yehuda and Shomron residents. He stated that France and New Zealand did not cite names, and therefore the move is detrimental to all Yehuda and Shomron residents as in the event that they plan a trip, they will not know ahead of time whether or not their entry to those countries will be refused. Attorney Nick Kaufman requested the assistance of Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz in clarifying the identity of the Israeli citizens who are under sanctions.

The ministry replied that newly-appointed Foreign Minister Katz is studying the matter and will issue an appropriate response. Attorney Kaufman expressed satisfaction that the matter is being handled by the highest echelons of the government and hopes that Foreign Minister Katz and the National Security Council will raise the subject with their counterparts in New Zealand and France as soon as possible.

As the President of Israel, you envision an era of “normalization” with Saudi Arabia That would sit well with Israel.

However, “normalization” does not exist in law or diplomacy.

Saudi Arabia, kingpin of the Arab League of Nations, has led an active state of war on Zionism since the first day of Israel’s creation in 1948, in accordance with the charter of the Arab League of Nations, which promotes the liquidation of the Jews in Palestine.

The same goes for the Saudi proxy, the Palestine Liberation Organization, the PLO, which in 1964 issued a charter for the annihilation of the Jews of Palestine, a charter which was supposed to have been cancelled at the outset of the Middle East peace process in 1993 – but was not.

In the normalization, will you ask the Saudis to take the following steps?

1. Cancellation of the state of war with Israel
2. Directing Saudi-funded UNRWA education to encourage peace education by removing Palestinian texts and teachers who continue to preach war against Jews. The PA schools feature a 4^thgrade textbook dedicated to the legacy of Dalal Al-Mughrabi, a woman terrorist who commandeered a bus and murdered more than 30 passengers, including 13 children.
3. Removal the PA war curriculum

https://israelbehindthenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-unrwa-education-curriculum-upate.pdf.

4. Directing Saudi funds for UNRWA to settle descendants of Arab refugees from the 1948 war, who now dwell in 59 “temporary” UN refugee camps under the pretense of the “right of return” to a pre-1948 that no longer exists. At this point in time, the Palestinian Authority instils in the minds of every child that their only future lies in villages which were left in 1948.

https://israelbehindthenews.com/2019/09/27/a-solution-for-five-million-descendants-fromcuure-arab-refugees-from-1948-who-still-dwell-in-59-unrwa-refugee-camps/

4. Demanding the repeal of the PA law which provides a salary for life for anyone who murders a Jew. This is a legalized incentive to murder.

https://jcpa.org/paying-salaries-terrorists-contradicts-palestinian-vows-peaceful-intentions/

5. Will the Saudis ask the PA to remove new PA maps which obliterate Israel? A policy of normalization would present UN maps which portray all UN members in good standing, including Israel.

https://israelbehindthenews.com/2022/09/24/revealing-maps-the-palestinian-vision-as-taught-in-unrwa-schools/

6. Will Saudi aid to Middle East Studies programs at universities around the world now require the removal of curricula which denies the Jewish connection to the land of Israel?

In short, do you believe that Saudi normalization must remove the vestiges of war from Saudi policy?

*Since 1987, David Bedein has directed the Israel Resource News Agency and the Nahum Bedein  Center for Near East Policy Research. He is the author of Genesis of the Palestinian Authority and Roadblock to Peace: How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict: UNSRWA Policies Reconsidered.

 The office of President Herzog confirms  the receipt of this letter and promises a response. After the President of Israel indeed responds, this letter and his response will be published in a major publication.

The International Criminal Court went a long way towards delegitimizing the entire international community when it issued arrest warrants for both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas’s monstrous chief Yahya Sinwar. This was not only an appalling moral equivalence between the two leaders, but between Israel and Hamas as well.

In its total moral bankruptcy and institutional corruption, the ICC only contributed to the long-standing and ongoing disintegration of an international community that claims to uphold the values of human rights and democracy. The ICC’s decision morally demolishes the U.N., of which the ICC is a child. It does little good to the E.U., which is a close relative of the U.N. In effect, the international community’s moral credibility has committed suicide.

No one with any common sense will ever again accept the legitimacy of the ICC. Millions now disdain an institution that believes the genocidal massacre of Oct. 7 was as legitimate as Israel’s fulfillment of its duty to defend its people. They see that Israel is doing everything it can to avoid civilian casualties and facilitate humanitarian aid. They also see that this counts for nothing with a corrupt international establishment.

Millions know that Hamas is a monster that subjects the society it rules to the law of terror. They know Hamas wants to slaughter all of world Jewry because of Hamas’s fanatical religious hate. They also know that Israel is the modern manifestation of the civilization that gave birth to the West’s Judeo-Christian tradition; that Israel rose from the Holocaust against all odds and built a nation that benefits the world.

Ironically, the ICC’s nihilistic equation of Israel and Hamas came shortly after the death of one of the primary supporters of the Gaza monster: President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran. Thanks to this coincidence, we saw the international community’s moral corruption in full. It rushed to offer weeping condolences for the “Butcher of Tehran” who killed, tortured and oppressed tens of thousands of Iranian women, dissidents and homosexuals. The glorious democracies of Russia, China, Pakistan and Lebanon all but erected mourning tents for the fiend and the E.U. cried bitter tears.

Many of the same nations have expressed their adoration of the ICC’s demented persecution of the Jewish state. Fortunately, U.S. President Joe Biden had the good sense to call the ICC’s decision “outrageous.” Even Secretary Antony Blinken of the notoriously anti-Israel State Department denounced it. To its credit, Germany did so as well.

Many of the haters, of course, are driven by their membership in the international establishment. Benjamin Netanyahu is not and does not want to be a member of this clique, and rightfully so. So, they hate Netanyahu. They hate that he keeps winning elections and hate that he wants to win the war against Hamas. They hate that he ignores their shrieking denunciations and continues to fight. He shows their essential impotence and they can’t stand it.

They are likely aware of the fact that this is unjust. Perhaps they even unconsciously admire Netanyahu. After all, he is a democratically elected leader, which the snobs of the ICC are not. He has always led his people as they want him to: in a besieged but heroic manner. Netanyahu represents a people with 3,000 years of history that has survived all the ancient empires that have passed into nothingness, as today’s international elite someday will as well.

Sinwar, in contrast, is a serial killer, a terrorist, a child murderer, a rapist and an oppressor of his own people. To equate him with Netanyahu is like the neo-Nazis who claim the bombing of Dresden was worse than Auschwitz. But today’s neo-Nazis wrap themselves in the cloak of anti-racism and human rights. They declare that the rest of us are colonialists, racists and oppressors.

In the name of this dark religion, they want Netanyahu to be the sacrificial lamb, an offering to the gods of human rights and the demons of antisemitism. They want him to be the new Dreyfus. Fortunately, this is impossible, because Netanyahu and his people have an army. The haters may not like this, but there is nothing they can do about it. No wonder they hate us so much.