Expressions such as “Jews are murderers” and “Israel is an aggressor” appeared in school textbooks, forcing many Jewish children to transfer to other schools.
This was reported by The Jewish Chronicle, published in London, on Thursday, November 14.
The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) found that a textbook describes the Jewish religion as “intrinsically aggressive,” in contrast to other religions. Another manual speaks disparagingly of religious Jews who “wear tzitzit.” There are also openly anti-Semitic terms and prejudiced opinions against Israel.
The Dublin government refuses to acknowledge the problem. In a statement, officials said that “the Ministry of Education provides students with balanced and objective educational content covering a variety of topics, including the history of the Jewish people and Judaism.”
The textbooks cover the situation of the Palestinian Arabs in detail, but do not cover Israeli peace initiatives. One assignment asks students to imagine the future of Palestinian children who “join armed groups,” meaning terrorist organizations. Another textbook presents the Jews as the murderers of Jesus Christ.
After criticism, the image of a Jew in traditional clothing and tzitzit was removed, but the text remained unchanged. Various manuals describe Judaism as a religion that believes violence is necessary to achieve justice, while Islam is presented as a “religion of peace” and Christianity is described as a struggle for “justice and peace.”
The Chief Rabbi of Ireland, Yoni Wieder, noted that he often faces a lack of knowledge about Judaism, Jewish history and understanding of anti-Semitic terms. He opined that textbook authors may not even realize why their material is offensive and called for consulting with the Jewish community when creating textbooks.
Wieder also spoke of the distortion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a deliberate measure to promote political objectives. He stressed the inadmissibility of distorting history.
The rabbi expressed disappointment that the Irish Department of Education had refused to take action in response to the IMPACT-se report.
“It is shocking and deeply disappointing that the Department of Education is not interested in meeting with representatives of the Jewish community,” he said.
In recent months, some Jewish students have reported feeling afraid because of their ethnicity or avoiding talking about their Jewish identity among their non-Jewish peers, Wieder said. He stressed that children should be proud of their Jewish heritage and feel safe, regardless of their ethnicity or religion.
Previously, Kursor reported that in Italy they refused to accommodate Israelis in a hotel.
