(JNS) Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from 18 countries co-signed a letter calling for the reduction of funding to the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) if the latter continues to refuse to change its educational material that includes antisemitic incitement to violence and the demonization of Israel. The letter sent to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is based on a January report by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), which revealed thousands of pages of new material produced by the P.A. that promotes hate and antisemitism. The pages were written by P.A. professionals and taught by teachers whose salaries are directly funded by the E.U. The new educational material was published after the European Commission committed to making sure that new P.A. textbooks produced in 2021 would not include antisemitism. The P.A. Ministry of Education also promised to publish revised textbooks for the current school year but instead reprinted last year’s problematic education material, IMPACT-se said, noting that the new material contains content “that is worse than current or previous Palestinian textbooks, with a greater number of lessons that directly incite violence and propagate overt antisemitism.”

IMPACT-se reported last week that the E.U. was discussing the possibility of freezing funding to the P.A. if no changes are made to its textbooks.

Main Photo: Exterior of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France on 20 March 2013. Credit: Botond Horvath/Shutterstock.