Op-ed comment: IMPACT-se attacks UNWRA’s role in education, praises Sweden for defunding agency

Last month in these pages, Jo Kelcey and Anne Irfan penned an impassioned challenge to Sweden’s Development Minister Benjamin Dousa over his decision to end funding to UNRWA. As the title of Kelcey and Irfan’s article suggests, UNRWA is indeed pivotal to the “education of an entire generation” of Palestinians. Quite simply though, UNRWA is unequivocally not the answer. Rather, it is at the heart of the problem.

At the core of UNRWA’s education is the Palestinian Authority (PA) curriculum, which the agency chooses to teach. The fact that Hamas teaches the very same PA curriculum in its schools should be warning enough.

Kelcey and Irfan dismiss allegations of antisemitism within the PA curriculum as “disinformation.” Yet reports by IMPACT-se, encompassing over 1000 PA textbooks published since September 2016, reveal otherwise. In a grade 10 Geography and Modern History of Palestine textbook, students are taught that Jews control money, the media, and politics, and use it for their own benefit. In Islamic Studies textbooks for grades 11 and 12, Jews as a collective are described as sinful liars and fraudsters. Another chapter teaches that Jews are corrupt.

These and many other examples are in bold print for anyone including Kelcey and Irfan to read. Instead, they point to “independent reviews” of the PA curriculum as a stamp of legitimacy. However, the authors of the very review they reference concurred that the curriculum includes "antisemitic narratives and glorification of violence," not in line with UNESCO standards.

Meanwhile, glorifying violence is another firm feature of the PA curriculum taught by UNRWA. A grade 8 Arabic Language reading comprehension glorifies suicide bombings and “cutting the necks of the enemy”. Meanwhile, a grade 5 Arabic Language textbook lionizes Dalal al-Mughrabi, who murdered more than 30 Israelis including 13 children on a civilian bus in the 1970s. She is portrayed as a heroine and role model. Even a grade 4 Math textbook teaches basic calculus by counting the number of “martyrs” in the two Palestinian Intifadas. Once again, such content is both rife and in full public view. It should have no place in any classroom.

As if this weren’t enough, individual UNRWA teachers frequently supplement the PA curriculum with their own insidious material. Documented examples include an Arabic language exercise, celebrating a Palestinian firebombing of an Israeli bus as a “barbecue party” and a social studies booklet which describes “armed struggle” as a “divine right.”

Ignoring the overwhelming evidence of UNRWA’s poisonous education, Kelcey and Irfan instead opt to “shoot the messenger,” primarily my own institute IMPACT-se, which they erroneously describe as a “right-wing lobby group” with not a shred of evidence. We are unaffiliated to any government, political party or particular ideological position. Our research, which spans the MENA region, Africa, Asia and Europe is benchmarked against international UNESCO-derived standards of peace and tolerance in education. Hardly the hallmark of a “right-wing lobby group.”

The authors also spuriously claim that “IMPACT-Se once reviewed teaching materials that are not taught in UNRWA schools in an attempt to discredit the agency.” Unfortunately for Kelcey and Irfan, this case demonstrates UNRWA’s obfuscation, not ours. When IMPACT-se documented problematic educational material authorized by UNRWA staff and stamped with its logo, UNRWA ludicrously explained it had been published via “a private, commercial website that illegally utilizes the Agency’s logo and the names of UNRWA educators.” UNRWA has never denied that the materials reviewed by IMPACT-se were taught in its schools.

However, the main target for the authors’ opprobrium is Development Minister Dousa and particularly his insistence that alternatives to UNRWA exist. This should not be a cause for outrage. Firstly, respected agencies such as the United Nations Development Programme have said “they can take over from UNRWA to advance peace”. Secondly, it is abundantly clear that UNRWA is inextricably linked to Hamas. A US intelligence report last year found that 23% of UNRWA’s male employees have Hamas ties. They include numerous school principals, while even the Chairman of UNRWA’s Gaza Staff Union was also a member of Hamas’ political bureau.

Contrary to Kelcey and Irfan’s assertion, the removal of UNRWA from Palestinian schools would not threaten the education of a generation. Quite the opposite. Rather it would provide hope, that a proud Palestinian curriculum can be taught free from hate and incitement to violence. Time and again, UNRWA has violated its duty of care in Palestinian classrooms. Dousa and his government have taken a principled and admirable position.

Marcus Sheff is CEO of the Israeli non-profit organisation Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se). He has also been a spokesperson for the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) and testified before the US Congress on the 2023 Hamas-led terror attack on Israel.