London – The US State Department’s 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom published last week condemned the latest Qatari textbooks for their inclusion of antisemitic material, citing a June 2024 study by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se).
The annual report, used to inform US foreign policy and viewed as an authoritative guide to global religious freedom, highlighted the hateful content present in Qatari textbooks, adding: “According to IMPACT-se, notwithstanding some improvements in Qatar’s national curriculum and certain textbooks during the 2021-2022 school year, during 2023, the national curriculum continued to include content that was antisemitic in nature.”
The mentioned report by IMPACT-se was published recently from its London office, where it assessed textbooks from Qatar’s national school curriculum for the 2023 to 2024 school year, comparing them with earlier editions.
The study reviewed 55 textbooks, finding that all previously identified problematic content in Qatari textbooks remained unchanged since 2021, also indicating that progress made until 2021 has stagnated, as Qatar continues to promote violent jihad, religious extremism, antisemitic, and intolerant content in its school system.
Examples found in the books portray Jewish people as materialistic, arrogant, and inherently hostile to Islam, as well as cynically manipulating global affairs. Qatari students who undergo the local school system learn that Jews have no right to self-determination, and are undeserving of empathy.
‘A sin to resemble the Jews’
An Islamic Education textbook for Grade 8 students implies that Jews are evil in a lesson focusing on how Jews initially rejected Moses and Jesus, concluding that “none is more evil” than people who “have been invited to Islam and rejected it,” referring to historical attempts in early Islam to call on Jews to convert into the new religion brought by Islam’s prophet Mohammad.
Likewise, grade 10 students are taught to avoid “resembling” Jews as an intrinsic element of proper adherence to Islamic teaching, while a chapter in a Grade 11 history textbook on World War II and Hitler’s Mein Kampf fails to mention the Jewish Holocaust or the antisemitic components of Hitler’s ideology.
In a more general manner, textbooks foster a narrative that denies Jewish historical ties to Israel and provides a biased portrayal of Jewish self-determination as unjustifiable, racist, cynical, and fictional.
Some of the classes feature historical inaccuracies and outright falsifications. For example, lessons in a Grade 12 History textbook incorrectly depict Jews as fleeing Palestine following the Roman invasion in 63 BCE, severing their historical ties to the land and promoting an antisemitic stereotype of Jewish cowardice. They further distort history by labeling ancient Canaanites as “Arabs,” in a clear attempt to challenge Jewish indigenousness to the region. The creation of the State of Israel is mostly described as the realization of a global imperialist conspiracy intended to harm Arab people, rather than a manifestation of other people’s desire for self-determination.
Sanctifying violence and Jihad
Meanwhile, violent jihad and the glorification of martyrdom remain a prominent feature, described as “the peak of Islam.” In a stark example, sixth graders learn that a “good” Muslim woman should raise her children “to love jihad” and sacrifice their lives, describing this type of upbringing as “optimal. Some Islamic figures throughout history are glorified for the killing of Jews, portrayed as a major testament to their excellence as human beings, with students encouraged to derive from their character the value of sacrificing one’s life for Islam.
This is also evident in the context of Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict, which are a focus of disproportionate interest in Qatari textbooks. A consistently anti-Israel narrative is employed, portraying Israel and Israelis as devoid of human motivations and undeserving of empathy. The entirety of Israel, in its pre-1967 borders, is labeled as “Occupied Palestine,” with students encouraged “not to concede any part of Palestine” and to reject “normalization in its various forms,” despite the recurring and countless encounters of Qatari leaders with Israeli political leaders, businessmen, and journalists such as The Jerusalem Post editor-in-chief Zvika Klein.
In an exercise from an Arabic language textbook, Grade 8 students analyze a poem titled “Palestine” which urges Arab readers to engage in violent jihad and sacrifice their lives to defend Palestine and Jerusalem from “the oppressors” and “the butchers.”
Suicide bombings and terrorist acts by Hamas and other Palestinian factions during the Intifadas are euphemistically described as “armed operations” or “military operations,” and portrayed as a natural reaction to ongoing Israeli oppression. A picture of Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad meeting Ismail Haniyeh, who heads the Hamas Political Bureau, is included in a history textbook for Grade 12 students. While the latter is not identified by name, he is described in the caption as one of the “leaders of the Palestinian national action.”
This may appear to tacitly endorse Hamas and with it, the same religious extremism and violence that drove the October 7th massacre.
Lip service for the West?
Qatar’s antisemitic curriculum reflects similar antisemitism, dehumanization of Jews and Israelis, Holocaust denial and glorification of terror promoted by Qatari mouthpiece Al-Jazeera. Despite the Gulf state’s declared foreign policy, where formal condemnation of antisemitism, criticism of religious extremism, and even support for a two-state solution can be found, the hate-filled education system and media array of Qatar raise questions regarding the state’s commitment to its stated policies, or whether it is only lip service being paid to appease the West.
IMPACT-se CEO, Marcus Sheff, said: “It is gratifying that the State Department has harnessed our research as an important part of this influential annual report. However, it is disappointing that, like IMPACT-se, the State Department concludes that problematic material which encourages antisemitism and promotes violence continues to be taught in Qatar’s classrooms today. Unless changes are made, it seems inevitable that children in Qatar will grow up developing age-old hateful attitudes which we had hoped would become a thing of the past.”
Arik Agassi, COO and head of global partnerships added: “The persistence of antisemitic and violent content in Qatari textbooks, despite previous improvements, signals a disappointing stagnation in educational reform. This content not only perpetuates harmful stereotypes, but it also contrasts with Qatar’s public commitment to combating intolerance and supporting peace.”