Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 27, 2018. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs A committee in the European Parliament voted on Thursday to withhold more than $17 million in Palestinian aid due to anti-Semitism in Palestinian textbooks.
According to the Jerusalem Post, the committee voted to amend the European Union’s budget to freeze the aid based on textbook content that featured “numerous examples of violent depictions, hate speech – in particular against Israel – and glorifications of jihad and martyrdom.”
Examples included textbooks stating that the United States was at fault for the 9/11 terror attacks, as well as hailing Palestinian “martyrdom…in clashes against Israelis.”
Under the amendment, the money will be unfrozen “when the Palestinian Authority has committed to reform its school curriculum and textbooks to bring them in line with UNESCO standards for peace and tolerance in school education.”
The more than $17 million in withheld funds amounts to around 5 percent of the EU total aid to the Palestinian Authority.
United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said in August that the PA textbooks were part of the reason as to why the United States cut funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
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