A declassified document from the United States Government Accountability Office says that schools in Palestinian Authority areas run by UNWRA have an anti-Israel bias, bordering on incitement to violence.
The report was published in 2018 and made available this week to the public after two congress members called for its release.
Bank and Gaza: State Monitors Textbook Content but Should Improve Its Reporting to Congress GAO-18-227C: Published: April 26, 2018.” The congressmen commented on the report’s contents in a press release Thursday.
“It is unacceptable that the textbooks that are used delegitimize Israel and demonize the Jewish people, it is unacceptable that this program attempts to engrain this hatred in the hearts of children,” Rep. Zeldin stated. “American’s hard earned money went towards its funding and it is unacceptable that the State Department lied to Congress about these very realities.”
Schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) have come under heavy criticism for years culminating in the Trump administration withdrawing funding from the agency. In February, the US announced its decision to de-fund the Palestinian Authority via its USAID program.
The two congressmen called the report “damning.” In one section, the report states that “more than half of the neutrality / bias issues it found were related too one of the following three categories — maps, Jerusalem and cities — for example, regional maps that exclude Israel and refer to Israeli cities as Palestinian.”
