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A Saudi teacher wearing a face mask teaches a class at a school in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Antisemitism Largely Eliminated from Textbooks in Saudi Arabia

Antisemitism has been largely eliminated from Saudi textbooks, The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) revealed in its annual report on education in Saudi Arabia.

The report, released on June 27, found that content portraying Jews as disobedient and teachings of antisemitic tropes such as Jewish wealth were removed from the Saudi curriculum.

Qur’an verses describing Jews being turned into monkeys were removed, as was the antisemitic myth that one of the goals of Zionism is a “global Jewish government.”

In addition, Qur'an verses prohibiting friendships with Jews and Christians and condemning homosexuality have all been removed in the past three years.

In 2021, several lessons demonizing Jewish people, Christians, and other "non-believers" were removed from the curriculum. An entire textbook unit on jihad was taken out of the curriculum.

A year prior, a chapter called “the Zionist danger," which dealt with various topics regarding the delegitimization of Israel's right to exist was removed.

However, Israel is still omitted from maps shown in textbooks, and Zionism is still described as "racist". Saudi students are falsely taught that “Zionists” deliberately tried to burn down Al-Aqsa Mosque in 1969, a lie that was removed from Qatar's curriculum. A Qur'an verse comparing Jews to "book-carrying donkeys" also remains, while students are taught that women are to blame for male sexual harassment. (JPost/ VFI News)

“God, we ask that you continue to eliminate antisemitism from your world. May people of different cultures and understandings learn to respect one another.”