MPs will hold emergency debate over ‘jihadi textbooks’ handed out at schools in Palestine

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MPs will hold emergency debate over ‘jihadi textbooks’ handed out at schools in Palestine and paid for by £120m of UK taxpayers’ cash

  • Reading exercises for six-year-olds funded by UK aid includes the word ‘martyr’ 
  • Nine-year-olds study maths by adding the martyrs in Palestinian uprisings
  • About £120 million of UK funding has gone where the textbooks are used

By Tom Kelly Investigations Editor For The Daily Mail

Published: | Updated:

An emergency MPs’ debate is being held tomorrow after the Daily Mail revealed how ‘jihadi textbooks’ were used in Palestinian schools funded by £120 million of taxpayers’ cash.

UK foreign aid helps pay for schools in Gaza and the West Bank, where reading exercises for six-year-olds include the words ‘martyr’ and ‘attack’.

Eight-year-olds recite poems vowing to ‘sacrifice my blood to eliminate the usurper from my country’.

The Mail reported last month that physics is taught to 11-year-olds with the image of a boy with a slingshot targeting Israeli soldiers

Nine-year-olds study maths by adding the number of martyrs in Palestinian uprisings in textbooks illustrated with pictures of their funerals.

And ten-year-olds learn that the most important thing is giving their life for ‘jihad and struggle’.

The Mail reported last month that physics is taught to 11-year-olds with the image of a boy with a slingshot targeting Israeli soldiers. 

Tory MP Jonathan Gullis has now scheduled a Westminster Hall debate on ‘radicalisation in the Palestinian school curriculum’.

The text states: 'The heroism of the of the people Palestine Ever Since Palestine is under Jewish-Zionist occupation, its people are facing situations of heroism and sacrifice. The heroism of the children of Palestine was also evident in the first and second intifada - they opposed the Zionist enemies with force and courage'

The text states: ‘The heroism of the of the people Palestine Ever Since Palestine is under Jewish-Zionist occupation, its people are facing situations of heroism and sacrifice. The heroism of the children of Palestine was also evident in the first and second intifada – they opposed the Zionist enemies with force and courage’

He said: ‘As a former teacher, I was shocked by what I read in the Mail. We have an absolute duty to protect children and teach them to strive for peace – not extremism and hate.

‘I’m hopeful that MPs will support this attempt to stop radicalisation, extremism and the incitement of terrorism.’

Peers have also raised concerns with Tory Baroness Altmann warning that Palestinian children were being ‘fed hate’. 

The British aid money goes via the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.

Over the past five years, the UK has given £330 million. It has pledged another £65 million for this year. Some 58 per cent of the funding goes on education. 

Of that, about 62 per cent is for schools in the West Bank and Gaza where 325,000 under-16s attend UNRWA schools. 

It means about £120 million of UK funding has gone where the textbooks are used.

UNRWA said the schools had to follow a curriculum set by the Palestinian Authority, which produces and pays for the books. 

But it stressed it has ‘robust systems’ to ensure education in its schools reflects UN values. It also rejected the characterisation of the books as ‘jihadi’.

The Department for International Development has said the UK lobbied for an independent review of the material, which was now being led by the EU.

Nine-year-olds study maths by adding the number of martyrs in Palestinian uprisings in textbooks illustrated with pictures of their funerals. The text states: 'The number of martyrs of the First Intifada (the Intifada of Rocks) is 2026 martyrs, and the number of martyrs of the Al-Aqsa Intifada is 5,050. The number of martyrs in the two intifadas is _________ martyrs'

Nine-year-olds study maths by adding the number of martyrs in Palestinian uprisings in textbooks illustrated with pictures of their funerals. The text states: ‘The number of martyrs of the First Intifada (the Intifada of Rocks) is 2026 martyrs, and the number of martyrs of the Al-Aqsa Intifada is 5,050. The number of martyrs in the two intifadas is _________ martyrs’