In The Middle East, Proper Education Is The Key To A Better Future

Photo Credit: archive

Map of the Middle East

The Middle East remains in turmoil, lurching from one crisis to the next, involving countries such as Iran, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Jordan, and others against Israel and sometimes against themselves. Israel is fighting wars on seven fronts, primarily against irregular forces under the control of Iran, as well as against the well-financed, international deception and misinformation Arab propaganda machine supported by nefarious actors. The Arabs of Judea, Samaria, Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria, despite the suffering inflicted upon them by the brutality and evil foolishness of their own self-serving leadership, are still largely hostile to Israel’s existence and rife with Jew hatred. Most unfortunately, local and international support for ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations is still inexplicably strong.

International terrorism is becoming more actively present across the free world. Consider the recent attacks on innocent people in New Orleans, Las Vegas, Berlin, Milan, Paris, London, and elsewhere. Can anything be done to reverse this trend and set the world on a better course – one towards peaceful coexistence?

Some answers, often ignored, are related to the region’s turbulence and persistent hatreds of many years, even preceding the reestablishment of the modern State of Israel in its ancestral homeland.

The Arab media and the educational establishments in most Arab societies inculcate hostility towards Jews, towards Israel as a Jewish state, and also against infidels in general. This situation has been ameliorated in countries that have made peace with Israel, but elsewhere, this rabid hatred continues unabated. From a very early age, Arab children and others are reared on the malicious ideology of so-called dangers and threats from infidels, of the illegitimacy of Israel, and of the malevolence of Jews to Arabs and to Islam across the globe.

This intentional spread of disinformation and misinformation, if left unchallenged, will guarantee the intensification of the conflict, with grave consequences to the free world.

For example, the Palestinian media now flatly deny that Hamas committed any atrocities on October 7, 2023. They term reports of mass murder, rape, burnings of babies, decapitations, and the other horrific acts of the massacre as “Israeli propaganda.” The fact that such lies are refuted by the video and audio recordings taken by the Hamas perpetrators themselves is not addressed. On the contrary: Their entire objective is to sow confusion that creates different “narratives” of the recent conflict from which the oblivious media consumers can choose.

The Palestinian Authority’s textbooks still teach arithmetic by counting dead Jews. Some textbooks still lionize suicide bomber terrorists such as Dalal Mugrabi, the woman who participated in the murder of 38 Israeli civilians in 1978.

Revisionist history propagated by the Arab media depicts Jesus as “the first Palestinian martyr,” an absurd twist that should offend not only Jews but also Christians and all lovers of truth. This incongruity denies that Jesus was a Jew, and falsely suggests that there was a national Palestinian Arab identity some 2,000 years ago.

PA schools falsely deny any historical connection between the Jewish nation, the land of Israel, and the city of Jerusalem. Such incitement occurs even in schools in Jerusalem, and even in schools that are nominally under the supervision of Israel’s Ministry of Education. Arab children in the PA who learn that there never were Jewish temples in Jerusalem, and that Jews are colonialist usurpers in the region, will rarely reconcile themselves to Israel’s legitimacy, or even to its right to exist. Many will adopt as their life’s goal the elimination of any affront to Islam, even at the cost of their own lives. In addition, the PA curriculum still reinforces the war against the Jews, not peace and coexistence. These and other malicious messages are being amplified across the globe, including in respected educational institutions and in various media outlets.

It is extremely difficult for young students to dislodge themselves from the grips of peer pressure and these corrupt ideologies, which are so influential that they continue to spawn terrorists and suicide bombers. They even entice Arab parents to aspire to their children’s martyrdom. Still worse, they mislead even Israelis and other people of goodwill across the globe into believing that limiting Israel’s ability to defend itself militarily will secure a more peaceful future. Many Arabs are even led to believe that seeking overall prosperity for Arabs in Israel and in the Middle East is not a goal they should strive for if it leads to cooperation with Israel.

Unfortunately, some well-intentioned observers believe that if enhanced quality of life and prosperity are guaranteed in Muslim populations, this will replace the yearning for martyrdom as a religious and national imperative for the eradication of the “repugnant” State of Israel and of other infidels across the globe. Osama bin Laden was a multimillionaire, but he was a terrorist first. Vladimir Lenin, who boasted that “the Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them,” would recognize its modern application: Palestinians and other radical Muslims are also lavished with Western money, which is used to educate their children and others to hate and kill Israelis and to despise and battle Westerners.

A fundamental change in thinking is indispensable in order to prepare the Middle East and the free world for a better future. These steps must be taken:

1. Israel, as well as other freedom-loving countries, must do more to promote and monitor better curricula within the Arab educational systems, whether in the PA, Jerusalem, or anywhere else.
2. Malicious Arab teachers who were trained by the PA to use its noxious curriculum need to be replaced by peace-loving Israeli Arabs from the north and south of Israel. The latter should be financially incentivized to move to Jerusalem and to other relevant locations, and teach peace and co-existence in Arab schools. The curriculum must include proficiency in Hebrew.
3. Gazan children, too, will need to be detoxified and de-radicalized for there to be any hope of progress. They will also benefit from contact with honorable Israeli educators.
4. Due to the fact that this is an important free-world issue, a serious multi-national educational effort will have to be implemented, by which valuable information can be shared with all educational institutions and media outlets. Thus, the factual and relevant information as it relates to Israel, the Middle East, and the peaceful version of Islam will be effectively disseminated.
5. Western states and institutions must withhold financial and political support from the PA until it stops its incitement against infidels, Jews, Israel, and the West. The same must be true for educational institutions, including those of UNRWA, which is a leading fomenter of incitement in the Middle East.
6. The glorification of martyrdom and the eternal war against the West, Israel, and infidels must end everywhere, including in mosques, educational institutions, and media outlets. Many terror organizations such as ISIS, Hamas, and Hezbollah remain popular because their evil and violent ways are frequently glorified by their oblivious followers.
7. A special monitoring and implementation taskforce should be established in order to expose, marginalize, and eliminate all evil-intentioned operatives. This will limit terror attacks, malicious incitement, and hateful indoctrination.

In her autobiography, Golda Meir wrote: “Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.” This is as true today as it was 50 years ago.