Leo van Doesburg

  MEPs raise concerns on the incitements to violence, terrorism, and antisemitism in Palestinian schoolbooks in the disputed areas. A group of 32 members of Parliament addressed a letter to EC President Ursula von der Leyen in which they point at problematic content present in educational materials that are used in Palestinian schools. Their call is strengthened by an adopted text in the EP which condemns the textbooks in which incitements to violence as well as hate and antisemitism are found, as several studies reported. The reoccurrence is unacceptable and ongoing negotiations with the Palestinian Authority (PA) have not achieved much. The European Commission and President Von der Leyen are urged to include conditionality on funds to the PA, if necessary changes in textbooks are not made. Furthermore, the letter criticizes the Commission for failing to reject a controversial report by Amnesty International that characterizes Israel an apartheid state .

This year, we celebrate the 75 th anniversary from the end of the Second World War and the surrender of Nazi Germany to the allied forces. However, as allied troops liberated Europe, they came across the horrible atrocities of the Holocaust. Around two thirds ofEuropean Jewry were murdered . Their memory should lead us to do everything in our power to never allow such savage acts to take place again. Unfortunately, we are witnesses to a rise in antisemitic acts across Europe.  In 2018, the Fundamental Rights Agency of the EU (FRA) conducted a big survey on discrimination and hatecrime against Jews .   The survey covered 12 Member States, where the vast majority of EU’s estimated Jewish population live (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom). It was the biggest survey of Jewish people ever conducted worldwide. Over one third of all respondents (39 %) experienced some form of antisemitic haras...