The European Parliament passed resolutions Wednesday conditioning future European Union funding to the Palestinian Authority on the removal of antisemitic and inciting materials from official educational curricula, marking the seventeenth consecutive year of parliamentary condemnation of PA textbooks.
The resolutions specifically targeted educational materials that IMPACT-se, an international education watchdog, characterized as containing “antisemitic content, incitement to violence and the glorification of martyrdom and jihad.” The parliamentary action represented an escalation in European pressure on Palestinian leadership, tying financial assistance—a critical lifeline for the PA’s government—to concrete curriculum reform.
In 2024, the Palestinian Authority had explicitly agreed with the EU to purge textbooks of hateful and violent content. Yet as of Wednesday’s parliamentary session, no substantive reforms had occurred. The educational materials remained unchanged—still promoting antisemitic tropes, glorifying jihad, and framing martyrdom as a worthy sacrifice.
IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff characterized the PA’s inaction as a calculated betrayal. “Today, the European Parliament has sent a clear and vital message to both the Palestinian Authority and the European Commission – It is unthinkable that after the October 7 massacres, the PA’s curriculum remains infected with hatred, violence and antisemitism,” he stated.
“The PA’s pledge to reform its curriculum has proven to be an empty promise,” he said. “The time has come for the Commission to demonstrate that the PA’s inaction and duplicity, which threatens to radicalize the next generation of Palestinians, has real-world diplomatic and financial consequences.”
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