The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), an Israeli non-profit organization that monitors the content of school textbooks, discovered distortions in Irish schoolbooks. One inaccurately states that Jesus was born in a country called „Palestine“, which is also known as the Holy Land and located between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Another identifies Auschwitz as a “prisoner of war camp” which is the trivialization of the Holocaust. Both behaviours are codified in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism.
The IMPACT-se published a report titled „European Textbooks Ireland Review,“ in which it highlights numerous discrepancies in Irish textbooks about Jesus Christ, the Jewish people, Israel and the Holocaust, reports the JNS.
One of the textbooks provides inaccurate information about the birthplace of Jesus, stating that he was from the land of Palestine, in other words the Holy Land, which is located between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. This piece of information inaccurately ties the Christian holy figure to the Palestinian cause, and ignores Israel’s existence.
The text was found in an Irish religious studies textbook from 2020 for 7–9th graders. According to the report, it is part of a pattern of “oversimplification and delegitimization” of Israel and Jews.
“Historical references to Jesus living in ‘Palestine’ without appropriate context can contribute to narratives that challenge Israel’s legitimacy and undermine the Jewish historical connection to the land,” wrote IMPACT-se, since the area where Jesus lived was primarily referred to as Judea at the time.
Other textbooks feature the discredited “Palestinian Land Loss” maps, which mislabel Jordanian and Egyptian-held territory as part of “Palestine”.
A 2022 book civics textbook titled “Call to Action” uses an “unfair and inaccurate framing of Israel as the sole aggressor and actor responsible for the conflict.”
A history book titled “Dictatorship and Democracy” for 17- and 18-year-olds identifies Auschwitz as a “prisoner of war camp,” which “minimizes the unique and horrific nature of the Holocaust and the systematic extermination carried out there,” IMAPCT-se wrote.
The IMPACT-se calls on Ireland’s National Council for Curriculum and Assessment to “revise historical references and refrain from using politically-loaded terms like “Palestine” in the context of Jesus, and “implement proofreading and approval mechanisms.”
Ireland is among Israel’s harshest critics in the European Union, and one the few European countries that recognized Palestinian statehood in May. In March, Ireland said it would support South Africa’s lawsuit against Israel at the International Court of Justice for alleged genocide against Palestinians.
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