Saudi Arabia Removes Phrase “Muslims Will Never Give Up Jerusalem” from Textbooks

Afghan Voice Agency (AVA) - International Service: Critics have seen these measures as a sign of Riyadh distancing itself from the Palestinian cause and continuing the process of normalizing relations with Israel.

 

While critics of the Saudi government have for years objected to the changes in the content of children’s school textbooks in accordance with American demands; Rabbi Yehuda Kaplon, an Israeli-American rabbi and Washington’s ambassador to counter anti-Semitism, warmly praised Saudi Arabia’s move on the social network X.

 

He wrote: “We appreciate Saudi Arabia’s ongoing efforts to improve school curricula, including work to address issues of concern in the textbooks. President Trump and Secretary Rubio have made it clear: In the spirit of the Abraham Accords, let us build on the vision of our common ancestor Abraham to promote peace and coexistence between our peoples.

 

Meanwhile, the famous Yemeni cartoonist Kamal Sharaf has responded to Rabbi Yehuda Kaplon’s appreciation and gratitude to the Saudi government in a cartoon.

 

Critics say Saudi Arabia has made sweeping changes to the content of its school textbooks in recent years. These reforms, which have accelerated largely since the late 2010s and have been implemented with greater intensity under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and in the context of Vision 2030, have been carried out with the stated aim of “reducing extremist content, promoting tolerance and coexistence, and aligning with international standards of peace and tolerance.”

 

In this regard, the description of Zionism as a “European racist movement” aimed at expelling Palestinians and expanding borders to seize Arab lands, oil wells, and holy sites has been removed from textbooks. Phrases such as “Zionist enemy” or “Israeli enemy” have been replaced by “Israeli occupation.” Some maps that showed the entire land of Israel as “Palestine” have been revised and the name Palestine has been removed from some sections.

 

A complete high school social studies textbook that contained anti-Israeli content has been removed, and chapters on the “Zionist danger” or the accusation of the Zionist burning of Al-Aqsa Mosque in 1969 have also been removed.

 

In addition, content related to jihad and verses and hadiths related to jihad in the way of God have been removed from Saudi textbooks and replaced with concepts such as tolerance and coexistence with all, etc.