![]() ![]() It also gives more strategic latitude for the leadership to bargain on these religious issues, as seen through the greater emphasis placed on peacemaking and tolerance,” she told CNN in an email.īut Diwan cautioned that the while the new language may show more religious tolerance towards Judaism, it leaves the “political acceptance of Israel in limbo.” “This allows for the easing of religious language denigrating Shiism, Judaism, and Christianity. Kristin Diwan, senior resident scholar at the Gulf States Institute in Washington, said the recent changes are in line with the kingdom’s new political orientation “with the ruling family central to its legitimacy.”įor decades, the government sought legitimacy at home and abroad though its status as the birthplace of Islam and home to its two holiest sites, but the kingdom has in recent years moved towards a more secular form of nationalism. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually removing radical content from its textbooks. Saudi Arabia’s school curriculum came under intense scrutiny in the West after the 9/11 attacks in which 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi. The Saudi Center for International Communication and the Ministry of Education didn’t respond to CNN’s request for comment.Įxperts on the region say while the textbook changes are notable, they should be seen in context.įareed's Take: How Saudi Arabia is building its brand around the world IMPACT-se observed that new content in Saudi textbooks also criticizes certain Islamist groups such as Hezbollah, ISIS, al Qaeda, Houthi militias and the Muslim Brotherhood.ĬNN has not independently verified the findings. The reliance on people’s short-memory is misguided in this instance.” She said however that it is “quite ambitious” for governments to “suddenly do a 180 (degree turn) and start preaching tolerance. “This also is intended to signal that the new Gulf states’ leaders are modern, forward-thinking and secular-leaning – all of which is meant to appeal to a specific, largely external audience,” said Mira Al Hussein, a research fellow focusing on Gulf states at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. IMPACT-se is also advising the United Arab Emirates’ ministry of education as it updates its school curricula to include Holocaust education. The organization, which has been monitoring Saudi textbooks since the early 2000s, examined changes made to more than 80 textbooks from the 2022-23 Saudi curriculum and more than 180 textbooks from previous curricula. The modifications, IMPACT-se said, “are an encouraging sign that progress may include attitudes toward Israel and Zionism.” And one textbook “removed an entire chapter addressing the Palestinian cause.” In the 2022-23 curriculum, a lesson on patriotic poetry removed an example of “opposing the Jewish settlement of Palestine.” A high school social studies textbook no longer contains a section describing the positive results of the First Intifada, the late 1980s Palestinian uprising against Israel. There continues to be no mention of the Holocaust. Certain references to “the Israeli enemy” or “the Zionist enemy” have been replaced with “the Israeli occupation” or “the Israeli occupation army.” But other negative references to Israel, as well omitting it on maps is also noted in the study. On Israel and the Palestinians, IMPACT-se found moderation, but not yet full acceptance of Israel. Why an Arab nation has opted to teach the Holocaust in its schools ![]() Student rabbis carry in a Torah for a demonstration during lessons at the Jewish Hebrew School on Octoin Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Prominent examples removed include implications “that Jews and Christians are the enemies of Islam,” or that “Jews and Christians are criticized for having ‘destroyed and distorted’ the Torah and Gospel,” according to the study. For years, researchers have been observing a gradual moderation on subjects ranging from gender roles to the promotion of peace and tolerance.Īmong the changes raising attention recently, in light of reports that the United States is trying to pave the way toward normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel, are edits related to Jews, Christians and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Ī report released last month from the Israel- and London-based Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), which mainly monitors how Israel and Jews are portrayed in education texts, found “almost all examples portraying Christians and Jews in a negative manner” were removed from the latest Saudi textbooks, building on trends seen in previous years. Textbooks in Saudi Arabia have been changing.
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