New York Times On Whitewash Of Anti-Israel Palestinian Textbooks Gets It Wrong

It is all very well for the New York Times to claims that it publishes "all the news that's fit to print," but maybe it's time for them to clarify the agenda they use to make that determination.

For example, The New York Times reports that Academic Study Weakens Israeli Claim That Palestinian School Texts Teach Hate:

An academic study of the contents of Israeli and Palestinian Authority textbooks, to be published Monday, finds that each side generally presents the other as the enemy, but it undermines recent assertions by the Israeli government that Palestinian children are educated “to hate.”

While there is mention of the controversy over the report, it is reduced to a collection of claims without looking into what is behind the dispute.

So is that study really that conclusive?

Ben-Dror Yemin, writing in the Times of Israel, does the job The New York Times should have done -- investigating the biases of the report on Palestinian textbooks and what was left out:

Arlene Kushner On Artificially Equating Palestinian Textbooks With Israeli Textbooks

From Arlene Kushner:
February 7, 2013

As Situations Stand

Returning to little Zakkai for a moment.  The family has asked me to express gratitude to all those who wrote to me to say they were praying, wished him well, etc.  It matters to them a great deal.

Then I was asked to post these mitzvah opportunities in merit of good surgery and healing for Zakkai, for those who would like to participate:

• challah baking
• 25-hour tehillim rally

~~~~~~~~~~

Turning to our world...

Barry Rubin has written a particularly important article.  Its title makes clear what he's talking about: "Not a Mistake, Misunderstanding, or Well-Intended Criticism But a Deliberate Campaign to Bash Israel."   (Emphasis is added)

The Middle East Media Sampler 2/5/13: Are Israeli and Palestinian Textbooks Comparable?

From +David Gerstman:

The textbook symmetry

A number of news organizations have reported on a recent study of Palestinian and Israeli textbooks that was funded by the State Department.

The JTA reported New textbook study threatens to undercut argument that Palestinian schools preach hate:

“This obviously cuts down one of the pegs and a linchpin in the argument that the Israel government makes, that the Palestinian Authority is teaching hatred to their kids,” said an official who works closely with mainstream Jewish organizations in the United States. The official declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

That's a nice touch, suggesting that someone has been intimidated by pro-Israel forces. Joel Greenberg of the Washington Post reported Israelis unhappy with study of their textbooks and Palestinians’:

Palestinian Textbooks Found to Demonize Israel--So WAFA Examines Israeli Media And Found...

According to the Jerusalem Post back in April, a report by The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-SE) reported that Israel was either absent or only mentioned negative in the Palestinian Authority textbooks--Jews were demonized while martyrdom was praised and the Jewish Quarter was removed from Old City map and Hebrew erased from Mandate-era stamp.

IMPACT-SE reviewed well over 100 textbooks and teacher guides distributed by the PA Ministry of Education and Higher Education--books approved by the PA and used in Gaza as well:

While respect for the environment and sustainable energy resources are taught to Palestinian students, IMPACT-SE found that textbooks blame Israel for all environmental problems.

“There is generally a total denial of the existence of Israel – and if there is an Israeli presence it is usually extremely negative,” said Eldad Pardo, an IMPACT-SE board member, and head of the organization’s Palestinian textbook research group. “For the next generation, there is no education at all about collaboration and no information about the many collaborations that already exist between Israelis and Palestinians in environmental and other areas.”