Top secret sources revealed that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) has removed anti-Israel content from Saudi school textbooks.
Material implying that Jews are the enemies of Islam, as well as interpretations of Qur’anic verses and oral traditions, saying Jews and Christians of plotting against Islam, have been removed, according to the sources.
Israeli sources have praised the radical change introduced by MBS Salman, considering it a “positive trend-line of improvement.”
A classic anti-Semitic trope that Jews, identified as “Zionist forces,” use villainous methods to control the world has been dropped while new tolerant material had been injected into the curriculum.
The clear trend of moderation in relation to Israel is also highly noteworthy. Attitudes towards Israel are becoming “more balanced and tolerant.” As an example, it noted the removal of an entire chapter that was titled “the Zionist danger” that delegitimized Israel’s right to exist.
The textbooks started refering to Israel by name after it was usually called “the Zionist entity.”
Zionism was earlier described as a colonial and racist European movement aimed at expelling Palestinians from their homes. However, the new textbook replaced references to the “the Zionist enemy” with “the Israeli occupation army,” and moved to “the Israeli occupation” instead of “the Israeli enemy.”
In religion textbooks, lessons promoting negative stereotypes of Jews and Christians have been noticeably toned down.
There has also been some backsliding in Saudi Arabia’s treatment of Israel in recent years.
Israel is hoping to reach a normalization agreement with Riyadh by the end of the year with US help.
In press statements, MBs called Israel a “potential ally,” hoping that the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians is solved.
“We don’t look at Israel as an enemy, we look to them as a potential ally, with many interests that we can pursue together… But we have to solve some issues before we get to that.”
