Iranian students are exposed to antisemitism, hate and incitement to violence against the United States, Israel, and the Jewish people, according to a special report by the Anti-Defamation League to mark the 42nd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran.
Predicated on a comprehensive research of official Iranian textbooks, the report reveals that schools in the Islamic republic teach students to chant “Death to Israel,” which is presented to them as an illegitimate regime that must be destroyed. The educational material claims the Jews plotted against Islam since its inception, falsified Islamic texts, and were quick to use violence to achieve their goals. One of the claims is that this violence was perpetrated by Freemasons.
The report, which is based on data compiled from the past five years, says Iranian students are taught that American economic sanctions imposed on Iran are part of a “satanic plan” to eradicate the religious beliefs of Muslims; and that through their nuclear scientists in particular, the Iranian people “have achieved a blessing with your great jihad and the blood of your bounteous youths.”
The author of the report, Dr. David Weinberg, the ADL’s Washington Director for International Affairs, also notes that updated textbooks in Iran propagate conspiracy theories claiming that Western media exaggerated the coronavirus issue in 2020 to reduce the number of people attending the ayatollah regime’s 41st anniversary ceremony last year.
“While some curricula in the region are starting to improve, scaling back incitement and encouraging discussions about tolerance,” Weinberg writes, “Tehran’s educational antisemitism and incitement to violence is as militant as ever.
“From demonizing Jews in lessons about ancient history to glorifying antisemitic terrorists as recently as 2020, Tehran’s current curriculum is brimming with state-sponsored bigotry.”
ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, concluded: “It is no secret that the Iranian regime continues to promote extremism and terrorism and feeds its people on a steady diet of antisemitic and anti-American propaganda. Iran’s textbooks show how deeply ingrained this official campaign of incitement is within society, and how they are reaching impressionable young people with these xenophobic and dehumanizing messages as part of the formal teaching curriculum.”
Source: ADL
