Justifying Oct. 7: Jordan's curriculum full of antisemitic, anti-Israel content, passages - Mathlda Heller

 

by Mathlda Heller

IMPACT-se studied 294 textbooks from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan’s national school curriculum.

 

A Jordanian flag flies over the capital city, Amman, Jordan August 17, 2025.

(photo credit: REUTERS/MOHAMED ABD EL GHANY)

Jordan’s educational curriculum has become increasingly antisemitic and anti-Israel, according to the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), an Israeli nonprofit that monitors the content of school textbooks.

One of Jordan’s new textbooks even justifies the October 7 massacre, IMPACT-se said in its latest report.

IMPACT-se studied 294 textbooks from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan’s national school curriculum that were approved for the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years. The topics include Islamic Education, Arabic Language, Social Studies, National and Civic Education, History, and Geography.

Overall, Jordanian curriculum falls short of meeting UNESCO-derived standards of peace and tolerance in education, IMPACT-se said in its report.

Despite recent comprehensive curriculum reform in which many textbooks were replaced or modified, jihad, lessons on martyrdom, Zionist aggression, and Jewish corruption remain in the curriculum, the report said.

In January 2024, three months after the October 7 massacre, Jordan introduced a new Grade 10 National and Civic Education textbook that downplayed and legitimized the Hamas attack. It also undermined Jordan’s peace treaty with Israel, which it referred to as “the Enemy” and called its communities “colonies” and citizens “settlers,” IMPACT-se reported.

A Jordanian flag flies as people stand at the Roman Temple of Hercules during their visit to the Amman Citadel, an ancient Roman landmark, in Amman, Jordan August 17, 2025. (credit: REUTERS/MOHAMED ABD EL GHANY)

While the passage was reportedly removed from the textbooks a month later, the official website of the National Center for Curriculum Development retains the passage on its website.

Jews and antisemitism

Jews are often depicted in a negative way in the Jordanian curriculum, the report said.

For example, from Grade 6, Islamic textbooks covering the life of Muhammad include hateful messages when referencing Jews and associate Jewish characters with disloyalty or hostile behavior.

The theme of Jewish betrayal is apparent through much of the educational material, the report said.

A section titled “The Jews’ Betrayal” teaches that Jews regularly violated agreements and conspired against Muhammad, merging multiple separate incidents into a single narrative depicting Jewish treachery and hostility. According to the teachers’ guide, “The Jews always breached agreements and violated treaties.”

In several Islamic Education textbooks, students are told that “treachery and violation of agreements” are Jews’ “natural qualities.”

A Grade 9 lesson says Jews share characteristics with “the Hypocrites, chief among which is lying.”

IMPACT-se also found prominent use of economic antisemitic tropes, such as passages on Jews “controlling the economy” of Medina through “exploitation.”

The modern persecution of Jews is also notably ignored, the report said. IMPACT-se found that a lesson about WWII in a History Grade 10 textbook failed to mention the Holocaust and other Nazi atrocities. The text says Nazism was a “racist political movement... espousing enmity to democracy, supremacy of the Germanic race and its right to lead the world,” but it omits any reference to the atrocities perpetrated by Nazi Germany during the war.

Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict

The Jordanian curriculum portrays Israel as an “illegitimate, expansionist enemy, justifies violence against it, and erases its existence from maps and historical narratives,” the report said.

Zionism is additionally depicted as “a racist, colonial conspiracy,” IMPACT-se reported.

The hostages taken captive from Israel during the October 7 massacre are described as “settlers” living in “Israeli colonies which surround the Gaza Strip,” which IMPACT-se says implies they are legitimate targets for violence.

Maps and geographical descriptions erase Israel and label internationally recognized (pre-1967) Israeli territory as Palestinian. For example, official border crossings with Israel are labeled as crossings between Jordan and “Palestine.”

Jordan’s peace agreement with Israel is barely acknowledged, appearing only in passing in two textbooks.

While the current curriculum still takes an anti-Israeli stance, some inflammatory content regarding Israel was removed as a part of the replacement of older textbooks, the report said. One passage that was removed compared Zionism to Nazism and Fascism by listing them as the most prominent extremist movements of the previous century, it said.

Jihad and martyrdom

IMPACT-se found that violent interpretations of jihad prevail in Jordanian textbooks, with significant emphasis on militant jihad.

In several instances, textbook authors discuss jihad with the implicit assumption of a violent interpretation, especially within the context of war, IMPACT-se reported. However, some textbooks impose limitations on violent jihad by linking it to state-organized warfare, it said.

Additionally, martyrdom and death in battle are glorified and painted in religious terms in both Islamic Education and Arabic Language textbooks, the report said.

While on the surface, “Jordanian textbooks seemingly continue to advocate for the values of peace, tolerance, religious moderation and equality,” they simultaneously exclude both Jewish people and Israel from the application of these values, “targeting both groups with hateful messaging while offering no representation of their perspectives,” the report said.

“This approach impedes accurate understanding of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and risks cultivating contempt and fear of the ‘other,’” IMPACT-se concluded. 

Mathlda Heller

Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-868548

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter