The Role of “Jews” and “Israel” in School Textbooks across the Arab World

In today’s podcast, INSS researcher Adi Kantor sits down with Arik Agassi, COO and Head of Global Partnerships at the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), and an expert in the field of global policy and education. Agassi leads the work of a think tank that analyzes curricula around the world through UNESCO-defined standards. IMPACT-se’s work stimulates positive changes in school textbooks, and its policy recommendations have been used as roadmaps by many governments for introducing systematic reforms in national curricula worldwide. What is the role of a textbook in an era of social media? What influence does it have on young readers, and what role does it play in state policy? How are “Jews” and “Israel” perceived in textbooks across the Arab world? What explains the differences between countries, and what role do educators have? And, finally, what can be done in order to reduce the spread of antisemitic and anti-Israel texts in these books?