European Commissioner Expresses Support for Freezing Palestinian Aid

Dion J. Pierre

Oliver Varhelyi, the EU Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, speaking at press meeting in Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: TT News Agency/Pontus Lundahl via Reuters

A cabinet member of the European Commission, a body within the executive of the European Union, has expressed support for suspending aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) if its leaders continue refusing to remove antisemitic and violent themes from schoolchildren’s textbooks.

EU Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi made the comments on Friday, following the European Parliament’s passing last Wednesday two resolutions insisting “that all antisemitic references be deleted and that examples that incite hatred and violence be removed.”

“Education for the next generation that supports peace, tolerance, coexistence & non-violence is a shared interest,” Varhelyi, who assured Israel in May that aid to the PA will not fund terror groups, said in a public statement. “We remain committed to deliver through constructive engagement with the Palestinian Authority, while reserving the right to take appropriate measures as necessary.”

Wednesday’s resolutions mark the second time in under two months that the EU Parliament has passed a resolution calling on the European Commission to suspend aid to the Palestinian Authority’s educational system until antisemitic and violent themes are removed from textbooks and other content provided to K-12 students. Additionally, the resolution marked the fourth year in the row that the EU has demanded immediate changes to Palestinian curriculum, which experts and lawmakers have described as the most antisemitic in the region and a factor protracting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The EU parliament passed a similar measure in December, declaring that PA curriculum is in tension with European values. The previous year, in May 2021, the body froze aid to the Palestinian Authority for 13 months. Aid resumed the following January, with former European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen insisting that “all the difficulties are gone.”

In May, a different measure passed with 421 yes votes which noted that antisemitic content is influencing a rise in terrorist activity among Palestinian teenagers.

The Palestinian Authority has never significantly reformed its educational system, according to several reports by Impact-se, a pro-Israel watchdog group, which has continued to find, for example, grammar lessons saying “The Palestinians sacrifice their blood to liberate Jerusalem” and Arabic Drill Cards for 9th graders that say, “When the [Muslim] nation is negligent in protecting al-Aqsa, then the Jews will dare to defile it.” Israel also does not appear on any maps shown to students.

Teachers and staff working at Palestinian schools, who are funded by money the EU gives to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA), also promote antisemitism and hate on social media and in the classroom, according to a report issued by Impact-se in March which cited over 200 examples of the problem.

Across the Atlantic, US lawmakers have called for conditioning aid to the Palestinian Authority’s education system, proposing in March the United Nations Relief and Works Agency Accountability and Transparency Act, which would require the US Secretary of State’s certifying that UNRWA is audited by an independent body that determines its schools do not teach antisemitic tropes, employee individuals linked to terrorist organizations, or allow their grounds to be used for terrorist activities.

Proposed in the US Senate and House of Representatives by Sen. James E. Risch (R-ID) and Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), the bill has yet to be voted on be either body.