“Why do the Palestinians consistently choose to honor mass murderers?” — this question was part of one of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s short speeches shared by the official Israel PM media. He posed it at the end of a story meant to illustrate his claim that Palestinian children are being brainwashed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long accused the Palestinian Authority of promoting hatred toward Jews through its education system and public memorials, a claim that continues to spark debate among political observers, human rights groups, and educators across the region.

“I want you to close your eyes and imagine a seven-year-old Palestinian girl named Fatima,” he began. “Fatima is walking with her mother to school. They pass a statue erected in June, and young Fatima asks, ‘Mommy, who is that?’ Her mother replies, ‘That’s Khaled Nazzal. He planned the murder of 22 Israeli schoolchildren and four adults.’”

“On their way home, Fatima and her mother pass another statue, also erected by the Palestinian Authority last year. ‘What’s his name?’ Fatima asks with childlike curiosity. Her mother answers, ‘That’s Abu Sukkar. He murdered 15 Israelis.’ Another statue, Netanyahu added, honors Dalal Mughrabi, who killed 37 Israelis on a bus.”

Netanyahu concluded, “Fatima does not deserve to be brainwashed with this kind of hatred. Children should be taught to love and respect — not to hate and kill.”

He reiterated the story to emphasize his concern over what he described as Palestinian society’s glorification of attackers, including Dalal Mughrabi, who carried out a 1978 bus hijacking that left 37 Israelis dead.

Palestinian children are often seen wearing Hamas military uniforms and carrying real weapons during parades and public gatherings as the new generation ready to defend the Palestinian cause through martyrdom for the sake of God.

In Islamic belief, martyrdom refers to dying in the path of God and for the faith, with the promise of eternal reward. On May 24, 2021, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar appeared at a ceremony in Gaza honoring fighters killed by Israeli airstrikes. During the event, Sinwar was photographed holding a nine-year-old boy dressed in military clothing and carrying a real firearm.

Netanyahu has repeatedly accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields during conflicts with Israel, including in the ongoing Gaza war.

According to United Nations reports, more than 64,000 Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip have been killed or injured since Israel’s military campaign began in October 2023. The U.N. estimates that more than 15,000 children have been killed, including about 1,000 infants, and children account for more than 30% of all Palestinian casualties since the war began.

Earlier this month, Netanyahu reiterated his long-standing position that any future Palestinian state must first “end the teaching of hatred and violence.” During a joint press conference at the White House with then-U.S. President Donald Trump, Netanyahu referenced Trump’s 2020 peace plan, which tied Palestinian statehood to educational reforms.

“Without undergoing a radical and genuine transformation,” Netanyahu said, “it’s not lip service. It is not checking a box. It’s a fundamental, genuine, and enduring transformation. And that means ending pay-to-slay, changing the poisonous textbooks that teach hatred to Jews to Palestinian children.”

Education and Religion in the Arab World

In many Arab countries, Arabic language and Islamic studies are mandatory subjects in the national curriculum. Students must pass these subjects to graduate, regardless of their religion.

In Egypt, Arabic and Quranic studies are required to pass Arabic-language exams. The rule applies to both Muslim and Christian students. Critics say this effectively obliges Christian students to study and memorize verses from the Quran, with no alternative option.

Some of these verses, according to human rights advocates, include content perceived as hostile toward Jews and Christians. Egyptian officials and supporters of the policy argue that Quranic study is used to teach language and cultural heritage, not religious doctrine.

The practice has drawn criticism from rights groups and members of Egypt’s Christian community, who argue that it forces students to learn religious texts outside their faith. Supporters, however, maintain that it strengthens linguistic skills and national identity.

Coptic Advocate Raises Concerns

Magdi Khalil, an Egyptian-American political analyst and advocate for the Coptic Christian community, told Reynard News that Christian students in Egypt are required to memorize selected Quranic verses to pass Arabic exams. Khalil, who emigrated to the United States in the 1990s, said the policy compels students to learn passages that, in his view, promote hostility toward Jews and endorse “jihad.”

“Jihad” in Islam means to fight for”Allah”against anyone who doesn’t believe in Mohammad prophet or Islamic religion.

Khalil said he felt humiliated as a Christian student required to memorize verses he described as advocating hatred. He also said that “one of the causes of violence in Muslim societies is the teaching of verses that encourage hatred in schools.”

Jews and Muslim Palestinians each believe in erasing the other and claim exclusive rights to the land. What exists today is an existential war between Israel and Hamas that began in 2023, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,200 Israeli civilians and over 1,000 Israeli soldiers, while more than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, 2023.

Hamas shocked the world with horrific videos from the October 7 attack, which included the kidnapping of 250 hostages from Israel. The incident was followed by large demonstrations calling to “free Palestine from the river to the sea,” a slogan interpreted by many as a call to remove Jews from the land of Israel or Palestine.

Most Arab and Muslim-majority countries still do not recognize Israel as a state. Israel, in turn, does not recognize Palestine as a sovereign state and maintains that Palestinians are Arabs who seized land historically belonging to Israel.

In Israel, school maps typically show the entire territory as Israel, with no reference to Palestine. Palestinian textbooks have likewise been criticized for omitting Israel and depicting the land as exclusively Palestinian. Both societies, critics say, use education to reinforce national narratives that depict the other as an enemy.