Jordanian textbooks contain antisemitic content, praise Hamas' Oct 7 attack

School textbooks in Jordan include content that portrays Israel and Jews negatively and contain positive references to the Oct. 7 attack, according to a new report by IMPACT-se, a London-based watchdog that monitors global education systems and promotes coexistence.

“Jordan’s education system has become one of the most dangerous in the region,” the IMPACT-se’s CEO Marcus Sheff assessed.

“It systematically incites hatred and violence toward Jews and Israel, echoes Hamas propaganda, and fosters hostility in the classroom. This is not theoretical – it plays out in real-world violence, as we saw at the border,” he continued, referring to the recent terror attack in which a Jordanian national – tasked with transporting aid to Gaza – murdered two Israeli soldiers at the Allenby Crossing between Jordan and the West Bank.

Israel and Jordan formally signed a peace treaty over 30 years ago, in 1994. While past Jordanian textbooks briefly mentioned the peace agreement with Israel the new Jordanian schoolbooks present the peace agreement as something negative that was forced on the country in order to prevent Israel’s alleged “greedy ambitions” of expansionism in the Middle East. 

King Abdullah II of Jordan, a formal U.S. ally, has publicly endorsed the two-state solution. However, according to a new report, current Jordanian school textbooks erase Israel within its internationally recognized borders and replace it with “Palestine.”

The report further states that the textbooks praise the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack and portray the murdered Israeli civilians as “settlers” living in “Israeli colonies around Gaza” – despite the fact that all the attacked communities were located within Israel’s internationally recognized territory. Women and children killed in the attack are depicted as legitimate targets.

A 10th-grade Jordanian civics textbook justifies the Oct. 7 massacre by claiming it was a response to Israel’s “daily massacres” and an “assault on Al-Aqsa Mosque.” The textbook does not provide evidence or elaboration for these claims. It also blames Israel for the destruction and displacement in Gaza while omitting any mention of Hamas initiating the war or its documented use of civilians as human shields.

The report states that Jordanian textbooks contain strongly anti-Israel content and promote antisemitic tropes. For example, a 9th-grade Islamic studies textbook claims that “betrayal and treaty violations are part of the innate nature of the Jews.” A 12th-grade textbook includes praise for Jihad, or holy war, against “infidel warriors,” which the report interprets as encouraging hostility.

Jordanian textbooks have erased any references to the Holocaust in which six million Jews were murdered, or the Nazi genocidal ideology. Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939 is described as a “territorial conflict.” 

“Education can either prevent or promote extremism,” Eric Agassi, IMPACT-se’s deputy director explained. 

“Jordan’s current curriculum leads students down a path of hatred and violence. The international community must act urgently to reverse this trend and return to teaching values of peace and tolerance,” he urged. 

Hatred against Israel and the Jewish people is deeply entrenched in much of the Arab and Muslim world. However, there are a few exceptions. For example, in February, U.S. Jewish organizations praised Azerbaijan, a Muslim-majority country with close ties to Israel for promoting tolerance towards Jews and coexistence.

"The textbooks (of Azerbaijan) demonstrate a clear rejection of the extreme Islamist values promoted by their near-neighbor Iran," IMPACT–se CEO Marcus Sheff said. "Instead, they promote tolerance, diversity, and a heartfelt respect for Jews and Israel, which serves as an important model for many other majority-Muslim states."