Time and again, Palestinian Authority (PA) officials, as well as administrators for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), have promised their Western backers that they will do away with textbooks that encourage violence and anti-Semitism. Yet a study released last fall by IMPACT-se, an organization that monitors the Palestinian curriculum, shows that there has been no progress to speak of. Marcus Sheff, the organization’s director, describes some of these textbooks and explains how schools that use them continue to get funding from America and Europe:

Newton’s Second Law is taught by way of a slingshot and the image of a violent confrontation. Nine-year-old children in the third grade recite a poem calling for “sacrificing blood” to remove the enemy from the land by “eliminating the usurper” and “annihilat[ing] the remnants of the foreigners.” Young Palestinians are even exhorted to sacrifice themselves. They are taught that jihad is the pinnacle of ambition, that martyrdom for boys and girls is a life goal. In perhaps the ultimate betrayal of young people, they are told that choosing death is better than choosing life. . . .

A long-classified report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) on the Palestinian curriculum taught in UNRWA schools was obtained by the congressional offices of Lee Zeldin and Scott Perry, and . . . a double deception was uncovered. The report shows that when UNRWA officials responsible for the PA curriculum were presented with irrefutable evidence that American funds had been abused to inculcate intolerance, they pledged to create supplementary materials to rectify the issue. However, the findings further show that UNRWA took no such actions, but instead lied to Washington about having done so. In other words, UNRWA officials were caught red-handed not only deceiving the U.S. government, but having gone to great lengths to avoid teaching the most basic principles of tolerance and respect.

Taking stock of the events of the last year, including the recent battering Israel has dealt Hizballah, Ben-Dror Yemini believes it is time for the Jewish state to take an even more significant step:

The Iranian axis of evil has attacked Israel from Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, and Syria—and a significant part of the world has aligned with the dark and murderous forces. A year in which even the leaders of countries expected to lead the free world, who should oppose the axis of evil, are imposing arms embargoes on Israel.

With or without the U.S., Israel must destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities. . . . Because if this regime is not eliminated, if it gains the capability, if it [obtains] nuclear weapons, it will destroy Israel. It will commit genocide on millions. Oil prices will rise? Let them rise. Our lives are more important.

The Middle East needs peace and rehabilitation. They will not come so long as the ayatollahs rule Iran. Tens of millions of Iranians, Lebanese, Iraqis, Yemenis, and Palestinians are the primary victims of the Iranian regime, which brings destruction, hunger, devastation, and bloodshed. It’s not clear if the U.S. can afford to abandon them. It is clear that Israel cannot abandon itself. It is possible that an action by Israel, alone, will exact a high price. But any price today will be lower than the price Israel will pay in the future.