One reason the Israeli-Arab conflict persists is because the people of many Arab countries continue to be inundated with anti-Israel and anti-Semitic propaganda by their schools and state-controlled media. As a result, even Arab governments that have made peace with Israel are constrained from any public show of comity, lest they risk popular backlash. Nowhere is this problem so pronounced as in Israel’s “cold peace” with Egypt. The two countries have similar interests and their militaries often cooperate productively, yet there is minimal commerce or tourism, and often unnecessary hostility. A recent study, however, shows some surprising steps in the right direction. Miriam Wahba writes:

Egyptian textbooks have long depicted Christians, Jews, and other non-Muslims in a negative light, often framing these groups as adversaries of Islamic values and Egyptian identity. The 2023–24 report finds that a “significant number” of negative depictions have been removed. . . . In an 11th-grade history workbook, a multiple-choice question asking whether the caliph Umar forbade the Jews from living in Jerusalem due to “their betrayal and treachery” or “their love of money” has been removed. A fifth-grade textbook instructing students to use the Internet to find Quranic verses about “the treachery of the Jews” was also revised.

While these revisions are commendable, problematic content remains. A 12th-grade history textbook still asserts that “Zionists” exploited the “claim” that 6 million Jews were “killed or burned by the Nazis” to justify Jewish immigration to Palestine, stating that this population movement could only have occurred through “the extermination of the Arabs of Palestine.”

How did Qatar, an American ally, become the nerve center of the leading Palestinian jihadist organization? Natalie Ecanow explains.

When Jordan expelled Hamas in 1999, Qatar offered sanctuary to the group, which had already become notorious for using suicide-bombing attacks over the previous decade. . . . Hamas chose to relocate to Syria. However, that arrangement lasted for only a decade. With the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, the terror group found its way back to Qatar.

In 2003, Hamas leaders reportedly convened in Qatar after the IDF attempted to eliminate Hamas’s founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, following a Hamas suicide bombing in Jerusalem that killed seven people, including two American citizens. This episode led to one of the first efforts by Qatar to advocate for its terror proxy.

Thirteen years and five wars between Hamas and Israel later, Qatar’s support for Hamas has not waned. . . . To this day, Qatari officials maintain that the office came at the “request from Washington to establish indirect lines of communication with Hamas.” However, an Obama White House official asserted that there was never any request from Washington. . . . Inexplicably, the United States government continues to rely on Qatar to negotiate for the release of the hostages held by Hamas, even as the regime hosts the terror group’s political elite.

A reckoning is needed between our two countries. Congressional hearings, legislation, executive orders, and other measures to regulate relations between our countries are long overdue.