EU Parliament: Freeze funding for Palestinians until textbooks stop incitement

Amid rocket fire on Israel, the European Parliament passed a decision on Wednesday condemning the Palestinian Authority for the continuous incitement of violence, antisemitism, and hate in its textbooks for the fourth year in a row.

The decision called to freeze funding for the Palestinian Authority until its curriculum matches the international standards of peace and tolerance and the violence is removed. Those charged with writing the textbooks are the clerks at the PA Ministry of Education's content development department, whose salaries are paid by the EU.

The decision was passed as part of the EU's annual budget inspection, which inspects how it spends its taxpayers' money on EU projects.

The condemnation passed, with an overwhelming majority of 451 for, 151 against, and five abstaining, due to support from center-left parties that voted for a wording that was unprecedentedly critical of the Palestinians when compared to past years. READ MORE