Adolf Hitler has been celebrated in a Tunisian textbook for his role in turning Germany into “a great economic and military power,” while the Holocaust is largely absent from the texts, according to new research published by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) on Tuesday.
The Grade 11 Literature textbook also recognized Hitler as “one of the most important figures in the world of politics and warfare in the 20th century.”
Marcus Sheff, the CEO of IMPACT-se, shared, “Today’s Tunisian curriculum champions modern, enlightened values. It loudly celebrates gender equality, condemns racism, and encourages civic duty, tolerance, and peaceful dialogue. These are strong signals of a society moving forward. However, these values cannot be selectively applied. It is entirely unacceptable that antisemitic imagery and rhetoric remain across subjects, and that violence against Israel is at times justified and even glorified. If Tunisia sees itself as an example of progress in the region, then this underbelly of discrimination must be addressed.”
Analyzing 80 textbooks from the national school curriculum spanning Grades 1-13 in humanities subjects, IMPACT-se researchers found that while most texts celebrated diversity and tolerance, antisemitic stereotypes and commentary persist in Tunisian education.
Where Nazi atrocities are touched upon, such as book burnings or the use of concentration camps, the IMPACT-se report noted that a neutral tone was employed and there was no mention of Jews. As the only Arab country formally occupied by the Nazis, the report assessed that the neutral tone was unusual.
The false claims of Zionist thought'
Though it was acknowledged that several influential figures, including Albert Einstein, fled Nazi persecution, their Jewish identities went largely unmentioned.
Grade 13 students were also introduced to the French philosopher and famed Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy, though they were told his trial was for exposing “the false claims [of] Zionist thought,” rather than denying the murder of 6,000,000 Jews.
Pointing to a specific case of antisemitic imagery, the IMPACT-se report pointed to a Grade 11 Arabic Language textbook that contained a story portraying a Jewish merchant as greedy and deceitful. The textbook claims that the Jewish merchant is emblematic of all Jews “who are always like this.”
Likened to a mythical monster, the Jewish merchant is accused of deceiving a Muslim farmer and blamed for the misfortunes of Egypt.
The report found similar imagery in a Grade 12 history textbook, where students were taught about the apparent Jewish control on Algerian trade through a letter excerpt sent in 1798 by the French consul in Algeria. The letter accused the Jews of secretly scheming to “subjugate Tunisia” and establish a “new regime that will devastate France.”
Despite notable instances of antisemitism, some textbooks seemed to promote peace between Islam and other religions. In one Grade 9 Islamic education textbook, it is encouraged for Muslim students to learn about other faiths, and it was asserted that Islam should play a role in bringing about peaceful coexistence with Jews and Christians.
Many of the textbooks recognize Tunisia’s own Jewish community and the history of Jews in North Africa, though the books fail to provide any information on the tenets of Judaism.
Hostility toward Israel
The report also highlighted cases of significant hostility toward Israel, with most curriculum maps labeling the entirety of the Jewish state as “Palestine.” A few of the maps acknowledged Israel’s existence only indirectly, sometimes referring to it as the “Jewish state” or selectively acknowledging that some cities were founded by Jews.
Though the textbooks were found to acknowledge that antisemitism played a role in the mass migration of Jews during the British mandate, it presents Zionism as exploiting the persecution.
A “significant” amount of attention was also found to have been paid to the Arab-Israeli conflict, though IMPACT-se found that the information given in the textbooks is biased against Israel. Zionism is depicted as a European colonial project and an expansionist ideology.
Across multiple textbooks, Zionism is framed as driven by “colonialist and Zionist greedy ambitions,” and Israel is mostly referred to as the “Zionist entity.”
Beyond textbooks delegitimizing the state, researchers warned that the curriculum praised terrorist operations. In a Grade 13 history textbook, the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre was labeled as the “fedayeen operation.” Fedayeen is Arabic for self-sacrificers.
Many of the textbooks frame the conflict in a way in which only Israel is responsible for the tragedies that occurred within the conflict. Muhammad al-Durrah, a 12-year-old Palestinian killed in 2000 after being caught in the crossfire between Palestinian terrorists and Israeli soldiers, is presented as a victim of Israel and his death as a premeditated attack.
Demolitions, arrests, and checkpoints are all described in detail, often as a humiliation for Palestinians, but terror attacks and Palestinian extremism go largely unmentioned, the report found.