Textbooks altered line by line at UK Lawyers for Israel’s behest
JVL Introduction
Publisher Pearson, the largest supplier of textbooks to UK schools, has told Middle East Eye it is pausing further distribution of two books about the Israel/Palestine conflict which it had amended after a complaint from UK Lawyers for Israel.
The publisher was responding to an eight-page report, by Middle East specialists Professors John Chalcraft and James Dickins, which found hundreds of changes to the textbooks overwhelmingly favouring an Israeli narrative and removing or replacing passages that support Palestinian narratives.
The massacre at Deir Yassin, for example, has been downgraded from an “atrocity” to a simple, value-free “act”; Jewish actions previously described as “terrorist” are also downgraded, while the number of such acts by Palestinians has soared…
No wonder Chalcraft says: “The overall effect is to make these books dangerously misleading.”
There is no indication for the reader of the revised texts that these were in fact new editions, or any indication of the extent of the changes made.
MEE’s report appears below, followed by the press release on which it is based.
This article was originally published by Middle East Eye on Thu 1 Apr 2021. Read the original here.
UK school textbooks on Middle East conflict altered to favour Israel: Report
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Orwells vision of Minitrue come to life.
What this amounts to is that advocates of Israel’s Hasbarah have surreptitiously doctored textbooks used by British school kids. On this occasion they have been caught red-handed. One wonders how much of this sort of thing is going on…
Israeli pressure groups such as the the British Board of Deputies of British Jews and UK Lawyers for Israel have overreached themselves. The fighback is on.
Another way to ‘justify’ the atrocities against and the breaches of human rights of the Palestinian population. How low can the people behind this sink?
A couple of thoughts:-
** Why did any reputable publisher – especially one producing books for children – allow “interested parties” to revise text books?
** As lawyers, the UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) body must have known that the revisions made to the text dealing with international law were incorrect.
Individual lawyers’ and legal bodies’ professional conduct are overseen by their professional regulators. Would any of those involved in this particular “project” have put themselves at risk of a case against them for professional misconduct?
Wherever one looks, there are groups of well organised Zionists whether it be in the print media or the broadcast media such as the BBC trying to down play the rights and the suffering of the Palestinians and Ziowash the apartheid, racist actions of Israel. It’s incessant, determined and all pervading.
A country that rewrites it’s own history has something shameful to hide! Dishonesty breeds contempt…….. and you wonder why people don’t love you. Get a grip. Live with the truth. The only way forward is to admit to the mistakes of the past and redress them.
So now we have fake text books. I hope these will be banned in the UK
This is outrageous. The NEU should call for a boycott of this doctored textbook. UKLFI should not be afforded charitable status and the BoD should be exposed for its role in this matter. They clearly believe it is acceptable to rewrite history to defend the rogue state of Israel.
It’s amazing how so many of these Israeli advocacy groups in the UK have acquired charitable status. How have they been allowed to get away with this? It’s time for this to be challenged by as wide a range of organisations as possible.