The Hamas leadership in Gaza is vocally objecting to a plan to teach the Holocaust in local schools under a new plan set to be implemented by the United Nations.
Indeed, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) — which is responsible for educating 200,000 students in the squalid Strip — is apparently set to introduce lessons on the Holocaust in the coming school year.
Calling the Holocaust “a lie invented by the Zionists”, Gazan officials have asked the UN to remove the Holocaust from new books poised to enter the classroom.
Hamas’ reasons are clear: They contend the Holocaust has been used by Jews/Israel to justify the ongoing occupation of Arab land. Israel, meanwhile, sees Arab denial of the Holocaust as yet another stumbling block in the acceptance of Israel’s existence in the Middle East.
Interestingly, there is actually no real confirmation that the UN is actually going to teach the Holocaust in Gaza.
In response to the controversy, UNRWA spokesman Adnan Abu Hasna said: “There is no mention of the Holocaust in the current syllabus.” And when asked if UNRWA planned to change that, he declined to comment.