Israel Matzav: Fatah refuses to teach the Holocaust

Fatah refuses to teach the Holocaust

What's the difference between Fatah and Hamas? When it comes to teaching the Holocaust, there is no difference at all.

You may recall that Hamas was justifiably lambasted in the media last week for refusing an UNRWA offer to teach the Holocaust to children in Gaza schools. At the time, I questioned why anyone thought Fatah was any better than Hamas, noting that Fatah is headed by a Holocaust denier, presenting a video of Holocaust denial by Fatah officials on Fatah television, and questioning why Israel and the West 'negotiate' with Fatah if Holocaust denial is justification not to do so.

On Tuesday, Palestinian Media Watch issued a report that confirmed everything I wrote last week.

But Holocaust denial and distortion are already common components of Palestinian ideology. In the newest Palestinian schoolbooks produced by the Palestinian Ministry of Education, there is no mention of the Holocaust or of racial discrimination against Jews, although the subject of the Second World War is treated in detail.

For PMW's report on the lack of Holocaust education in PA schoolbooks, click here.
For PMW's latest report on Palestinian schoolbooks, click here.

As well, Fatah political and religious leaders have either denied or minimized the Holocaust on official Fatah-controlled television and in official PA daily newspapers. And PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas wrote his doctoral thesis on "the secret relationship between Nazism and Zionism."

To see excerpts from Abbas's thesis, click here and here.

Read and watch the whole thing.

Since the post I did last week was in response to a post on Lefty blog Think Progress by Matthew Yglesias, maybe some of you could send this to him and he can explain to us why the Left thinks Fatah is a 'negotiating partner.'

Israel Matzav: Fatah refuses to teach the Holocaust