What Syrian Children learn: Anti-Semitism, Love of Russia, Suspicion of Iran

Syria’s bond with Russia is a permanent one, but its alliance with Iran may be shakier. That, at least, is the conclusion suggested by an analysis of the official Syrian school curriculum of Bashar Assad’s regime, which found mounting appreciation of Russian culture –– including compulsory study of the Russian language –– but a derogatory view of Iran.

The report was compiled by the research and policy institute IMPACT-se, which has been studying and analyzing official school textbooks since 1998. Researchers Dr. Eldad Pardo and Maya Jacobi examined the official Syrian textbooks for 1st to 12th grade used in the areas controlled by Assad.

“We were very surprised by the Russian element in the textbooks,” Marcus Sheff, CEO of IMPACT-se, told Haaretz. “Russia is portrayed as the closest ally of Syria and of the Arab world,” he said, adding “Russia is going nowhere after the war - it is here to stay."

But Iran, which has also steadfastly bolstered Assad’s regime, is presented as an untrustworthy regional rival in most textbooks. This could be an indication of the ephemeral nature of that alliance. The negative image extends not only to modern Iran but also to the ancient Persian empire.

Israel doesn’t even appear in the textbooks, at least not by name. It is referred to as the “racist/terrorist/Zionist entity.” The curriculum includes anti-Semitic motifs, says the report, such as the stereotypical portrayal of the William Shakespeare character Shylock.

Nor does the curriculum mention the Holocaust of European Jewry. The textbooks describe Israel is a terrorist state, which, among other things, stole the Golan Heights; as a result, the textbooks convey the view that all means of struggle against Israel, including terrorism and suicide attacks, are legitimate.

[Saudi Arabia, Obama, Clinton and McCain had already fomented a destructive and brutal Civil War in their country]

Nobody fomented that civil war. The 70+% Sunni Arab majority finally got the training and weaponry it needed when Assad green-lighted their deployment to Iraq in order to kill GI’s. That they returned to Syria and attempted to reverse 50+ years of Alawite rule is no surprise.

Nobody likes being ruled by a minority. The Hutus killed almost a million Tutsis before the Tutsi leader Paul Kagame was able to mount an effective counter-attack. A recurring theme among Han Chinese rebels who mounted repeated revolts over centuries against their Manchurian overlords was the illegitimacy of their minority rule.

In the case of Alawite rule, there was the additional insult from the fact that Sunnis consider Alawites to not only be non-Muslims, but heretics at best and apostates at worst. Combine that with the current Muslim view (similar to Christian views in the 17th century) that heretics or apostates ought to be killed, not rule over the faithful, and it is clear that the Sunni Arab revolt has been a long time in coming. Alawite rule in Syria has been maintained only through the vigilance of Syria’s security apparatus. And even that faltered in the early 80’s, where a revolt in Hama killed a thousand Alawites, at the cost of tens of thousands of dead Sunni Arabs.

[I don’t normally quote the NY Times, but if nobody, including the USA was supporting players in the civil war, then why did Trump have to end clandestine support??

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/19/world/middleeast/cia-arming-syrian-rebels.html

I don’t know exactly what you are getting at, but the point that foreign players, including the West, Turkey and Saudi Arabia were not very actively involved is simply not true.]

To foment is to instigate, to start. Syria’s civil war was in full swing before anyone started taking sides. Syria’s a long-time terror sponsor with close ties to Hezbollah and multiple Palestinian terrorist groups, including Hamas. None of the Gulf kingdoms wanted to get involved until they were sure there was a reasonable chance of toppling Assad. We got involved because Assad certainly helped Islamist terrorists kill GI’s in Iraq. I sympathize with Assad and the Alawites and think he should evict the Sunni Arab population in Syria. At the same time, our interests come first. The fact that Assad helped kill thousands of GI’s in Iraq is cause enough to help his enemies along. If only they could both lose.

Israel's Ynet news has a more in depth report:

"While Syrian children witness the civil war raging around them, their textbooks give no explanation for this war. There is no hope that Syria will moderate its traditional Ba'athist hostility towards Israel even after the end of this terrible civil war..."

"The rhetoric remains: Israel is a terrorist state and therefore all means are legitimate in the war against it, including terror and suicide attacks. In fact, even when Syria is engaged in war, in front of the nation's children, hostility towards Israel remains a central tenet of the Syrian curriculum."

The textbooks are rife with nationalist messages, portraying Hafez al-Assad, the late father of the current Syrian tyrant, as a national hero whose footsteps are being followed by his son Bashar with "courage and bravery."

With regard to World War II, the Holocaust is not mentioned in Syrian textbooks since Jews are 'liars' who cannot be trusted."

More excerpts:

Syrian school textbooks repeatedly accuse Israel of stealing lands in order to "fabricate Arab-Syrian history", and make no mention of Hezbollah or the Holocaust.

One of the most serious accusations against Israel, which is repeated several times in various textbooks, is that it "forces Zionist identity on the Golan's population," enforcing the Hebrew language on the Syrian Arab residents, and Judaization.

Israel is consistently referred to as a "Zionist entity," its territory is called "Palestine" or "occupied Palestine" and the entire geographical area is presented as "the homeland of the Arabs."

In addition, "the Zionists" are accused of destroying the natural environment of the Golan and exploiting the region's economic and tourism potential, as well as preventing the economic prosperity of its residents. Zionists are further accused of plotting to replace Syrian education with the "Zionist and terrorist entity's plans", in order to keep Syrian Arab citizens "in the dark."

Similarly, in almost every study conducted by researchers looking into incitement in Palestinian textbooks, materials have been found which breach the Palestinian Authority's pledges to halt anti-Israel incitement in schools.

In 2014 the studying of the Russian language became mandatory in Syrian schools, the report says, while Persian is not taught.

The textbooks present Syria as a scientific and technological pioneer. Among other things, the textbooks' publishers teach about key Russian figures such as Yuri Gagarin, the first Russian cosmonaut. Iran, on the other hand, is mentioned with a certain degree of hostility.

The Syrian textbooks make no mention of the Hezbollah terror group, the civil war that has been raging in the country for the last seven years, or the effects of war on the daily lives of the population.

- Daniel Salami

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