A UK publisher has come under intense criticism for publishing a children’s book that erases Israel from the Middle East, replacing the Jewish State with “Palestine.”
According to the Jewish Chronicle, the book “Amazing Women of the Middle East: 25 Stories from Ancient Times to Present Day” also fails to include any Israeli women among its entries on important figures in the Middle East.
The book is published in Britain by Pikku Publishing.
In its pages, the stories of 25 “extraordinary Middle Eastern women” are told throughout history. Historical and modern figures from Queen Nefertiti of Egypt to international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney are covered. But none of the women are Israeli.
The centerpiece of the book is an illustrated map of the Middle East that does not include Israel. Instead the country is labelled “Palestine.”
The book is being marketed to children ages nine and up. It is listed on the publisher’s website on a teacher’s resources page.
UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) told the Chronicle that the book should be withdrawn. It encouraged Pikku to release a revised edition with a map including Israel and the story of at least one Israeli woman.
It also called upon the British Department of Education to warn school’s against using the book in classrooms. The group said that using the book as a teaching aid would break regulations against teaching partisan political opinions in schools.
“To have excluded Israel from the map of the Middle East, and to have excluded all Israeli and Jewish women from the book is misleading and biased, and tends to promote a view of the Middle East that completely delegitimizes Israel,” UKLFI director Caroline Turner said.