Map of the Middle East (illustration)
Map of the Middle East (illustration)iStock

An elementary school in Brooklyn has been accused of "Jewish erasure" for a map of the Middle East that replaces Israel with "Palestine," the New York Post reported.

The classroom in PS 261 contains a map with the title “Arab World.” The class, an Arab Culture Arts program, is funded by Qatar Foundation International, a nonprofit company run by the Qatari royal family.

The map contains the name of every country in the Middle East, with the sole exception of the State of Israel. In place of the Jewish State, the name 'Palestine' is written.

New York City public school instructional coordinator for preschool through fifth grade Tova Plaut told the Free Press: “It’s not just that we’re experiencing Jewish hate in NYC public schools, we’re actually experiencing Jewish erasure."

“The fact that there is a map out there that does not represent what the world actually looks like is troubling,” she said, adding that the map was "misinformation" and "an example of how you embed implicit bias into children."

The class is taught by Rita Lahoud, a Palestinian American woman who was born in the US and has lived in the Palestinian Authority and Saudi Arabia.

The Department of Education told the Free Press that there was no reason not to keep the map up even following the Hamas massacre of October 7 since the map is only meant to focus on Arab nations.