In a special report, Itamar Marcus and Aaron Shapiro of the Palestinian Media Watch research institute present data and quotations illustrating how schools run by the Palestinian Authority responded to the October 7 massacre.
The report describes assemblies, ceremonies, and celebrations in which students recited passages glorifying the massacres carried out on October 7. Among the quotations cited in the report from those gatherings: “October, month of blood, you have arrived - welcome... Open your door, we are death... We see only blood as an ally, and we will cool the fire in our hearts with body parts and the screams of soldiers. Open your door, we are death."
Additional quotations from school assemblies include: “We woke up [on October 7] to the sounds of laughter. Some among us thought they were dreaming, but it was a beautiful dream they did not want to wake up from." “We never imagined this pride in the sons of our people... The sense of honor we felt cannot be described." “We yearn to die as martyrs, while our enemy fears confrontation. He is surrounded by walls. They [the Israelis] pretend to be brave, but when they see the faces of the lions, they are all rats." “October 7 will be a date that historians will note in the years to come, and it is a historic day that brought us satisfaction and restored our hope for liberation and independence."
The authors of the report also quote from those recitations: “A morning of victory, O Gaza, a morning of honor and glory, a morning of heroic martyrs, a morning of child martyrs. Good morning, O people of the resistance." “[The men of] Gaza are the ones who brought us honor and raised our heads... They beat the drums of war and taught the enemy a lesson it will find difficult to forget."
These quotations and many others appeared on the official Facebook pages of various schools, including the Palestine Girls Elementary School, Siris Girls Elementary School, Sinjil Boys High School, Asqalan Coeducational Elementary School, Yasser Arafat School, and many others.
Ten days after the massacre, Azzun Boys Elementary School held a victory march led by students in first through third grades, who sang, among other things: “O men, cry ‘Allahu Akbar’: Allahu Akbar! ... The ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ has come upon you; there is no consolation for the thieving occupier. Martyrs in shrouds show you how heroes fight... You called us and we answered, O heroes of Jerusalem. From the skies, hawks swoop down, crying: Allahu Akbar. They turn the waves of the sea into bridges; roaring lions surround you. Men whom fear does not bring to the ground dig the tunnels of glory. Coming from the land of Gaza - in an instant they appear all around you... The land has owners - who will not abandon it under any circumstances. Gaza - its men are victorious - to the cries of the residents of Jerusalem, the ’48 Arabs, and the people of the West Bank."
It turns out that the glorification of the massacre in PA schools also extends to mathematics exercises, and the special report expands on this as well, citing several examples. Third-grade students were asked: “Multiplication exercises: Al-Aqsa Flood: ‘At least 150 Israelis were killed in one day. How many were killed in nine days?’" Another problem asked: “‘Hamas sent 150 jihad fighters to each of nine settlements in Israel. How many jihad fighters entered all the settlements combined?’"
In the students’ notebooks, teachers wrote words of praise for correct answers: “Excellent! May Allah protect you!" “Excellent! Champion! May our blessings come true! Mercy and forgiveness for our martyrs!" and others.
In the report’s concluding remarks, its authors wrote, among other things: “Some countries have paid lip service to demands for reform by calling on the PA to change its textbooks. However, as is clearly demonstrated by this report, and by countless other PMW reports on what takes place in PA schools, changing a number of texts in textbooks would not even begin to constitute the profound reform required in the PA Ministry of Education. Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the PA Ministry of Education as a whole - its administrators and teachers, together with the educational apparatus of the PA’s ruling Fatah party - are all guilty of poisoning the minds of Palestinian children by educating them to hate, deny Israel’s right to exist, and glorify acts of murder. All of these bodies and individuals must be removed from positions of influence and education and replaced by new administrators and educators who will be placed under close supervision, similar to the way Germany’s education system and educators were placed under Allied supervision after World War II."