The Palestinian goal has always been, from the day of Israel’s founding, to erase Israel from the map. The public elementary school PS 261 in Brooklyn did just that symbolically, as “a map in one of its classrooms showed all of the countries in the Middle East except for Israel — which it labeled as Palestine.” Following the money is always a good start in finding influencers. In 2017, the Wall Street Journal reported that a foundation based in Qatar sought to expand and fund Arabic-language instruction in public schools around the nation, from kindergarten all the way to grade 12. So the Qatar Foundation pumped $30.6 million over eight years into “several dozen schools from New York to Oregon and supporting initiatives to create or encourage the growth of Arabic programs, including paying for teacher training, materials and salaries.”
Is it really any surprise that Qatari propaganda is being spread in American public schools? The same thing has been going on in the higher education sector. Qatar alone has been pumping some $200 million annually into American colleges since 9/11. So its ideologies are well entrenched in American universities, including support for the Muslim Brotherhood and its offshoot, Hamas, and for the Palestinian “resistance” in general.
“Brooklyn public school omits Israel from Qatar-funded classroom map, labels it Palestine: ‘Jewish erasure,’” by Melissa Koenig, New York Post, January 11, 2024:
A public New York City elementary school is being accused of “Jewish erasure” because a map in one of its classrooms showed all of the countries in the Middle East except for Israel — which it labeled as Palestine.
The map, labeled the “Arab World,” appears in a classroom at PS 261 in Brooklyn, where Rita Lahoud gives students lessons in the Arab Culture Arts program — which is funded by Qatar Foundation International, the American wing of the Qatar Foundation, a nonprofit owned by the country’s wealthy ruling family.
It was manufactured by Arab education company Ruman and features Islamic landmarks in each of the countries in northern Africa and the Middle East.
At the school, the map is posted under the heading “Arab World” with hand-drawn labels marking each country, except for Israel which Lahoud labeled “Palestine.”….
Keith O says
This is similar to Communist China listing Taiwan and Tibet as provinces of China on their maps as well as most of the south China sea as being their territory.
Another one that comes to mind is the maps Indonesia was using in their schools which showed Australia as being “South Irian” and most of Oceania, including New Zealand, PNG, Australia, Fiji etc. in the same colours as Indonesia itself. Much like the old British empire on old maps.