The Ansar Allah Houthis, an Iranian proxy movement, have penetrated the mainstream Yemeni education system and are spreading anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish rhetoric, a study published this week by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-SE) said.
The Mideast educational watchdog's report reviewed materials produced by the Houthis for use in their network of summer camps and extra-curricular classes as well as take-home materials including a monthly children’s “educational” magazine called Jihad.
As an Iranian proxy, the Houthi materials mimic much of the Khomeinist rhetoric of that regime and represent some of the more egregious violations of UNESCO standards of peace and tolerance among current Middle Eastern education.
Some disturbing instances include images of graphic violence including pictures of dead children featuring in material for preteens.
Researchers say that the materials feature severe anti-Semitic rhetoric including Holocaust-related imagery such as a yellow Star of David and barbed wire used in lessons on how to oppose all forms of normalization with the “Zionist-American hegemony.”
The Houthi slogan, “Allah is the greatest — Death to America — Death to Israel — Curse on the Jews — Victory to Islam” is taught in an Arabic numeral exercise and the Hewish state is described as a “cancerous tumor.”
The United States is described as the “Greater Satan,” a universal force of evil and the puppeteer behind all the atrocities afflicting the region, including the creation of ISIS. The American flag is commonly used as a symbol of oppression and children are instructed to memorize the phrase "death to America."
IMPACT-se CEO said that the materials "are a worrying insight into the violent ideology of the Houthis, and an extreme example of how education can be used as a weapon to ignite conflict and hatred."
The organization's deputy CEO, Arik Agassi, said that the Houthis recent actions -- such as rejecting a U.S.-mediated ceasefire with Saudi Arabia, and expelling most of the remaining Jews in Yemen in areas under their control – and the rhetoric in their textbooks "leave no room for interpretation as to their true desires and intentions for the future of Yemen and the region, through a violent and uncompromising struggle for without Jews, Israel and American-Saudi influence."