Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas eventually walked back his controversial Holocaust remarks made in Germany on Tuesday, having drawn outrage in Israel and abroad.
In a written statement on Wednesday, he claimed he did not intend to deny "the singularity of the Holocaust - the most heinous crime in modern human history."
But, that same Mahmoud Abbas back in the day, claimed in his doctorate that the Holocaust was nothing more than a "fantastic lie." And it appears he continues to nurture this belief in his role as the leader of the Palestinian Authority.
The textbooks distributed to over a million students in the West Bank, including in schools belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), appear to be rife with antisemitism, including Holocaust denial.
Under Abbas' directive, the Palestinian Education Ministry implemented a comprehensive curriculum reform, following which, the content in school textbooks became significantly more radical - compared to previous years.
The reworked educational material now includes calls to Jihad, violence, and incitement against Israel and Jews. Additionally, previous attempts to reach peace with Israel, such as the Oslo Accords, have been deliberately omitted from the new textbooks.
Despite Abbas making it clear that he didn't intend to deny the Holocaust, the new Palestinian textbooks do not mention the genocide of Jews at all. The Holocaust was completely omitted from the history books that teach about World War II and its influence on the course of history.
Surprisingly, the United Nations, which often favor Palestinians vis-à-vis Israel, is also criticized in the textbooks. The students are ordered to have a mock trial in which they prosecute the UN for not protecting the Palestinian during The Nakba, also known as the Palestinian Catastrophe.
In addition, the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre of Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists is described in a positive light, and is presented as an example of a legitimate Palestinian struggle.
Textbooks also include demonization of Judaism, rather than just Israel - as was the case prior to Abbas' education reform.
Teachers are also instructed to lower the grades of students who don't make a connection between "Zionist massacres and the Jewish religion." A history book taught in the 11th grade suggests that Jews rule the world, using classic antisemitic imagery of an arm decorated with David's Star holding the globe.
Palestinian students also learn that Jews are racists who control all the world's money, media and politics, exploiting it for their own good. The Jews are also characterized as liars and corrupt, and as "enemies of Islam."
Some textbooks also speak openly of the genocide that is waiting for Jews at the end of days, similarly to the content that appears in the Hamas Covenant.
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Palestinian terrorist Dalal Mughrabi who is behind the murder of 38 Israelis, including 13 children
The content also glorifies murder of civilians in terror attacks. Terrorist such as Dalal Mughrabi, who led the attack on an Israeli bus in 1978 that ended with the murder of 38 Israelis - including 13 children - is idolized as role model in a textbook intended for fifth grade.
The Arabic language is taught through a shocking story, which depicts wearing explosive, suicide belts. The story describes Palestinians who "cut the throat of enemy soldiers" and "wore explosive belts and thus turned their bodies into a fire that burns the Zionist tank."
A new by by IMPACT-se, an Israeli non-profit organization that monitors the content of school textbooks, analyzed hundreds of pages of the new UNRWA school books, and found the agency continues to incite violence as well as erase Israel from geography maps.