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Azerbaijan Becomes First Muslim-Majority Country to Include Antisemitism Definition in School Curriculum
Jeyhun Bayramov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, addresses the “Summit of the Future” in the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 23, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
Azerbaijan has become the first Muslim-majority country to include a definition of antisemitism in its textbooks, according to a new repot assessing the Azerbaijani educational system.
The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), a nonprofit organization that analyzes schoolbooks and curricula around the world, examined 53 textbooks from Azerbaijan’s national curriculum, identifying significant improvements, such as the removal of anti-Israel narratives and the absence of Islamist rhetoric.
As part of a series on Central Asian curricula produced in collaboration with the Ruderman Family Foundation, IMPACT-se is also examining the educational systems of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
The new report released on Thursday not only highlights the inclusion of positive portrayals of Jews and Israel in Azerbaijan’s textbooks but also notes that these textbooks acknowledge the Holocaust as a mass genocide in which six million Jews were murdered.
According to the London-based NGO, Azerbaijan’s national curriculum promotes ideals of diversity and tolerance, and offers a balanced view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The study did not find signs of Islamism or radicalism, instead noting a focus on a secular and inclusive national identity.
“Azerbaijan promotes the freedom of religion and tolerance, creating an open environment for all religions to flourish, including Judaism,” the study concluded. “Students are taught the value of tolerance and harmony in modern society, and examples of Jewish prayer and rituals are incorporated into the curriculum.”
The report highlighted “promising progress and developments” in the revisions made for the 2024-25 school year, with Judaism being “highly regarded in the textbooks” and some Biblical narratives included in the education system.
For example, one key aspect was the inclusion of a definition of antisemitism, making Azerbaijan the first Muslim-majority country to do so and, according to the report, reflecting its commitment to promoting tolerance and fighting racism.
In line with these goals, the country’s national curriculum also correctly portrays the Holocaust as a genocide of six million Jews, highlighting antisemitic measures such as arbitrary killings and imprisonment rather than trying to downplay or deny the Nazis’ atrocities.
“Antisemitism and the Holocaust are addressed within the framework of rejecting racism and totalitarian regimes,” the study said.
The report also found that these textbooks explain the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a more balanced way, attributing its origins to Arab rejection of the 1947 UN Partition Plan and using terms like “taken over” or “captured” instead of “occupied” when referring to territories under Israeli control.
New revisions removed references to Zionism as racist and reclassified Palestinian violence, once called “guerrilla warfare,” as terrorism, acknowledging its negative global impact. Additionally, geography textbooks now recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
Despite these advancements, IMPACT-se highlighted the lack of Azerbaijani Jewish history and broader Jewish historical narratives, pointing to this as an area for further improvement.
However, the findings in “Israel and Jews in Azerbaijani Education,” the title of the Impact-se report, are the latest signs of the friendly relations between the two countries. Israel is presented as an ally, with references to shared military expertise, and derogatory references to domestic and international policy have been tempered.
“The textbooks demonstrate a clear rejection of the extreme Islamist values promoted by their near-neighbor Iran,” IMPACT–se CEO Marcus Sheff said in a statement. “Instead, they promote tolerance, diversity, and a heartfelt respect for Jews and Israel, which serves as an important model for many other majority-Muslim states.”
Azerbaijan’s ties with Israel have long been significant, with the country serving as the Jewish state’s most vital ally in the Caucasus and Central Asia for more than three decades, fostering a partnership that spans energy security, defense, and intelligence.
Last week, Israel and Azerbaijan’s state oil company, SOCAR, struck a major energy deal, marking one of the latest examples of Azerbaijan’s emerging role as a strategic player in the Middle East.
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Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Iran and the United States agreed on Saturday to task experts to start drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, Iran’s foreign minister said, after a second round of talks following President Donald Trump’s threat of military action.
At their second indirect meeting in a week, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi negotiated for almost four hours in Rome with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, through an Omani official who shuttled messages between them.
Trump, who abandoned a 2015 nuclear pact between Tehran and world powers during his first term in 2018, has threatened to attack Iran unless it reaches a new deal swiftly that would prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, says it is willing to discuss limited curbs to its atomic work in return for lifting international sanctions.
Speaking on state TV after the talks, Araqchi described them as useful and conducted in a constructive atmosphere.
“We were able to make some progress on a number of principles and goals, and ultimately reached a better understanding,” he said.
“It was agreed that negotiations will continue and move into the next phase, in which expert-level meetings will begin on Wednesday in Oman. The experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement.”
The top negotiators would meet again in Oman next Saturday to “review the experts’ work and assess how closely it aligns with the principles of a potential agreement,” he added.
Echoing cautious comments last week from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, he added: “We cannot say for certain that we are optimistic. We are acting very cautiously. There is no reason either to be overly pessimistic.”
There was no immediate comment from the US side following the talks. Trump told reporters on Friday: “I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”
Washington’s ally Israel, which opposed the 2015 agreement with Iran that Trump abandoned in 2018, has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
Since 2019, Iran has breached and far surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment, producing stocks far above what the West says is necessary for a civilian energy program.
A senior Iranian official, who described Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity on Friday, listed its red lines as never agreeing to dismantle its uranium enriching centrifuges, halt enrichment altogether or reduce its enriched uranium stockpile below levels agreed in the 2015 deal.
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Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike
Varda Ben Baruch, the grandmother of Edan Alexander, 19, an Israeli army volunteer kidnapped by Hamas, attends a special Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony with families of other hostages, in Herzliya, Israel October 27, 2023 REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
Hamas said on Saturday the fate of an Israeli dual national soldier believed to be the last US citizen held alive in Gaza was unknown, after the body of one of the guards who had been holding him was found killed by an Israeli strike.
A month after Israel abandoned the ceasefire with the resumption of intensive strikes across the breadth of Gaza, Israel was intensifying its attacks.
President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said in March that freeing Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old New Jersey native who was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that precipitated the war, was a “top priority.” His release was at the center of talks held between Hamas leaders and US negotiator Adam Boehler last month.
Hamas had said on Tuesday that it had lost contact with the militants holding Alexander after their location was hit in an Israeli attack. On Saturday it said the body of one of the guards had been recovered.
“The fate of the prisoner and the rest of the captors remains unknown,” said Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesperson Abu Ubaida.
“We are trying to protect all the hostages and preserve their lives … but their lives are in danger because of the criminal bombings by the enemy’s army,” Abu Ubaida said.
The Israeli military did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Hamas released 38 hostages under the ceasefire that began on January 19. Fifty-nine are still believed to be held in Gaza, fewer than half of them still alive.
Israel put Gaza under a total blockade in March and restarted its assault on March 18 after talks failed to extend the ceasefire. Hamas says it will free remaining hostages only under an agreement that permanently ends the war; Israel says it will agree only to a temporary pause.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it hit about 40 targets across the enclave over the past day. The military on Saturday announced that a 35-year-old soldier had died in combat in Gaza.
NETANYAHU STATEMENT
Late on Thursday Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of Gaza.
He dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing “impossible conditions.”
Israel has not responded formally to Al-Hayya’s comments, but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to give a statement later on Saturday.
Hamas on Saturday also released an undated and edited video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot. Hamas has released several videos over the course of the war of hostages begging to be released. Israeli officials have dismissed past videos as propaganda.
After the video was released, Bohbot’s family said in a statement that they were “deeply shocked and devastated,” and expressed concern for his mental and physical condition.
“How much longer will he be expected to wait and ‘stay strong’?” the family asked, urging for all of the 59 hostages who are still held in Gaza to be brought home.
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Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks
FILE PHOTO: Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman January 11, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Sultan Al Hasani/File Photo
Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the US and Iran.
The sultan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Iran and the US started a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran’s atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
Ahead of Saturday’s talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Following the meeting, Lavrov said Russia was “ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the USA.”
Moscow has played a role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations in the past as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and signatory to an earlier deal that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
The sultan’s meetings in Moscow visit will focus on cooperation on regional and global issues, the Omani state news agency and the Kremlin said, without providing further detail.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and economic ties, the Kremlin added.
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