Israa Ali, the founder of “Ahfad Al Zaytoun” Olive Trees Initiative, a volunteer-run program that offers Gazan children in Egypt educational and mental health support after school, walks beside a Palestinian flag hung on a wall, in Cairo, Egypt, Nov. 9, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

Egypt has made significant progress in removing antisemitic and anti-Christian content from its school textbooks, and about 80 percent of Egyptian students in elementary or preparatory education are learning from the “reformed” versions, according to a new report published by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (Impact-se), an Israeli watchdog group.

The report, titled “Review of Changes and Remaining Problematic Content Egyptian Textbooks: Selected Samples 2023-2024,” explained that Egypt has been striving toward reducing antisemitism in its curricula for several years, having chosen to pursue a “year-on-year” process of reform which will reach higher grade levels over time.

The results so far have been promising. For example, 10 antisemitic passages identified by Impact-se researchers last academic year, including one in which Jews were described as “people of treachery and betrayal,” has been replaced with another “underlining tolerance and coexistence between Islam and Judaism.”

Other changes warrant optimism, according to the report. An 11th grade history textbook no longer teaches that Jews possess an inordinate “love of money,” and a third grade textbook on Islamic education no longer teaches that Jews cannot be trusted to describe the contents of their holy books, an accusation attributed to the Prophet Muhammad. Additionally, a sixth grade textbook now features what Impact-se described as a “rare specifically positive reference to Jews” in which the Constitution of Medina is said to be a shared accomplishment of Muslims and Jews while comparing it to the 1948 United Nations Declaration on Human Rights.

One reform the report strongly commended was the removal of some texts which encouraged jihad, martyrdom, and religious intolerance. Violence, one 11th grade textbook now says, was a measure of “last resort” in early Islamic conquests.

“Our report also found four problematic examples that have been removed, including a grade 5 Arabic Language grammar exercise teaching that Allah loves the jihad warrior, and a statement from the same textbook declaring that martyrs deserve a great reward,” Impact-se wrote. “A grade 6 Islamic Education textbook no longer glorifies the martyrdom of Muhammad’s Companion of Hamza for his jihad against many idolaters.”

Some concerning content in this vein remains, the authors noted, including the heralding of the martyr as “the most spectacular example of sacrifice” and a section of a grade 11 textbook in which Muhammad refers to “idolaters, Jews, and hypocrites.”

Alongside these lingering issues, however, Impact-se observed a softening of attitudes on gender roles, as evinced by the new curricula’s “promoting inclusivity and equality in gender roles” and “emphasizing the contribution of women in Egyptian society, politics, and Islamic history.” One sixth grade textbook even saidthat the Prophet Muhammad was an inveterate contributor to areas of household management thought to be exclusively the business of women, such as “sewing garments” and “mending sandals.” The new curricula also strongly condemns female genital mutilation, describing it as a desecration of “what God created” as well as cruel to women.

“We are delighted to see the ongoing reforms taking place in the Egyptian curricula, which mark significant progress,” Impact-se chief executive officer Marcus Sheff said in a statement announcing the findings of the report. “There are 25 million children in school in Egypt and around 80 percent are now studying this new material.The progress in revising materials for younger grades is extremely encouraging, especially in material regarding Jews and Israel.”

He continued, “We believe a similar evolution will be implemented in the curriculum for older grades. These changes in the most populous Arab country with a long-standing landmark peace agreement with Israel are of real importance to the region’s future.”

Impact-se’s research on school curricula in the Middle East has attempted in part to gauge states and other governmental entities’ intentions to foster peace and coexistence with the state of Israel, given that public education is the most active way in which countries manufacture the ideal kind of citizen.

In May, the group released a report revealing that Saudi Arabia has been quietly revising its school textbooks, scrubbing negative depictions of Jews, Christians, and homosexuals, and toning down rhetoric against Israel.

However, not all trends have been positive, and Impact-se has sometimes found disturbing trends.

Earlier this year, it issued a report describing the ways in which Palestinian curricula teach girls that women are inferior to men while demanding that they sacrifice their bodies and families for “jihad.” Coinciding with Women’s History Month, the report, titled “Gender Inequality in Palestinian Authority Textbooks,” revealed that Palestinian education materials deem women as a problem to be managed by the authority of religion and patriarchy, as valuable insofar as they contribute to the community’s population of terrorists and capacity to wage holy war.

Such ideas are ancillary to larger political goals, Impact-se explained. In denouncing women as transgressors of sexual morality and inherent sources of corruption, the Palestinian textbooks aim to rationalize subordinating women to men and limiting their role in public life. They also advocate dressing in accordance with Islamic law, women accepting fault for being sexually harassed and assaulted, and the notion that gender equality is a fiction. Palestinian schools also teach the Islamic prophet Muhammad’s saying, “Never will succeed such a nation that makes a woman” a head of state.

With all avenues for personal growth and achievement sealed off, what is left to Palestinian women is the option to commit violence, to become martyrs and the mothers of terrorists of the future, the report stated.

“The characterization of women as inferior in Palestinian Authority textbooks reflects a broader and worrying narrative of bigotry in the curriculum, which is continuing to shape the outlook millions of Palestinian children,” Sheff said at the time. “Furthermore, it contradicts international treaties on gender equality that the [Palestinian Authority] itself has ratified. In particular, the emphasis on women’s participation in resistance activities as a warped form of gender equality sets a disturbing precedent.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

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Oscar Gloukh of Israel celebrates with teammates their first goal, an own goal scored by Hamidou Diallo of Mali during Paris 2024 Olympics – Football – Men’s Group D – Mali vs Israel match on July 24, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka Van De Wouw

The Palestinian Football Association (PFA) applauded the Norwegian Football Federation on Tuesday for calling on FIFA, the world governing body of soccer, to investigate Israel ahead of the European qualifiers that are set to take place next year for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Israel and Norway’s national soccer teams are set to compete against each other in 2025 on March 25 and Oct. 11 as part of the qualifiers in Europe for the World Cup the following year, it was announced on Saturday. After the matchup was announced, Lise Klaveness, president of the Norwegian Football Federation, reportedly called on FIFA to investigate Israel for alleged human rights violations in the Gaza Strip during the country’s ongoing war against Hamas terrorists who orchestrated the Oct. 7 deadly massacre in southern Israel. Klaveness said it was “difficult” to see that Norway has been paired to compete against Israel in the World Cup qualifiers and expressed concerns over Israel’s military actions in Gaza, according to reports.

On Tuesday, the PFA commended Norway’s “recognition of the ongoing violations against Palestinian civilians and athletes.”

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Sheikha Mozah in the 5th Global Forum, 2013. Photo: Wiki Commons.

Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser is revered as a champion of education, sustainability, fashion, and art. The glamorous female face of the Qatar regime — and the mother of its current emir — presents herself as a modern face of a traditional, conservative Gulf state. 

Yet behind her polished exterior lies a much darker reality: Sheikha Moza exemplifies Qatar’s strategy of using progressive initiatives to obscure its role in regional instability. Unfortunately, First Lady Jill Biden succumbed to this ruse on Saturday during a trip to Qatar, where she praised Sheikha Moza. 

After thanking Qatar for its “leadership” and “vital role” in the world at the Doha Forum, an annual gathering of world leaders in Qatar, Jill Biden said, “I appreciate Her Highness Sheikha Moza’s leadership in an area we both deeply care about: education.”

What Biden may not realize, however, is that Qatar and the United States invest in education for dramatically different reasons.

Sheikha Moza is the co-founder and chairwoman of the Qatar Foundation, a non-profit that the Qatari royal family established in 1995. The foundation’s flagship initiative is Education City, a sprawling academic campus in Doha that houses satellite branches of six American universities. The Qatar Foundation promotes Education City as a hub for learning and innovation. Yet the campus contributes to the foundation’s deeper role in Qatar’s global influence campaign. Often, that influence comes in the form of promoting radical Islamist rhetoric and ideology.

Take the case of Georgetown University. Georgetown opened a campus in Education City (GU-Q) in 2005. Last year, GU-Q launched a conference series to convene “scholars, policymakers, diplomats, and government officials” to ponder “a wide range of global and regional issues.” But the latest installment of the so-called Hiwaraat (“Dialogues”) conference series, which took place in September 2024, featured the likes of Wadah Khanfar, the former managing director of Al Jazeera. In May 2024, Khanfar praised Hamas’ massacre of October 7, 2023, and, according to unverified reports, also served as a local Hamas operative in Africa during the 1990s. 

And Qatar isn’t reaping only political influence from its partnerships with American universities. Texas A&M’s contract with the Qatar Foundation states that the foundation “own[s]the entire right, title, and interest in all Technology and Intellectual property developed at TAMUQ,” which includes projects involving cutting-edge scientific research. In February 2024, Texas A&M announced that it will close its Qatar campus by 2028, stating that “the core mission of Texas A&M should be advanced primarily within Texas and the United States.” 

For Doha, championing education is not simply an act of altruism. It is a strategic weapon that corrupts American institutions while whitewashing Qatar’s image. Qatar also exercises this strategy outside the realm of education, sinking its wealth into global causes that enhance Doha’s reputation, particularly through Sheikha Moza’s various roles at the United Nations.

Since the late 1990s, Sheikha Moza has held several UN positions, including UNESCO’s special envoy for basic and higher education, and ambassador to the UN’S Alliance of Civilizations. These appointments have helped her bolster Doha’s international reputation while shielding the emirate from critique for its controversial and problematic activities.

For example, Sheikha Moza eulogized Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar — the architect of Hamas’ October 7 slaughter — in a little-noticed tweet days after his death. Under the leadership of her son, Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Tamim Al-Thani, Qatar has pumped more than one-billion dollars into Hamas run-Gaza since 2012, all while sheltering the terror group’s senior leaders.

Meanwhile, Qatar has perpetuated human rights abuses at home. The US State Department’s 2023 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Qatar noted “credible reports of: enforced disappearance; arbitrary arrest; political prisoners; serious restrictions on free expression,” and “extensive gender-based violence.”

Sheikha Moza’s patronage of the arts and fashion is another facet of her deceptive public persona. She is often seen wearing haute couture — with specific alterations to meet Qatar’s modesty rules, of course. She is also the honorary chair of Fashion Trust Arabia, which describes itself as “a non-profit organization that provides financial support, guidance and mentorships to emerging designers from across the MENA.” 

At the royal wedding of Jordan’s Prince Al-Hussein bin Abdullah II in June 2023, Sheikha Moza wore a vintage Valentino evening coat paired with satin Valentino pumps. In September 2023, she donned a sleek, haute couture Valentino gown while meeting with the first lady of Turkey. These outfits elicited adulation in acclaimed fashion magazines. What the glamorous photos don’t show, however, is that Mayhoola, a Qatari investment firm tied to the royal family, is the majority owner of Valentino.

Indeed, as with education, luxury fashion is an outlet for Qatari economic largesse. Mayhoola also owns French fashion house Balmain. Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund — the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) — purchased British luxury retailer Harrod’s in 2010 for 1.5 billion pounds, and once owned approximately 10 percent of luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co. QIA sold its Tiffany shares in 2021 to Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH) — the French fashion conglomerate in which Qatar holds a 1.03 percent stake.

Sheikha Moza’s curated image is a masterclass in public relations. Through her efforts, Sheikha Moza serves as a Trojan horse for Doha’s adversarial and hostile agenda. The contrast between a nation presenting itself as a beacon of progress and reform while engaging in corruption, perpetuating regressive policies, and embracing terrorism is stark. Washington should regard the Qatari government accordingly.

Natalie Ecanow and Mariam Wahba are research analysts at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Follow them on X @NatalieEcanow and @themariamwahba.

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