Peace and Tolerance in Palestinian Education Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, the United States and many of our allies have long been concerned about Palestinian textbooks that contain blatant anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist references that incite hatred and violence toward the Jewish people.

In May, the European Parliament went so far as to pass a resolution condemning the Palestinian Authority over the hateful content of its textbooks and conditioned future funding for education on the removal of that anti-Semitic material.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, known as UNRWA, which administers many schools in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, is required by its mandate to use host country books.

Let me say that again in another way. UNRWA does not write Palestinian textbooks, the Palestinians do, and UNRWA is required to use the host nation's book under its mandate.

The bill before us tasks the Secretary of State to write a report to Congress that reviews the curriculum, including textbooks, leaflets, pamphlets, magazines, and other instructional materials used in UNRWA schools. This report will be important and will help both the Congress and the executive branch understand the full scope of the problems, work to improve these textbooks, and remove the content that is not only untrue but leads to further violence and instability in the region.

I will add one more important comment about UNRWA. Despite the issue related to the Palestinian Authority's textbooks that we are discussing at this moment, thousands of UNRWA employees, many of whom have yearslong relationships with the U.S., remain in Gaza doing dangerous humanitarian work. Some have, sadly, lost their lives.

Let's keep them in mind as this conflict continues, but let's also keep in mind that Israel must defeat Hamas.

I am proud to cosponsor this legislation and ask my colleagues to vote in support of this important bill.

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Mr. SCHNEIDER. Manning), the vice ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Mr. Speaker, my colleague Mr. Sherman made mention of the stated intent of the terrorist scheme to destroy Israel, to try again and again. I want to share an email I got today talking about what is going on right now.

It says: Among the IDF soldiers killed in Gaza yesterday, eight were in a single armored personnel carrier that was hit by a rocket- propelled grenade. They were part of the Givati infantry brigade. One of them, 2nd Lt. Pedayah Mark, lost his father in a terror attack on their family car near Otneil 7 years ago. Pedayah, who was 13 years old at the time, was injured along with his mother. His uncle was among those murdered in Kibbutz Be'eri on October 7.

The terrorists continue to attack and attack, oftentimes striking the same family. We need to make sure we change what the kids are learning.

H.R. 3266 is an important tool in our fight against the hatred and in support of peace in Palestinian education, the education of the children.

Let me add one more statistic. In the attack on October 7, 20 children under 18 were orphaned, both their parents were killed. Eighteen young people between the age of 18 and 25 lost both parents. Ninety-six children under 18 lost one parent.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues, every one of them, to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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