Pressure Points: School Books in Qatar Continue to Teach Hatred of Jews and Israel

Despite its efforts to present itself as a modern state that promotes stability and peace in the Middle East, Qatar continues to teach its children contempt for Jews, Judaism, and Israel.

That is the conclusion of a new study of Qatari school textbooks, entitled “Review of The Qatari National Curriculum 2025-2026 Grades 1-12” that was conducted by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education known as “ IMPACT-se,” the invaluable NGO that studies school texts around the world. 

Here is what the report’s  Executive Summary concluded: 

Textbooks continue to teach antisemitic content. This consists of religiously motivated polemic, portraying Jewish people as materialistic, arrogant, deceitful, and hostile to Islam. Jews are further associated with traits such as lying, scheming, fleeing in fear, spreading discord, breaching agreements, and excessive attachment to material wealth,

thereby reinforcing an image of Jews as fundamentally untrustworthy. In the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict, antisemitic tropes depict Jews as cynically manipulating global affairs. Textbooks also deny Jewish historical ties to Israel/Palestine and the right to self-determination, framing Jewish people as undeserving of empathy.

Violent jihad and the glorification of martyrdom remain prominent features. Violent interpretations of jihad prevail as religious ideals, and are embedded in a variety of contexts, particularly in Islamic education. Textbooks praise the upbringing of children “to love jihad,” and students are taught that God rewards those who fight and die for Islam by granting them entry into Paradise.

Disrespect towards non-Muslims is expressed through terminology such as “Infidels” and “pagans/polytheists,” through derogatory portrayals of non-Muslims, and through discussions of punishment for disbelief in Islam.  Textbooks employ a consistently Arab nationalist, anti-Israel narrative that legitimizes violence. 

Here are some examples from Qatari textbooks:

-- Islamic Education, Grade 6, Vol. 2, 2025–2026, p. 139: An Islamic education lesson teaches that one of the ways to measure a good Muslim woman is to raise children to sacrifice their lives, in what is understood to be violent jihad. The chapter about classical Islamic figure Nusaybah bint Ka‘b praises the fact that she raised her children “to love jihad”, pointing out that her three children later “died as martyrs for the sake of Allah Almighty”. The textbook authors describe this type of upbringing as “optimal”.

-- Islamic Education, Grade 11, Vol. 1, 2025–2026, p. 147: In a subsection titled “The Duty of Muslims towards Palestine, Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque”, Qatari students are told in Islamic education that they should “exert any effort that would aid the liberation of Palestine from the Occupation” while “not conceding on any part of Palestine, for it is an Arab, Islamic land.” As the Qatari curriculum consistently identifies the entirety of Israel’s territory as Palestinian, this line seems to be asserting that Islam mandates Israel’s destruction.

-- History, Grade 12, Vol. 1, 2025–2026, p. 31: An introductory page for a lesson on Jerusalem names “the Jews” as the final group in a list of “colonizers” who have set their “greedy ambitions” (aṭmā‘) on Jerusalem throughout history. Associating Jewish people with greed and colonialism contributes to their portrayal as an immoral group of people. Furthermore, the lesson concedes that Jerusalem is sacred to “Muslims and Christians” alone, conspicuously omitting its religious importance to Jews, thus effectively denying Jewish historical and religious ties to the city.

-- Islamic Education, Grade 11, Vol. 1, 2025–2026, p. 146: The 1948 establishment of Israel is described as an “occupation,” with Israel referred to by a variety of terms such as “Occupation State,” “Zionist State,” and “Israeli Entity,” expressing non-recognition of its existence.

--Arabic Language, Grade 8, Vol. 1, 2025–2026, pp. 127–128, 130, 132: In an Arabic-language textbook, a poem by Egyptian poet Ali Mahmoud Taha (1901–1949) titled “Palestine” calls on Arab readers to commit violent jihad, “draw swords” and sacrifice their lives, in order to defend Palestine and Jerusalem from “the oppressors” and “the butchers”. The poem also pointedly references Jerusalem’s “churches and mosques”, ignoring the holy city’s significance to Judaism.

-- History, Grade 12, Vol. 2, 2025–2026, p. 74: Students learn that during the Second Intifada (2001–2004), Palestinians “resorted to military operations to face the Occupation’s crimes”, in reference to suicide bombings and other terror attacks against Israeli civilians which characterized that period. The lesson effectively legitimizes violence against civilians, in violation of international law and the Oslo Accords, while blaming Israel for presumably forcing Palestinian groups to resort to such methods.

-- History, Grade 12, Vol. 2, 2025–2026, pp. 42–43: The internationally recognized pre-1967 territory of Israel is labelled “Occupied Palestine” in maps outlining borders following the wars in 1948 and 1967. The map does not label the Jordanian and Egyptian occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip during the 1949–1967 period.

-- Geography, Grade 12, Vol. 1, 2025–2026, p. 134: A geography textbook describes the Sea of Galilee as being in “Palestine”, despite it being located in internationally recognized Israeli territory.

-- Geography, Grade 12, Vol. 2, 2025–2026, p. 180: Israel is not included on a regional map of the Middle East and North Africa in a geography lesson about borders. Instead, the entire territory is labeled “Palestine”, in defiance of international resolutions affirming Israel’s existence and territory.

All of this is at variance with Qatar’s self-depiction as a force for stability and balance in the region. Moreover, there have been no improvements over time in Qatari texts: as the IMPACT-se report states, “All previously identified problematic content in Qatari textbooks remains unchanged for the fourth consecutive year.”

Throughout the Middle East, IMPACT-se has found many efforts to modernize school curricula and foster peace and tolerance. But that is not the case in Qatar, whose efforts seem to be focused on public relations campaigns and Qatar’s image rather than changing what it teaches its children.