PA Schools Used October 7 Massacre in Math Lessons, Investigation Finds

Palestinian Authority-run schools used Hamas’s October 7 massacre as material for math exercises and school assemblies celebrating the attack, according to newly publicized material from several schools in Judea and Samaria.

Palestinian Media Watch identified social media posts, photographs and videos published by PA-administered schools in the weeks following the massacre. The Jerusalem Post said Tuesday that it independently verified the material.

At the Al-Kuwait Primary Mixed School, a teacher asked nine-year-old students to create multiplication problems related to the October 7 attack just one week after the massacre.

One exercise asked students to calculate how many Israelis would be killed over nine days if 150 were killed each day. Others used the number of rockets fired by Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades and the number of terrorists entering Israeli communities as the basis for multiplication problems.

The teachers also praised students for exercises involving Palestinian “martyrs.” In one example involving children killed in Gaza, a teacher wrote approving comments beside the student’s work and offered prayers for those described as martyrs.

The newly highlighted material extends beyond classroom exercises. Palestinian Media Watch documented several PA schools holding assemblies in October and November 2023 in which students delivered speeches and recited poems celebrating the Hamas attack.

At the Kharas Girls’ Elementary School in Hebron, a student described waking on October 7 to “laughter” and spoke of the pride and honor she felt over the attack. At the Shweikeh Mixed Elementary School, also in Hebron, another student recited a poem threatening Israelis and declaring, “Open your door, we are death.”

Similar events were documented at schools in Hebron, Ramallah, Tulkarm, Nablus and Jenin. Palestinian Media Watch said the examples show that praise for the massacre was not limited to textbooks or isolated classroom material but appeared in activities organized or promoted by teachers and school administrations.

Itamar Marcus, director of Palestinian Media Watch, accused PA educators of embedding the glorification of attacks against Israelis into the education system and said meaningful reform would require changes within the Palestinian Ministry of Education and school leadership.

The revelations come as the role of the Palestinian Authority in any future administration of Gaza remains under international discussion. U.S. officials told the Washington Free Beacon that the material has renewed concerns over whether the PA is fulfilling commitments to end incitement in its education system.

Washington has previously said that the PA must end incitement to terrorism in education before it can be treated as a credible partner for peace. Concerns over antisemitic and violent content in Palestinian educational material have also been raised in previous U.S. government reports.