UK school history books withdrawn over pro-Israeli bias
London (QNN)- For the second time, British school history books have been withdrawn after being accused of pro-Israel bias.
On the first time in 2019, the textbooks, published by education company Pearson, were withdrawn after pro-Israel groups claimed the books favored Palestine.
Pearson made changes to the textbooks after suggestions by the Board of Deputies of British Jews and UK Lawyers for Israel.
Last April, Pearson has paused further distribution of the books after a group of academics said in a report that they distorted the historical record and failed to offer pupils a balanced view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The report found that alterations had been made to text, timelines, maps and photographs, as well as to sample student essays and questions.
The books, “Conflict in the Middle East” and “The Middle East: Conflict, Crisis and Change,” were subject to significant revisions last year after complaints from the Board of Deputies of British Jews.
But an investigation by two British academics, Prof. John Chalcraft and Prof. James Dickins, members of the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine, found that the revisions “overwhelmingly … favor an Israeli narrative, and remove or replace (information) that supports Palestinian narratives”, and concluded that “school children should not be supplied with propaganda under the guise of education” and called for their immediate withdrawal.
They found an average of three changes per page, with incidents of Arab or Palestinian violence “systematically added or intensified,” while incidents of Israeli violence had been toned down or removed from the text completely.
