Israel has destroyed hundreds of schools in Gaza. It has bombed universities, flattened classrooms, and killed thousands of children. According to the United Nations, nearly 90 percent of Gaza’s schools have been damaged or destroyed since October 2023. Many Palestinian children now study in tents or amid rubble, if they are alive to study at all.
And yet, in a striking display of hypocrisy, Israel-linked organizations are now accusing Pakistan of spreading hate through its textbooks.
A recent report by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) examined more than 80 Pakistani textbooks and concluded that they promote antisemitism, glorify armed struggle, and demonize Israel. Western media eagerly echoed the findings, portraying Pakistan as a country raising its youth on intolerance. But this narrative is less about education and more about politics. At a moment when Pakistan is beginning to play a stronger role in global diplomacy, Israel appears intent on tarnishing its image and weakening its credibility.
The report makes sweeping claims: that Jews are portrayed as conspirators against the Prophet Muhammad and Jesus, that the Holocaust is absent from history lessons, that Hitler’s nationalism is praised without acknowledging his crimes, and that Israel is consistently framed as the permanent enemy of Muslims. Pakistan, it says, is described as the “vanguard of the Muslim world,” while India is cast as an enemy and Kashmir as a religious duty. The conclusion drawn is that such content fosters intolerance and could shape Pakistan’s youth in troubling ways.
It would be dishonest to deny that Pakistan’s curriculum has serious flaws. Textbooks should not glorify Hitler, erase genocides like the Holocaust, or stereotype entire communities. Pakistani scholars and civil society have long raised similar concerns. But reforms must come on Pakistan’s terms, not under pressure from Israel or groups aligned with its political interests. Strengthening curricula by teaching the Holocaust alongside the Nakba of 1948, fairly representing other faiths, reframing jihad as more than armed conflict, and highlighting Islam’s long traditions of coexistence would make Pakistan’s education system more inclusive and credible. Yet such steps should be taken for Pakistan’s children, not in response to outside lectures.
The timing of this report is telling. Pakistan is reasserting itself in global politics, and Israel finds this deeply uncomfortable. At the United Nations, Pakistan has consistently raised the issues of Palestine, Kashmir, and Islamophobia, earning recognition as a principled voice of the Muslim world. Within the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, it has pushed for ceasefires in Gaza and accountability for Israeli war crimes. Pakistan’s nuclear status and demographic weight give it symbolic importance as a counterbalance to Israel, while its ability to engage both China and the West has expanded its diplomatic relevance. A confident Pakistan, speaking against occupation and defending Palestine, is not in Israel’s interests. By discrediting Pakistan’s education system, Israel seeks to erode that influence before it grows further.
Accusing Pakistan of raising hateful generations serves multiple purposes. It undermines Pakistan’s credibility in global forums, it distracts attention from Israel’s destruction of Palestinian schools, and it shapes Western narratives by casting Pakistan as intolerant while presenting Israel as a victim of hostility. The irony is glaring: a state that has turned Gaza’s classrooms to rubble now claims the moral high ground on what Pakistani children read.
The report even criticizes Pakistani textbooks for describing the October 7 war as Israeli aggression while omitting Hamas’s attacks. But Pakistan’s perspective is rooted in decades of occupation, siege, and dispossession that form the context of violence. Meanwhile, Israeli curricula themselves erase the Nakba of 1948, when over 700,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes, and routinely portray Palestinians as “terrorists.” If bias in education is the concern, Israel should begin by looking at its classrooms.
It is also worth noting that Pakistan is not unique. Indian textbooks increasingly glorify Hindu nationalism while erasing Muslim contributions. Western curricula often sanitize colonial histories. Every nation teaches its young with bias. What makes Israel’s criticism of Pakistan stand out is not the content of textbooks but the politics behind it: Israel is targeting a country that refuses normalization, consistently defends Palestine, and is gaining recognition as a global voice.
If Pakistan fails to answer this narrative war, the consequences could be damaging. Its international reputation could suffer, leaving it easier to sideline. Aid for education might come with political strings attached. Most importantly, Pakistan’s moral authority as a defender of Palestine could be weakened, which is precisely Israel’s aim.
That is why Pakistan’s Ministry of Education must act. It needs to launch a homegrown curriculum reform initiative that improves inclusivity, integrates objective accounts of world history, and emphasizes tolerance, while also ensuring that Palestine’s story is not erased. By highlighting both the Holocaust and the Nakba, teaching coexistence alongside conflict, and modernizing civics education, Pakistan can demonstrate to the world that it is capable of honest self-reflection. At the same time, the Ministry should proactively counter Israel’s narrative by publishing its detailed curriculum reviews, engaging with international education bodies, and exposing the hypocrisy of a state that bombs schools in Gaza while claiming moral authority over others’ classrooms.
Pakistan must reform, resist, and reclaim. Reform its education for its children. Resist attempts by Israel to weaponize the debate for political gain. And reclaim the narrative by reminding the world that the real tragedy lies not in what Pakistani children are taught, but in what Palestinian children are denied: classrooms, teachers, and the most basic right to learn without fear of the next airstrike.
