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Jewish Leaders Applaud Trump's Focus on Palestinian Incitement
(JNS.org) Rafael Medoff - At his press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on Feb. 15, President Trump said "the Palestinians have to get rid of" the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish material that appears in PA school texts. "They're taught tremendous hate," he said. "I've seen what they're taught...it starts at a very young age and it starts in the schoolroom." Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said, "The U.S. government should use all leverage at its disposal to do something about changing the Palestinian schoolbooks, especially when the U.S. provides the Palestinians with over $350 million in aid each year. It's an outrage that the incitement continues." Hoenlein emphasized that "ending the incitement should not be a result of negotiations, but rather must be a prelude to negotiations." Rabbi Joel Meyers, executive vice president emeritus of Conservative Judaism's Rabbinical Assembly, said, "I am glad President Trump believes it is time for us to become more forceful in our efforts to force change....The road to peace cannot be achieved by teaching hate to generation after generation in school curriculums or by publicly praising killers of Israelis." Rabbi Dr. Irving (Yitz) Greenberg, former president of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership (CLAL), noted that "the U.S. in the past verbally urged the PA to stop incitement, but there was no enforcement. If this was enforced, it would push the Palestinians to shift from the victimhood mode and start acting like a peace partner."