IMPACT-SE Report: Iran-supported Houthis using books to circulate their hate rhetoric among Yemeni children
The mainstream education system in Yemen has been targeted by Iran-backed Houthis by diffusing its rhetoric of hate in textbooks circulated in the curriculum intended to influence the country’s children, in what a study issued by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-SE) revealed.
The Middle East educational watchdog’s report showed materials produced by the Houthis for using them in their network of summer camps and extra-curricular sessions and also take-home materials, such as a monthly children’s educational magazine named Jihad.
Indeed, the magazines show graphic images of dead children, introduced to teach hating the opponents of the Houthis. The US is described, in the educational material, as a universal evil and designated as the Greater Satan responsible for all the violations in the world, including the creation of ISIS – as children are trained to chant death to America.
Anti-Semitic rhetoric
Furthermore, researchers declares that the materials present severe anti-Semitic rhetoric, including Holocaust-related imagery such as a yellow Star of David and barbed wire used in lessons on how to oppose all forms of normalization with the Zionist–American hegemony. While, Israel is seen as cancerous tumor. Besides, in one cartoon strip, a young boy and his friends attack an enemy vessel that transports the flags of Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
On his part, Eldad Pardo, IMPACT-se’s director of research, stated that the report on the educational materials is one of the most concerning of IMPACT-se’s assessments of Middle Eastern curricula.
He indicated that the combination of the textbooks’ graphic depiction of deceased children, prevalent hatred, glorification of violence as the only solution for resolving conflicts, the indoctrination of children to sacrifice their lives, and the overall Manichean worldview, run contrary to UNESCO standards of peace and tolerance and are unacceptable in any society.
He also said that the research provides a rare glimpse into education in areas under the control of a leading Iranian proxy organization. It acts as a case study for and sheds light on the worldview and tactics of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as it works to recruit and coordinate its client organizations across the Arab world.
Pardo also noted the Houthi educational materials present a window on the internal works of the Iranian influence in the Arab world, saying that: The connection to Iran the power behind the Houthis is downplayed in the examined educational materials. Instead, Iran is presented as one of many allies and partners victimized by the West.
IMPACT-se’s observations
Until 2015 while Houthi rebels controlled the capital of Sanaa, Yemen was considered an exception to the disappointing developments of the Arab Spring, IMPACT-se’s review said, indicating that Yemen was relatively stable and hopeful, with regional specialists supposing that it become the first Arab nation that adopts the federal model.
According to IMPACT-se, things were changed while Iran, recognizing the opportunity to multiply its influence, applied its militia doctrine in Yemen, in which Iran aims to establish loyal militias wherever possible in the region and education became a focal point for Tehran’s empire builders.
Moreover, Arik Agassi, the organization’s deputy CEO, stated that he rhetoric in their textbooks leave no room for interpretation as to their true desires and intentions for the future of Yemen and the region, through a violent and uncompromising struggle for without Jews, Israel and American–Saudi influence.
The report showed that considering the fact that Iran maintains part of its regional influence via education, the education model used by the Houthis in Yemen could offer further visions into a problem that looms large in the Middle East and beyond.
IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff finished that the results are a worrying insight into the violent Houthi mindset and an extreme example of how education can be weaponize to perpetuate conflict.
