‘Pro-Israel education program promoting Tel Aviv narratives in UK schools’

Pundits argue that the British government-backed Solution Not Sides education program, which claims to promote a "two sides narrative" on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in British schools, is merely meant to project the Tel Aviv regime’s accounts in a one-sided manner.

According to journalist Asa Winstanle, Solutions Not Sides is a “normalization program” between Palestinians and Israelis that started off more than a decade ago.

“The problem with normalization and why most Palestinians reject normalization with Israel is because it’s trying to make an abnormal situation seem normal, ignoring the military occupation of the West Bank and seizure of the Gaza Strip,” Winstanle told Press TV during the Palestine Declassified program broadcast on Tuesday.

He added that Solutions Not Sides, which is part of an organization called One Voice, is infiltrating into schools on an insidious trend through the close relationships between its architects and the British government.

David Miller, a former professor at Bristol University, also said Solutions Not Sides is a sophisticated project meant to legitimatize Zionism and the occupation of Palestinian territories.

He noted that Islamophobia is fundamental to Zionism, stressing that British educational authorities are pressing schoolchildren not to show solidarity with Palestinians, especially those living under harsh conditions in the Gaza Strip.

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Winstanle highlighted that the government-backed education program is aimed at influencing the opinions of British schoolchildren, often in Muslim majority areas.

“If you get into their declaration of principles document, they admit that they oppose ‘advocacy and partisan solidarity’. And elsewhere, they say they’re against extremism. This is all kind of coded language really. When they say extremism, what they really mean is Muslims, Islam, and solidarity with Palestine,” he highlighted.

The British journalist said, “It is kind of a smear campaign because they are trying to say that solidarity with Palestine is somewhat akin to support for al-Qaeda or a terrorist organization.”

He warned that British teachers are not necessarily familiar with how Israeli propaganda typically portrays itself and how it misleads people.

Miller, for his part, referred to the Community Security Trust and the Forum for Discussion of Israel and Palestine (FODIP) as two British groups that are actively pushing the Israeli regime’s narratives in schools across Britain.

He described the Community Security Trust as strongly pro-Zionist, which pursues the Israeli regime’s interests and relentlessly assaults British Muslim organizations and groups that express solidarity with Palestinians.

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The former Bristol University professor went on to say that FODIP is a slightly more complex organization, and was set up by the Council of Christians and Jews (CCJ).

Miller added that both the Community Security Trust and FODIP are funded by the British Home Office and the Ministry of Housing.

While fighting anti-Semitism and Islamophobia and promoting positive relations between British students of different religions are important tasks, the two guests underscored, there is no need to undermine the struggle to liberate Palestine in order to do so.

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