Houthi leader accuses Saudi Arabia of removing Quran verses from textbooks to appease Zionists

The leader of the Ansarallah movement, Abdul Malik Al-Houthi, has accused Saudi authorities of removing certain Quranic verses from the school curriculum in order to appease Zionists.

In a speech on Saturday, Al-Houthi said the Saudis have omitted Quranic verses from textbooks, in particular, verses that speak about crimes committed by Jews or their disobedience to God, claiming they are being censored, reports Iran’s Mehr news agency.

The Yemeni official also stated that the Saudi government has altered or omitted certain Prophetic traditions from educational curricula, describing it as a significant disservice to future generations. He suggested that this action aligns with Riyadh’s strategy to normalise relations with Israel, following in the footsteps of the UAE.

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The latter, Al-Houthi added, has been portraying Zionists positively in educational materials to foster a generation that is amicable towards the occupation state.

News of the kingdom removing Quranic verses from textbooks, considered by critics to be “anti-Semitic”, isn’t new. In 2021, the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), an Israel-based group that monitors school curricula, welcomed similar amendments. At the time, the group’s Chief Executive, Marcus Sheff, said the changes were “quite astonishing.”

The following year, the organisation said in a report that “anti-Semitism” has largely been eliminated from Saudi school textbooks.