Brazilian contest sparks outrage over genocide-inciting question

In an official letter addressed to Eliana Nunes Estrela, Secretary of Education for the State of Ceará, the Palestinian Arab Federation of Brazil (Fepal) called for the cancellation of Question 23 in Public Selection Process No. 008/2024, asserting that its wording promotes the “defence of Palestinian genocide”.

The letter stated that the Federation expressed its strong disapproval of the content of the question included in the employment competition exam organised by the state to recruit professionals for its public education network.

The question, posed to thousands of applicants, addressed the United States’ deployment of missile defence systems to Israel. It asked applicants to choose the reason for this action from the following options: “constant attacks from the Gaza Strip”, “Lebanon’s continuous violation of Israeli airspace”, “attacks originating from the West Bank as a ‘disputed’ area with the Palestinians” and “Israel’s lack of naval strength, making aerial protection essential”.

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The Federation criticised the portrayal of Israel as a victim, pointing out the absence of any mention of the genocide being perpetrated against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which is considered the first televised genocide in history.

The Federation based its stance on reports from the United Nations and international human rights organisations describing Israel as a “supremacist apartheid regime”. It also referenced ongoing investigations by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) into crimes against humanity and genocide, including arrest warrants issued for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his dismissed Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant.

The letter of Fepal to Eliana Nunes Estrela, Secretary of the Brazilian Education

“Israel is portrayed as a “victim”, yet there is no mention of the ongoing extermination of the Palestinian population in Gaza, which is the largest in history when compared proportionally to other wars and genocides, including World War II. This genocide in Gaza is part of the broader genocidal social experiment that Zionism has been enforcing in Palestine since at least December 17, 1947”, Fepal President, Ualid Rabah, mentioned in the letter.

Fepal President, Ualid Rabah, condemns the inclusion of a question he deems “immoral”, as it could, even if unintentionally, suggest “complicity and justification for genocide”. The letter underscores the scale of the genocide in Gaza, calling it “the largest civilian extermination in history”.

“Question 23 led thousands of candidates who took the exam to see the victims of the genocide as the villains and the perpetrators of genocide as the victims. In practice, it promoted Israel’s genocidal agenda, which seeks the extermination of the Palestinian population—a final solution that leads to the complete ethnic cleansing of Palestine,” Rabah added.

Ualid Rabah also highlights a second concern: the potential influence of Zionist propaganda on Ceará’s education system, which distorts the reality of Palestine to convince students that the extermination of tens of thousands of Palestinians is justifiable and legitimate. “It’s like criminalising the Warsaw Ghetto for its uprising against the Nazis,” he explains.

Fepal was also calling for the immediate cancellation of the question and a public retraction from the department to ensure that society is informed about what transpired. As of now, the Ceará Department of Education has not officially responded to the request.

“We hope the Secretary will show sensitivity and annul the matter. Additionally, we expect a public retraction of this genocidal error,” the President of Fepal concluded.

❌ FEPAL pede anulação de questão em concurso de professores no Ceará por incitação ao genocídio palestino

Em ofício à secretária de Educação do Ceará, Eliana Estrela, a FEPAL expressa profunda indignação com o teor da questão, aplicada no último domingo, 1º de dezembro, pedindo… pic.twitter.com/nw2k4BXLny

— FEPAL – Federação Árabe Palestina do Brasil (@FepalB) December 2, 2024

It is worth noting that the Federation of Palestinian Arab Institutions in Brazil (FEPAL) was established in 1979 and is considered the legal and official entity representing the Palestinian Diaspora in Brazilian territory.

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