When Classrooms Become Altars: The Spiritual Corruption of Educating for Vengeance

In the thousand days since the October 7 atrocities, a darker curriculum has emerged from Palestinian Authority schools—one that transforms mathematics into liturgy and children’s voices into vessels of hatred. Palestinian Media Watch has documented third-grade assignments where multiplication problems calculate Israeli deaths, and school assemblies where young students recite poetry celebrating “body parts and screams of soldiers” as offerings to a bloodthirsty ideology.

This is not merely political indoctrination; it is a profound spiritual crisis. Every wisdom tradition teaches that how we educate children reveals what we truly worship. When a teacher praises a nine-year-old for computing casualties with “May Allah protect you! Excellent!”—the divine name is invoked to sanctify destruction rather than compassion.

The contrast with authentic religious teaching could not be starker. Judaism’s mandate to “choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19), Islam’s emphasis on mercy as divine attribute, and Christianity’s call to love enemies all stand condemned by these celebrations of murder. The “sense of honor” described by PA educators is a false honor, built on the desecration of the divine image in every human being.

True spiritual education cultivates awe before life, not arithmetic of death. Until these classrooms learn that lesson, they teach only idolatry—the worship of violence dressed in sacred robes.