All the way to the parliament in Damascus: Israeli report stirs Syria, exiled journalist embarrasses al-Sharaa

A report by Israeli researchers from the IMPACT-se institute on the exclusion of women and religious radicalization in Syrian textbooks has sparked a storm in the Arab world. A Syrian exiled journalist disseminated the findings, later admitting he relied on the report. The Syrian Ministry of Education denied any ideological change.

A report by the Israeli research institute IMPACT-se, examining textbook content in Syria under the regime of Ahmed al-Sharaa, has sparked a storm in the Arab world and in Syria itself. The report, published on October 19, analyzes 130 textbooks for the 2025–2026 school year and asserts a broad ideological transformation: Syrian identity is defined as Sunni Islam, minorities are marginalized, women are excluded, violence against 'the other' is normalized, and Jews and Israel are portrayed with hostility. The exiled Syrian journalist Muhammad al-Salloum, residing in France, disseminated the report's findings on social media, presenting them as independent research, and later admitted he relied on the report. The Syrian Ministry of Education denied any significant change, claiming the curriculum is diverse and does not adopt an ideological direction. The discussion even reached the parliament in Damascus.