‘Jewish Erasure’: NYC Elementary School Lists ‘Palestine’ on Map Instead of Israel in Qatar-Funded Program

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Olivia Rondeau

A New York City public elementary school has come under fire for displaying a map where Israel has been erased in favor of “Palestine” as part of a Qatar-funded “Arab Culture Arts” program.

Brooklyn’s PS 261 is being accused of “Jewish erasure” after a map of the “Arab World” from one of its classrooms surfaced, showing all Middle Eastern countries except Israel, which is instead labeled “Palestine,” reports the Free Press. 

The map is from the Arab education company Ruman, which lists a Palestinian phone number on its website.

The map is used in the school’s Arab Culture Arts program, which features teacher Rita Lahoud giving lessons to pre-k and elementary students, funded by Qatar Foundation International (QFI). 

QFI is the U.S. branch of the Qatar Foundation, a state-led nonprofit that the previous emir, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, founded.

QFI has given more than $1 million to the NYC Department of Education (DOE) since 2019, public records cited by the Daily Mail show. 

The foundation donated about $241,000 in 2019 and 2020, $275,000 in 2021, and $513,000 in 2022, with 2023 records not yet been made public.

Since making headlines, Lahoud’s LinkedIn and QFI website profile pages have been taken down. 

Tova Plaut, an NYC public elementary school instructional coordinator, said she found the map “concerning.”

“It’s not just that we’re experiencing Jewish hate in NYC public schools, we’re actually experiencing Jewish erasure,” Plaut told the Free Press. “And here is proof of that.” 

“What it does is it creates this inner instinctive knowledge that they internalize that this land belongs to the Arab world; that it does not belong to anyone else,” she added. “When you embed something when children are young it becomes a belief. And belief is much harder to change than knowledge.”

PS 261’s principal deferred questions to the DOE, which responded in an interesting manner to the outlet’s questions.

Upon the Free Press emailing the DOE to ask if the map remains in the classroom after the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel, a spokesperson wrote back, “Why would it not be?” 

DOE spokesman Nathaniel Styer added in his response that “this is a map of countries that speak Arabic.”

However, CNN reports that Arab citizens and permanent residents in Israel add up to roughly two million people, which is more than 20 percent of the country’s population.

Pictures of the map in the Brooklyn classroom first emerged on X in April, when QFI posted a photo alongside the caption, “We love seeing Arabic classroom decorations! Here are some from the Arab Culture Arts classroom at PS 261, a QFI-supported program in New York.”

That post has since been taken down by QFI as well.

Andrés Spokoiny, president of the Jewish Funders Network, quote-tweeted the post before it was deleted.

“I love Arabic culture and I think it’s great that it’s taught in schools. But this program is funded by Qatar, the main sponsor of Hamas. Is it okay to have foreign govts putting programs in public schools?” he posted on X.

“NYC Schools do parents know that this is a Qatar funded program?”

“I mean, what’s the policy? Can Israel fund the teaching of Jewish history in NY public schools?” he continued in a follow-up post. “Does France teach French culture? Given Qatar’s record of human rights violations, corruption, and support of terror, one can (and should) raise the question.”

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