Brooklyn classroom displays Qatar-funded map where Israel is replaced with Palestine: report
The school's Arab culture program was funded by Qatar Foundation International
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Israel has been erased from a map of the "Arab World" in a local New York City elementary school in favor of "Palestine."
According to The Free Press, photos from PS 261, a public school in Brooklyn, showed a classroom used for the Arab Culture Arts program featuring a large map under a sign reading "Arab World." The map included handwritten labels with the names of all the Middle Eastern countries except for Israel. In its place was a label marked "Palestine."
The Free Press reported the map came from Arab education company Ruman, which lists a Palestinian phone number on its website and sells the map for anywhere between $17 and $156.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The school program itself is funded by Qatar Foundation International, an American-based division of the Qatar Foundation. The Qatar Foundation is a state-led nonprofit educational organization founded by previous emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.
PS 261 in Brooklyn reportedly had a map of the Middle East that excluded Israel. (Google Street View)
Fox News Digital reached out to Rita Lahoud, who teachers the Arab Culture Arts program, and school principal Erica Davis for a comment.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Free Press also spoke with New York City Public Schools Alliance founder Tova Plaut, who attacked the map images as "Jewish erasure."
"It’s not just that we’re experiencing Jewish hate in NYC public schools, we’re actually experiencing Jewish erasure," Plaut said. "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."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}PS 261 did not respond to a comment from Fox News Digital. (Credit: Ryan Zamos)
According to the Free Press, images of the map were first found in an X post by Qatar Foundation International in April.
"We love seeing #Arabic classroom decorations! Here are some [pics] from the Arab Culture Arts classroom at PS 261, a QFI-supported program in New York. Rita Lahoud teaches Arab culture through art to Pre-K through 5th graders," the post read.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The report noted that after reaching out to the school and the New York Department of Education (DOE), the post was deleted. When asked by the Free Press whether the map remained in the classroom after the Oct. 7 attacks, DOE spokesman Nathaniel Styer reportedly answered, "Why would it not be?" and added, "this is a map of countries that speak Arabic."
Qatar Foundation International deleted a post about the school's Arab culture program. (X)
Fox News Digital also reached out to the New York DOE for a comment.