Jews object to Dutch textbook that says Britain endorsed Zionism in 1917 for favorable Jewish bankers' loans

“Theme Workbook – The Middle East,” which is published by ThiemeMeulenhoff and intended for students attending pre-university secondary education — the highest scholastic track in the Dutch education system for minors — has been labeled “anti-Semitic” by a pro-Israel association in the Netherlands, Likoed Nederland, which is named after Israel's ruling party, Likud.

The history book (pictured right enlarge) reads, on page 23:

“The British government was in urgent need of money during World War I. […] Jewish bankers were prepared to offer favorable loan terms if the government made a gesture toward the Jewish People,”

It explores the reasons for The Balfour Declaration, issued in 1917 by the British minister responsible for the colonies, which said that Britain viewed favorably the establishment of a national home for Jews. This later became the Mandate over Palestine.

The book also states that “the Holocaust led to the establishment of Israel” — a fact that Zionists dispute, preferring to cite the Balfour Declaration and League of Nations resolutions as the reasons for the establishment of Israel.

ThiemeMeulenhoff defended both assertions, stating that the Holocaust “had a role” in Israel’s creation and also that Jewish power was overestimated at the time, leading to the impression that such a gesture [toward the Zionists] would be beneficial.

The publisher disputed that these sentences were anti-Semitic and declined to correct them and 35 other points that Likoed Nederland disputed, including the assertion that Egypt, which became independent in 1922, was under British occupation until 1956, and that Israel was “born of injustice and based on injustice.” ThiemeMeulenhoff argued the injustice was the Holocaust.

It accepted four corrections, including the date that the term “Palestine” was applied to the area and the book’s inflated number of dead at Dir Yassin, the site of an atrocity perpetrated by Jewish fighters in 1948 against some 120 Arab civilians.

The two additional corrections accepted by ThiemeMeulenhoff were that discrimination against Arab-Israelis means that they are not allowed to buy land, and that Arab-Israelis are excluded from serving in the Israeli army and from subsequent benefits.

Source: http://www.jta.org/2015/09/10/news-opinion/world/dutch-school-book-says-britain-endorsed-zionism-to-woo-jewish-bankers