Zayzafuna

Cover of the issue carrying the apparently pro-Hitler essay.

Zayzafuna is a monthly educational magazine for children sponsored by the Palestinian National Committee for Education, Culture and Sciences, with an advisory board consisting of Palestinian Authority educators and officials. It is controversial for its anti-Jewish stance.

The February 2011 issue of the magazine ran an essay submitted by a teenage girl, in which she described herself dreaming of meeting four real-life figures: the mathematician Al-Khwarizmi, the nobel-winning author Naguib Mahfouz, Sultan Saladin, and Adolf Hitler. Her encounter with Hitler is as follows:

I turned to the next door; there Hitler awaited me. I said, 'You're the one who killed the Jews?' He [Hitler] said: 'Yes. I killed them so you would all know that they are a nation which spreads destruction all over the world. And what I ask of you is to be resilient and patient, concerning the suffering that Palestine is experiencing at their hands.' I said [to Hitler]: 'Thanks for the advice.'

Shareef Samhan, the magazine's director, did not object to the above translation but claimed - not entirely convincingly - that the article was meant as an attack on Hitler.

The magazine has been funded partly by UNESCO and the UN humanitarian foundation MDG Achievement Fund; UNESCO pulled its funding after the offending article surfaced.

External links

• The February 2011 issue on Google Docs