French publisher Hachette has withdrawn a school text after French President Emmanuel Macron condemned it for distorting facts on the October 7 2023 attacks by Hamas.
Hachette originally distributed books focussing on the Israeli reaction rather than the attack themselves.
“In October 2023, following the deaths of more than 1,200 Jewish settlers in a series of Hamas attacks, Israel decided to tighten its economic blockade and invade much of the Gaza Strip, causing a major humanitarian crisis in the region”, the text read.
The withdraw came after the French President called the content “fake”.
This geopolitical manual was aimed at pupils studying for French end-of-high-school exams, known at the “baccalauréat”.
“A baccalaureate revision manual that falsifies the facts: this is intolerable. Like any relativism on the terrorist and antisemitic attacks of Hamas on October 7. Revisionism has no place in the Republic. I have asked the Government to take action”, Macron posted.
Hachette Livre, one of France’s largest educational publishers, admitted in a press release that the book contained “erroneous content”.
“Hachette Livre understands the emotion caused and apologises for the incorrect content on a page of these books.”
The statement added that the recall campaign started today with all partners and booksellers. Unsold copies will be destroyed and the edition will only be republished once it has been carefully reviewed and corrected.
Hachette also said an internal investigation has been launched to determine how the error appeared in these revision guides. The publisher emphasised its ongoing commitment to producing school materials strictly in line with national education standards.
Hachette CEO Arnaud Lagardère personally apologised to anyone who may have been hurt by the content, including teachers, parents and students. He said the group would put procedures in place to prevent similar errors in the future.
Yesterday, the Union of Jewish High School Students in France, a branch of the Organisation Against Racism, Anti -Semitism and All Discrimination, said: “According to this high school manual, on 7/10/23, 1,200 ‘settlers’ were ‘killed’ in a series of ‘attacks.’ The use of the word ‘settler’ and the absence of any mention of terrorism: This paragraph glorifies terrorism and is anti-Semitic.”
Human rights NGO Action Droits des Musulmans challenged Macron’s condemnation, writing that the manual did not contain anti-Semitic content and emphasised that teaching the factual history of the events required careful analysis rather than an emotional reaction.
