Saudi Arabia has removed the sentence “Muslims will never leave Jerusalem” from its school textbooks, according to a review by Israeli curriculum-monitoring organization IMPACT-se. The change was identified in Saudi textbooks for the 2025-26 academic year and follows broader recent revisions to material concerning Israel, Jews and Jerusalem. The sentence appeared in the 2023-24 edition of an eleventh-grade Arabic-language textbook and was fully removed beginning with the 2024-25 edition.

The review said terminology concerning Israel and Jews has also changed in some books. In one instance, “Zionist enemy” was replaced with “Israeli occupation.” The name Palestine was removed from several maps, while some areas were left unnamed. Earlier harsh language about religious and minority groups was also removed or altered.

IMPACT-se said the revisions place greater emphasis on coexistence, tolerance and moderation, although some controversial content remains. The changes have prompted discussion about possible future Saudi-Israeli relations. Saudi Arabia, however, continues to state publicly that it will not establish full diplomatic relations with Israel without a Palestinian state and guarantees that East Jerusalem would be its capital.