Israel destroyed Gaza’s classrooms. Now an American charity wants to decide which memories Palestinian children are allowed to bring into them. I categorically reject this. An Associated Press investigation reveals that Gaza Children Village plans to record classroom conversations, use AI to flag alleged “antisemitic” or “inciting” speech, and alert its founder, David Hasan. The organisation has already modified Palestinian textbooks to remove material it considers anti-Israel, without publicly disclosing the changes. This is not simply surveillance. It raises the prospect of ideological control over children already traumatised by war. Before October 7, Gaza was not devoid of initiatives promoting political dialogue. In 2017, Hamas publicly accepted a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, without recognising Israel. Between 2017 and 2020, Gaza-based PalThink documented EU-supported initiatives involving Palestinian and Israeli civil and political constituencies and promoting nonviolence. These were not peace agreements, but they challenge the notion that dialogue was absent from Gaza. aljazeera.com/news/2017/5/2/… palthink.org/en/about/palthi… Meanwhile, reporting in 2026 revealed that Israel’s Education Ministry had monitored the political expression of approximately 160 educators, recommending disciplinary action against 52. The ministry said its investigations concerned suspected incitement. timesofisrael.com/education-… A US Government Accountability Office report also documented Palestinian textbook reviews flagging references to Jerusalem as Palestine’s capital, prisoners, martyrs and politically contested maps. These were not Gaza Children Village’s criteria, but they show how Palestinian history itself can become subject to political scrutiny. gao.gov/products/gao-26-1077… Even the surveillance proposal’s own accountability remains unclear. Board member Bishara Bahbah said he had not been informed of the plan. PollyLabs denied involvement in developing or deploying the technology, despite Hasan reportedly attributing its development to their collaboration. Who owns the recordings? Who defines incitement? Have parents consented? And what happens when a child describes an Israeli airstrike that killed their family? AP found no evidence that recordings would be shared with Israel. But that does not resolve the fundamental questions of privacy, consent and educational independence. Human Rights Watch has documented deadly Israeli attacks on Gaza schools, including the July 2024 strike on Khadija Girls’ School in Deir al-Balah, where at least 15 people were killed. hrw.org/news/2025/08/07/gaza… My position is unequivocal: this surveillance plan must be stopped. Every alteration to the Palestinian curriculum must be disclosed, and any proposed educational monitoring must undergo independent, Palestinian-led scrutiny. @UNICEF @UNESCO @UNRWA @hrw @amnesty — this demands urgent attention. Palestinian children have already lost their homes, their schools, and years of childhood. Their right to remember and speak must not become another casualty. A child’s testimony is not a security threat. A classroom is not an interrogation room. Original Associated Press investigation: apnews.com/article/gaza-chil…