ISRAEL has complained to Spanish authorities after its embassy in Madrid received postcards from nine-year-old schoolchildren accusing it of killing Palestinian babies and waging war for money. A spokesman accused the Spanish government of allowing state schools to be used to promote hatred of both Jews and Israel in a country which it claims already rates as one of Europe's most anti-Semitic.

The complaint came after eight- and nine-year-olds from a state primary school in Almoines, near Valencia, sent the Israeli ambassador a series of cards which also suggested that Israelis should abandon their country and hand it over to the Palestinians. “Some had very disturbing messages,” said an embassy spokesman. “They asked things such as 'Why do you kill children?' or said that 'money is not everything' and that if someone should leave, it should be the Israelis 'because it is not your land'.

“These are messages about a political situation that they do not understand. These children probably do not even know where Israel or Palestine are. Killing babies is a stereotype that was used in Spain in the dark ages,” he said.

The head teacher of El Castell primary school in Almoines, Joan Malonda, confirmed on Tuesday that the hand-drawn cards had come from his pupils. Malonda denied the children were being indoctrinated at school. “A lot of this work was done at home and reflects the atmosphere in their own social environment,” he said. “They were simply asked to write a postcard on the subject.”

“We try to teach the children to have a critical attitude,” he said. “But we also want them to contrast their criticism against other points of view.”

— The Guardian, London