Education Ministry

A first grade classroom at an Israeli school in Jerusalem, September 1, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Israel is secretly surveilling its teachers. No prizes for guessing which ones
The Education Ministry is monitoring teachers online, searching not only for ‘incitement’ but mere criticism of the state — and 3 out of 4 targeted are Arab.
By Gil Gertel August 21, 2026
Palestinian students at an UNRWA school in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, Jan. 30, 2024. (Jamal Awad/Flash90)
Israel claims to care about Palestinian students — so it shuts down their schools
The Education Ministry ordered UNRWA-run schools in East Jerusalem to close, citing ‘student welfare.’ 800 may lose their classrooms this month.
By Gil Gertel May 6, 2025
A high school principal arranges her classroom for the reopening of the school in Jerusalem, February 10 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Teachers or terrorists? Far-right MKs want the Shin Bet to police schools
A bill authorizing Israel's security service to hire and fire teachers, a policy long carried out in Arab schools, is so extreme that even the Shin Bet opposes it.
By Gil Gertel July 26, 2023
Latest
Mourners at the funeral of 29-year-old Naeem Marjiyeh and 15-year-old Rami Marjiyeh in the the Catholic Church in the town of Yafa an-Nasariyye. The two were murdered, among three others, in a criminal shooting. June 9, 2023. (Oren Ziv)
‘Mama, are we going to die soon?’ Arab educators grapple with spiking violence
Lacking state support, three Palestinian citizens of Israel share what parents and schools can do to help children exposed to pervasive gun crime.
By Vera Sajrawi June 20, 2023
The aftermath of a Molotov cocktail attack on a kindergarten for immigrant children in the Shapira neighborhood of south Tel Aviv, Israel, April 27, 2012. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)
‘Breaking the ghettos’: The struggle to desegregate Tel Aviv’s schools
The city that brands itself a 'liberal haven' is forcing asylum seekers' children into separate, impoverished schools. And the parents are fighting back.
By Ben Reiff January 16, 2022
A teacher-soldier speaks to a student in a classroom in Beit Shemesh, April 4 2011. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)
Palestinians as ghosts: How Israel’s education system normalizes occupation
A study finds that while some high school textbooks touch on Israel's control of the West Bank, students are taught little to nothing about its true nature.
By Gil Gertel August 9, 2020
An Arab choir sings at Independence Day celebrations, held in Umm al-Fahm, April 29, 1958 (Moshe Pridan/GPO)
Revealed: Shin Bet controlled Arab schools for decades
Classified documents reveal how, for years, Israel’s internal security service meddled in Arab society’s education system, firing teachers deemed ‘threats’ and employing Shin Bet agents in the Education Ministry. It has long been known that the Shin Bet, Israel’s shadowy internal security service, has been involved in surveillance over the country’s Arab population. Since the very…
By Edo Konrad January 21, 2018
Education Minister Naftali Bennett speaks to students at Bar Ilan University on January 01, 2013. (Flash90)
Is it ‘unethical’ to oppose the occupation in academia?
A new ‘code of ethics’ commissioned by Israel’s education minister seems to target left-wing politics in universities. The Israeli Education Ministry, headed by far-right politician Naftali Bennett, recently commissioned an ethical code for political conduct in higher education in Israel. The resulting document (Hebrew) is a highly invasive set of political thought controls portrayed as…
By Dahlia Scheindlin June 12, 2017
A pair of glasses resting on a worksheet used to teach Arabic to Israeli students, during an Arabic class at the Branco Weiss School. (Flash90)
Teaching our children Arabic should be elementary
A new study shows that Jewish Israeli teens who studied Arabic in elementary school have a better appreciation for Arab society later on. As the government continues its attacks on Arabic, it is imperative that teachers and parents fight to ensure children learn the language. By Gil Gertel The so-called nation-state bill, which passed its…
By +972 Magazine May 16, 2017
Education Minister Naftali Bennett, welcomes students on their first day of school, Raanana, September 1, 2015. (Sasson Tiram/Flash90)
In Israel’s education system, ‘democracy’ is a dirty word
The Education Ministry seems to be doing all it can to give teachers the feeling that deep, honest conversations about democracy and equality are not welcome in school. By Gil Gertel The director-general of the Education Ministry published an amendment to its “Educational Discourse on Controversial Issues” guidelines last week. The reason? To impose restrictions on guest lecturers who come and…
By +972 Magazine December 18, 2016
Israeli soldiers in battle with the Arab village of Sassa in the upper Galilee, October 1, 1948. (GPO)
Using education to normalize horrific acts of violence
This is how the Israeli education system makes it possible for generation after generation of Israelis to accept the most brutal forms of state violence.  By Gil Gertel October provides Israelis a number of opportunities for self examination, one of which happened just a week ago, on October 14. On that night in 1953, 600 Israeli soldiers — half…
By +972 Magazine October 23, 2016
Illustrative photo of children in a library. (photo: Shutterstock.com)
No room for occupation in Israel’s civics curriculum
Students who open up the Education Ministry’s new civics textbook won’t find a word about military rule or discrimination against 20 percent of the population. There’s a reason for that. By Gil Gertel Education Minister Naftali Bennett has managed to make some changes in Israel’s civic education curriculum: it is now more religious and less humanistic.…
By +972 Magazine January 16, 2016
Illustrative photo of children in a library. (photo: Shutterstock.com)
The uncomfortable context of Israel’s book ban
The decision to prevent high schools from teaching a Jewish-Palestinian love story might sound like an innocent attempt at promoting Jewish continuity. In fact, it’s the sound of Israel’s extreme right going mainstream. Israel’s Education Ministry announced Wednesday that it would ban Israeli high schools from teaching a novel about a love affair between a…
By Edo Konrad December 31, 2015
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