Having grown up in the Jewish public school system in Israel, I’ve been thinking a lot about the things I was taught to see as natural: that the land around me self-evidently belonged to “us”; that Palestinians (or “Arabs”), if they appeared at all, were a problem to be managed; that Jewish history moved almost seamlessly from the Bible to modern Zionism; and that the world beyond Israel was a dangerous place that hated me for my Jewishness.

Luckily, my family allowed me to keep a healthy distance from some of those lessons. But it nevertheless took me years to fully understand that none of this was neutral — that alongside the real education I received, I was also being indoctrinated.

In a new episode of The +972 Podcast, I speak with Nurit Peled-Elhanan, a professor of language and education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, whose research into Israeli textbooks traces how Palestinians and non-Ashkenazi Jews are represented inside the education system.

Her findings reveal a system that teaches occupation, ethnic hierarchy, and state violence as natural and necessary facts of life. At the same time, Israel’s internal “others” — Mizrahi and Ethiopian Jews — are marked as backward or inferior, even as they are absorbed into the national story.

Our conversation delves into the role this education has played in bringing Israeli society to the point where a Kahanist government is committing genocide in Gaza, while the public at large views Palestinian life as expendable.

We also discuss why international scrutiny is directed almost exclusively at Palestinian textbooks; the repression of teachers and academics who criticize the war; and Peled-Elhanan’s own firsthand experience of the post-October 7 crackdown on dissent.

Finally, she imagines what a radically different education system might look like: one that teaches children the shared history of this land, rather than training them to fear and conquer it.

I invite you to listen to my conversation with Nurit, and to subscribe to the +972 Podcast and leave us a review. It really helps new listeners find the show.