Jerusalem24 – The Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, reported today, Thursday, that the Israeli Ministry of Education asked those in charge of educational programs in schools that belong to Palestinians inside, not to include any educational programs or materials aimed at commemorating the Nakba.
According to the newspaper, the Israeli Ministry asked those parties not to include in their programs or materials any statements denying “the existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state,” or to declare that they “do not celebrate Independence Day as a day of mourning and a commemoration of the Nakba” as according to the text stated.
According to the Israeli newspaper, these instructions were circulated about two weeks ago in an appendix to a special bulletin from the Israeli Ministry of Education, noting that it includes 12 items, including a commitment to activities that do not encourage “violence and incitement, racist calls, and support for terrorism.”
The Israeli Minister of Education, Yifat Shasha Biton, used these new instructions “based on what was known as the “Nakba Law” enacted in the Knesset in 2011, which prohibits any bodies supported by the Israeli government from funding any activities “that deny the existence of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people, or celebrate the Day of Independence as a day of mourning and catastrophe, and that the penalty for anyone who violates it is to be deprived of budgets.”
The newspaper pointed out that the Adalah Human Rights Center submitted a petition against these instructions yesterday, Wednesday, considering that this constitutes a violation of laws, which prompted educational organizations to refrain from providing activities for children from Nazareth due to the provisions of these new requirements.
The ministry responded to this by saying, “It will not allow the funding of organizations that deny the memory of the Holocaust and the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.”
