Sukkot Threatens to Cut Funding and Shut Schools Over Alleged Incitement

Knesset Education Committee chair MK Tzvi Sukkot said he will hold an urgent hearing next week after police raided a school in Wadi al-Joz, East Jerusalem, and found Palestinian Authority flags and allegedly inciting learning materials. He called the findings a “red line” and said the state should not finance institutions that promote hatred and terrorism.

Sukkot said the discovery should worry “every citizen in the State of Israel,” arguing that schools operating in Jerusalem must not be used to spread material that encourages identification with the Palestinian Authority and hostility toward the state. In his words, the education system should teach values, knowledge and integration, “not become a breeding ground for terror incitement.”

At the hearing, he plans to examine what is happening in East Jerusalem educational institutions and demand sharp explanations from Education Ministry oversight officials. He said he wants a full picture and to ensure that enforcement and supervision bodies are doing their job.

Sukkot set out a zero-tolerance approach for schools found to be violating state guidelines. He said any institution where incitement is uncovered should face immediate funding cuts, and schools with serious and continuing violations should be shut down. He summed up his position by saying, “The State of Israel should not finance and will not allow anti-state education in the heart of Jerusalem. Any institution that promotes incitement must pay a heavy price.”