Right-Wing Parties Avoid Battle Over Israel's Educational Identity
Translated & summarized from Now 14 by baba
The author criticizes right-wing Israeli parties for neglecting the education system, which he sees as the true battleground for national identity. He highlights a Ministry of Education grant that incentivized hiring Arab teachers in Jewish schools, leading to a significant increase in their numbers. This trend, occurring under right-wing governments, is seen as promoting progressive values over Jewish tradition. The article argues that true responsibility lies in long-term educational reform, not just in addressing immediate security threats.
The story in 6 lines · by baba
- The author criticizes right-wing parties for ignoring the education system as a battleground for national identity.
- The Ministry of Education offered a 180,000 shekel grant to Jewish schools hiring Arab teachers.
- This grant reportedly doubled the number of Arab teachers in Jewish schools within two years.
- The author argues progressive values are promoted in education at the expense of Jewish tradition.
- This trend has occurred under right-wing governments, including those led by Likud.
- True responsibility involves long-term educational reform and shaping national identity.
The author argues that the true battle for Israel's future and identity is not solely against security threats, but within the education system, where progressive values are promoted at the expense of Jewish tradition. He contends that even when the right-wing is in power, it often focuses on immediate threats and neglects the crucial task of shaping the next generation's consciousness and identity.
The article highlights a specific example: the integration of Arab teachers into Jewish schools. It reveals that the Ministry of Education offered a special grant of 180,000 shekels to Jewish school principals who hired Arab teachers. This incentive, implemented in recent years, reportedly doubled the number of Arab teachers in Jewish schools and high schools within two years.
The author criticizes this trend, suggesting it is part of a broader promotion of progressive culture within Israel's education system, which educates nearly every child for about fifteen years. He points out that this phenomenon has largely occurred under right-wing governments, including those led by the Likud party, and their Gush Emunim partners.
He laments that most right-wing parties, with the exception of the small 'Noam' party, remain silent on the Ministry of Education's investment in promoting coexistence values and non-Jewish historical narratives, seemingly at the expense of Jewish identity and tradition education. The author questions how, while right-wing leaders project strength against external threats like Hamas and Iran, the education system, responsible for shaping national identity, is consistently moving leftward.
The article suggests this is not merely due to incompetence or oversight but stems from a deeper understanding of where the decisive battle lies. It draws a parallel to David Ben-Gurion, who allegedly ceded control of academic campuses to intellectuals to gain industrial quiet for nation-building, ultimately allowing them to gain spiritual and value-based authority over the state.
The author concludes by defining true responsibility as long-term, focused on essence and roots, and safeguarding the minds and hearts of Israeli children. He urges a focus on fixing the education system's flaws, emphasizing that responsible leadership thinks ahead and is unafraid, even if it garners fewer headlines.
