‘HORRIFIED’: Israeli school visits Arafat’s grave – will gov’t turn a blind eye?

“It is inconceivable that teachers or principals in the State of Israel would go to Arafat’s grave and essentially promote incitement to violence in the Arab sector,” says MK Sharren Haskel.

By World Israel News Staff

The chair of the Knesset Education Committee wrote an open letter to Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton on Monday, demanding that she take action against employees of an Israeli school who recently visited the grave of Yasser Arafat in Ramallah.

MK Sharren Haskel of the New Hope party said she was horrified after a concerned citizen sent her a photo of various school employees, including the principal and senior teachers, at the site, which had been shared on social media.

Ynet reported that the group was composed of staff from an Arab-Israeli school located in the Kabiyah-Tabash-Hajajara community, near Shefar’am, in northern Israel.

It is illegal for Israeli citizens to visit Palestinian Authority-controlled cities in Judea and Samaria, including Ramallah, but Arab-Israeli citizens frequently do so.

“A visit to Arafat’s grave constitutes support for a symbol of hatred of Israel and action against it at any cost and in any position, even under a false guise of peace activities,” Haskel wrote.

“This is even more serious when it comes to educators whose role is to shape a peace-loving society that works against violence.”

Haskel urged Shasha-Biton to use disciplinary measures against the school employees who participated in the visit.

“Arafat was a terrorist with Jewish blood on his hands, one of the most despicable terrorists, who even took advantage of the peace process and the trust and authority he received from the State of Israel to plan and carry out further terrorist attacks,” she wrote.

“It is inconceivable that teachers or principals in the State of Israel would go to Arafat’s grave and essentially promote incitement to violence in the Arab sector.”

The perpetrator of a deadly November shooting attack in the Old City of Jerusalem, Fadi Abu Shkhaydam, was a salaried employee of a Jerusalem school.

An Islamic studies teacher at a local Arab school, the Hamas operative received a monthly paycheck funded by Israeli taxpayers.