Israeli student humiliated for disagreeing with visiting left-wing lawmaker

I was personally insulted because I have my opinion,” the student said. 

By Adina Katz, World Israel News

Deputy Economy Minister Yair Golan humiliated a high school student for disagreeing with him, 12th-grader Raz Danon, who attends the Yitzhak Rabin Comprehensive High School in the northern region, told the N12 news site.

Golan, a lawmaker in the left-wing Meretz party and a former IDF deputy chief of staff, held a political discussion with 12th grade students who plan to enlist next year in the military.

“We were at a seminar in Jerusalem on Zionism and religion, part of which was a political discussion held at the hostel, where Yair Golan came in first,” Raz told N12.

“He spoke inappropriately. Especially towards me.”

Golan “asked me what I would have done if I were prime minister concerning the situation of the Arabs in the country,” Raz continued, apparently referring to the recent wave of violence and Arab crime.

“I said what I thought about the issue,” which was to suggest that terrorists should have their citizenship revoked.

“He said that I was a danger to Israel’s security. As soon as he said that, I got up and left the hall.”

“When I left, the coordinator followed me and sent me home,” Raz said. They said I did not respect the event. I was thrown out because I said my opinion in front of a girl who is from the political left and a good friend of Yair Golan,” Raz claimed.

“It was really hurtful,” he said. But beyond the personal humiliation, “democracy in the country was harmed,” he said.

The school administration issued a letter to parents detailing the chain of events, according to N12.

“During the students’ meeting with Deputy Minister MK Yair Golan, the students were told to ask questions. In response to a question from one of the students, Golan expressed himself in a way that is not acceptable to us as an educational system.

“The director of the education campus and the class coordinator spoke with the deputy minister and MK Golan and said that they could not accept statements that offended their students.”

Golan has made several controversial statements over the years, including one claiming that seemed to compare the State of Israel to pre-Nazi Germany.

In an interview with the Knesset Channel on last month, he said that settlers in Homesh, the site where yeshiva student Yehuda Dimentman was shot and killed by terrorists, “are not people. They are subhumans. They are despicable.”

Arab IsraelisIsraeli ArabsIsraeli educationSettlersYair Golan