Arab girls studying in an elementary school in eastern Jerusalem. (Kobi Gideon/Flash90)
A Facebook post from the school showed that Baha Aliyan, perpetrator of an attack that killed three Israelis, was one of the terrorists commemorated by the students.
By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News
Likud MK Amit Halevi sent an open letter to Education Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday, asking him to close an east Jerusalem school that recently commemorated “Palestinian Martyrs’ Day.”
A report from Israel Hayom this week revealed that students at the Wakf-run Refugees Elementary School were asked to prepare memorial presentations for Palestinian terrorists, referred to as martyrs, including songs and poetry.
A Facebook post from the school showed that Baha Aliyan was one of the terrorists commemorated by the students. Aliyan perpetrated an October 2015 terror attack on a Jerusalem bus that killed three people. She was killed by security forces during the incident.
“It is clear to any reasonable person that this is only the tip of the iceberg…blatant incitement to terrorism,” wrote Halevi.
He explained that the commemoration of terrorists in an educational institution violates “section 24 of the War on Terror Law…and the [Education] Ministry has the authority to issue a closure order for the school.
“These examples of educating young children to [support] terrorism and subversion against the state must be aggressively [stopped], since they create a dangerous and violent future that we must interrupt at the beginning,” he wrote.
Halevi added that he was shocked these activities “take place in broad daylight, in the capital of Israel.”
He closed the letter, which was also addressed to Public Security Minister Amir Ohana, Shabak head Nadav Argaman, and Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion, by urging Gallant to forcibly close the institution.
But closing the school isn’t enough to address the underlying issue, said Maor Tzemach, head of the NGO Your Jerusalem.
“This indicates a larger problem under the surface,” Tzemach told World Israel News. “Israel must fight this incitement with all its strength.
“There is not a single place in the world where a school… incites and rebels against the government and the state in which it teaches.
“I support MK Amit Halevi’s request in his demand from Education Minister Yoav Gallant to close the school by administrative order.”
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