Israel’s Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton on Thursday withdrew permanent operating licenses from six schools in east Jerusalem, replacing them with conditional ones over the textbooks containing incitement against Israel and its defense forces (IDF).
The principals of Ibrahimieh College, the Al-Eman elementary schools for boys and girls and the Al-Eman secondary schools for boys and girls were summoned for a hearing, after which it was decided they will receive a temporary license for one year.
The schools will also be required to modify the curriculum to avoid losing their operating license entirely. Together, these educational institutions accommodate approximately 2,000 students.
The schools were found to use textbooks "praising prisoners and their armed struggle against the State of Israel, conspiracy theories about denial of treatment to patients and intentional harm to medical personnel, accusations that [Israel] is responsible for the water crisis in the Palestinian Authority and serious claims about military killings, displacements and massacres,” the education ministry said in a statement.
Incitement against the State of Israel and IDF soldiers in children's school textbooks is an intolerable phenomenon that will be dealt with severely," Shasha-Biton was quoted as saying.
"Whoever in his educational institutions is found to be inciting and spreading hate speech against the State of Israel and its symbols - his license will be revoked," she added.
Earlier this month, an east Jerusalem high school sparked outrage after a video emerged showing a play in which disguised students pointed guns at other students dressed as religious Jews, blindfolded and standing on their knees.
