Testimony of a Teacher: Ministry of Education Urges Solidarity Only with Israel in Schools

Hi, I am a teacher at a vocational school and a few weeks ago we received a letter from the Ministry of Education, asking us to take action against anti-Semitism and show solidarity with Israel. Working against anti-Semitism in schools is incredibly important and no one trivializes the terrorist attacks by Hamas. However, this letter urges teachers not to offer Palestinian voices the same space and to explicitly exclude them.

We are supposed to teach democracy in schools and educate our students, but what is happening with freedom of assembly and ‘freedom of expression’ is frightening. Furthermore, the need for equality and the value of all human lives is not an "opinion". A genocide must also be allowed to be named as such.

This puts teachers in a totally precarious situation, because criticizing Israel could cost a person their job, as it could be read as "not politically neutral", and prevents us from educating our students in naming war crimes as such and dealing with them adequately.