These are just few facts about the terrorist Israeli educational system. I invite concerned reporters, such as Barbara Walters, to further investigate this matter, and to do a fair comparison between Arab and Israeli educational systems.
By Dr. Elias Akleh
Special to PalestineChronicle.com
After 911 the major American media outlets were directed to attack and criticize Arab and Islamic educational systems to present them as Madrassas (schools in Arabic) breeding hate, prejudice, religious extremism, and violence. Barbara Walters from 20/20 program (ABC TV) traveled to Saudi Arabia to criticize Islamic schools. She selected some Qur’anic phrases out of context against the Jews, when at the time the ‘Jews’ broke peace treaty and betrayed Moslems, and portrayed them as hate provoking and anti-Semitic. Saudis took her criticism with open mind promising to “modernize” their curriculum.
Due to political reasons critics, including Barbara Walters, had ignored to recognize all the good teachings Islamic schools are offering including acceptance of Judaic and Christian religions, tolerance to other cultures, moderation of behaviors, family values, compassion towards the poor, equality of rights, freedom and slave emancipation, and democracy (Islamic Shoura) among a long list of others.
Walters and others, on the other hand, did not dare even to look at the Israeli educational system and compare it with others. Such an examination would expose Israeli educational system as racist, chauvinist, elitist, intolerance, hate provoking, violent, militarized and terrorist system.
Zionist founders recognized that an Israeli state in the heart of the Arab World on usurped Palestinian land would never be accepted. To exist Israel needs to use brutal military force to impose itself. Thus the Israeli society needs to be a militarized society. David Ben Gurion, first Israeli president, expressed this fact by stating that “Israel is merely a militarized society”.
Militarization is reflected in every aspect of the Israeli life; starting in their families and moving on to their cities, their culture, their businesses, their institutions, their industries, their education, and even in their art and entertainment. Virtually every Israeli is a military personnel of one type or the other. Armed Israeli soldiers are found everywhere you go in any Israeli community; in the streets, in the markets, in stores, in restaurants, in buses, on trains, and in every place you could think of. Military and ex-military generals and personnel run every piece of the Israeli machinery.
To create such a militarized society, who lives and dies for war, people need to be militarily indoctrinated since childhood, and what a better way of indoctrinating and programming the young than within their educational system when their minds are still pliable and moldable. The Israeli scholar and reporter “Erna Kazin” noted that the Israeli scholastic curriculums are designed to raise students, since childhood, within a militarized atmosphere glorifying the military in order to prepare students to become soldiers in the Israeli army. Military service in Israel is considered the highest religious duty that every Israeli citizen aspires to.
The first lesson an Israeli child learns is the most racist, chauvinist, prejudiced, religiously extremist, homo-phobic lesson of the persecuted (prejudice) God’s chosen people in God’s Promised Land. The Israeli child discovers that he has the Jewish divine birth right of being God’s chosen, and that this divine privilege comes with the envy, the anti-Semitic hatred, and the persecution the others (the Goyim; other people) inflicted on him. He learns that these Goyims are mere animal souls incarnated in human bodies for the service and pleasure of the God’s chosen people. He also learns that his God’s Promised Land had been stolen by heathen thieves (Arabs and Moslems) and it is his religious duty to follow God’s wish of cleansing that Promised Land from these heathens and building a house for God.
The Israeli scholastic books are written with extreme militarized Zionist ideology with a deep color of distorted religiosity. The Israeli researcher “Eli Bodia”, at Haifa University, conducted a study of the Israeli scholastic historical curriculum called “Israeli Struggle in the Hebrew Scholastic History Books”. “Bodia” concluded that the curriculum perpetuates the Israeli Arab conflict, and had been a contributing obstacle to any real peace treaty with Palestinians. He described the curriculum as deeply distorted by extreme Zionist ideology. It breeds hatred against Arabs generally and Palestinian specifically by stripping them from their humanity and describing them as savages, violent, terrorist, retarded, criminal, dirty, and animalistic. The Israeli scholar “Sigrid Lehman” stated: “We, the Jews, are inclined to perceive an Arab as Goyim, as Europeans we perceive him as an Asian enemy against our national aspirations, and as socialists we perceive him as a representative to the worst type of retardation”
The Israeli social and religious curriculums on the other hand are also full with extreme religious prejudice and social elitism over all the goyim. Religious books are full with stories of ancient Jewish prophets, who on their murdering god’s orders, sent the Jews to commit crimes against the goyim, sparing none and murdering all; infants and old on both sexes, to commit crimes against farm animals; slaying all the flocks, and to commit crimes against environment; burning cities, cutting down fruit trees and burning crops. The story of prophet Samuel and king Saul is just one example of many in the Old Testament and the Talmud. At times this murdering god joins in the war and cast down hailstones and fire on Israel’s enemies. Thus Israeli students learn that murdering goyims and destroying their cities are not just sanctioned by god but they are religious duties.
God is still talking to Israeli Rabbis to direct Israel in its war against the Arabs. Israeli Rabbis publish religious decrees sanctifying Israelis’ aggression against Palestinians. Rabbi “Murdachai Eliahu”, Israel’s previous Chief Rabbi, published religious decrees calling for genocide of all Palestinians as a religious duty. Rabbi “Eleazar Malmid” published religious decrees encouraging Israelis to steal and burn Palestinian crops, to kill their farm animals, and to poison their water wells. Such crimes have become nightly adventurous passing time for Israeli youth from Israeli colonies against their neighboring Palestinian farming towns. The extremist religious decrees were published by Israeli Chief Spiritual Leader Rabbi “Yosef ‘Obadia”, who described the Palestinians as critters and cockroaches to be stepped on. He also preaches that the coming Messiah will shove all heathen Arabs in hell. In September 2005 prominent Israeli Rabbis, led by Rabbi “Dov Lenor”, sent a religious decree to then Israeli Prime Minister “Ariel Sharon” permitting him to target Palestinian civilians, citing ancient Israeli kings such as Saul and David, who were directed by god to target all goyims without exception; children as well as adults.
These religious decrees become laws and are taught in Israeli schools side by side with other religious books that glorify Israeli war criminals describing them as saints for killing Palestinian goyims, such as the book “Baruch, the Hero” written by Rabbi “Izhak Genzburg”. The book glorifies the terrorist “Baruch Goldstein”, who in 1994 murdered 29 Palestinians and wounded many others while kneeling in prayer in the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron before being killed by other prayers. “Baruch” was called a saint for his crime. He was buried in Israeli colony of “Kiryat Arba’” and his grave became a pilgrimage to extreme religious Israelis.
The militarization of the Israeli educational system has three major characteristics:
First: the system glorifies military power and war as a way of Israeli life, and reinforces the concept of might is right. Military service is the ultimate religious service that god asks from the Israelis. This warring god commands the Israelis to cleanse his promised land from all Arab goyims and to build him a temple. It seems that this god wants humans to wage his own war, and wants to leave his vast universe to live in a tiny earthly temple. To indoctrinate (brainwash) the new generations with the military spirit the schools organize school field trips to military bases, where students can be exposed to military life, to get familiar with all kinds of weapons, to take pictures with soldiers, and to attend live ammunition training. They are also encouraged to put their signatures on bombs to be dropped on Arab neighborhoods as was broadcasted during Israeli attack on Lebanon in summer 2006. As school assignment the students write letters and greeting cards to soldiers thanking them for killing the enemies of god’s chosen people. Military generals and soldiers regularly visit schools to give speeches about the war, about the undefeated Israeli army due to god’s help, and about the atrocities of war to desensitize the students.
Second: the most prominent characteristic of the Israeli schools is its militarized color, where military personnel are entrusted with the management of educational institutions and the teaching of students. A general standing in front of students demands serious attention and is an example to follow. The Israeli Ministry of Education had adopted a training program called “Tsafta” to qualify ex-military and ex-intelligence officers and generals to become teachers and school headmasters. The director of this program, “Motti Saji” explained that the goal of the program is not to find qualified professional teachers but military leaders with special skills. After “Limor Lifnat” from Likud party became the Educational Minister in 2000 the extreme military right was able to occupy the higher positions in the ministry, thus making the educational system even more militarized.
Third: the establishment of religious military institutions, known as “Yishovot Hahsadir”, that combine religious and military extremism. These institutions are run by Rabbis, where Israeli high school graduates are subjected to racist Zionist religious teachings as well as military training. Although the military finance these institutions it has no control over it. These institutions exist mainly in colonies on the usurped Palestinian land and in occupied Jerusalem. Their religious curriculum is based on extreme Zionist religious decrees that are filled with prejudice and hatred towards the goyims especially Arabs. The Rabbi teachers of these institutions are known for their attacks on Arabs and their criticism and opposition to any peace treaty with them. Rabbi “Eli Elbaz”, a prominent Eastern Rabbi, is known for his overt aggressive attacks on Islam and its prophet Muhammad. Rabbi “Eliahu Reskin”, from “Efrat” colony built on usurped land from city of Bethlehem, mocks all attempts of interfaith dialogue between Jewish Rabbis on one side and Christian priest and Moslem Sheikhs from Arab World on the other hand. He preaches that the only language the Arabs understand is the “language of bullets”.
These Zionist religious military institutions threaten not only the Arabs but peace in the Middle East generally and the Israeli state itself specifically. Many observers, including Israeli military generals, believe that these institutions are preparing for the overthrow of the secular Israeli government and turning it into a Zionist religious one. A study done by Israeli Bar-Ilan University at Ramat Gan had found that 99% of students in these religious military institutions, and that 90% or Orthodox religious Israelis would ignore the secular Israeli laws and follow their Rabbi’s religious decrees when and if these two contradict each other. These findings were confirmed by an opinion poll done by “Hertzlia Center” in 2006 indicating that 95% of the religious Israeli soldiers and generals see themselves following religious decrees rather than secular laws when they contradict. This was apparent in 2004 while late Prime Minister “Ariel Sharon” implemented the “Disengagement Plan” by withdrawing Israeli colonies from Gaza Strip. The prominent Rabbi “Abraham Shapiro” called on his students and followers to desert the Israeli army if the plan is implemented, while Rabbi “Haim Druckman” called on his students and followers to open fire on the Israeli security forces if they try to implement the plan by force.
These are just few facts about the terrorist Israeli educational system. I invite concerned reporters, such as Barbara Walters, to further investigate this matter, and to do a fair comparison between Arab and Israeli educational systems.
-A contributor to PalestineChronicle.com, Dr. Elias Akleh is an Arab writer from a Palestinian descent, born in the town of Beit Jala and lives in the US.
