Hope and change: Israel to stop teaching its creation was a 'naqba'
Under a bill introduced in the Knesset on Tuesday, government-funded bodies or institutions would be prohibited from spending taxpayers' money on commemorations that renounce Israel's right to exist as the democratic state of the Jewish people or support terrorism against Israel. IN other words, no more state funds will be used to teach that Israel's creation was a 'naqba,' a catastrophe. On Wednesday, Education Minister Gidon Sa'ar (Likud) told the Knesset that the 'naqba' narrative will no longer be taught in Israel's public schools. Knesset members from the Arab parties, which represent the most radical elements in 'Israeli Arab' society, are furious. Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar responded on Wednesday to criticism leveled at him by MK Ahmed Tibi (UAL) [former diplomatic adviser to Yasser Arafat. CiJ] over his intention to remove teaching about the Nakba (the "catastrophe," from the Arab perspective, of Israel's establishment) from Israeli schools, and said that leaving such a topic in the curriculum would only strengthen fringe elements in the Arab Israeli sector.Forget for a minute that (for now at least), Britain has no desire to destroy the United States and the United States is not full of Britons. Can you imagine American funds being expended to teach that the American revolution was wrong?
"In no country in the world does an educational curriculum refer to the creation of the country as a 'catastrophe,' he said while speaking in the Knesset plenum.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but the term 'Nakba' means a catastrophe," he asked Tibi, who confirmed the meaning. "There is a difference between referring to specific tragedies that take place in a war - either against the Jewish or Arab population - as catastrophes, and referring to the creation of the state as a catastrophe."
"There are some Arab Israelis who do not view the creation of the state of Israel as a catastrophe," Sa'ar continued, saying that in fact, the majority probably didn't think thought that way, and only fringe elements of the sector supported the notion of the 'Nakba.'
"I don't think we should support the fringe elements," he said. "That will harm our coexistence."
In addition, the education minister took aim at the whole concept of a 'Nakba,' and said that Israel was not the party to blame for the plight of Palestinian refugees.
As some of you may recall, teaching the 'naqba' was a pet project of Comrade Yuli Tamir, the moonbat education minister in the Olmert - Barak - Livni government. I assume this means that the government plans to replace the textbooks that Tamir had printed with the 'naqba' in them. This is good news. Hopefully, Labor (Tamir's party, although she is one of the 'rebels' who generally votes against the government) won't make a coalition crisis out of this.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:30 PM
2 Comments:
Yuli Tamir was a moonbat. The change in Israel's curriculum is long overdue. Jewish schoolchildren must not be brainwashed into believing the creation of their country was a crime. Israel was not responsible for the Palestinian refugee situation and owes them nothing.
Well, it only took 61 years!
Why rush this?
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