Israel Matzav

Education Minister stops meetings between families of terror victims and terrorists

What's most amazing about this story is that the government was sponsoring it in the first place. But now, Education Minister Saar has ordered an end to government sponsorship of bonding meetings between parents of terrorists and parents of terror victims.

The meetings, which are organized by the Parents Circle - Families Forum (PCFF) – an organization that promotes reconciliation between bereaved Palestinians and Israelis – were halted after parents of students in Kfar Saba complained to the Education Ministry.

Several months ago, a group of parents turned to the legal adviser of the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel, Attorney Hila Cohen, in demand that the encounters be discontinued.

"Drawing a comparison between bereaved Israeli families and Palestinian families is inconceivable, as such discussions legitimize acts of terrorism," Cohen wrote in a letter to the Education Ministry.

According to the letter, the Palestinians who participate in these gatherings pay lip service to the victims' families, while their true goal is to garner support for terrorism.

Following the request, Minister Sa'ar instructed to prohibit terrorists' families from attending the meetings. "The education system supports messages of peace, conciliation and dialogue, and promotes pluralistic discourse, but there is no room for comparison between terror victims and terrorists," the minister explained.

Families of Palestinians who weren't engaged in terrorist activities and were killed in the conflict, will be allowed to keep attending the meetings, he added.

The organization was founded in 1995 by the family of an Israeli who was murdered by Hamas in 1994. I'm amazed that the government has been funding these meetings for all these years and that it didn't stop in 2000 or thereabouts.

Labels: Gidon Saar, Palestinian terrorists, reconciliation

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:44 PM