Itongadol.- The government must act to root out Islamic State ideology in Beduin schools, MK Meir Cohen (Yesh Atid) said on Tuesday.
He made these remarks as a guest of the Knesset Education, Sports and Culture committee which convened to discuss Islamic State ideology in the Israeli education system following a motion for debate on the issue initiated by Cohen.
“In touring the Beduin towns [in the Negev] I hear from numerous people of a phenomenon of a strengthening of Islamic presence and an IS ideology,” said Cohen in the opening remarks. “We cannot turn a blind eye to this phenomenon.”
He added that the Bedouin population currently lives under terrible conditions and poverty – an issue that goes hand in hand with education and must also be addressed.
Cohen, a native of the Negev, who served as Welfare Minister in the previous government and as former Mayor of Dimona in the South, penned a letter explaining the urgent nature of the issue:
“Two months ago six teachers from the settlement of Hura in the Negev were arrested. Four of them were suspected of promoting an Islamic State ideology within the schools in the community. Two weeks ago, a terrorist from the same settlement (Hura) carried out a fatal attack for nationalistic reasons in Beersheba,” Cohen wrote.
Joining Cohen in the motion, were MKs Merav Ben Ari, Hilik Bar, Oren Hazan, and Oded Forrer.
In the committee meeting, MK Ben Ari called on the Education Ministry to provide answers to the fact that Beduin children in the Israeli education system do not know how to speak and communicate in Hebrew.
She added that every year thousands of students pursue degrees of higher education in universities in the Palestinian Authority and in Jordan – where “they teach them an ideology that is not Ben Gurion” – because they are unable to speak Hebrew.
MK Oded Forer said: “Israel in the past 30 years has given up on the Negev and as a part of this policy has also given up on the Beduin,” said Forer.
“There is no rule of law in the Negev and this policy of giving up also includes giving up on the education system,” which he added, has led to a “decrease of enlistment in the IDF among Beduin youth.”
He also called on the Education Ministry to provide answers regarding the enforcement of academic curricula in Beduin schools and questioned how the ministry approves the teachers.
He pointed out a worrying phenomenon that due to a lack of Arabic speaking educators in the South, many teachers are being “transported” from the North of Israel to teach in schools in the Negev – bringing with them an Islamic ideology.
MK Osama Sa’adi (Joint Arab List) called on the committee to distinguish between the ideology of Islamic State, which he said the vast majority of Arabs in Israel are against, and Islamic movements.
“If the discussion is on IS then we must root it out and address it,” he said. However, he added that “when the government [of Israel] is not there [in the schools in the Negev] then other actors are filling the void.”
Representatives from the Education Ministry however painted a rosier picture of the situation.
The director of the Southern District in the Education Ministry told the committee that there have been vast improvements in the education system in Beduin towns during the past decade. She cited an increase in the number of certified teachers, improved school infrastructure, increased eligibility for matriculation exams, and a decrease in the drop-out rate of Beduin students.
She conceded that there has been an influx of teachers from the North, though she said those teachers are certified and vetted by the ministry.
With regards to the lack of Hebrew speaking students, the Southern District director said that children in Beduin schools “speak a dialect of Arabic” that has nothing to do with literary Arabic. As such, they must first learn how to speak, read and write in Arabic and only then learn English and Hebrew as two additional foreign languages.
“Arabic is an official language of the state of Israel so unless you change the law, we must teach these children in Arabic,” she told the panel, adding however that there are programs in place to teach Hebrew in Beduin schools.
Despite the optimistic picture of the ministry representatives, Cohen concluded that he is “very pessimistic.”
“Let’s not fool ourselves. I sit in these towns and I hear a very different tune to what is being presented here today. I hear music to the tune of feeling neglected, feeling completely disconnected from the State and of areas that are extra-territorial that nobody will venture into,” he said.
“We must reach deep into our pockets and be generous and solve this issue,” he said. “There are initial roots [of IS ideology],” he added, urging that the government address these issues now before it becomes a widespread and increasingly dangerous phenomenon.