More Extreme Radical Transformations: Israeli Messianic Movement Is Trying to Influence the Educational Curricula

Ranya Turki | a year ago

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Since the establishment of Israeli settlements on Palestinian lands, and with the emergence of the Zionist philosophy of Moses Hess and Leon Pinsker about the development of both early communist and Zionist thought, the Israelis have been keen to embed religious Zionism values in their generations by all means, the most important of which is the institution of education.

In 1953, the Israeli occupation enacted the Education Law for the State, Article 2, which stated that education in “Israel” shall be based on the values of Jewish culture, loyalty to the “State of Israel,” and the realization of the principles of Zionist action.

Now, indications show if the new government is officially formed in an alliance, including the Kahanist movement, the religious Zionist movement, and ultra-Orthodox religious parties, radical transformations will shape the Israeli educational curricula based on religious and ideological background.

 

Radical Transformations

Representative Avi Maoz, head of the religious Noam Party, one of the components of the Kahanism and Religious Zionist Alliance, said that he and his colleagues in the leadership of the coalition will revise many educational programs adopted by Israeli schools to see their compatibility and compliance with the requirements of preserving the Jewish identity of Israeli young people.

He said that the educational institution must abandon 3,000 programs included in the curricula that parents cannot accept. Among the programs, Maoz has called for removing teaching Christian holidays.

In order to ensure the implementation of this scheme, the Israeli politician will insist on assuming a government position that gives him the ability to do so, such as the position of Deputy Minister of Education or even the position of Minister of Education.

Details of the 3,000 educational programs that he calls for reconsideration were not mentioned, but Maoz’s statements indicate that even if some of these programs are canceled or modified, this means that the Israeli education curricula will be radically reformulated in the era of the next “Israeli government.”

What increases the chances that the religious Zionist and Kahanist alliance with extremist religious beliefs will be able to achieve plans to influence the contents of the educational curricula was the Yedioth Ahronoth’s announcement, in its Sunday edition, that the Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu is heading to give the portfolio of the Ministry of Education to Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionist Alliance and one of the most extreme religious elites.

 

Goals and Targets

The school in “Israel” contributes to the religionization of society and the Zionization of religion; this is by strengthening the presence of morals and religious visions and maximizing the role and influence of the Israelis, especially from the institutions of the religious Zionist movement that the “state” and its representative bodies politicize with the spirit of religious Zionism.

The school system is also slowly creeping, organizationally and intellectually, into the frameworks and institutions of ultra-Orthodox Jews who, until a short time ago, did not recognize the symbols of the state and its representative bodies due to their religious Zionism beliefs.

In 2016, Haaretz newspaper revealed in a report on education in “Israel” that the Ministry of Education recommends that Israeli middle school students read books including racist visions against Arabs and Jewish arrogance. In the same context, the Israeli researcher and human rights activist, Professor Nurit Peled-Elhanan, issued a study a few years ago where she confirmed that school textbooks in “Israel” are based on racism. The study concluded that Israeli segregation not only represents a series of racist laws but also introduces a whole way of thinking about the Arabs.

Since the initiation of the establishment of Israeli settlements on the Palestinian lands, “Israel” has been keen to teach its generations to hate Arabs through various means, the most important of which was education. The Israeli occupation is hardly trying to prepare young learners for the ultimate mission, which is to fight the Arabs.

Zevulun Hammer, one of the Israeli Ministers of Education and Culture (1982-1983), once said that being the best human is being an Israeli Jew, and according to him, it is a great challenge in the twentieth century, so Israelis are even ready to start a war if there is a need to.

Many Israeli leaders said that the aim of presenting materials based on the values of Jewish culture, loyalty to the “State of Israel,” and the realization of the principles of Zionist action is to prepare children for the ultimate mission, which is to fight the Arabs.

Racism begins by making children believe that they are God’s chosen people, so they begin to consider themselves as superior individuals and consider other peoples as strangers.

In this context, Rabbi Yisrael Ariel said that a non-Jew is created only to serve the Jews for whom the world was created.

“Israel” also glorifies the leaders of the massacres and presents them as great heroes. For instance, the Minister of Higher Education, Gideon Sa’ar, issued a decree prohibiting teachers from discussing the Palestinian Nakba.

 

Religious Zionist Agenda

With the formation of the current ruling Knesset, a more extreme right-wing government will be formed than the previous right-wing governments due to the presence of a fascist party, the Religious Zionism.

In such a situation, Arab issues will be absent from the government’s agenda, whether it is related to internal rights or the political settlement with the Palestinians. However, the most important thing is that the next government will be the most extreme government regarding settlement issues and holy places, so much so that escalation will be the main and only title for the next phase.

According to the Director General of Mada al-Carmel Center for Applied Social Studies, Mohanad Mustafa, religious Zionism is leading the transition from the hypothesis that the function of the Israeli presence in 1967 is to maintain the security of “Israel” in 1948 to a new hypothesis, that the function of “Israel” in 48 is to maintain settlement in the lands of 67.

Zionism intends to put more pressure to consider illegal construction by Palestinians to be hostile, working in various ways to increase law enforcement efficiency and increase oversight of illegal construction.

According to the religious-Zionist approach, the Palestinians will have only three options: leaving the country, living in “Israel” as “slaves,” or to resist, and this last option will be met with force.

The time of the traditional left and right has ended in favor of a populist fascist right, in which there will be the moderate Likud party that tries to mitigate the impulse of religious Zionism, at least on issues related to the state and society, and this is one of the signs or the last episodes of the extreme right shift taking place in “Israel.”

This is how the educational system molds the minds of generations of Israelis, according to the Zionist faith, while Israeli, Arab, and Western politicians talk about the possibility of peace in which the Arab coexists with the Israeli in the region. Logically, this doesn’t seem easy, because children who are brought up on this image will be hardly convinced otherwise after they grow up.