Religion vs Education. But Can It Be Both?

Are all Israeli Jews religious, and do they want public schooling for their children to promote Judaism?   

With the 8 million people living in Israel, 6 million of those are Israeli Jews - meaning they make up around 74% of the Israeli population. According to the most recent population statistics, within that 74% percent, 80% of those Israeli Jews are actually religious - some more than others. But all in all, there is a significant amount of Israeli Jews that are NOT religious, but would still be considered “Jewish” due to their culture and their nation. So no, not all Israeli Jews are religious, and a majority of these secular Jews do not want their public schooling to infiltrate their children’s minds with the promotion of Judaism being more important than the basic educational content such as science, math, or history. 

According to the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Education website, there are four different kinds of groups in the Israeli education system: state schools - mainly for learning the basics of math, science, art, language, and physical education. Jewish studies are also included but it is mainly focused on the culture and history rather than on religious observances or beliefs, state religious schools - which also focus on the regular education curriculum, but emphasize religious studies and include prayers in their daily school agenda, private schools - which run differently depending on location and staff and parents, and lastly, Arab and Druze schools, which focus on the Arab/Druze religion and culture rather than the Jewish culture. Therefore, depending on how religious the family is or what they would want their kid to focus on, parents can take their kids to different schools. The problem arises when secular parents began to notice the material inserted into textbooks and workbooks of the state schools - schools that should be focusing on the basic subjects, rather than on religion. 

As seen in the Haaretz article, 'Jews' Advantages to non-Jews': Religious Indoctrination Seeping Into Israeli Textbooks , many parents have noticed the increase of religious inculcation spewing into children’s textbooks without any explanation, forcing young children to believe what is given to them, which could cause conflict when growing up in a secular household. According to the article, the Leaders of the Secular Forum believe that it was not at all random. One even quotes, “This is not a random occurrence but a systematic and ideological move. The aim is to reshape the mindset of secular pupils by presenting an Orthodox Jewish view of the world in texts, exercise, illustrations and seemingly innocuous sentences interspersed in the textbooks.” 

I believe the issue stems from the person in charge of allowing these books and religious curriculum to be used in schools - the Israeli Education Minister, Naftali Bennett.

Naftali Bennett, Israeli Education Minister 

 Bennett is known to be a right-wing religious conservative and has even made previous statements saying that Torah learning trumps math, science, etc, see: Israel's Education Minister: Studying Judaism More Important Than Math and Sciences . From the picture used in multiple Haaretz articles, and majority of the pictures of him online, Bennett can be seen wearing a kippah - which is what mostly religious Jewish men wear on their heads. Although he has made promises to the secular community that there would be No Religious Coercion in New Jewish Identity School Program, there is an issue of “betrayal” between the secular community and the Education Minister who feel he is still using his own agenda in the new school programs. His religious and political influence has an effect on what is being taught in schools and the phrases being used in textbooks. 

Many also feel that the problem is not that Judaism and religious customs are being inserted into the teachings, but that it is inserted where they are most irrelevant and unnecessary. Along with that, parents are angry for the use of language used to inform the children about holidays, prayers, traditions, etc. One parent stated that, on the subject of Shabbat, it is clearly expressed that ALL Jewish women in the families are required to light the candles on Friday night, where there are many Jewish mothers who consider themselves to be Jewish but do not light the candles as they are not religious and do not practice these customs. When schools are teaching children that this is the right and only way to do things, it could get messy when the child goes home and sees what their parents do as “bad” when they do not follow the rules being taught in school. According to Rosenthal in "The Non-Orthodox" chapter, it states "Officially, Israel is a secular state with no state religion." (235) The Proclamation of Independence states that Israel guarantee "Freedom of Religion". Although these statements are definitely included in what could be known as their "constitution" (although there is no official constitution) many people still believe that Israel is a Jewish land. Rosenthal considers it a "secular land and a Holy land". (223) So why would so many people be angry at the Ministry of Education for allowing Jewish doctrines to pervade the school's curriculum? 

In a 2014 editorial piece featured in Haaretz, Stop Injecting Religion Into Our Secular Schools, it is seen that majority of the secular community is angry with the religious organizations that meddle in the secular schools, while private and religious state schools get protected and sometimes even extra funding. Many commenters on Haaretz's webpages agree with the Leaders of the Secular Forum, believing that it is all a trick to create a bigger divide between religious and nonreligious citizens in Israel. Many commented that the biggest goal should be to teach kids the elementary basics such as math, science, art, etc. and leave religion as a choice that should be up to the family. 

While Bennett does put an emphasis on mathematic studies and has focused his current flagship programs as minister to increase the number of high-school students taking the highest-level math exam to 18,000, he has still made Jewish studies a priority over other regularly taught school criteria. He is specifically interested in increasing the studies specifically in the secular schooling system. It would seem like Bennett and his party are continuously focusing on transitioning Israel into a theocracy rather than a democracy beginning with children in the school system. The study focused on the Haaretz article was the first time it had been done by a liberal-secular perspective, therefore, the first time secular parents were able to find flaws in their children's schoolbooks. 

Moscow Declares West Jerusalem as Israel's Capital. Are there any strings attached?

In the article on Jerusalem Post, Moscow Surprisingly Says West Jerusalem is Israel's Capital, journalist Herb Keinon gives a detailed explanation on how, in the latest meeting with Putin and Netanyahu, Russia stated that it will regard to East Jerusalem as Israel's capital, a move that no other country has ever done. Although this is a major shift in their policy, which once stated Jerusalem would always stay under a permanent international regime, Russia stated in an open statement on their government website that the new change would start immediately. While many consider this a great gift from Russia, others are speculating that there might be more that meets the eye to the newly released statement. What was not mentioned as heavily as it should be, was the fact that Russia reaffirmed its support for a two-state solution and hopes that "it has created conditions for unilateral moves that undermine the potential for an internationally-accepted solution to the Palestinian problem." The situation continues to be the in the talks is the statement is said to be studied by the Israeli government.

Putin and Netanyahu meet in Moscow

Herb Keinon does a very good job at writing this piece without leaning to either side of the spectrum. As seen in his journalism database on JPost, Keinon's focus on writing is mainly on politics and foreign policy, showing his power to be unbiased in situations where he is writing about Israel and other countries. The article does not use any language that would make it seem like he is for, or against the statement made by Moscow, but instead, just informs and educates the readers on the situation. While other magazines, such as Haaretz, tend to have a more liberal point of view, Jerusalem Post is known for their centrist position (since 2004), according to their Wikipedia page. The article is reliable by getting all of it's information from the direct source - a video recording of the meeting via Reuters video with English subtitles at the bottom for anyone to read. Keinon's stance is shown as neutral and with his background (degree in Political Science from CU Boulder) is qualified to write on this subject.

Putin and Netanyahu discussing West Jerusalem as Israel's capital

While Keinon tends to focus his article primarily on Moscow declaring West Jerusalem as Israel's capital, other news sources such as Times of Israel, Haaretz, Egyptian Streets, and RT, tend to focus on the Israeli-Palestinian solution for the majority of the articles. RT, especially, focuses on West Jerusalem becoming the capital of Israel ONLY if Israel declares Palestine a state and allows East Jerusalem to be their capital. The rest of RT's article features talk on Donald's Trump controversial statement of moving the embassy to Jerusalem and even calls the meeting between Putin and Netanyahu a "diplomatic missive endorsing the two-state solution," while JPost's article does not mention the meeting being anything related to finding an answer to the conflict.

What the other articles failed to mention as well was what the last two paragraphs in the article where he talks about the reasons behind Russia's interference with the Israel and Palestine problem. Since the article is a "JPost Exclusive" Keinon includes direct quotes from diplomatic officials which state that the reason for the timing is due to either a bold PR move that deflects the bad criticism Russia has received from its involvement with Assad and Syria, or a sign that Russia wants to be relevant in the process of fixing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict just like the U.S. is.

David Friedman and the Friends of Beit El Settlements

The article, Fund Headed by Trump's Israel Ambassador Pumped Tens of Millions Into West Bank Settlements, talks about the major backlash arising from U.S. President Donald J. Trump's choice of ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, and his connections to the West Bank settlements controversy.

Beit El Settlements in the West Bank

The article begins with a backstory on David Friedman, the new appointed ambassador who has openly discussed his viewpoint on the West Bank settlements. Friedman has donated tens of millions of dollars to the radical settlements along with also creating a yeshiva through the organization he is currently president of. This yeshiva has been the center of much controversy due to the fact that the rabbi heading happens to be, according to Judy Maltz, a "militant rabbi who urges soldiers to disobey orders and also happens to believes eating certain foods can cause homosexual tendencies." 

The article continued to explain Friedman's relationship with the fundraising organization, American Friends of Bet El Institutions, and how he receives thousands of dollars in donations from Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and even got donations from Donald Trump himself (in 2003). These kinds of organizations were created to support the settlements in the occupied territories, in this case, the Beit El settlements in the West Bank. Friedman has openly spoken about his stance on the two-state plan, which he rejects.

David M. Friedman, U.S. Ambassador to Israel

The article, which is featured in Haaretz (the Israeli newspaper which, according to their Wikipedia page, claims tends left-wing and is considered more "liberal" in their political stances) shows a fair amount of bias against the newly elected ambassador. The author of the article, Judy Maltz, is known for being openly liberal on her personal Twitter page and consistently speaks out on her disapproval of Donald Trump and his cabinet. Maltz, who currently lives in Tel Aviv, Israel, attended college at Barnard University, a women's-only private liberal arts college in New York City which is known for being extremely left-wing. Maltz's democratic and liberal point of view must have played a role in the opinions she had about Trump's decision to appoint a very conservative David Friedman as the U.S. ambassador to Israel. Although the author does not openly discuss her disapproval of the settlements, she mentions the political affiliation of the rabbi of the yeshiva within the settlements and his bluntness about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Maltz wants readers to know that the yeshiva is run by a far-right militant rabbi and the organization funding him is run by an ultra-Republican right-winged politician, who was once even the lawyer of Donald Trump. Although the author of the article does not propose any counterargument or an opinion of her own towards the actions of Friedman and American Friends of Beit El, reading between the lines allows us to understand her stance and viewpoint on the controversy. For example, mentioning that the rabbi has beliefs that eating certain foods can cause homosexual tendencies might be irrelevant to the article on Friendman and his relations to the settlements, but is relevant in discrediting him as a reliable authority figure and makes him out to be a fool.

The article is extremely reliable in which all the information posted on the article is backed up and can easily be found on the internet with simple research. Maltz's information on the American Friends of Bet El Institutions is taken from their website (linked above) and all donor information and years can easily be accessed through their website. While Haaretz have proven to be accurate and trustworthy, the newspaper does tend to point in the direction of left-winged and against the expansion of settlements in the West Bank. Many of the journalists working for Haaretz seem to be social justice leaders and for the two-state solution in Israel.

Elor Azarya: Murderer or Hero?

In the Ma'an News Agency on the Israeli court postponing Elor Azarya's prison sentence, reports have shown that the now-convicted 20-year-old IDF soldier will not start his 18-month sentence until a ruling has been made on his appeal.

Elor Azarya's story dates back to March 26th, 2016 when then IDF-medic soldier shot, an already wounded Palestinian citizen, in the head. The entire execution scene had been recorded and eventually posted on B'tselem,  a Jerusalem-based non-profit organization that was created to ensure there is a human rights culture created in Israel and to document any human right violations. After being posted on the website and seen by many, the video sparked much controversy throughout Israel and the rest of the world.

Elor Azarya at his hearing in July 2016

THE BACKSTORY: Elor Azarya was a soldier in the Palestinian city of Hebron, who shot the Palestinian terrorist, Abd al-Fatah al-Sharif. The shooting scenario occurred after Al-Sharif and companion, Ramsi al-Qasrawi, had attacked and stabbed another IDF soldier nearby. The IDF retaliated by shooting both al-Qasrawi and al-Sharif immediately. While al-Qasrawi died instantly, al-Sharif lay wounded and immobile while Azarya walked up to al-Sharif and from close range, shot him in the head. The IDF soldier that was stabbed sustained medium-level injuries and the two Palestinian were pronounced dead. A Hebron citizen recorded the entire situation and sent it online, where many voiced their concern about the soldier and his abuse of power.                        

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Azarya with his family and girlfriend

THE VERDICT: After months and months of trials and an investigation by the IDF, the Israeli military court eventually sentenced Azarya to 18 months in prison followed by a 12 month probation and was found guilty of manslaughter by a panel of three judges. Although many though 18 years was ridiculously short compared to a regular manslaughter sentence, others though Azarya should have walked free. It seems as if Azarya also believed that because on March 1st, 2017, Azarya filed for an appeal on the decision made by the court. His 18-month sentence since then has been postponed until the Appeals court make a decision on the result of his appeal. He is currently under "open detention" in his unit's base. It has been noted that a date for the appeal hearing will be set "as soon as possible."

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ANALYSIS: The reliability of this article on the news service, Ma'an News Agency, could be generally trusted due to the fact that they get a majority of their news from other services, such as Haaretz and Ynet, or even American newspapers such as Washington Post or CBS news. Although it is mainly a large wire service network for the Palestinian Territories, the network is able to be relatively accurate when it comes to reporting and relies its main new sources from other organizations. This news station does its best to stay out of factional control, unlike many other Palestinian news sources who are completely anti-Israel and pro-BDS movement. In this article, the author, who is unnamed, tends to take quotes from both sides - whether it is Azarya's lawyers or the Palestinian opposition and the family of Al-Sharif.

Supporters of Elor Azarya at a rally 

Although the article initially begins with an unbiased point of view and only begins with the facts, it slowly begins to lean towards a biased point-of-view. The quote allegedly said by Azarya, "This dog is still alive," and "This terrorist needs to die," was not mentioned in any of the other Israeli newspapers, possibly either to show favor to Azarya or to make him look more like a hero while the Palestinian newspapers make him look more like a murderer. Although it did happen to mention that Al-Sharif and his accomplice, Rams Aziz al-Qasrawi, initially started the violence by carrying an attack on the IDF soldiers, it is only mentioned in the middle or the bottom of every Palestinian-based newspaper. Therefore, any reader that stops reading after the first couple sentences will be convinced Azarya murdered a Palestinian in cold blood instead of in self defense.

The article also mentions the Human Rights Watch or other rights groups reports repeatedly throughout the article, for example, "According to rights group Yesh Din, of the 186 criminal investigations opened by the Israeli army into suspected offenses against Palestinians in 2015,  just four yielded indictments," and Azarya is the only member of Israeli forces to be charged with killing a Palestinian in 2016 -- when at least 109 Palestinians were shot and killed by Israeli forces and settlers -- according to Human Rights Watch," and two other quotes. Ma'an is using their newspaper as a platform to push their agenda of making Israeli's look more violent and aggressive than they really are by including Israel's shoot-to-kill policy at the end of the article. With this being said, they also acknowledged that the soldier received less of a sentence than a Palestinian child gets for throwing stones, declaring their stance on the situation, where they obviously feel that Azarya got too short of a sentence. 

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MY OPINION: In Azarya's defense, while it was wrong to shoot an already wounded soldier who obviously couldn't defend himself, the two soldiers did initiate the attack and had the intention to kill the Israelis. Perhaps if he let the soldier live, he would go to the hospital, get better, and come back to attack again. There are many sides to the story on a variety of newspapers such