Arab schoolgirls in Muslim garb
Arab schoolgirls in Muslim garbIsrael news photo: Flash 90

“It turns out that the Islamic movement is illegally penetrating into the schools and running study programs,” MK Zevulun Orlev (The Jewish Home party) who chairs the Knesset Education Committee, has told Arutz Sheva TV.

“I believe they are also involved in accepting teachers and principals for work – and this is all being done against the law and under the nose of the Ministry of Education", he said.  "Just yesterday we saw the arrest of youths who are suspected and being interrogated for their membership in the murderous organization of Al Qaeda, and there is no doubt that Sheikh Ra'ad Salah is pulling the strings here.”

Orlev said that while the Ministry of Education is doing its best to enforce the law, this is not enough. The phenomenon is widespread, he continued, involving hundreds of students in dozens of schools, and the Minister of Education needs to intervene so that the Islamic Movement does not “poison the minds and opinions” of the students.

Knesset Member Masoud Ghanayem (Raam-Taal) took part in the debate on the subject at the Knesset Education Committee meeting on Tuesday and objected to the Education Ministry's attempts to supervise schools' choices regarding educational materials. He claimed that a school principal's decision was sufficient for allowing any NGO to participate in the pupils' education.      

An Education Ministry representative told the MKs that a committee appointed by the ministry has recently finished drawing up new guidelines regarding the entry of foreign bodies into the educational system. A directive issued this month instructs principals not to let NGOs into schools without approval from a ministry unit that deals with NGO relations.