National religious leaders are expressing anger in response to reports that Ethiopian immigrants have suffered discrimination in their schools.
Shomron (Samaria) Regional Council head Gershon Mesika slammed what he called a media campaign against the national religious public, saying it is aimed at destroying the religious school system.
Mesika added that far-left elements are behind much of the incitement. The Yesha leader noted pointedly that he offered on Friday to accept Ethiopian students into Shomron schools instead.
While Israeli media outlets have given the impression that religious schools have been denying access to Ethiopian students, most Ethiopian children in Israel in fact attend state religious schools. Unlike some of their private hareidi-religious counterparts, state religious schools receive government funding and are able to provide certain support services that others are not, although this does not apply to every hareidi-religious institution.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu vowed Sunday morning to ensure that all Ethiopian children would have a school to attend in September, and would back Education Ministery Gideon Saar's efforts to punish schools that chose to "discriminate" against them.
Several private hareidi-religious schools in Petach Tikvah have refused to accept Ethiopian immigrant students because they say the children are too far behind their Israeli peers to survive in the mainstream classroom, and the Education Ministry will not allow them to be placed in separate classes, insisting the practice constitutes racial discrimination.