Knesset Education Committee Chairman MK Tzvi Sukkot (Religious Zionists) received an unexpected phone call this week from an Arab serving time in the Shikma Prison.
The caller, a Bedouin Arab, is serving a prison sentence for domestic murder. He called to compliment MK Sukkot on his visits to Arab educational institutions in an attempt to reduce the violence and incitement. "You are saving the education in the Arab sector."
During the conversation, the prisoner shared that he was educated in a Ministry of Education-recognized school in Kuseife, where, according to him, the teachers disseminated messages of anti-Jewish hate and encouraged violence. "Crime starts with criminal acts, but the motive starts with nationalism and develops later. Just like during Operation Guardian of the Walls, everyone who participated (in the riots) had a criminal background," he stated.
Later, he added that he was educated in school that the Jews came to expel the Arabs. "I grew up in a way where if I would commit a crime against an Arab, I was hated, and if I would do something against a Jew, I would be admired. That's how I was educated in the Israeli education system in Kuseife."
The prisoner surprised MK Sukkot when he said that even the criminal acts in the Arab sector are actually nationalist, and that education is the root of the phenomenon of racketeering and crime. "Even the criminal [acts] are nationalist. The reason the criminal organizations do protection rackets is that it all starts with education that the Jew is an infidel."
The prisoner claimed that he was educated to believe that Jews were not human. "The teachers from the north and the territories would teach us to hate the country, that the Jews came to take our land. It all comes from the teacher's conduct, and it reflects on society. When you don't recognize the state's authority and are educated that crime against Jews is acceptable, you grow up to be a criminal like me."
Toward the end of the conversation, he told Sukkot, "Our DNA is infected. Even if I were released from prison, my children would do the same thing if they were not educated differently."
The Knesset Member noted that "this testimony must set off a red light for anyone who cares about the State of Israel's future. We got clear proof that you can not fight crime and terrorism without dealing with the root - the education system. When children are educated on hate, incitement, and delegitimization of Jews and the State of Israel, the results will be violence, crime, and terrorism. Whoever thinks it's possible to fight crime using only the police and enforcement lives in a misconception and should wake up before it's too late."
"The Education Committee, led by me, will continue to expose these materials and ensure that the education system educates on coexistence, respect for the law, and allegiance to the state, and not on incitement and violence, and whoever's not interested won't get a shekel from the state."