During a Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee hearing on a program to combat violence and crime in the education system in Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem, the Education Ministry revealed that 157 educational institutions in Kafr Aqab are operating without supervision.
The figures presented during the hearing include 129 kindergartens and approximately 28 schools, all of which continue to receive funding from the Education Ministry despite the lack of oversight.
The data was presented after MK Tzvi Succot questioned Fares Tawil, deputy director of the Education Ministry’s Enforcement and Supervision Division, about enforcement efforts in educational institutions in East Jerusalem. Tawil said that while inspectors conduct oversight activities in other neighborhoods, they do not enter Kafr Aqab due to threats to their personal safety.
"Since the beginning of 2026, Education Ministry inspectors have not entered the neighborhood," Tawil said. "We are able to enter all other neighborhoods, but in Kafr Aqab we face threats, and therefore the inspectors do not go there."
He added that despite the absence of oversight, the educational institutions continue to receive funding from the Education Ministry.
Tawil described the situation as an exceptional case for the ministry’s Enforcement and Supervision Division. "Inspectors are afraid to enter the neighborhood, and unless we receive instructions from higher authorities, we will not be able to enter and properly supervise what is happening there. This is the most sensitive place; there is no other place like it in Israel," he said.
He added that only the ministry’s pedagogical supervisors are currently able to enter the area.
At the conclusion of the hearing, committee chairman MK Tzvi Succot said he intends to examine whether funding should continue for institutions where, he said, effective Education Ministry supervision is impossible.