Beit El Education Department Chairman Menachem Lev was present for part of the meeting, and confirmed this description. "He simply lost it," Lev said. "It was very bad. He interrupted them, yelled a lot, and mocked them again and again."
The girls were there as part of a series of visits arranged for Beit El students in the wake of the violence many of them experienced in Amona.
It will be recalled that the police and army forces used extreme violence against protesting teenagers in Amona on Feb. 1, injuring over 200 of them and sending dozens to the hospital. The youths had come to Amona to protest the demolition of nine private homes deemed illegal by the Supreme Court.
Menachem Lev said that schools in Beit El had undertaken an initiative to help the pupils deal with the trauma they experienced, both individually and as a community, in Amona. "This past Thursday," he said, "they expressed their feelings in drawings and writing. We then arranged for them to visit some public figures and present them with the results."
"For instance," Lev continued, "they met with the chief of the Shai [Samaria/Judea] District Police, who was exceptionally nice and respectful. He listened to them, even though they said some harsh things, and even gave them a gift. Another meeting with Public Security Minister Gideon Ezra was also positive, though a bit tense. Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin also welcomed a group nicely and arranged a Knesset tour for them."
"But Sheetrit - from the first minute, he just lost it. He started to ask them if they study together with boys, and why not, and how do they manage without boys, and 'how do you know it's better without boys if you never tried it?' He gave them a whole grilling on this topic, putting them in a very awkward situation."
"In addition," Lev said, "he was full of sarcasm, saying things like, 'Sure, sure, the police hit you,' and the like. There were about 12 girls there, and they were very upset by the whole thing, but afterwards they decided on their own to write down a protocol of the meeting, of everything that happened."
Titling their composition, "An Undesirable Meeting with Meir Sheetrit," the girls wrote that when they told Sheetrit that they had never studied with boys, "he made fun of us, saying that 'with boys it's a different feeling,' and that 'you don't know because you never experienced it.' All this took about ten minutes of our meeting...
"The minister tried to understand why our parents let us go to Amona, and said that he would never have let his daughter go. 'What kind of education did you get? I don't agree with this, Amona is illegal... and therefore they should have left quietly.' Then he asked, 'Is there something above the law?' and we said, 'The Torah.' He was totally stunned at what he heard and said, 'What? You learn that the Torah is above the law?!'"
The girls wrote that they read him a letter, which concluded, "G-d will punish the wicked," and when Sheetrit heard this, "he interrupted with fury and said very forcefully, 'Who exactly are you referring to? Those who lived in the illegal Amona are the evil ones, which means that you are the evil ones."
Even at the end of the meeting, Lev said, "when we thanked him for agreeing to meet with us, he answered sarcastically, 'Thank you very much for all that you have done.'"
Arutz-7's Yedidya Hacohen said that Sheetrit's press advisor attempted to explain Sheetrit's behavior, saying his boss was angered at hearing that the Torah is above the law. "When Sheetrit asked who the evil ones are," the advisor said, "the girls started to stumble and say unclear things. I must say that I was there, and the Minister was patient, despite the fact that the girls ran the meeting in a disorderly fashion and interrupted each other."
Lev rebuffed this attempt to blame the girls, and said that this was not at all what he saw:
"The girls spoke orderly and did not interrupt each other, and what actually happened was that the Minister constantly interrupted and spoke angrily and sarcastically."
Sheetrit assumed the post of Education Minister, which he has long coveted, just last month. He replaced the Likud's Limor Livnat when the Likud ministers resigned from the Cabinet in order to better position themselves for the upcoming elections.
Minister Sheetrit can be faxed at (+972-2) 560-2246.
The girls were there as part of a series of visits arranged for Beit El students in the wake of the violence many of them experienced in Amona.
It will be recalled that the police and army forces used extreme violence against protesting teenagers in Amona on Feb. 1, injuring over 200 of them and sending dozens to the hospital. The youths had come to Amona to protest the demolition of nine private homes deemed illegal by the Supreme Court.
Menachem Lev said that schools in Beit El had undertaken an initiative to help the pupils deal with the trauma they experienced, both individually and as a community, in Amona. "This past Thursday," he said, "they expressed their feelings in drawings and writing. We then arranged for them to visit some public figures and present them with the results."
"For instance," Lev continued, "they met with the chief of the Shai [Samaria/Judea] District Police, who was exceptionally nice and respectful. He listened to them, even though they said some harsh things, and even gave them a gift. Another meeting with Public Security Minister Gideon Ezra was also positive, though a bit tense. Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin also welcomed a group nicely and arranged a Knesset tour for them."
"But Sheetrit - from the first minute, he just lost it. He started to ask them if they study together with boys, and why not, and how do they manage without boys, and 'how do you know it's better without boys if you never tried it?' He gave them a whole grilling on this topic, putting them in a very awkward situation."
"In addition," Lev said, "he was full of sarcasm, saying things like, 'Sure, sure, the police hit you,' and the like. There were about 12 girls there, and they were very upset by the whole thing, but afterwards they decided on their own to write down a protocol of the meeting, of everything that happened."
Titling their composition, "An Undesirable Meeting with Meir Sheetrit," the girls wrote that when they told Sheetrit that they had never studied with boys, "he made fun of us, saying that 'with boys it's a different feeling,' and that 'you don't know because you never experienced it.' All this took about ten minutes of our meeting...
"The minister tried to understand why our parents let us go to Amona, and said that he would never have let his daughter go. 'What kind of education did you get? I don't agree with this, Amona is illegal... and therefore they should have left quietly.' Then he asked, 'Is there something above the law?' and we said, 'The Torah.' He was totally stunned at what he heard and said, 'What? You learn that the Torah is above the law?!'"
The girls wrote that they read him a letter, which concluded, "G-d will punish the wicked," and when Sheetrit heard this, "he interrupted with fury and said very forcefully, 'Who exactly are you referring to? Those who lived in the illegal Amona are the evil ones, which means that you are the evil ones."
Even at the end of the meeting, Lev said, "when we thanked him for agreeing to meet with us, he answered sarcastically, 'Thank you very much for all that you have done.'"
Arutz-7's Yedidya Hacohen said that Sheetrit's press advisor attempted to explain Sheetrit's behavior, saying his boss was angered at hearing that the Torah is above the law. "When Sheetrit asked who the evil ones are," the advisor said, "the girls started to stumble and say unclear things. I must say that I was there, and the Minister was patient, despite the fact that the girls ran the meeting in a disorderly fashion and interrupted each other."
Lev rebuffed this attempt to blame the girls, and said that this was not at all what he saw:
"The girls spoke orderly and did not interrupt each other, and what actually happened was that the Minister constantly interrupted and spoke angrily and sarcastically."
Sheetrit assumed the post of Education Minister, which he has long coveted, just last month. He replaced the Likud's Limor Livnat when the Likud ministers resigned from the Cabinet in order to better position themselves for the upcoming elections.
Minister Sheetrit can be faxed at (+972-2) 560-2246.