Bennett orders closure of Hamas-run east Jerusalem school

Joint investigation concludes curriculum based on incitement against Israel.

By DANIEL K. EISENBUD
Updated: FEBRUARY 24, 2017 04:23
Naftali Bennett (photo credit: REUTERS)
Naftali Bennett
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Following a protracted joint probe by the Education Ministry, Israel Police and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), a Hamas-funded east Jerusalem elementary school teaching a violent, anti-Israel curriculum was ordered to close immediately on Thursday.
According to a statement from Education Minister Naftali Bennett, the al-Nukhaba Elementary School, located in Sur Baher, is actively indoctrinating its impressionable young students to join the terrorist organization’s mandate to destroy Israel.
“My policy is clear and coherent,” Bennett said. “Cases of incitement will continue to be treated with the utmost severity. As in the past year, the ministry will not hesitate to fire principals and teachers who [incite students], and we will not hesitate to close schools.”
Bennett added that information that the school teaches “content that undermines the sovereignty of the State of Israel” reached the ministry.
“More information was received by the ministry that the school curriculum is consistent with the ideology of Hamas,” he said.
Moreover, Bennett said the school, which does not have a license to operate, was told not to open in September, pending the ongoing investigation, yet continued to function illegally.
“Schools in east Jerusalem that elect to follow the Israeli curriculum will get the full set of tools they need to succeed, while those choosing [to promote] incitement will be closed,” he said.
Although the school’s administrators submitted a petition to the Jerusalem District Court in September to challenge the ministry, the petition was rejected and subsequently upheld by the High Court.