Gavison: Zionist education is critical to state's survival

Law professor faults Arab sector for continuing to defy the legitimacy of Israel's Jewishness in their schools.

By ABE SELIG
Ruth Gavison 224 88 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Ruth Gavison 224 88
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Students in Israel's education system are unaware of the importance of a Jewish state and do not know why the fight for its very existence is still going on, according to Hebrew University of Jerusalem law professor and former Winograd Committee member Ruth Gavison. Speaking at the Mandel Leadership Institute in Jerusalem last week, Gavison spoke out against what she called the "cultural ignorance" found in the secular education provided by the State, and bemoaned the possible implications such an ignorance could have on the future. "There is nothing which determines the State's strength more than the education it gives the young generation," Gavison said. But she didn't stop there. Gavison also faulted haredi educational institutions for not integrating into Israeli society, and the Arab sector for continuing to defy the legitimacy of Israel's Jewishness in their schools. Reached for comment, Gavison told The Jerusalem Post that while the Arab citizens of Israel feel that they are discriminated against with some justification, it does not excuse them from the fact that they have to accept the civic constraints of the state in which they're citizens. "At the moment, there is no real demand that they do that," Gavison said. "I think that is bad for the ability of the country to strike the right balance and create a cohesive and shared civic identity for all of its citizens, which is one of its main obligations." Speaking about the haredi education system, Gavison reiterated statements made on Sunday that governmental concerns to hold a coalition together overlook the true needs of the education system, and therefore Israeli society. "The haredim are unwilling to introduce core citizenship studies and integrate into the economy and society," Gavison said on Sunday. "And a significant number of them do not serve in the army and are not integrated into the workforce. This trend was recently backed by the political system for coalition considerations. "I want the haredim to be educated in a way that they are integrated and they accept the principles of the state in which they are citizens. That does not include Jewish theocracy." But the main gist of Gavison's argument was not to single any one group out, but to point to the failings of the educational system as a whole, in its obligation to prepare better citizens for the society in which they live. "In a state like Israel, educational policy should reflect the national, religious and cultural plurality, but also the joint objectives of the entire state," Gavison said in her speech. "In practice, Israel gives predominance to a multitude of minority groups, and fails to sufficiently stress the joint civil core, and the education for a rich identity of the Jewish-Zionist enterprise's key group - the Zionist group which does not observe mitzvot." That, Gavison said, is where the true danger lies. "The combination of these trends endangers Israel in terms of its chances to survive in the long term as a state defending the Jewish people's right for self-definition, which is both democratic and defends its residents' human rights."