RAMALLAH: The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) on Wednesday warned of more discrimination against Arabs inside Israel after Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced that schools with high rates of Israeli Army recruitment would be rewarded.
“Schools with high army and national service recruitment rates will be rewarded with funds,” Sa’ar said during a session of the Knesset’s Education Committee. The minister added that teachers in those schools would also be given monetary bonuses.
ACRI stated in a press statement that the right to education and equality is a fundamental right and cannot be conditioned to military service. The association’s statement further read, “The initiative raises great concerns regarding a further deepening of discrimination in education already applied on the Arab sector which is exempt by law from security service.”
The development came two days after Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman proposed a new regulation that would make only those Israelis who served in the army or completed national service eligible for the Foreign Ministry’s cadet program. Lieberman proposal would restrict Arabs and members of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community if it is put into effect.
In a separate development, some 50 Ethiopian immigrants demonstrated on Wednesday in front of Petah Tikva’s city council building demanding their children be admitted to the city’s schools.
