Israel’s education ministry has disqualified a book depicting a love story between an Israeli and a Palestinian from school curriculums, prompting an outcry from cultural figures.
Israel’s education ministry has disqualified a book depicting a love story between an Israeli and a Palestinian from school curriculums, prompting an outcry from cultural figures.
The education ministry said Thursday that Israeli author Dorit Rabinyan’s Gader Haya (translated as Borderlife in English) had been rejected for inclusion in school curriculums.
“Officials discussed the matter of including the book in the curriculum,” the ministry said in a statement. “After it seriously examined all the considerations, and weighed the advantages and drawbacks, they decided not to include the book in the curriculum.”
The ministry provided no further details on the rejection of the book, which Israeli media reported had been recommended for inclusion by a ministry-backed committee.
But newspaper Haaretz quoted an education ministry official, Dalia Penig, saying one of the reasons for the exclusion was that the book could undermine the “separate identities” of Jews and Arabs.
“Intimate relations... Between Jews and non-Jews — are viewed by many in society as a threat to separate identities,” she said.
That prompted objections from Israeli cultural figures, many of whom have long been at loggerheads with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who formed a new rightwing government following his re-election in May. Writing in Haaretz, commentator Alon Idan said the move was aimed at “protecting the purity of Jewish blood” and reflected “institutionalised race theory”.
