A man presenting himself to be an Education Ministry inspector joined an online school class on Wednesday and shared pornographic content with the teacher and students.
The disturbing incident occurred when the man logged into a ninth-grade lesson through the popular video chat service Zoom, and introduced himself as a school supervisor at the beginning of the session.
He told the teacher that he was only going to observe how the lesson was being conducted through the distance learning platform as schools across the country are shuttered due to the spread of COVID-19.
After some 10 minutes, the man began spamming the chat with pornographic material, much to the teacher and students' shock. The teacher quickly ended the session a few seconds later.
She, alongside the school principal, reported the incident to police and local authorities and provided them with an image of the man captured during the lesson.
Israel Teachers’ Union Chairwoman Yaffa Ben David, who has previously instructed teaching staff not to add strangers to Zoom classes, reiterated her warning.
"This is proof that our directive to not add anyone to classes was right," Ben David said.
"We are in a very complicated period and the teaching staff's work is becoming increasingly challenging by the day. I hope that Israel Police will find the harasser and bring him to justice."
In light of this incident, I will issue a reminder to school and preschool teachers to not add strangers to classes, including Education Ministry inspectors."