An Education Ministry campaign to get Israel's youth to sign the Declaration of Independence to celebrate the Jewish state's 60years of existence is not sitting well with MK Said Nafaa (Balad). Nafaa sent a stinging letter of protest to Education Minister Yuli Tamir on Tuesday afternoon claiming the initiative was a political move that was unlawful and harmful.
"You must stop this 'mission' to obtain high school student signatures on the Declaration of Independence," the Knesset member wrote.
"Obtaining Arab student signatures is not only a politically harmful act from an educational as well as human perspective, but it also goes against the Law of Guardianship.
"High school students are minors, and are not fit to act in this manner. Anyone who collects their signatures—is breaking the law," Nafaa said in the letter.
"It is not irrelevant to mention that Arab students are the sons and daughters of families whose troubles were born via the Declaration of Independence and therefore, this campaign to garner signatures is intolerable. In accordance, your ministry is requested to cease this 'mission' if it has begun and, if not, to cancel it."
Nafaa's statements are nothing new for the Balad party. MK Jamal Zahalka, the party chairman, has already taken positions similar to this one in the past—only this time, the party decided to appeal directly to the education minister.
Education Ministry response
Esty Brand, supervising coordinator for the teaching of citizenship at the Education Ministry, responded by saying: "From the perspective of the educational program for 9th through 12th grades, the Declaration of Independence is a basic element of citizenship studies in the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic country.
"It is the base for every child—Jew or Arab. Everyone learns about the Declaration of Independence because it is a fact and not something that changes," she continued.
"It is important to learn about the Declaration of Independence in order to understand things like how the State of Israel came to be and what place Jews who do not live in Israel have as well as the constitutional basis for the founding of Israel and the position of different ethnic groups in Israel," she added.
Education Minister Tamir released a statement saying that "no student in any school was obligated to sign on the Declaration of Independence against his will."