A discussion that took place last week at the District Court in Jerusalem caused an uproar among senior officials of the Ministry of Education, after they heard the judge compare inflammatory materials in textbooks in the Arab education system to the Bible, and claim that the Bible also "has difficult content". The judge's statement, which was left off the record.
The District Court in Jerusalem.
"The protocol is not different", photo: Oren Ben Hakon
The hearing took place before Judge Tamar Bar-Asher, in which the private school "Ibrahimiya" and the school "Al-Iman" in East Jerusalem appealed against the Ministry of Education's decision to revoke their institution's license, after it was found that they teach content that contains inflammatory materials against the State of Israel.
During the hearing, according to some of those present in the courtroom, the judge claimed that the Bible also has contents that may be considered inciting, and even gave as an example the well-known biblical saying, "Tamaha zikr Amalek", and what is written in the Book of Esther that the Jews must kill those who rise up against them.
Some present at the hearing claimed that the Ministry of Education personnel were shocked and exchanged looks in amazement, when asked if the judge claims that the inciting materials against the State of Israel in Arab education are similar to what is written in the Bible. What is even more unusual is the fact that the exchange was left off the record. According to one of those present in the courtroom, " There was a very long trial, and miraculously, from reading the protocol - you get the impression that the judge was silent throughout the hearing, while she spoke almost the entire time."
"I meant exactly the opposite"
Those around the judge say that she meant exactly the opposite of what is attributed to her.
The appellants were the ones who said that the Bible also contains inflammatory statements, and the judge noted that we recently saw statements taken out of context at the court in The Hague.
The Ministry of Education stated: "The Ministry of Education is consistently fighting the phenomenon of incitement in the teaching materials in the schools in East Jerusalem. Especially these days, the Ministry expects legal backing in its decisions. We emphasize that the Ministry does not refer in principle to the content of the hearings at the court."
Ministry of Education.
"Fighting the phenomenon of incitement", photo: Oren Ben Hakon
The judge's response, through the judiciary spokeswoman: "The judge did not say that the Bible has 'inciting content'.
This was a statement by the attorney for the appellants, and in response the judge said that even in the Bible there are things that can be taken out of context.
"The words were said in a conversation that took place outside the minutes because they were not related to the questions discussed in the discussion, and therefore were not included in it in the first place. Contrary to what was stated in the query, nothing was deleted or changed from the minutes."
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