Freund - Raising Israeli patriots

Michael Freund..
Fundamentally Freund..
Jpost..
09 February '12..



The Land of Israel is a living curriculum, with a wide array of sites that impart our people’s story and evoke pride in its very special saga. 

 Last week, Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced the launch of a profoundly important Zionist educational initiative, one that will have a transformative effect on Israel’s youth. Speaking in the Knesset, Sa’ar said that a pilot program enabling students to visit Hebron and the Cave of the Patriarchs will soon be expanded to include schools from across the country.

Previously, the outings, known as “heritage tours,” had been limited to students from the Jerusalem area on a trial basis. In the past year, approximately 3,000 Israeli high school teens, two-thirds of whom attend secular schools, took part. This is an invaluable undertaking and Sa’ar deserves praise for pushing it through. It will go a long way toward inculcating Israeli youth with a greater appreciation for our link to this land.

Last June, the education minister accompanied children from a Beit Shemesh school on a visit to Hebron, where he told reporters that “visits by students to Hebron will acquaint them with the historical roots of the people of Israel. Every Jew needs to recognize the historical roots of his own nation.”

Indeed, it is widely acknowledged that Israel’s educational system desperately needs a strong injection of Zionist and Jewish values. Israeli students must gain a deeper understanding of our past, and there is no better place for them to do so than in Hebron, the burial place of our Biblical patriarchs.

Glick - Netanyahu's Post-Zionist Education Ministry

Caroline Glick..
carolineglick.com..
17 January '12..


One of the declared goals of the Netanyahu government is to ensure that Israeli schoolchildren receive a strong Zionist education. To this end, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu appointed Gideon Sa'ar as his education minister.

Sa'ar has long distinguished himself as a critic of post-Zionist initiatives to transform Israel's educational curriculum from a Zionist curriculum which in accordance with the Education Law of 1953 is charged with inculcating school children with "the values of Jewish culture," "love of the homeland," and "loyalty to the Jewish state," into one that indoctrinates Israel's youth to adopt a post-nationalist, universalist perspective that does not value Jewish nationalism and rejects patriotism as atavistic and even racist.

In light of the importance that the government has placed on Zionist education, it is quite shocking that under Sa'ar, the Education Ministry approved a new citizenship textbook for high school students that embraces the post- Zionist narrative.

This fall, the new textbook, Setting off on the path to citizenship: Israel - society, state and its citizens (Yotzim l'derech ezrachit: Yisrael - hevra, medina v'ezracheya) was introduced into the state's official citizenship curriculum. In everything from its discussion of the War of Independence, to globalization and transnational institutions, to Israeli politics, to the peace process, to Israel's constitutional debate, to Operation Cast Lead, the textbook adopts positions that are post-Zionist and even anti-Zionist. It champions these positions while denying students the basic facts necessary to make informed decisions on how they relate to their country, their people and their rights and duties as citizens.

In a letter to Sa'ar written on October 4, 2011, Bar-Ilan University law professor Gideon Sapir set out four ways the textbook distorts history and reality. First, in its discussion of the historical background of Israel's founding, the book gives only passing mention to the international legal foundation of the state - the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine from 1922. The Mandate called for the reconstitution of the Jewish commonwealth in the land of Israel. It granted sovereignty to the Jewish state over all the territory that today makes up Israel, Judea, Samaria and Jordan.

The textbook provides no map of the Mandate.

Instead it suffices with a map of the UN's 1947 partition plan, a map of the territory controlled by the Jewish forces before the establishment of the state, and a map of the 1949 armistice lines.

Say yes to Hebron trips

Op-ed: Our presence in city can be debated, yet one cannot deny Hebron’s significance to Jews

Yoaz Hendel
Israel Opinion/Ynet
21 February '11

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4031498,00.html

The education minister’s decision to send students on trips to the Cave of the Patriarchs managed to let many dark genies out of the radical Left’s bottles. Those who preach, with liberal zeal, that we shouldn’t attribute too much importance to stones and sites and that we learn history without becoming subjugated to it suddenly turned into stone and dirt zealots. It is precisely those who wish us to get to know the other who are now trying to hinder such effort with all their might.

And why is this happening? Because the Education Ministry did not mention the word Hebron in the “right context” of a peace deal and occupation. And if this was not enough, the “lawbreakers” dealing with education planned to send actual students, flesh and blood, to the city. The kind of students who would be able to see things with their own eyes, think, become familiar with the place, and learn (instead of sitting at a coffee shop, writing columns and protesting against a place they never visited.)

The explanations provided by “members of the peace camp,” who oppose the Hebron trips, can be used as material for advanced hypocrisy studies. Haim Oron, a normally level-headed person, claimed that Hebron is the modern-day Sodom and that therefore it would be better not to send students there. Meanwhile, Ahmad Tibi referred to the trips as “ideological coercion,” apparently based on the understanding that good democrats must not see some things with their own eyes.

Knesset Member Dov Khenin opposes the move because in his view crossing the Green Line erases geographical history from the minds of young students. He says nothing about the fear that there will be nothing left to erase should we never leave Tel Aviv. And so, we heard countless learned explanations that have nothing to do with the Cave of the Patriarchs visits.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, despite the objections voiced by the above figures, Hebron is part of our heritage. One may dislike our presence there in terms of politics, yet one cannot deny the significance of the city and of the Cave of the Patriarchs.

As fate would have it, the post-peace-with-Arafat era has turned the Cave of the Patriarchs into a safe place for a visit and even a convenient one in terms of accessibility and distance. This brings together all the desired conditions for those who wish to teach their children about our past, and not via reality TV shows.

The trouble is that in Israel of the “forces of light and progress,” some places must remain in the dark as far as these forces are concerned.

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Brainwashing and Coexistence in Hebron

Evelyn Gordon
Commentary/Contentions
18 February '11

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/02/18/brainwashing-and-coexistence-in-hebron/

While most of the world is avidly following events in Iran, Bahrain, and Yemen, Israeli leftists are preoccupied with Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s plan to promote school field trips to the Tomb of the Patriarchs (Machpela) in Hebron. Such trips, they charge, would constitute “brainwashing” and “ideological coercion”; they would educate against “tolerance and peace” and “intensify nationalist feelings, faith in power and blindness to the injustices of the occupation.” These claims are downright Orwellian.

First, as Sa’ar noted, Machpela is a foundational site in Jewish history. The Bible describes Abraham’s purchase of it as a burial site for his wife, and the subsequent burial there of six of the Jewish people’s seven founding patriarchs and matriarchs. Later, Hebron was the capital of David’s kingdom before he relocated to Jerusalem. Excising Hebron from Jewish history simply isn’t possible.

Thus, if leftists truly believe they can promote their land-for-peace program only by keeping children ignorant of this history — that letting children learn about the site’s importance would “intensify nationalist feelings” and turn them against “peace” — they may as well give up. No viable political program can be based on a Stalinist rewrite of history. And the only “brainwashing” and “ideological coercion” in this story is the left’s attempt to dictate such a rewrite to advance its political goals.

Equally outrageous, however, is the claim that visiting Machpela educates against tolerance and coexistence. Admittedly, Jewish-Arab tensions run high in Hebron, though “the occupation” is hardly the sole culprit: even before Israel was founded, Arab Hebronites periodically massacred their Jewish neighbors (see, for instance, 1929 and 1936).

But Machpela itself is an unparalleled example of coexistence: the only holy site in the world that is simultaneously an active synagogue and an active mosque. Usually, it’s open to Jewish and Muslim worshippers alike; on a handful of Jewish and Muslim holidays, it’s reserved for members of the celebrating faith. True, there is no intermingling; Jews and Muslims are kept separate for their mutual protection. Yet both can worship freely at their shared holy site.

Contrast this with the situation on the Temple Mount, where Israel abdicated control to the Muslim religious authorities. Jews and Christians are strictly forbidden to pray on the Mount; they can’t even open a Bible or move their lips in silent prayer. If they do, they are immediately thrown out. Nor can Jews even visit freely: only a few at a time are allowed in.

And perhaps that’s why the left is so upset: visiting Machpela might give students the idea that while Jewish control protects both Jewish and Muslim freedom of worship, Muslim control protects only the latter. Worse, it might give them the idea that leftists care only about Muslim rights, not Jewish ones: after all, they applaud the ban on Jewish worship on the Mount, yet are outraged by the Israeli-enforced freedom of worship at Machpela.

Clearly, neither realization would advance the left’s political program. But if leftists really want to promote peace, lobbying their Palestinian partners to start respecting Jewish religious rights would be far more productive than trying to outlaw history.

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From Israel: Seeking the Rays of Light

Arlene Kushner
Arlene from Israel
16 February '11



The news is so abysmal that I've chosen to begin with good things. It's important to be grateful for all that is good, and to take time to pay attention to what is positive. If we don't do this, we run the risk of feeling overwhelmed.

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It poured here this evening. Over much of the last several weeks -- after an alarmingly dry winter -- we've been having rain. For Israel, this is a bracha, a true blessing.

It's the beginning of spring, and I can tell because -- even in the heavy rain -- the almond blossoms are out. Trees in flower are all over the countryside and it lifts the heart to see them.


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Gideon Sa'ar, Minister of Education, has announced a new program, "Let's Go Up to Hevron," which would bring thousands of school students to Hevron, starting next year, to visit the Machpelah -- the Cave of the Patriarchs.

This would permit students to be in touch with their Jewish heritage. That appreciation of their roots is essential to their understanding of what it's all about.

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An anti-boycott bill -- submitted by coalition chair Ze'ev Elkin and sponsored by 27 MKs from Likud, Yisrael Beitenu, Shas, Habayit Hayehudi, United Torah Judaism and Kadima -- has passed its first reading in the Knesset. It would fine anyone who initiates, encourages or provides assistance to boycotts against a person because of his ties to Israel.

A sign of fighting back. May it pass through to the third reading.

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Maybe, just maybe (if the objections don't become too vociferous and everything else pans out), the IDF's academic campus is going to move to Jerusalem, beyond the Green Line. The projected site is south of the Hebrew University Campus on Mount Scopus, extending into the neighborhood of Wadi Joz.

A spokeswoman for the municipality said Jerusalem does not differentiate between lands on different sides of the Green Line because, "as is widely known, Jerusalem was united in 1967."

Love it!

There is much process to see through, including final determination of the ownership of the land in question. In point of fact, the area around the Mount Scopus campus of Hebrew University remained an Israeli enclave between 1948 and 1967. But we're going to hear plenty from those who accuse us of "occupation."

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A poll done for Israel Television Channel One's Politika program and released yesterday shows that right wing parties would garner 66 seats and left wing parties, 54, if elections were held now. Kadima would lose three seats and Likud would gain one. Netanyahu's ratings were better than Livni's. No one polled said he or she would vote for Ehud Barak's new party.

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Background: Been there, done that: declarations accompanying decisions ineffective

Dr. Aaron Lerner
IMRA
22 November '10

Minister of Education, Gideon Sa’ar (Likud) explained in an interview broadcast this morning on Israel Radio that he would support extension of the freeze if two conditions were met:

#1. There was a clear statement by the U.S. that they would not require the freeze be extended beyond 90 days. This with the understanding that the U.S. is not changing its underlying position regarding construction.

#2. That Israel declares when the freeze is extended that it does not include Jerusalem and that the U.S. is aware that this declaration was made. This with the understanding that U.S. policy is that construction beyond the Green Line in Jerusalem is the same as in the West Bank.

This is not the first time that a Likud Government has tacked a declaration onto a major decision in order to gain the approval of the Government. This is how it approved the April 30, 2003 Roadmap (A Performance-Based Roadmap to a Permanent Two-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict).

As foreign minister in the Sharon Government, Binyamin Netanyahu focused most of his efforts on drafting an Israeli response to the Roadmap.

And while he was already the treasury minister at the time of the May 25, 2003 vote, the “14 Point Response to the Roadmap” that was cited in the decision was very much his project.

The inclusion of the 14 Point Response to the Roadmap was cited by many ministers, including Netanyahu, to justify their vote in support of the decision.

While the existence of the 14 Point Response to the Roadmap was acknowledged in passing by the U.S., it had absolutely no impact on how the United States, the Quartet, or pretty much anyone in the world related to the implementation of the Roadmap.

In point of fact, it turned out that Israel itself, at times, declined to mention the existence of the 14 Point Response to the Roadmap when discussing the Roadmap.

[In a somewhat bizarre historical footnote, the Government of Israel to this day has declined to officially publish the text of the 14 Point Response to the Roadmap. It was leaked to IMRA when the Government refused to publish it and then was published, in turn, by Haaretz.]

It should be also noted that the official position of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is that there was not a freeze on construction in Jerusalem during the freeze period. In stark contrast, Housing and Construction Minister Ariel Atias (Shas) has frequently complained that, in fact, while an official freeze was not declared, there was a freeze in practice in Jerusalem.

In the absence of a clear written American understanding regarding Jerusalem construction – or alternatively the announcement of a schedule of Jerusalem building activities accompanying the “no freeze in Jerusalem declaration” – there is no reason, a priori, to believe that the same undeclared freeze in Jerusalem construction will indeed not go into effect for the new freeze.

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The Nest of Vipers

The Bagelnosher Blog
23 June '10

BGU - Ben Gurion University of the Negev – suffered parallel snake problems this week. On two separate occasions, they had to deal with serpents in their midst.

One of the critters they had captured, bagged and hauled away. But when confronted with the other snake, this one they wanted to keep right where he was -- in front of the classroom.

The first serpent – a black three-foot long species native to Israel – surprised the staff when it was spotted lurking behind a desk at the nanotechnology building on the University’s main campus. Officials called Beersheba’s official snake catcher who responded to the scene. “The snake wasn’t a poisonous variety,” the snake removal man said afterward. “It appeared to have gotten into the building through an improperly secured air vent. The snake was aggressive, but I caught it and later released it in a remote place where it won’t do any harm.”

The second, equally aggressive, snake is far more dangerous. This one, known as Neve Gordon, walks upright on his own two feet, although he, too, lurks behind a desk at BGU where he’s spent almost a decade bombarding students with his anti-Israel, anti-Semitic tirades. This snake in the grass is treated far differently by BGU officials. Not only was Neve Gordon not bagged and hauled away -- instead, the President of BGU, Rivka Carmi, promoted him.

Again.

Up to now, Neve Gordon had been merely a “lecturer” but this week, he was promoted to “Assistant Professor.” For an undistinguished academic, whose writings tend toward hysterical anti-Israel propaganda, how did they justify it? Officials assembled a panel of far-leftist evaluators, who requested letters from other far-leftist anti-Israel radicals, and that did it. Like promotes like.

(Read full post)

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Weekly Commentary: Strengthening Netanyahu by not blindly supporting him

Dr. Aaron Lerner

IMRA

04 September 09

"In today's complex situation, our prime minister whom we chose, Binyamin Netanyahu, must maintain all our national interests - the settlements that are the apple of our eye, Jerusalem, and also our relations with the United States and avoiding international isolation, because we will not be able to do the things that are close to our hearts if we are isolated...I am hearing a lot of talk, and I ask of the faction members: Support the prime minister. He believes in what we believe in, with only one difference - he sees the entire picture with regards to security and diplomacy,"Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar addressing Likud party gathering in Tel Aviv today.

Minister Gideon Sa'ar supports Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, but Sa'ar's remarks weaken rather than strengthen Netanyahu's position as his team negotiates with the Americans and in turn the Palestinians.

The greater the opposition to Israeli concessions, the greater the value placed on the concessions Israel finally agrees to and in turn the greater the consideration Israel can require in return for those concessions.

The harsher the criticism of concessions, the easier it is for Netanyahu to stand his ground against pressure for unacceptable concessions.

This is a policy - not personality - debate.

And what if there is some deep dark secret that somehow justifies a concession that those of us without access to the "entire picture" are not aware of?

Again no problem. Since opposition within the Likud reduces American expectations of what concessions Netanyahu can deliver.

On a personal level, Prime Minister Netanyahu may prefer hearing the blind support of Sa'ar over the sharp warnings of others.

But this isn't personal.
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Alarmed By Israelis' Dejection, Sa'ar Calls For Direct Elections

Greer Fay Cashman
THE JERUSALEM POST
Aug. 3, 2009

Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar has called for a change in the electoral system to ensure that legislators are accountable to the voters rather than to a rabbi or a party leader.

Sa'ar said that he was disturbed by certain contradictory findings in the 2009 Israel Democracy Index that was officially presented to President Shimon Peres on Monday.

A conference organized in the capital by the Israel Democracy Institute to discuss the index included a panel discussion in which Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky was scheduled to participate in view of the fact that a large section of the document was devoted to the attitudes of and toward immigrants from the former Soviet Union, marking the 20th anniversary of the large wave of Soviet aliya. However, Sharansky bowed out at the last moment. An IDI spokesman was unable to supply a reason for the cancellation, but a spokesman for the Jewish Agency told The Jerusalem Post that Sharansky had been unwell in recent weeks.

Sa'ar's call for electoral reform stemmed from indicators that while many veteran Israelis and immigrants are proud to be Israelis and are interested in its politics, most of the people polled did not think they had any influence on decisions that might directly affect the future of the country, and this in turn accounted for an ongoing decline in voter turn-out.

"If this situation persists, we will continue to witness a decline in the democratic process," said Sa'ar.

Israel is indirectly democratic and not fully democratic due to the fact that there are no direct elections, he added. "We do not vote for direct representatives but for parties. A large percentage of MKs are not elected but appointed, and there's a big difference between a legislator who was elected and one that was appointed."

Many MKs feel no obligation to the public, and are accountable only to the people who appointed them, said Sa'ar. "Democracy is not just a technical process. There have to be direct elections in which every member of the public can vote for his or her representative."

Sa'ar presented three options for choosing lawmakers: A combination of regional and individual representatives; open primaries like in some US states, where anyone could vote to choose a party's candidates; and something like in Denmark, where party members rank the primary candidates in order when they vote.
(Full article)
Related: Shelanu: Direct Representation for Israel
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