On 21.8.2020, we appealed to the State Attorney’s office in protest against Minister of Education Yoav Galant’s decision to remove skits from the satirical television series “HaYehudim Baim” (The Jews are Coming) from the website for bible teachers. In doing so, the Minister revoked the decision of the Pedagogical Secretariat, who determined that the skits are not meant to cause emotional harm, and that the opinion of the creators or their other skits should not be considered in the decision whether to include them in the educational curriculum. With this decision, the Minister aligned himself with the requests of MKs and political activists from his party and other right-wing parties.
In the appeal, we asked that the Deputy Attorney General inform the Minister of Education that he is forbidden from meddling in the contents of the educational curriculum or reject content within it. Attorney Dan Yair, ACRI’s Chief Legal Counsel, wrote:
“Firstly, the Minister has no authority to meddle in the content of educational curriculums, or to instruct the removal of content from these curriculums. Doing so is an assault on the professional authority of those assigned to teaching the various subjects, and of the Pedagogical Secretariat. Primarily, this is a dangerous gateway for the politicization of the educational curriculum, as seen in this case, where political actors pressured the Minister to intervene [...]
Secondly, an item may not be rejected based on the opinions of its creators, opinions attributed to its content, or the unsuitability of its creators’ other works.”