Politicizing the Classroom
- ACRI
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
The State Education Regulations (Activity of an External Entity in the Education System), 5786–2026, instruct the Minister of Education to establish rules to prevent school activities led by a person or organization that is not part of the education system that stand in opposition to the objectives of the State Education Law. The enactment of the regulations was delayed for eight years, and the Minister of Education announced the formulation of policies and rules in accordance with the law only after being compelled by the courts.
The draft, however, which was recently published, indicates that these policies and rules were determined in accordance with the preferences and worldview of the Minister of Education. In ACRI's comments on the draft regulations, attorneys Tal Hassin and Yael Seidemann noted that the regulations grant the Minister and the Director General of Education, both of whom are political figures, the ability to block organizations and individuals with differing political ideologies from meeting with students and to prevent students from discourse with external individuals or organizations on topics perceived as controversial. This contradicts the State Education Law, which lays out the goal of strengthening students’ critical thinking skills, cultivating intellectual curiosity and independent thought, and developing an openness to a range of cultures and ideas.
The draft regulations are characterized by a deliberate lack of clarity so that they can be used to void any person or organization expressing criticism of the State, the Knesset, or the government and its institutions. The composition of the advisory committee established in the draft regulations is also puzzling. One of the members is to be the Director of the Ministry’s Security Division who has nothing to do with pedagogy. Absent are school principals, school administrators, and parent representatives.
Another notable absence: the provision prohibiting “incitement to persecution, humiliation, degradation, contempt, expressions of hostility, animosity, or violence” refers only to “color or affiliation with a race or national‑ethnic origin.” It does not offer protection to additional individuals and groups that are routinely subject to harassment and discrimination, such as the LGBTQ community and women.
Among ACRI’s comments on the draft regulation, we wrote that the wording of the regulations raises the “grave concern that their sole purpose is to create a broad, limitless platform that will allow the exercise of improper and flawed discretion […] and to block content that does not align with the worldview of the political actors in the Ministry and the ideology guiding them […] their enactment would constitute an alien and improper exercise of authority, while infringing fundamental rights.”
ACRI's comments on the Draft Regulations, February 12, 2026 (Heb)
