Israel’s Christian schools turn to Putin as budget row reaches LA

The Vatican has asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to intervene with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a budget row that has kept the dozens of Christian schools in Israel shuttered since the start of the academic year on September 1.

The parents of the schools’ students are also planning a protest outside the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles, Channel 10 reported Saturday. The parents were also planning demonstrations for Saturday night in the central Israeli cities of Jaffa and Ramle, the report said.

The 47 schools claim the budget cuts that have led to a rise in tuition fees for their 33,000 students are discrimination. School officials say they receive less than one-third of the subsidies Israel provides Jewish schools, and that their strike will continue until their demands are met. The schools say that their 65-percent state budgeting was cut to 34% two years ago, before being reduced to its current level of 29%.

Most of the schools are run by the Roman Catholic church, but a number are operated by Protestant and Orthodox institutions.

Negotiations between the state and the schools broke down on Thursday, Channel 10 said.

The state’s offer to return the funding up to 34%, and to allow parents to fund the balance, has been rejected by the principals, clergy and parents, who demand the full funding they say Jewish schools get.

The Education Ministry has reiterated its assertion that there is no difference in the funding of Christian and Jewish schools of recognized but unofficial status. It noted this month that the institutions had been offered a number of ways to resolve the differences, but had rejected them while choosing to close the schools “at the students’ expense.”

Netanyahu will travel to Russia next week to speak with Putin about the deployment of Moscow’s forces to Syria and the threats to Israel caused by weapon deliveries to Damascus, his office said Wednesday.

AFP contributed to this report.