From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, June 3, 2026
Bennett unveils plan for unified education system, vows to end funding for schools that don’t teach core studies
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleAriela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.
Former prime minister and leader of the Together slate Naftali Bennett unveils a plan to create a unified national education system, pledging to end state funding for “independent and party-affiliated institutions” and require all publicly funded institutions to teach a core curriculum.
“The goal of this plan is to create a single education system that brings together all parts of Israeli society under one Israeli story,” says Bennett in a speech at Israel Democracy Institute’s Eli Hurvitz Conference, calling it “the greatest social revolution since the establishment of the state.”
Under the proposal, schools receiving public funding will be required to devote at least 60 percent of instruction time to core subjects, including Hebrew, English, mathematics, Bible studies, civics, and Zionism, while remaining free to devote the rest of their curriculum to subjects of their choosing. Arab schools will teach Quran, he says.
Israel’s education system is currently divided into multiple streams, including the state secular and state religious systems, alongside ultra-Orthodox school networks that receive state funding despite largely not teaching core subjects such as mathematics, science and English, with the state turning a blind eye given the Haredi parties’ pivotal role in successive coalition governments.
Bennett says that separate education systems have created “separate states” within Israel, including “an independent, anti-Zionist Haredi state” which is funded by taxpayers, as well as Arab schools, particularly in the Negev, which he says “don’t teach Hebrew and employ Palestinian teachers.”
He says that his government will halt funding for educational institutions that operate outside the state system, declaring that “if it’s not state education, it’s not on my tab.”
At the same time, Bennett says his plan would strengthen the state-Haredi school system through investment in teachers, school leadership, and infrastructure while preserving its ultra-Orthodox identity.
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