Kariv urges AG to intervene in alleged use of publicly funded religious schools in right-wing election drive

Democrats MK Gilad Kariv calls on Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to prohibit senior officials at publicly funded religious Zionist schools from participating in election campaigns, following a Haaretz report that the heads of two religious public school networks have joined an initiative to mobilize right-wing voters ahead of the October 27 election.

“I ask that you act without delay to issue a directive prohibiting directors and senior officials of educational networks funded by the state from participating in election campaign headquarters, party campaigns or organized activities intended to promote a political party, candidate list or political bloc,” Kariv writes in an urgent letter to the attorney general and Education Ministry director-general.

According to a Haaretz report today, Elhanan Glatt, head of the Bnei Akiva school network, and Yanki Friedman, head of the Noam-Tzvia educational network, have joined V26, a get-out-the-vote initiative established by Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, to boost turnout for the right-wing bloc, specifically Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit.

Israel has several publicly funded education streams, including the state religious (dati leumi) system, which serves the national religious community.

The schools educate some 30,000 students and receive hundreds of millions of shekels in public funding, raising concerns about attempts to mobilize students for political purposes. Under the law, teachers and other employees of educational institutions are prohibited from conducting election campaigning on behalf of political parties or other political organizations among their students.