Student who exposed racist teacher said suspended for refusing to apologize

A teenager who leaked information about a teacher’s racist remark was asked to go to every classroom and explain why his decision was wrong, the Ynet news website reported on Monday, quoting the student’s friends.

According to the Ashkelon high school student’s friends, after refusing to comply, he was briefly suspended.

However, the Education Ministry said the suspension was issued for a separate disciplinary infraction, and denied that the student was asked to apologize to his classmates.

The incident in question occurred last month when a high school math teacher sent out a photo of a Muslim cemetery to a WhatsApp group of his students under the caption: “These days, it’s important to remember that there are good Arabs! And they are here.”

The teacher later apologized and said that he intended to send the message to a different group. He will be summoned to a disciplinary hearing in the coming days.

A fellow student told Ynet that after the high school student leaked the information to the press, “many students were mad at him, and said he was harming the teacher.”

“The school also disagreed with how he decided to deal with the incident. The administration turned to him and asked him to go from class to class and explain why what he did was wrong. He refused and went home.”

Hours later, he returned, accompanied by his parents, the student said.

The next day he was suspended for several hours, with the school saying that the decision came in light of his leaving the grounds without permission.

A statement from the Education Ministry termed the teacher’s actions “serious” and “contrary to the values of the Education Ministry and to the values of the state.”

“As for the student, we emphasize that he was not asked to apologize for his actions in front of the class, and that he was suspended for several hours for other disciplinary reasons which have been told to him,” the statement read.