Uproar as Bennett dedicates academic year to ‘united Jerusalem’

Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) on Monday announced the upcoming school year would be designated as the “year of united Jerusalem,” drawing fierce criticism from the opposition Zionist Union party.

As part of the plan — which would mark 50 years since the Six Day War when Israel took control of the entire city for the first time — students in schools around the country will visit the capital, touring the Knesset, Supreme Court, Old City, and other sites. The schools will also focus on Jerusalem in history, geography, civics, literature, and Bible classes.

“Our history began in Jerusalem, and it from there that we draw all our energies during these times. If anyone tries to cut us off from the city they will only do the opposite — make us more attached to Jerusalem,” he said.

The proposal, which comes amid an ongoing controversy over a civics textbook written under Bennett’s leadership, was criticized by members of the Zionist Union party, who see East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

“This morning I heard Education Minister Naftali Bennett — who woke up with a need to make headlines — declare a year of a united Jerusalem,” said opposition leader Isaac Herzog. “I love Jerusalem, we all love Jerusalem, but I wonder to which Jerusalem Bennett was referring — a Jewish, safe Jerusalem or a Jerusalem with 300,000 Palestinians who hate us annexed into it.”

Referencing his own plan to exclude Arab neighborhoods from the Israeli capital, Herzog continued: “Whoever loves Jerusalem must demand a separation from the Palestinians.”

Addressing Bennett, Zionist Union MK Merav Michaeli said that Israelis were too afraid to visit Jerusalem due to the security situation.

“I want to tell you, education minister, I was at the Western Wall this morning, and I don’t recall it ever being so empty and desolate,” she told him, as Jerusalem was experiencing cold and stormy weather.

Meanwhile, Zionist Union MK Stav Shaffir was being mocked on social media for a misguided attempt to school Bennett in Jewish history.

After Bennett announced his education plan, Shaffir wrote on Twitter: “Sorry for being petty, but the education minister should know that according to the Torah, we came from Egypt.”

Humorist Hanoch Daum responded on Facebook with an iconic photo of Israeli soldiers in the Old City of Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day War, replacing the Western Wall with the Egyptian pyramids.

https://www.facebook.com/HanochDaum/photos/pb.441951892493176.-2207520000.1456157694./1082988118389547/?type=3&theater

Other jokes included imaginary scenarios in which Shaffir accuses the grand mufti of Jerusalem of enslaving the Jewish people.

The Jewish Home party wrote on Facebook that Shaffir’s comments show that the Labor Party has deteriorated greatly since the days of Yitzhak Rabin.

Bennett later reiterated his support for the plan.

“Our history began in Jerusalem, and our mission is to raise a new generation of lovers of the city,” he said at his faction meeting.

On Saturday, Bennett also hit back at criticism that the new high school civics textbook had a nationalist bias.

“I don’t understand what the storm is about,” Bennett said in a Channel 2 interview. The textbook “is a wonderful book that passed muster with many experts, and has been stuck in the pipeline for five years. I came [to the Education Ministry] to act. I won’t let an excellent book to be stuck in the pipeline.”

“The book reflects all the perspectives of Israeli society,” he added. “But let me tell you a secret: I wasn’t elected to advance the agenda of [Meretz party leader] Zehava Galon, of [Labor Party leader Isaac] Herzog, of [Yesh Atid party leader] Yair Lapid, of the left. I’m the education minister of the entire State of Israel.”

The row over Israel’s main high school civics textbook became a new battleground in the debate over how much religion and Jewish history should be included in the country’s national curriculum.

Three of the book’s authors have removed their names from chapters they wrote, claiming Education Ministry professionals altered their work beyond recognition to include a nationalist slant. The book’s editor has submitted a six-page protest letter, and the sole Arab member of the committee overseeing civics education has quit in protest. The book is scheduled to be published in March.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.