Israeli school principals break taboo by speaking out against Gaza war

A substantial group of Israeli principals are raising their voices against the Gaza war – including the harm it inflicts on Palestinian civilians – in defiance of the Netanyahu government’s efforts to dictate the educational discourse about the conflict.

“We assert the freedom to voice values-based positions even if the authorities view this as politicisation,” Dan Sagiv, principal of the Thelma Yellin High School for the Arts in Givatayim near Tel Aviv, said in an interview with The Jewish Independent.

His remarks came as a school year overshadowed by the government’s expansion of the war, including by what human rights groups view as a war crime of forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza City, entered its third week.

Last month the principals, from what traditionally has been the mainstream secular branch of the school system, broke a virtual taboo criticising the war on moral grounds beyond the fate of the hostages.

Most of the Israeli media and public have ignored or supported alleged IDF abuses against Palestinians, including starvation, bombing of “humanitarian zones” and openly declared plans to expel Gazans to third countries.

Twenty-eight principals appeared in a Hebrew video, declaring: “we can’t stand aside in the face of the abandonment of the hostages, the endangerment of the soldiers and the hunger and severe harm to the civilian population in Gaza".