“Breaking the Silence is a legal organization,” added Rozin, “We are a country governed by civil law. If you think they break the law you should turn to state authorities. If it is legal, stop with the populistic slogans, and it is logical and right that they appear in front of students before their army service.”
MK Abdullah Abu Maaruf (Joint Arab List) said, “The message of this discussion – is McCarthyism. This is a trampling of every value which was against the occupation.”
MK Meir Cohen (Yesh Atid) noted, “The problem with Breaking the Silence is that they claim that this behavior is the IDF’s practice.”
MK Micky Rosenthal (Zionist Camp) added, “The Ministry of Education’s attempt for politicization and deligitimization is stupid. If you want to fight the opinions of Breaking the Silence, you should place others ahead of them. The IDF is a moral army, but it also has flaws. We need to educate our children. We are all human and we need to correct the faults.”
Eliraz Kraus, head of the Education Ministry’s society and humanities department, presented its viewpoint: “We encourage teachers and schools to promote discourse on current affairs which encourage a variety of opinions. Such discourse is allowed and necessary, as long as it does not turn into a discourse of political propaganda or crosses the line between criticism and deligitimization, such as preaching for violence or racism, discrimination and incitement, as well as discourse which harms the legitimacy of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. The line which defines criticism and deligitimization is complicated and sensitive.”
Committee Chairman MK Yakov Margi said at the end of the debate that the committee would assemble again to discuss the matter when the Education Minister’s bill is submitted for discussion at the Education Committee.