Adalah to Israeli AG: Overturn education minister’s order banning human rights groups from Israeli public schools

18/01/2021

Adalah: Israeli Education Minister Yoav Gallant has no legal authority to ban rights groups from schools; his order constitutes illegal violation of right to free expression.

Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel appealed to the Israeli attorney general on Monday, 18 January 2021, demanding that he overturn Israeli Education Minister Yoav Gallant’s order banning the entry of human rights organizations into Israeli public schools.

Adalah Attorney Sawsan Zaher sent a letter to Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit and Gallant after the latter issued an order intended to prevent Israeli schools from hosting meetings or events with the participation of human rights organizations.

Adalah stresses in the letter that Israel’s education minister has no legal authority allowing him to block human rights groups from entering schools.

Israeli Education Minister Yoav Gallant (Facebook)

Gallant issued the directive in an effort to prevent B’Tselem Director Hagai El-Ad from speaking at an event at a Haifa high school. Despite the order, El-Ad did speak at the school this morning.

The legal definition of the goals of Israel’s public education system provides no justification for Gallant’s order banning human rights groups.

Adalah’s letter further emphasized that Gallant’s order violates previous Israeli Supreme Court rulings on freedom of expression as well as Education Ministry directives regarding educational discourse in schools relating to issues of controversy.

Zaher also noted in her letter that Gallant’s order could be directed specifically against freedom of expression in Arab schools.

Adalah issued a statement in response to Gallant’s order banning human rights groups from Israeli schools:

"The Israeli education minister has no legal authority to prevent human rights organizations from meeting with students simply because they have criticized the definition of Israel as a Jewish Zionist state, or the continuation of the Israeli military occupation of the occupied Palestinian territory, or because they portray the Israeli state as an apartheid regime. Minister Galant's order prevents students from receiving an education that exposes them to legitimate, diverse, pluralistic opinions and positions - particularly those from civil society and human rights organizations. Adalah appeals to the Israeli attorney general to direct Gallant to rescind his order and clarify that it has no legal basis."

(Photo: Facebook/Yoav Gallant)