Orthodox vs. Secular Education in Public Schools

Although Israel is the Jewish state and a majority of Israelis are Jewish, not all Israeli Jews are religious. According to the Haaretz article on Religion Creeping Into Israeli State School Textbooks, many secular Jews and other Israelis are not happy with how religion is being forced into lessons taught to their children. All of these textbooks have approved by the Ministry of Education and many parents feel that this is a growing issue stemming from Israel's current Education Minister, Naftali Bennett.

The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs website describes how the Israel school system is laid out. It consists of four groups: the state schools which are secular in nature, the state religious schools which have an emphasis on Jewish tradition and education, the Arab and Druze schools which focus on Arab and Druze religions and history, and the private schools which are operated by various groups. While the state schools' goal is to be secular in its education, Jews that are more religious will likely prefer more religious education in their children's schools and Jews that are more secular, will likely prefer little to no religious education in their children's schools. This can cause issues with what is and is not approved for state school education.

Shabbat Themed Activity Found
In a Textbook

While around 75% of Jewish youth attend the secular state schools, those school are full of religious Jewish teachings and values. throughout their educational career, students are taught various religious holidays and songs, as well as learning stories in the Torah and their connection to Israel. All of this has an effect on students and many secular Jews are not happy about it. When comparing Jews all over the world, secular Jews in Israel have a much more religious education than secular Jews else ware. Though, when living in a place like Israel where there is a synagogue on every corner, it can be difficult to avoid religion. (Rosenthal, 233)

The Secular Forum, a group of secular and less religious parents, conducted a study, mentioned in the Haaretz article, on textbooks that were published in the last decade. These textbooks had all been written by private outside companies and approved by the Ministry of Education. The study found that many textbooks contain frequent references to religion and some even depict being religious as the correct and better way of life. These textbooks had been used for the secular state schools.

According to the Haaretz article, the secular Jews conducting the study feel that this is not a random coincidence but has been an ongoing issue that continues to this day. One example that the study found depicted two families. The religious depicted family was shown being respectful to each other and the secular depicted family was shown yelling and arguing with each other.

Many secular parents and even some that are religious believe that this should not be part of the curriculum in state schools and I would have to agree with them. If the school is a state funded education it should not include religious values in its teachings.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett

Education Minister Bennett, on the other hand, does not agree. Bennett has added a new course to the grade one to nine curriculum titled "Israeli Jewish Culture" and he promises that this course will not include any religious coercion. He says that the Jewish Narrative which has been passed down through generations is one that must continue. Many Israelis find it hard to believe that these courses will not coerce students since teaching them this narrative as factual will definitely affect the student's values.

This problem is further reinforced when Bennett stated that studying Judaism and following the religious practices was more important to him that studying the maths and sciences. According to the Haaretz article on this issue, Bennett has often mentioned how important religious study is to him and I believe this will definitely have an effect on Israeli schools and their curriculum.

The Education Minister should be someone that can put all their religious opinions and values aside while making decisions for the nation's school systems. By having religious influences in his decisions, Bennett is ultimately affecting what the students will take away from their schooling. In a secular home, parents may want their children to believe in certain values and practices but, when their education teaches them that Jewish values are the correct values this may cause many issues in their home.

Israel's New Settlement

The Article:
The Palestine News Network article about Israel approving building new settlements, written by Madeeha Araj on April 5, 2016, discussed the new settlement East of the Shilo settlement that has been approved by Israel's government as well as many other human rights violations that Israel has allegedly committed.

The West Bank settlement of Shilo located near
the city of Ramallah

The article opens with a few sentences describing Israel as an occupation government that continues to grab Palestinian lands. It then mentions Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to build this new settlement and describe which lands have been allocated for it. Adding to this, the article mentions how this is the first new settlement that Israel has approved since 1992.

After briefly mentioning the new settlement, the article continues onto how the cabinet had also approved continuing the construction on the existing settlements to improve them and increase their size. After this, the article moves onto discussing how Israel had been coming many crimes against the Palestinian people, and then goes on to list the most recent human rights violations by location. Some of the violations mentioned include expanding a checkpoint from Jerusalem to Ramallah to increase flow of travelers and the completion of one of the walls built near the city of Bethlehem.

The Kalandia checkpoint from Jerusalem to Ramallah

Analysis:
This article and the author do not do a good job at staying unbiased although I do not believe they even attempted to be. The author continuously uses negative words and descriptions when referring to Israel in these situations with the obvious goal of demonizing Israel and creating an anti-Israel attitude in the reader.

Although I am not an avid news reader, I had never actually heard of the Palestine News Network. After doing some research on its history it seems that neither has Wikipedia, displaying only options to create an article on the subject. Their website's "about us" page describes the network as a group of independent journalists that try to stay professional and apolitical on topics discussed, then, in the next paragraph, states that they support the Palestinian people and their cause. This is a complete contradiction of their original statement. This news agency is very obviously biased, favoring the Palestinian people.

The contents of the article also confirm this bias. The very first paragraph of the article does not even call Israel by its name but as an "occupation government" that continuously steals land that belongs to the Palestinians. This is a very negative and not apolitical way to portray Israel. Throughout the article the author talks about Israel in a very negative light, describing Israel's various actions as "violations". At the end of the article, Araj lists the events from the prior week that she sees as violations against the Palestinian people. She uses many words with negative connotations like apartheid, demolish, and storming.

As far as the credibility of the author or the news source, I unfortunately cannot tell. The author did not mention any other newspaper or any other source anywhere in the article, only referring to the "National Bureau" as the source with. No link of explanation of this source can be found. This is something that is very important, in my opinion, when reporting the news, and is especially needed when the author goes on to list several of Israel's "violations" that took place. For all I know, the author could have fabricated many if not all the events. When trying to find more information on the network, there does not seem to be very many results. A quick search on the author's name does, however, display some useful information. On the author's Facebook page, she lists herself as an employee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). There are also other articles written by her that can be found. They all seem to follow the same format of briefly explaining the topic then listing the violations documented by this National Bureau. All this put together confirms the network's and the authors bias against Israel.

Trump's Controversial New Draft Pick

The Article:
The Haaretz news article, written by Judy Maltz on December 16, 2016, on Trump's new Israel Ambassador being a large donor for the West Bank Settlements discussed the controversy surrounding President Donald Trump's new pick the Israel Ambassador.

David Friedman is the focus of the article, discussing the different causes and organizations he supports. The most important organization discussed is the American Friends of Beit El Institutions (AFBEI) which was created in 1988 and raises millions of dollars each year from supporters in the United States to assist the various residents and businesses in the Beit El settlement in the West Bank. Friedman volunteers as president of the organization.

The article also discusses the Beit El Yeshiva that benefits from AFBEI's donations, referring to the yeshiva's head rabbi as a "militant rabbi". The head rabbi, Zalman Baruch Melamed, who has advised Israeli soldiers to disobey their orders to evacuate Israeli settlements has, in the past, also argued that homosexuality comes from eating certain foods. Adding to this, Maltz also mentions that one of the large donors of the organization are the parents of Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and that Friedman has had also been Trump's Bankruptcy Lawyer for over 15 years.

One of the last things that the article discusses is the yeshiva's newest approach in its curriculum, largely supported by the AFBEI, which aims to set up online programs that help Jewish students and Zionists in the United States to become better advocates for Israel and to be better communicators with students in the "social justice" community.

Analysis:
Although Haaretz, Israel's longest running paper, is well known to be a left-wing news source that holds many liberal stances on Israeli and foreign issues, it and this article can still be trusted to give factual accounts of the events portrayed. The paper discusses issues all over the world but mainly focuses on Israel. It has been openly against the Israeli settlements and keeping control over the occupied territories.

The article, in my opinion, does not do a good job of staying unbiased but I do not believe it was intended to be unbiased. The issue discussed is a very controversial one the author and the newspaper disapprove of. It does provide some factual evidence about the amount of funds that the organization receives but there are parts of the article where the authors bias leaks though. The author mentions the rabbi heading the Beit El yeshiva and his stance on the Israeli settlements, which itself is completely relevant to the topic of the article, but then brings up that the rabbi has made some unfounded claims as to the cause of homosexual tendencies. In my opinion this is completely irrelevant to the topic and is only mentioned as a way of discrediting the rabbi and portraying him as an ignorant and untrustworthy source. In this sentence, the authors bias was clearly visible.

It is also important to note that as the Beit El yeshiva, as well as any other organization that benefits from the donations, is in Beit El, an Israeli settlement, it is obvious that its teachings would support the settlement.

The author attempts to be unbiased thought the paper but, as I see it, an unbiased article would have no reason to go this far in depth into the various organizations that Friedman supports and how Trump has several connections to them. Friedman's connection to Trump as his lawyer for over 15 years and Trump's son-in-law's family being a large donor to the AFBEI are not something that would be important unless the author sees them as negatives.

Maltz does not, however, present the idea of the settlements in a negative way. She does not include any opinions of people for or against Trump's decision but does link to another article on Haaretz, by Debra Nussbaum Cohen, on the same topic. While Cohen does include opinions from both sides, she makes a statement in the first sentence stating that some Jewish leaders are worried by Trump's nominee, clearly showing her negative bias on the topic.