What an Israeli High School Pupil Discovered in Her Civics Textbook
Yuli Yavin. ‘I was shocked,” she recalls. “I approached my civics teacher immediately and asked if he was aware of this.’Credit: Eyal Toueg
Earlier this month, 12th-grader Yuli Yavin, submitted her final group project in civics at her Herzliya high school, which would be 20 percent of her final matriculation grade in the subject. Yuli and her friends decided they should find a particular question to analyze through concepts they had studied in class.
They selected the subject of a country’s ability to defend itself against elements promoting a non-democratic agenda, using the Kohelet Policy Forum as an example. “Kohelet is a current example of an organization promoting the agenda of a thin democracy,’ and this is now being seen in the government coup,” says Yavin.
While working on this project, Yavin realized that Kohelet’s activity had seeped into the content of the actual curriculum of the class for which she was submitting the project. A senior member of Kohelet had been involved in rewriting the civics textbook that she and many high schoolers across the country use in class.
“I was shocked,” she recalls. “I approached my civics teacher immediately and asked if he was aware of this. He said he was, which is why he wasn’t following the book very closely and was using his own judgment, with classroom discussions mainly based on a careful analysis of topical issues. He knew there were problems with the book, but not all teachers do. A student reading this book without such mediation will accept the worldview of supporters of the coup.”
The current version of the textbook, whose title translates to “Being Citizens of Israel,” was first published in 2016 under then-Education Minister Naftali Bennett. It was written with the participation of Aviad Bakshi, the head of the Kohelet Policy Forum’s legal department. Bakshi was one of Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s advisers during the drafting of the “judicial reform” championed by Levin.
He is also part of the Likud’s negotiating team in talks to reach a compromise with opponents of the judicial overhaul at President Issac Herzog’s official residence. Kohelet says it has nothing to do with the current edition of the textbook, and that Bakshi was a self-appointed consultant during its preparation. However, according to experts, the positions of the Kohelet Forum’s legal department are clearly reflected in it.
“There are phrases and statements in the textbook that we now hear from supporters of the coup,” says Yavin. “Anyone reading the book might get the impression, for example, that the judiciary is impeding the realization of the will of the people.”
Yavin took action and turned to experts in education and civics, collecting information on controversial statements in the textbook. She compiled them into a document that she says “explains how the approach put forward in the book has prepared students for the government coup.” Subsequently, with the help of a forum representing dozens of teachers and researchers of civics studies and with the Secular Forum, she launched a public protest calling on students and parents to take their books and send them to Bakshi’s office.
In the most recent demonstration against the judicial overhaul on Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street, she set up an installation involving the textbook. “The idea was to put hundreds of these books in crates, with notes saying ‘thanks, but no thanks,’ asking the Forum not to interfere with the school system,” she says.
The current version of the textbook has been criticized by both teachers and education experts. Three of its initial contributors have removed their names from it, saying their writing had been changed without their permission. Its grammar adviser warned that the majority of contributors held religious, right-wing positions, adding that he had the impression that “the editors were put under a lot of pressure [and] forced to yield to decrees.”
The Education Ministry ignored reports by experts it had commissioned, including a report saying the book was unbalanced.
“Our teacher told us we would use this book to develop an open, in-class discussion on every topic that appears in it, and indeed, there was a diversity of opinions expressed in our discussions,” Yavin says. “But when I learned about the connection between the Forum and the book, I realized that there had been systematic interference in the curriculum.”
The document created by Yavin contains specific examples of a political agenda being promoted, cases where the textbook portrays the courts as trying to influence policy while simultaneously trying to become central players in their creation. The textbook also implies that the courts have too much power and criticizes the system according to which judges are appointed.
It makes a link between the Judicial Appointments Committee and criticism about a lack of representation for Mizrahi judges, judges from the former Soviet Union, and religious, ultra-Orthodox and Arab judges. The book further claims that in most Western countries, it is politicians who appoint judges and government legal advisers, without noting that these countries have constitutions or other checks and balances that don’t exist in Israel.
Over the last decade, the Education Ministry has taken several steps to prepare students for a change in the character of the country and for the government coup we are now witnessing.
Prof. Irit Keynan
Yavin’s initiative received public backing through a letter whose signatories included Shlomit Amichai, a former director of the Education Ministry; Prof. Nimrod Aloni from Seminar Hakibbutzim Teachers College in Tel Aviv; education economist Nahum Blass; and education researcher Avraham Frank. The letter called on teachers and students to join Yavin’s initiative, or to use an earlier civics textbook that came out in 2001. “The current book is biased and presents a distorted picture,” they wrote. “It turned out that the people behind this book are also the ones behind the government coup.”
Members of the expert committee also pointed to other problems with the textbook. According to them, it is exclusionary toward the Arab minority in Israel, raising doubts as to their loyalty to the state; it excludes Mizrahi Jews and only five lines discuss the rift between communities with different origins, and questions the loyalty of Diaspora Jews; all while distorting secular concepts.
Yavin says there is a connection between the book’s contents and the scant participation of secondary school students and young people in the mass protest movement against the overhaul. “It’s a difficult time,” she says. “I feel that everything we know might change and that young people are taking to the streets less. I see small groups of youths at demonstrations, but their presence is very scarce.”
The civics textbook is part of what educators view as its own kind of coup within the subject that has taken place over the last decade, at the behest of the Education Ministry. “The civics curriculum has been taken hostage by people with an ultranationalist, right-wing ideology,” says a person with close knowledge of the subject. “The changes in content were a prelude to the situation in which the whole country now finds itself. For 15 years, one side of the political map has been in power, dictating the curricula and textbooks in civics for everyone.”
‘There are phrases and statements in the textbook that we now hear from supporters of the coup.’
According to Prof. Irit Keynan, the head of the department of informal education studies at Seminar Hakibbutzim Teachers College and a former chair of the education program at the College for Academic Studies, “over the last decade, the Education Ministry has taken several steps to prepare students for a change in the character of the country and for the government coup we are now witnessing.”
Silencing the left
In order to trace the process that changed how civics is taught in Israeli schools, you have to go back two decades. In the 2000s, the way it was taught was shaped according to the ideas of a commission headed by jurist Mordechai Kremnitzer. The committee believed that along with the teaching of values associated with a Jewish state, an emphasis should also be put on democratic values and the development of critical thinking.
In a guidebook for civics teachers disseminated by the Education Ministry in 2003, it said that “when you don’t prepare a person for life in a democratic society, there is a risk of alienation, apathy and hostility toward the political system, as well as opposition to the very ideals and values of democracy.”
This approach started to change with the advent of the government Netanyahu formed in 2009. In 2012, then-Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar decided to remove the chief supervisor for civics studies in his ministry, Prof. Adar Cohen, out of political considerations. His replacement, Yael Guron, was showered with heaps of criticism and accusations from the right during her tenure.
In 2018, when Naftali Bennett became minister, he replaced her with Einat Ohayon, the principal of a religious high school for girls in Kfar Sava. It was not the only example of a changed approach to civics during Bennett’s term as education minister.
‘The ministry’s director-general, Assaf Tselal, congratulated teachers for keeping students inside a ‘value-driven’ bubble. The question is, are these the values of the Kohelet Forum?’
In 2016, a new edition of the civics textbook came out. In 2022, the ministry published a new curriculum in civics for junior high schools, which, according to experts, limits discussions of human rights and democratic values, putting more emphasis on topics having to do with a Jewish state.
One of the program’s authors was Yossi Londin of the Orot Israel College of Education, a religious Zionist college. Londin is a teacher at the Darche Noam yeshiva in Jerusalem and of a “Torah nucleus” – religious people who move as a group to urban areas and run religious, social and educational activities there.
Another landmark in the teaching of the subject was the dismissal of civics teacher Adam Verta nearly a decade ago for expressing “leftist” opinions in class, along with other attempts to silence teachers. The most recent example was in February, when a Rishon Letzion teacher named Amir Kliger was summoned to a dismissal hearing after showing a video lecture by commentator Ido Baum about the judicial overhaul.
In 2015, Bennett appointed Asaf Malach, the right-wing director of the Jewish Statesmanship Center in Jerusalem (which does not grant academic degrees) and a lecturer at Shalem College in Jerusalem, as the head of the Education Ministry’s civics studies committee, which sets the curriculum in the subject. According to the Education Ministry, Malach stepped down in August 2022, along with the rest of the committee. The ministry’s website still features him as the committee’s chairman, however. His positions can be clearly understood through his recent statements, now that his role is over, against the Supreme Court and in favor of the overhaul.
Malach has recently made blunt Facebook posts against the Supreme Court and in favor of the judiciary overhaul, and also penned an opinion piece for the Arutz 7 website. His latest writing deals with what he calls the “injustices of the High Court of Justice,” in which he claims that “extremist positions are repeatedly imposed on the Zionist majority by a tiny and unelected group of judges, who repeat themselves ad nauseam using manipulative methods bordering on criminality.” In February, he warned about a “thought police” at workplaces, and recently wrote about the “serious damage to democracy wrought by an unbridled judiciary,” as well as “extremist and dogmatic jurists.”
Even back when he was head of the ministry’s committee in 2019, Malach spoke about these topics. In a column in the daily Israel Hayom, he wrote that Israel was effectively a one-party state. “Like in every authoritarian regime, the deception of an election is needed in order to camouflage the coercion and domineering conduct of jurists. The high priest of this coup is [former Supreme Court President] Aharon Barak. He and his followers realized that their chances of advancing an extremist agenda through elections are very slim.” In his column, he called judges “a juridical oligarchy.”
“How can a civics committee chairman at the Education Ministry allow himself to write such things? If a teacher said those things, he’d be thrown out of the [education] system,” says Keynan. “Teachers who insist on talking about these issues are censured by their principals, by parents or by students. The ministry’s director-general, Assaf Tselal, congratulated teachers for keeping students inside a ‘value-driven’ bubble. The question is, are these the values of the Kohelet Forum?”
‘A blatant lie’
A cursory look at the civics textbook provides a glimpse of some of the content delivered in class. In one section, it refers to cases in which “a majority decision will bring about a situation that would harm human rights and greatly infringe on the rights of a minority.” It states that in such cases, the supporters of democracy “in its narrow view” would argue that “if a court overrules the majority’s decision, democracy is being violated and that it actually means “the imposition of a certain interpretation of human rights on public representatives that harms democracy.”
“There’s no democracy where you’re allowed to seriously violate the rights of a minority,” says Keynan, who is a member of the independent forum of civics teachers, which has in recent years been leading the struggle against the current version of the civics textbook. “This happens in dictatorships where there is no protection of minority rights.
“There is a confusion here between a majority decision and a tyranny of the majority. It’s terrible, since these are mantras I’ve started hearing from students who’ve graduated from the school system,” says Keynan.
In another part of the book, its authors write that “in fact, in almost all democratic countries, the judges at the highest levels are appointed by politicians.”
“That’s a blatant lie,” says Keynan. “In the few places this happens there are checks and balances we don’t have, such as a constitution.” In a section devoted to judicial activism, the book says that is seen in the form of “a lot of intervention by the court in civil administration affairs. The result is that the courts have driven most of the actions of the government.”
“This book leads students to positions held by the type of people the authors want to see in this country. This is an attempt to change the character of Israel without holding a public debate,” says Keynan.
Other members of the school system argue that the problem with the curriculum does not lie with the textbook, but with educators’ workload and lack of available teachers, along with the pressure to complete all the material before the matriculation exam. All of these contribute to preventing serious debates in class.
Thus, in the civics program for high schools, the ministry recommends that only two to three hours be devoted to the issue of majority decisions and the protection of minority rights. Four hours are advised for the principle of curbing abuse of power, as well as checks and balances and the separation of powers, with only one hour devoted to the right of a democracy to defend itself. The Supreme Court is allocated five hours, with human rights getting three hours. The first chapter in the curriculum deals with the country’s values as a Jewish state, getting six to eight hours of instruction.
According to Amaro Agabaria, a civics teacher in the al-Nahda High School for girls in Kafr Qara and a former member of the ministry’s civics committee, “Israel’s Arab citizens have always been invisible in everything related to civics studies. In the writing of the book and in preparing the new program for junior high schools, there was no significant representation of Arab teachers and academics [besides officials from the Education Ministry], and many subjects relating to the Arab community remained outside the curriculum.
“In the civics book, Arabs are not presented as a community with a heritage and culture, but only as one of the minorities living in Israel. Thus, Arab civics teachers and students feel alienated and antagonistic toward the material. The government coup essentially began with the changes made to this program,” he says.
Fragile ideas of democracy
Roey Perlstein-Dvir, a civics teacher at Branco-Weiss High School in Beit Shemesh and a social activist, says that the material relating to the appointment of judges gets dropped in the preparations for the matriculation exam. “The part of the curriculum dealing with the judiciary and the appointment of judges is very limited. You tell them about its composition and that’s it. Judicial activism hasn’t really been taught in recent years.”
He says that “if the ministry suggests devoting six hours to human rights, you obviously cannot devote sufficient time to this subject. The problem isn’t just with students’ perceptions. I’ve met civics teachers who think the court is the [actual] legislature. We’ve got some serious problems. There are teachers who are influenced by the political situation.”
Perlstein-Dvir is doing his doctorate in political science, as part of which he is studying what impact a “hidden” curriculum has on the perception of democracy among high school graduates. “When you talk to students at the end of their studies, you see that their grasp of democracy is very fragile and technical,” he says. “They see a decision of the majority in the simplest manner possible, with no balanced consideration of minority rights. Some graduates think a majority can decide whatever it wants, since it’s the majority, and the majority is always right.”
The problem lies not necessarily with the textbook itself, but with the patterns students absorb over the course of their studies, he says. “The fact that they have to ask permission to speak, or to stand up when a teacher enters the room, conveys a hidden message. They understand that there is always someone at school with more authority, and that person makes the decisions.”
What do they know about the separation of government branches?
“According to the Education Ministry, there’s no reason to address the clash between the Jewish and democratic characteristics of this country. The ministry defines this as ‘a productive tension,’ but people should recognize that there is a tension between these values, and talk about it in class. The ministry doesn’t like tension, and that makes it hard to develop critical thinking, which barely exists in students. Sometimes I say something baseless in class and it goes over without any problem, since all the students want is to pass their final exam.
“I try to encourage critical reading of texts, but it’s hard. For some of the students, if something is written somewhere, it’s true. It’s hard for them to contend with fake news. This stems from the matriculation system, which percolates down to lower age groups. Teachers fall in line with the lowest level required by the matriculation exam, which means looking for technical solutions and teaching according to a mold.
“Often, when I ask students to summarize an article, they do what they’ve been taught, simply writing technically, using the first sentence in every paragraph [of what they read]. As soon as you have to prepare them for matriculation, then every hour I sacrifice for the sake of enrichment beyond the material they need for the test attracts criticism in the school, sometimes by parents, too. For example, if I ask what they think about some people not wanting to rent apartments to Arabs, they’ll automatically say that it’s bad, since we learned about equality, and equality is important. However, in reality it’s clear to them that you’re not supposed to rent to an Arab. They don’t connect what they learn with its implementation in the real world.”
Are you afraid that something you say will be seen as a leftist statement?
“I’ve never been concerned, although for these students ‘leftist’ is the worst insult after ‘Arab.’ They use the term all the time. I share my opinions with my students. Circulars by the ministry’s director-general specifically state that teachers can express political opinions in a balanced and responsible way. To me, it’s a teacher’s duty, so that students know that this is my interpretation and that I expect them to form their own opinions, responsibly and based on facts.”
The Education Ministry had this to say in response: “The civics textbook was written by experienced professionals. Due to the sensitivity of the topics, in addition to the academic adviser Dr. Aviad Bakshi, the book was given to several political scientists and jurists to read, as well as to teachers. The approval of the book was done in accordance with the director-general’s directive.
“There are now three approved books, and teachers can choose which one to use,” the ministry said. “Most teachers choose this book because of its pedagogic and academic standards. The new civics curriculum [for junior high schools] includes the principle that Israel is a Jewish and democratic state, as expressed in the Declaration of Independence.
“The democratic aspect is given much weight. This is an innovative program that will instill social awareness in students, as well as the ability to form and express a reasoned opinion, taking into account a diversity of opinions while employing critical thinking.”
Aviad Bakshi said: “First, I did not have the honor of writing the civics textbook. I was the academic adviser. My consultancy was supervised by, among others, Prof. Ruth Gavison. Did I as an academic adviser express in my research writings positions on topics covered by the book? Of course I did. Just like any consultant before me did. The expectation of finding an academic consultant who has not published in areas he advises on is a surprising one.
“As to the heart of the matter – the book took care to express diverse opinions in Israeli society regarding core issues that are on the public agenda. Every position was presented with the best supporting arguments, with quotations by those making them. Selective quotations of portions of the book in which one position is expressed, while ignoring the quality and scope of other positions, is misleading and unprofessional. The book is available to anyone online, and I invite readers to see for themselves in an unmediated way the extent of the positions presented that are the opposite of my opinions, as well as the quality of supporting quotations that were chosen (one can begin with quotes by retired Supreme Court President Aharon Barak, the most quoted person in the book).”
The Kohelet Policy Forum responded to a request for comment by saying they had nothing to do with the Education Ministry’s civics textbook.
Bennett’s said that all the content was professionally and meticulously monitored by the Education Ministry.
This article is reproduced in its entirety.