Israel uses law to destroy Palestinian education in East Jerusalem

Recent legislative actions by the Israeli Knesset represent a coordinated effort to dismantle Palestinian educational institutions in East Jerusalem. The campaign extends beyond formal lawmaking to include physical intimidation, exemplified when Zvi Sukkot, chairman of the Knesset's Education Committee, visited a Palestinian school and destroyed its entrance sign bearing a Palestinian flag while publicly threatening closure.

A law enacted in January 2026 prohibits graduates of Palestinian universities in the West Bank from employment as teachers in Israel and East Jerusalem. Proponents of this legislation framed it during parliamentary debate as necessary to advance what they termed the "Israelisation" of the education system, prioritizing ideological conformity over educational access. The law's architects explicitly acknowledged that Palestinian university graduates do not promote this assimilationist agenda among students.

Another measure, passed in November 2024 and referred to as the "Silencing Law," grants the Israeli Ministry of Education broad administrative authority to suspend or dismiss teachers and revoke school funding. The law targets speech classified as "incitement to terrorism" under Israel's Counter-Terrorism Law, a framework critics describe as vague and susceptible to arbitrary application against Palestinian expression.

These legislative measures carry significant practical consequences for East Jerusalem's Palestinian education sector, which already faces acute shortages of teaching staff and classroom facilities. The system relies heavily on West Bank university graduates, predominantly women, making the employment restrictions particularly damaging. Combined with the ministry's expanded power to defund schools, the laws create mechanisms for systematic institutional closure.