Far-right lawmaker Zvi Sukkot (Religious Zionism) toured the northern Arab city of Umm al-Fahm on Sunday, hanging an Israeli flag outside one of its schools as the city’s education system went on strike against his controversial visit.
The parents’ committee in Umm al-Fahm decided Saturday night to shut down schools for the entire day during Sukkot’s planned tour, decrying the visit as a political stunt meant to court far-right voters during election season.
With an Israeli flag in hand, the lawmaker stood outside a school in the city — locked and empty of students — and accused the local education system of stoking nationalist violence.
“If you bring declared terror organizations or people who incite terror here, not one shekel from the state’s coffers will go to the places where you incite terror,” he declared.
The visit was nominally an official tour by the Knesset Education Committee, which is chaired by Sukkot, but he arrived in the city unaccompanied by his fellow committee members.
“The question is why did he choose to come to Umm al-Fahm in such a way now, so close to the elections?” Ahmad Yousef Mahajneh, the head of the city’s parents’ committee, told The Times of Israel.
Later during the visit, Sukkot arrived outside the gates of another school while guarded by a large, heavily armed police entourage, as residents and a handful of left-wing Jewish activists protested his presence.
He accused the school of previously having hosted Raed Salah, a firebrand Islamist preacher convicted of incitement, and held up an undated photo of the cleric speaking to students.
Salah, an Umm al-Fahm resident, was jailed for incitement to terror over sermons he gave lauding a terror attack that killed two police officers on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount compound.
While Sukkot spoke to the cameras with the photo in hand, one protester at the scene turned the accusations of incitement back at him, bringing up his 2010 arrest on suspicion of setting fire to a West Bank mosque.
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“It’s shameful that the chairman of the Education Committee behaves this way,” the protester said.
Yaya Fink, a liberal Jewish activist running as a candidate in the left-wing Democrats party primaries, also showed up to protest Sukkot’s visit. “You’re a draft evader. You’re a racist,” he shouted, pointing at the lawmaker, as the latter retreated back to his van.
Sukkot told the right-wing Israel National News outlet, which accompanied him on the tour, that there were no Israeli flags flying outside schools he visited, despite a law mandating a flag be placed in educational institutions and other public buildings.
“They did not put one up, so we’ve come to help them,” he said sardonically, sticking a flag atop one of the fenceposts outside a school. “They probably haven’t heard about the Flag Law here in Umm al-Fahm.”
Sukkot’s visit, which wasn’t coordinated in advance with the municipality or local schools, was a major affront to city officials and residents alike.
“We’re ready to present the achievements of our schools, everything that we teach, but this conduct — accusing us of teaching violence — is unacceptable,” said Mahajneh, the parents’ committee head. “Schools are a red line.”
He noted that just a year ago, Umm al-Fahm was one of the recipients of the Education Prize, bestowed annually by the Education Ministry to cities and townships that excel in schooling.
The strike was called not only to send a message against Sukkot, but also to avert conflict between the far-right politician, police, and irate residents, he said.
Yousef Jabareen, a resident of the city and newly elected chairman of the communist Hadash party, joined a protest with his fellow party members outside a school to decry Sukkot’s tour.
“In Umm al-Fahm, we are proud of our education system and its accomplishments. Zvi Sukkot is not coming to Umm al-Fahm to learn or meet people. He comes with one goal — to incite and spread hatred,” Jabareen said.
In early June, Sukkot was filmed using a circular saw to break open the gate to a school in the northern Bedouin town of Tuba-Zangariyye during a similar visit.
Source:
www.timesofisrael.com
