The Knesset on Monday passed a legislative proposal designed to keep out of schools nongovernmental organizations that advocate against the Israeli military. The bill passed its second and third readings with a vote of 43 in favor to 23 against.
The law, sponsored by Habayit Hayehudi MK Shuli Mualem-Rafaeli, was dubbed the "Breaking the Silence bill" for a controversial advocacy group dedicated to exposing alleged wrongdoings by the IDF. The group has been excoriated numerous times for encouraging legal action against Israeli soldiers, an allegation its leaders deny.
The legislation expands Section 2 of the Public Education Law and states that public education will teach Israeli youth about performing a meaningful role in the IDF or in national service.
The bill also grants the education minister the power to establish guidelines that will prevent organizations from outside the school system from activity in public schools if their work contradicts the goals and values of the public education system.
Education Minister and Habayit Hayehudi chairman Naftali Bennett said in response to the law passing that "a reality in which groups that undermine the legitimacy of the state of Israel and slander IDF soldiers find their way to Israeli students ends today."
Referring to Breaking the Silence, Bennett said that the organization "went beyond the bounds of legitimate debate long ago, when it chose to slander Israel in international circles."
The education minister insisted that as long as the group continued to operate against the State of Israel and the IDF abroad, he would not allow it to be active in Israel's school system.
"They want to do something? Let them be active at home. The school system, which is entrusted with shaping future generations, will not give voices like these a place," Bennett said.
Breaking the Silence issued Statement Monday, saying, "Religification is followed by silencing [us]. Education Minister Naftali Bennett is so afraid of Breaking the Silence that he passed the 'Law to Silence the Occupation.' Bennett wants to 'settle' in public school classrooms and spread his beliefs, as he has stated them in the media: Shooting 8-year-old Palestinian kids is justified, but we mustn't evacuate settlers from their homes."
The organization said that the attempt to "shut them up" would not "hide the occupation" and only proved "how afraid Bennett and his friends are of their own ideology."
"It's time for Bennett and his friends to realize that as long as there is an occupation, there will be soldiers who will break their silence and expose what we've been doing in the [Palestinian] territories for 51 years. You want to shut us up? End the occupation," the group said.
The right-wing Im Tirtzu organization welcomed the new statute.
"Anyone who acts against the state of Israel in the international arena cannot do so inside [Israel]," Im Tirzu chairman Matan Peleg said Tuesday morning.
Peleg said that by passing the law, the Knesset had issued a "red card" to anti-Israel groups that want to operate in the school system.
"We hope that this law will lead to the rest of the delegitimizing groups being outlawed," Peleg said.
