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Israelis debate classroom freedom of speech

In the past week, the educational system, the Knesset and the Israeli government have all dealt with an incident in which a 12th-grade student caused a stir around a teacher who expressed left-wing views in the classroom.
An Israeli high school student looks up during class in a bomb shelter in the southern city of Beersheba January 12, 2009. Israeli troops fought fierce gun battles with Hamas fighters on Monday, keeping military pressure on the Islamist group while avoiding urban warfare that would complicate ongoing diplomatic efforts to end the Gaza war. An Israeli military spokesman said army reservists had been thrown into the offensive that Israel launched 17 days ago with the declared aim of ending Hamas cross-border
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If she knew that the letter she wrote would cause such turmoil in the Israeli educational system, it’s doubtful whether she would have written it. About a week ago, Sapir Sabah, a 12th-grade student from the northern town of Kiryat Tivon, sent a personal letter to Minister of Education Shai Piron, in which she complained about one of her teachers. In her letter she told him that her civics teacher doesn’t stop slandering the state and insulting its most sacred values.  

“The teacher emphasizes that the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] is an organization that behaves with unusual brutality and violence, unlike other armies,” she wrote. “He explains that the IDF is patently immoral and that he is ashamed of the military of our country.”

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