“The inclusion of important Mizrahi [Middle East and North African] figures in literature and poetry in the school curriculum is a welcome development, but it is not yet clear whether they will be part of the required curriculum,” Knesset member Yossi Yonah of the Zionist Camp, told Al-Monitor. Yonah, a professor of the philosophy of education, continued, “I know that in many cases, studying these works by Mizrahi authors is optional, and that many teachers simply chose not to deal with them.”
Yossi Yonah was speaking in response to an Aug. 28 interview by Education Minister Naftali Bennett with Yedioth Ahronoth, in which Bennett announced that his “Mizrahi revolution” will be taken up a notch in the school year slated to start Sept. 2.