Israel uses law to destroy Palestinian education in East Jerusalem

What the report says

Al Jazeera published an opinion article by Salam Irsheid on July 19, 2026, arguing that recent Israeli legislation and enforcement actions are aimed at weakening Palestinian education in occupied East Jerusalem. The article says Zvi Sukkot, chair of the Knesset Education Committee and a member of the far-right Religious Zionist Party, made a second unannounced visit in two weeks to a Palestinian school, broke an entrance sign displaying a Palestinian flag and said he would close the school.

Irsheid links the incident to a broader Knesset campaign. The article says a law passed in January 2026 prevents graduates of Palestinian universities in the West Bank from teaching in Israel and East Jerusalem, a measure it says could deepen teacher shortages in a school system that relies heavily on those graduates. It also cites a November 2024 law, described by critics as the “Silencing Law,” which gives Israel’s Education Ministry expanded authority to suspend or dismiss teachers and withdraw school funding over alleged incitement under counterterrorism provisions.

The article further says six schools in East Jerusalem and nearby areas were closed in 2025, affecting 800 Palestinian children, following anti-UNRWA legislation. Irsheid says Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, is challenging the teacher-graduate ban, the teacher-speech law and the anti-UNRWA measures before Israel’s Supreme Court.

The piece is an opinion article, and Al Jazeera notes the views are the author’s own. Its significance lies in the dispute over education, identity and Israeli control in East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed after 1967 in a move not widely recognized internationally.