A new study reveals what the Israeli media have been trying
to hide for nearly 60 years: serious instances of anti-
religious coercion have taken place in Israel, especially
during the State's early years.
Conducted by Dr. Tzvi Tzameret, director of the Yad Ben-Tzvi
Institute in Jerusalem, the study found acts of coercion did
not take place in the city streets by private individuals,
but by the establishment and government officials who
deliberately schemed against observant Jews.
Acts of this sort have been publicized in the chareidi press
for decades, but now these claims are being backed by a study
presented at a conference called Social Injustice in the
Education System. According to Dr. Tzameret, over the course
of 30 years the establishment, government officials, and
ranking Mapai figures acted against the will of thousands of
religious and chareidi parents who wanted to send their
children to Torah-based schools.
One section of the study addresses the Amka Affair in 5710
(1950) in which 20 Yemenite immigrant families were expelled
from Moshav Amka in the Western Galilee after refusing to
send their children to a Workers' Movement stream school,
insisting on providing them a chareidi education.
The study also reveals that earlier a Mapai representative at
the moshav denied these families fundamental rights such as
the right to work, receive medical care and buy food at the
local market. The situation reached its climax when Mapai
figures physically dragged chareidi teachers out of the
religious school operating at the moshav.
