Deputy Education Minister Meshulem Nahari has announced that
the Education Ministry will close the Scientology cult-
backed Atid school. The school, in which scores of students
from the Dan Bloc study, will be closed before the opening
of the next school year. The announcement was made in
response to a parliamentary question presented by MK Rabbi
Moshe Gafni.
Two months ago, Yated Ne'eman published an article
about a petition filed with the High Court by Lev L'Achim,
demanding closure of the Atid school. In the petition, Lev
L'Achim claimed that the Atid school was founded by an
organization called "For Progressive Education in Israel,"
which uses the methods of L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the
Scientology cult. In its decision, the Interministerial
Committee for Investigation of Cults determined that
Scientology is a cult: actually the first cult discussed by
the Committee report.
Lev L'Achim demanded that the Education Ministry close the
school in time for the coming school year (5761-2). However,
at first it received no response from the Ministry.
Organization activists recently learned that the school had
received a license for 5761, and was recognized as an
unofficial educational institution, enabling it to receive
state subsidies. Lev L'Achim had no choice but to turn to
the High Court with a demand that the Education Ministry
grant no license to the Scientology school.
At the same time, in a parallel move, Lev L'Achim's anti-
cult department activists demanded that the Education
Ministry retract its approval of books written by cult
leader L. Ron Hubbard: books that had purportedly received
approval for use as textbooks in the school system. Proudly
saying that the Education Ministry had indeed approved the
books, the Scientology cult publishing house issued a call
to cult members to distribute the books in every manner
possible. "This is the first time we have ever received
permission from the Education Ministry to introduce our
books into the school system," advertisements for the book
said.
Rabbi Moshe Gafni filed a parliamentary query on the issue
with the Education Minister, noting that the committee that
had dealt with the issue determined that Scientology is a
dangerous cult that inflicts severe damage on its
members.
In his reply, Nahari said that the cult school had been
required to comply with demands that its teachers receive
pedagogical training. In addition, the school promised not
to incorporate the cult leader's material into the regular
curriculum. However, as the Education Ministry supervisor
who visited the school related, the school had not complied
with these demands. As a result, it was recommended that the
school be closed for the coming year.
Nahari added that the cult leader's books were not approved
as textbooks by the Ministerial Department for the Approval
of Textbooks. Nahari also said that the Ministry forbade the
cult publishing house to claim that the books had received
Ministry approval.
