Israeli teacher faces repression for speaking out against Israel's war on Gaza

By Enes Canli

JERUSALEM (AA) - An Israeli teacher said that since Israel has waged a military offensive on the Gaza Strip following an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, the Israeli society has been increasingly pushed to the far right and that there has been a growing crackdown on those speaking out against the persecution faced by Palestinians.

In the aftermath of Oct. 7, Israeli law enforcement and judiciary have detained dozens of Palestinians and issued detention orders against them due to their social media posts. The pressure exerted by the Israeli police on social media is not limited to Palestinians alone.

In an interview with Anadolu, Meir Baruchin, a senior history and civics teacher who was dismissed from his job due to his social media posts related to Palestinians, shared his legal struggle against the Israeli authorities and the pressures he faced.

Baruchin, who has been teaching at a high school in Petah Tikva near Tel Aviv for 17 years, said the city municipality has been ruled by far-right supporters of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since 2018.

Explaining that he has an active Facebook account where he shares posts about Palestinians, Baruchin said: “For most Israelis, the Palestinians are nothing more than vague image. They have no name, no face, no family, no hope, no plans, nothing.”

“So I want to humanize them on my Facebook page, so hopefully, more Israelis will be able to see them as human beings and maybe communicate with them in nonviolent ways. Since the war began on Oct. 7, I've been posting about Palestinians in Gaza, entire families that were wiped out, and personal stories of mainly women and children.”

Baruchin recounted that Petah Tikva municipality was disturbed by his posts, and complained about them, resulting in his dismissal on Oct. 19, 2023.

He added that the Education Ministry suspended his teaching license on Oct. 24 and also prevented him from applying for jobs in other schools.

- 'Act of treason against Israel' and 'disrupting public order'

In November, Baruchin was summoned by the Jerusalem Police Department on charges of "intention to commit an act of treason against the State of Israel, and intention to disrupt public order.”

“The minute I walked into the police station, they cuffed my hands and legs. They confiscated my phone. Five detectives escorted me to my apartment and ransacked the place upside down, top to bottom. You could barely see the floor. They searched for sedition and incitement material. Obviously, they didn't find anything.

“Then they took me back to the police station for the first interrogation that lasted for hours. In the first part, they presented 14 posts, most of them before Oct. 7. They were posts from four years ago, two years ago. They asked me (questions such as) 'What did you mean? What was your goal? What do you think someone who read your post will understand?',” the teacher said.

After the interrogation, Baruchin was placed in a cell at the Moscovia Detention Centre in West Jerusalem, known for torture and ill-treatment, where "high-risk detainees" are held.

“I wasn't allowed to take anything with me, not a book, nothing. I walked in with my clothes and stayed in the same clothes for four days.”

Later released from the detention center, the teacher initiated legal proceedings against the Petak Tikva Municipality and the Education Ministry, ultimately winning a temporary injunction ordering his reinstatement on Jan. 14.

- Protesting students wishing he was dead

Baruchin said the school principal was surprised at the reinstatement and asked for some time to prepare the students and parents for the situation,

The day before the classes started, the principal informed him that there might be protests outside the school, so security teams and police officers from the municipality would be there, he added.

On Jan. 19, he was attacked by some students in front of the school, he said, stressing that there was no one in the area for security.

“The students surrounded me and they were very violent, they cursed me. They wished I was dead. They said they wished my children would die. They wished I got cancer in every part of my body. My own students were not among the demonstrators. They were middle school students that I don't teach, that I don't even know.”

“I'm sure they got the green light from the municipality and the principal. After losing the case, the municipality started a systematic campaign to make my life difficult and humiliate me.

"So, I was literally under siege inside the teacher's room with dozens of students banging on the windows and cursing me. At the end of the day, as I was leaving the school building, the students were still chasing me, cursing me, and spitting at me.”

Petah Tikva Municipality appealed the local court's decision, and the case is still ongoing, he said, adding that the National Labor Court ruled that he could continue to teach via video recording until March 31, without physically attending the school.

- ‘Supporting colleagues are afraid to speak up’

Baruchin also explained the silent support he received from colleagues who refrained from speaking out due to community pressure.

“They are afraid to speak up. They know very clearly that every Israeli citizen who would dare to show the slightest sentiment toward the people of Gaza, to criticize the government's policy, will face political persecution, go through public shaming, and lose their jobs, and as in my case, be put in jail.”

Stressing that Israeli students have been raised solely with a Zionist doctrine since birth and do not share the same environments as their Palestinian peers, Baruchin said: “I teach civics and history. And the core of my class is the dialogue with students, a democratic dialogue. And for me, a democratic dialogue is an argumentative dialogue. When everybody speaks in one voice and thinks the same way, you can't have a democratic dialogue.”

He also underlined that he "definitely does not support Hamas," adding: “What happened to us on Oct. 7, and even before that, is not only human catastrophe, but also moral catastrophe.”

“Many people in Israel that hold themselves to be liberals and humanistic lost any moral boundary. If you go out in the streets, you'll hear two basic arguments. Some people say ‘I don't care, we kill innocent civilians in Gaza, including women and children after what Hamas people did to us on Oct. 7, they deserve it.’ Other people say ‘it's too bad, we kill innocent civilians, but Israel is not responsible.’ That's what you get to hear.”

“And I resent that. We are responsible for that, for these atrocities. What Hamas did to us on Oct. 7 is horrifying, shocking. But it cannot justify in any way, what we are doing in Gaza since then.”

Baruchin pointed out that Israeli society is shifting toward the far right more and more each day, which is concerning.

He further said the situation is “going to get worse,” adding that many Israelis who think that living in Israel is “insane” are leaving the country to settle elsewhere.

“I do have a dream that one day, Jews and Palestinians will live in this land together in peace, equality, dignity, friendship, and cooperation.”

*Writing by Seda Sevencan in Istanbul