A worrying segment of Israeli youth is indifferent to the murder of Yitzhak Rabin and even feels solidarity with his assassin, a committee appointed by the Education Ministry said this week.
The committee was formed earlier this year after it was reported that three female students at a state religious high school in Kiryat Gat had formed a fan club for Yigal Amir, who assassinated Rabin at a November 1995 peace rally in Tel Aviv.
Issuing its report Tuesday, the committee said the three girls appeared to be good students who had demonstrated poor judgement.
Committee members cited other cases in which teachers had justified the assassination.
The committee said admiration for Amir, who is currently serving a life sentence, was found primarily in the state religious schools.
It attributed the sentiment to communities in which people felt oppressed in some political, social or economic sense.
Members recommended the implementation of another committee’s recommendations for an improved civics curriculum in the schools, and for dialogue involving both students and teachers on the principles of Judaism, democracy and humanity.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
