Education Ministry follows Shin Bet recommendation to close down West Bank yeshiva after its students engage in violent acts against Palestinians, Israeli security forces.

'Price tag amounts to terrorism' - Outgoing Judea and Samaria Division Commander Brigadier-General Nitzan Alon warns against 'growing extremist margins of the far right'

01.11.11


Israel's Education Ministry decided Tuesday to follow the recommendations of the Shin Bet and close down the Dorshei Yehudcha yeshiva in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar, following its students' involvement in violent acts against Palestinians and Israeli security forces.

Shimshon Shoshani, the former director-general of the Education Ministry, decided last week before leaving his post to close down the yeshiva indefinitely.




Dorshei Yehudcha yeshiva high school is part of the institutions of Od Hai Yosef, headed by Rabbi Yitzhak Ginzburg. Two heads of the yeshiva, Rabbis Yosef Elitzur and Yitzhak Shapira wrote the controversial book "The King's Torah" which justifies the killing of non-Jews.

Last month, Haaretz revealed that the Shin Bet recommended that the Education Ministry close down the yeshiva since "it had collected extensive information on yeshiva students which are involved in illegal and violent activities against Palestinians and the security forces." It was also known that the yeshiva rabbis and its heads were aware of some of the activities taking place and allowed the students to participate.




Students of the establishments were arrested in connection to "price tag" attacks over the past few years. Two students, including one teenager, were arrested last August. November 2010 saw two students aged 18 and 21 caught in possession of a knife and a mask. In January 2010, Od Yosef Chai yeshiva head Rabbi Yizthak Shapira was arrested together with some of his students on suspicion of involvement in the Yasouf mosque arson.

Members of the yeshiva itself pointed a finger at Education Minister Sa'ar. "The Education Ministry serves as the Shin Bet's rubber stamp," Attorney Bam said. "The Shin Bet failed to find the real 'price tag' perpetrators and therefore imposes collective punishment on an entire yeshiva without allowing it to face its charges."







'Price tag amounts to terrorism' - GOC Central Command Major-General Avi Mizrahi praised the outgoing Judea and Samaria Division commander, Brigadier-General Nitzan Alon, and slammed the right-wing politicians who targeted him throughout his term.



"He knew how to maintain the ties with the Jewish settlement with the necessary sensitivity but also with determination and without shortcuts," Mizrahi said during the change of command ceremony Tuesday.



"Brigadier-General Alon was criticized many a time for his determination, unjustly in my opinion, and I find it necessary to condemn those senior elected officials who were fooled by rumors and made statements that weren't even slightly based in reality," he added.







Alon voiced disapproval of the far Right during Tuesday's ceremony, saying that efforts must be made to reign in the "growing extremist margins of the Israeli public."

"Even now the extremist minority is capable of intensifying the operations that we call 'price tag,' but in effect amount to terrorism," Alon warned, adding that these hostile acts must be stopped.
















http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-closes-down-yitzhar-yeshiva-due-to-violent-acts-against-palestinians-1.393210







http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4142719,00.html







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