Defending Palestinians with Strategic Litigation

Against the backdrop of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza, there has been a surge in discriminatory Israeli legislation aimed at further eroding the rights of Palestinians. Since its reconvening in late October 2024, the Knesset has promoted a series of racist laws targeting Palestinian citizens of Israel (PCI) and residents of East Jerusalem. Adalah has been actively challenging new racist laws and bills advanced by the Knesset. One such law, passed on 4 November 2024, grants the Education Ministry powers to dismiss teachers over alleged “support of terrorism” and revoke funding from ‘recognized but unofficial’ schools on similar grounds.

On 17 December 2024, Adalah filed a petition with the Israeli Supreme Court challenging this law. The petition was submitted on behalf of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, the Follow-Up Committee on Arab Education, the National Committee of Arab Mayors, the National Committee of Arab Parents, Hadash party faction in the Teachers’ Union in Israel, and member of the Knesset’s Education, Culture and Sports Committee MK Youssef Atauna (Hadash-Ta’al).

The law authorizes the Ministry’s Director-General to dismiss or suspend teachers and revoke their teaching licenses based on the Director’s determination that a teacher has expressed identification with or support for an act or organization labeled as terrorist. Additionally, it allows the Education Minister to cut funding from schools if the Minister determines that “expressions of identification with an act of terrorism or a terrorist organization, or support for them, exist within the institution, and that the management of the school knew or should have known of their existence.” The law grants the Minister full discretion to exercise these powers, without putting in place even minimal safeguards to limit their exercise

In the petition, Adalah argued that the law is clearly racist in intent, especially given the widespread persecution and criminalization of hundreds of PCI by Israeli authorities and other entities since the outbreak of the war 7 October 2023, for merely expressing entirely lawful opinions. The law’s deliberate vagueness, and the fact that it only addresses “incitement to terrorism”—which is used almost exclusively to target Palestinians—while excluding incitement to violence or racism, highlights its discriminatory purpose. By granting broad, unchecked powers to political and administrative authorities, the law enables punitive actions to be taken against Palestinian educators for expressing views that fall outside the mainstream consensus, thereby severely undermining their basic right to freedom of expression. Adalah further argued that the law breaches the principle of the separation of powers, as it grants the Education Ministry the authority to infringe on teachers’ rights to freedom of expression and occupation, effectively requiring a determination of whether they have committed a criminal offense, even if no charges have been filed against them.

“This draconian law is a blatant attempt to intimidate all employees in the Arab education system, forcing them to avoid discussing current affairs to shield themselves from political persecution. Since the war began, we have already seen this happen many times in universities and workplaces. The Supreme Court must strike down this law, which effectively transforms the government into a political tribunal controlled by partisan political interests”, Adalah Attorney Salam Irshed.

The petitioners emphasized that the chilling effect that the law will inevitably have on discussions on national issues within educational spaces and on political engagement violates students’ right to education. Moreover, imposing sanctions on educational institutions amounts to unlawful collective punishment that is directed exclusively at schools serving Palestinian school children in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem.

The petitioners requested that the Supreme Court annul the law in its entirety, as it violates constitutional rights while serving an illegitimate and explicitly racist purpose by targeting Palestinian schools and educators, whom it portrays in a negative light, and is disproportionate insofar as it grants administrative authorities arbitrary powers to impose sanctions in matters that are already regulated by the criminal law.

“This law seeks to perpetuate a culture of suppression and fear directed at every critical voice. It is part of a comprehensive and systematic effort to subjugate society as a whole, and members of Arab society in particular, by policing their thoughts and stances”, Dr. Samah Alkhatib Ayoub, Director of the Follow-Up Committee on Arab Education.