Defending Palestinians with Strategic Litigation

On this International Day of Education (24 January), Adalah highlights its litigation exposing Israel’s large-scale, systemic violations of the right to education for children who are Palestinian citizens of Israel (PCI). These violations are not accidental. They result from decades of neglect, severe budget cuts, and discriminatory laws and policies that entrench inequality and disproportionately harm the most vulnerable children, including Bedouin children, children with disabilities, and those living in poverty.

Of Israel’s 2.1 million PCI, approximately 785,000 are children, forming a substantial share of Israel’s youth. An estimated 56,000 PCI children are officially recognized as having disabilities. Yet, despite higher rates of disability that necessitate greater state support, PCI children receive substantially fewer resources. Persistent funding gaps and limited access to adapted special education services compound the challenges they face, while widespread poverty further deepens the crisis.In 2023, PCI accounted for over 42% of all people living in poverty in Israel, compared with just over 20% of the general population. Since the outbreak of the war on 7 October 2023, the situation of these children and their families has deteriorated sharply. State policies continue to deprive PCI children of essential resources, disproportionately harming those already most at risk, both in Arab towns and in mixed cities.

These disparities exist within a segregated education system that separates PCI and Jewish Israeli students and subjects them to different regulations. Instead of addressing these long-standing structural inequalities, the Israeli government has intensified them. In December 2025, the government slashed approximately NIS 220 million (around USD 68.3 million) from social and educational programs for PCI, diverting the funds to the Shin Bet and the police. As Adalah emphasized, this decision reflects a broader strategy of militarization and over-policing of Palestinian communities, while the root causes of inequality – including chronic underfunding of education – remain ignored.

Persecution of Palestinian Educators, Withholding Budgets from Schools

New racist laws further erode Palestinian children’s right to education. Recent legislation empowers the Education Ministry to dismiss teachers based on vague, politicized criteria, enabling the persecution of educators who are PCI and Palestinian residents of Jerusalem without due process. The law also permits authorities to withhold school funding based solely on unsubstantiated allegations of “identifying with acts of terror.” Adalah is challenging this law before the Israeli Supreme Court on behalf of Palestinian leadership groups, including the High Follow-up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel and the National Committee of Arab Mayors. In December 2025, the court issued an “order to cause” requiring the state to explain why this law is constitutional.

Securing Transport to Schools

Bedouin children living in the Naqab (Negev) face severe, systemic barriers to education. In several Bedouin villages, the Ministry of Education (MoE) has suspended school bus services, forcing children to walk long distances under dangerous conditions, often in direct violation of the Ministry’s own guidelines.

In May 2025, following a petition by Adalah, the Be’er Sheva Administrative Court ordered the reinstatement of the state-funded transport for 50 children from the village of Bir Hadaj in the Naqab after services were cut at the start of the 2024–2025 school year. Without buses, children were forced to walk on unsafe, unpaved roads, exposed to traffic, stray dogs and harsh weather. The court ruled that the MoE had failed to consider the children’s living conditions. Building on this decision, Adalah filed another petition in December 2025 demanding the resumption of transport for 60 children from Abu Qreinat, where bus services—provided for 15 years—were abruptly halted. A hearing is scheduled for 8 February 2026.

Discriminatory transportation policies extend beyond the Naqab. In December 2025, Adalah petitioned the Haifa Administrative Court on behalf of two gifted PCI students from Shafa’amr who were denied bus transport to their designated school in Mghar, despite clear MoE regulations. The Ministry cited budgetary constraints that contradict its own directives. A hearing is scheduled for 10 February 2026.

Appropriate Frameworks for PCI Children with Autism

In August 2025, Adalah petitioned the Jerusalem Administrative Court on behalf of 177 children with autism and their families, after the MoE refused to renew the license of Al-Shorouq School in Arrabeh. For years, the school had provided a continuous, therapeutic framework from kindergarten through high school. Its closure threatened students’ wellbeing, disrupted their education, and stripped parents of meaningful choice. In September 2025, the court ordered the MoE to urgently place all all unassigned children in appropriate frameworks, guarantee families the right to appeal placement decisions, and include the parents’ committee in the decision-making process.

Access for PCI Pupils to “Science Track” Programs

In September 2025, Adalah petitioned the Haifa District Court on behalf of PCI students denied access to recognized high school science tracks—an essential gateway to higher education and many professions. Structural discrimination funnels PCI students from five elementary schools in Haifa into just two state-run high schools, only one of which offers a limited science track, excluding qualified students. Following the hearing, the Haifa Municipality and the MoE committed to ensuring that, beginning in the 2026–2027 school year, every eligible PCI student in Haifa will have access to a recognized science track program. The authorities pledged to open additional classes, offer Arabic-language virtual matriculation options, place students in other schools, and allocate the necessary resources.

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Together, these cases illustrate Adalah’s broader legal struggle against entrenched discrimination across the Arab education system, including in funding and infrastructure. Education is a fundamental human right that must be guaranteed equally to all PCI, and it is critical to the future of an entire generation. Adalah uses strategic litigation to hold state authorities accountable for policies of neglect and exclusion that continue to undermine this right.