Prof. Yehuda Lukacs: The Most Urgent Change in Israeli Education – Teaching Arabic

Prof. Yehuda Lukacs argues in an opinion piece that the most urgent change in Israeli education is making Arabic compulsory for every Jewish student, starting in elementary school. According to him, the education system has turned Arabic into an intelligence tool instead of a tool for civic dialogue, and this fuels the political exclusion of Arab parties.

Prof. Yehuda Lukacs, Associate Professor Emeritus of International Relations at George Mason University, argues in an opinion piece that the most urgent change in the Israeli education system is making the study of spoken and literary Arabic compulsory for every student in the Jewish sector, starting in elementary school. According to him, the Israeli education system has turned Arabic into an enemy language and an intelligence tool, while neglecting spoken Arabic and Arab culture. He sharply criticizes the automatic disqualification of Arab parties from participating in the government, linking this to the linguistic and cultural ignorance instilled by the system. Lukacs notes that the 2018 Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People gave constitutional legitimacy to the exclusion of Arabic. He calls for dismantling the security-nationalist approach and replacing it with an egalitarian civic approach, while integrating Arab teachers into the Jewish education system.