Kiryat Tivon teacher Adam Verte has been in the news for a few weeks now, after a high school student of his had the gumption to speak out against the teacher’s insertion of politics into the classroom syllabus. The civics teacher was sent packing and was job hunting as of January 20, but what do you know; by January 31, it had been ruled that he could keep his job after all with just a minor little verbal slap on the hand. So what did Verte say that was so bad, exactly?
Verte’s gutsy student wrote (in a letter to Education Minister Shai Piron) that among other things, the teacher had said that:
“The state did not belong to the Jews at all but to the Arabs, and as far as he was concerned, the Jews had no business being in Israel at all.”
Which makes me wonder what he’s doing in Israel?
Confusing isn’t it?
Apparently not for the principal of this school, Ran Cohen, a personal friend of Verte who defended the teacher’s actions. In an interview with Israel’s Chanel 2 News on Thursday night, Cohen said Verte:
“Did something a teacher needs to do.”
Hmm. I would have thought that what a teacher needs to do is set an example for his students. So if he really thinks Jews have no business in Israel, the thing he needs to do—as a teacher—is to make like a tree and leave.
Mr. Verte? Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
