Q&A: The persecution of a pro-Palestinian teacher in Israel

For years Israeli school teacher Meir Baruchin has been using Facebook to encourage others to see the humanity of the Palestinian people, often maligned or degraded within mainstream media and the larger Israeli society as “terrorists”.

Arguably this is an extension of his role as a teacher. In the same way that he invites students to consider various points of view, which may initially make them feel uncomfortable on account of how they challenge them to rethink their own biases or prejudices, Baruchin – specifically through posts he makes on his Facebook page, including personal reflections – invites his online followers to see Palestinians in an honest and truthful light.

Despite the commendable nature of his posts, Baruchin found himself in hot water, involving coordinated state persecution against him, shortly after Israel began its ongoing brutal assault on Gaza (October 7), killing almost 30,000 Palestinians to date. More specifically, this problematic situation for Baruchin was the result of a Facebook post in which he rightfully criticised such violence and how Hamas’ attack on Israel, after which the Israeli assault started, could not justify the violence itself.

TRT World spoke with Baruchin about how this has significantly complicated both his personal and professional life (including being physically attacked by students, captured in a video that has widely circulated the internet), the value he sees in teaching “argumentative dialogue” that incorporates Palestinian perspectives and, finally, what he believes accounts for Israeli intolerance of no only the Palestinian people but those who are somehow “different”.

TRT WORLD: It’s almost as if you’re an anomaly: someone who’s unapologetically pro-Palestinian in an environment that seems to be hostile to that. How would you describe yourself?

MEIR BARUCHIN: I'm 62. I'm a history and civics teacher at a high school. During the past 17 years I've been teaching in a high school that belonged to the municipality of the city of Petah Tikva. It's near Tel Aviv. The city has been ruled for five years by an extreme right winger, a big supporter of Prime Minister Netanyahu and, and among other things that I do, I have a very active Facebook page where I post about Palestinians.

For most Israelis, Palestinians are no more than a vague image. If you say “Palestinian” they automatically think about terrorists: they have no name, no face, no family, no hope, no plans, nothing. On the other hand I'm trying to humanize Palestinians on my Facebook page – to give them names and faces so hopefully more Israelis will see them as human beings and maybe communicate with them in nonviolent ways.

I’ve been doing this for more than 10 years. I have to admit though that it’s been getting harder and harder to do it. Since the war began on October 7 I've been posting about Israel targeting innocent civilians in Gaza, mainly women and children. Up till now we [Israel] killed more than 12,000 children, more than 8000 women. I want to bring their story to light, including how entire Palestinian families have been wiped out.

What is the general attitude, in your view, among Israelis towards the brutal violence you describe, which – as I’m sure you know – much of the world regards as a genocide against the Palestinian people?

MB: Most Israelis don't know what we are doing in Gaza because the mainstream media doesn't show that. They see a completely different picture of what the rest of the world sees.

For my Facebook posts I was called – by the school where I was teaching – into a hearing. That was October 18. The next day I was fired. Apparently the municipality, my employer, also filed a complaint at the police station on the same day of the hearing. On November 9th I received a phone call from the police station asking me to go there for questioning.

I asked on what charge; they said for sedition and incitement. On my way there I talked to my lawyer. He said that in order to interrogate an Israeli citizen for sedition and incitement the police need an approval from the general attorney. The police did ask for the approval but it was rejected. So they decided to interrogate me on two other charges. One, intention to commit an act of treason and, two, intention to disrupt public order.

The minute I walked into the police station, they [police] strapped my hands and legs. They confiscated my phone. Five detectives escorted me to my apartment and ransacked the place – top to bottom, upside down. Then they took me back to the police station for the first interrogation. That lasted four hours.

In the first part they presented me with 14 posts I made on Facebook. Only two of them I think were after October 7. There were posts from four years ago and two years ago. The second part of the interrogation didn’t really involve them asking genuine questions. It was more rhetorical.

Could you elaborate, specifically on what you mean by “rhetorical”?

MB: The police basically installed, if you will, the answers they wanted inside what they were asking. That’s what people do when they don't let someone freely answer. Instead of genuine questions the police asked leading questions, trying to put words in my mouth. After that I was taken to the jailhouse in a Russian compound in Jerusalem. I was categorised as a high risk detainee. I was put in solitary confinement.

The wardens were not allowed to talk to me. I wasn’t allowed to take anything with me. Not a book, nothing. I went inside with my own clothes and stayed with them for days. On Sunday, November 12, the day before I was released I was taken to a second interrogation and they [the police] used the same technique, again trying to put words in my mouth.

At some point the interrogator said that my Facebook posts are just like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. I don't know if you're familiar with this antisemitic document. It's like 100 pages. I'm a history teacher so, as a historical text, it’s no surprise when I say I’ve read it. But I wanted to see whether the interrogator really knew what the book was about or had any idea the book has no similarity whatsoever to my posts.

How did they answer?

MB: There was no comment.

You were released from police custody shortly after. When exactly was that and what legally or otherwise ensued?

MB: I was released the next day. At that point I began a court motion asking for an injunction.

One more thing that I forgot to mention is that after I was fired the [Israeli] Ministry of Education suspended my license. Consequently I couldn't go back to teaching anywhere in the country.

Back to the court motion. As part of it I was asking for an injunction against the municipality of Petah Tikva, which employed me as a teacher, and the Ministry of Education. On January 14th I won the court case.

So you got the injunction?

MB: Yes. It was a temporary injunction. The court ordered my reinstatement at the school I was teaching at. When I actually returned to the school, the video that many have seen online [where I’m being attacked by students] was taken.

Why? The municipality of Petah Tikva lost the court case, so the school community decided to delegitimise me.

Students, their parents refused to enter my classroom to talk with me. Later I had to take cover in the teachers’ room where I was under siege. Just outside it students were climbing the room windows, knocking the windows, cursing me, spitting at me. When I left the school they chased me to my car and again cursed me, spit on me. The principal didn't do anything. On the contrary they encouraged the students.

I mean, almost all the students are not mine. I don't even know them. They are junior high students, not high school students. I don't work at a junior high, so that's the situation.

Do you think the parents had anything to do with their behaviour?

MB: Absolutely. I’ve no doubt they instructed them to behave as they did.

The municipality appealed the case I won, after which a hearing took place on January 30th at the National Labour Court. The court decided that until March 31st I won't be physically teaching inside a classroom. They [the municipality] will videotape my classes and broadcast it to students. That's what I'm doing right now. My case will eventually go back to the District Labour Court where I will ask for a permanent injunction – allowing me to teach in-person, without being removed again. The hearing for that will take place on March 20th.

I also must indicate that on February 27th Petah Tikva is having municipality elections. My vilification has been exploited by the current mayor who is running for reelection. He’s trying to gain more votes by expressly supporting the vilification and, in turn, the electorate that does too. I have no doubt this is part of a larger campaign run by the municipality, with the cooperation of the Ministry of Education and the police, controlled by extreme right wingers.

Within Israel there seems to be an outright denial of how the state is treating Palestinians, silence altogether about that or, perhaps as in your case, a strong vitriol shown towards anyone who might so much as express sympathy towards the plight of Palestinians. Is there any hope of that changing?

MB: Look, I've been teaching for 35 years. Israeli students, they get to hear only one voice ever since they are born. They get to hear only the national voice. They hear what the government wants them to hear. They don't hear what the government doesn't want them to hear.

I offer something very different. My classes centre on dialogue with students, democratic dialogue. And for me such dialogue is argumentative and entails considering multiple points of view. When all think alike and all speak in one voice you cannot have a democratic dialogue. That absence is what my students largely experience. Likewise, when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict there's no student that is willing or even knows how to present a Palestinian perspective.

So I take it upon myself to try and change that. And have been trying for years. When at first you challenge my students to consider a Palestinian perspective there are some that feel uncomfortable. They’re not used to that. But as time passes my students get to know me. They see that I'm not so dangerous. A democratic dialogue potentially develops from there, the lessons of which stay with students years after they graduate.

I have former students that are 50-something, 40-something, ok? And they get back to me and ask: Do you remember that class where we talked about, you know, that thing that broadened our awareness and allowed us to better appreciate what we were in the dark about before. I get that many times every year. Of course there are politicians who don't like that. It bothers them that I’m leading an argumentative dialogue, including Palestinian perspectives.

They want those perspectives left outside the classroom.

Have the charges against you been dropped?

MB: Not yet. I mean, there will be no indictment. There will be no trial but the case is still pending. I'm still facing those charges. My lawyer submitted a request to drop the case [more than] 10 days ago.

We're still waiting for an answer. I should add that after I was released the general attorney sent a letter to the chief of police, condemning him for my arrest. Despite that, the police decided to keep the case open.

How long can this indefinite situation go on?

MB: Years.

+972 Magazine reported that you plan on suing Israeli media. Is that still happening and, if so, could you share more about what your reasons are for doing so?

MB: Yes. Absolutely it’s still happening because the mainstream media embraced the statement of the police spokesman saying that I justified, legitimised (alleged) rapes committed by Hamas on October 7. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I specifically posted on Facebook something condemning Hamas. In fact, I haven’t been sleeping very well since October 7. I'm not eating well. I lost weight. I never thought in my wildest imagination that I would condemn Hamas for October 7 and then be falsely accused of supporting it.

The larger context of the condemnation is this: On October 11, I took to Facebook to say that the Hamas attack on October 7 does not in any way justify what we [Israel] have been doing in Gaza since. I thought it would be much more obvious to people that by saying this I was not intending on trivialising the attack. I’ve never lost sight of its immoral and catastrophic nature.

On the other hand, if you go out to the streets of Israel today you hear either one of two positions. Some say, “I don't care about killing women and children in Gaza after what they [Palestinians] did to us on October 7. They deserve it”. Others say, “It's too bad that we’re killing innocent civilians. But ultimately Israel is not responsible. It’s Hamas’ fault”.

Now don't get me wrong. I won't be sorry if Hamas disappears, if Hamas leaders in war meet the devil. You won’t see me crying over that. But from the footage I’m seeing and the material I get, I’m horrified by Israel’s actions. I’m shocked at what we’re doing in Gaza. We’re slaughtering innocent people.

You know, academically, one of my main areas of interest is war as a human phenomenon. And through studying that I’ve come to appreciate that when a country goes to war it must define its goals. It must ask itself: What do you want to achieve? It must surely be tactical in this regard.

Similarly and above all else a country going to war must have a long term strategy. We [Israel] don't have anything like that. And so we won't be able to eliminate Hamas. Israel has been pummeling Gaza for more than four months. And what did we [Israel] achieve so far? Nothing really.

We are acting out of revenge. That’s not constructive, in terms of establishing peace or related policies.

In your experience is the Israeli public mainly supportive of revenge against Palestinians, knowing that it’s responsible for the mounting death toll we’re seeing in Gaza alone?

MB: No, no. They don't know. Israeli mainstream media doesn't show what’s happening in Gaza – the scale of the killing of civilians there. Those who do know watch CNN, Sky News, BBC and unfortunately they don't care.

Why the indifference?

MB: I'm not a clinician but from what I know Israel, as a society, is in a state of what psychologists call “borderline” – moving on the path between neurosis and psychosis. I don't know what’s going to come of it. For most Israelis it’s not possible to accept someone, Palestinian or otherwise, who is different in religion, race, political approach . Underlying this is fear, which can be articulated thus: “If you are different, I feel threatened. And so I will respond violently. I'm going to hit you. I don't want you to be different. I want you to be exactly like me”.

I think it’s fear but it’s also hatred.

Agreed.