The left-wing Meretz party, the one whose former Education Minister ruled out learning the Book of Joshua because it describes wars, is worried about the “danger” of national religious Naftali Bennett heading the ministry.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is considering Bennett as the next Minister of Education after Bennett gave up his demand to be Foreign Minister or Defense Minister.
Former Meretz chairman and Education Minister banned the Book of Joshua from the school system because it describes the successful wars fought by the Jewish People after they entered Israel.
Current Meretz leader Zehava Galon now wants to ban Naftali Bennett, chairman of the Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) party, from heading the ministry because he probably will fund religious schools no less than secular schools.
That would be undemocratic, according to the leftist definition of the word, by which any public money to promote Judaism comes at the expense of promoting democracy, which apparently is not only a religion in itself but also is the only religion.
Galon wrote on Facebook:
It is dangerous and irresponsible to place the Education portfolio in the hands of Naftali Bennett. Last year outrageous information showed that the Ministry of Education invested 56 million shekels ($14 million) in organizations linked with the study of Jewish values compared to only 5.5 million shekels for those that promote democratic values. It is painful and frightening to imagine what those numbers will look like next year if Naftali Bennett will be appointed.
Her argument promotes the idea that Judaism contradicts democracy and vice-versa.
Sarid hates the Book of Joshua because it deals with reality. Sarid forgets that Israel fought wars only when the “peace process” did not work.
He told the Jerusalem Post he was “disgusted” at the idea of Bennett as Minister of Education.
Galon wrote that if Bennett will be the minister of Education, she will be looking over his right shoulder all the time to check where every shekel is allocated and perhaps how many copies of the Book of Joshua are bought for schools.
The Book of Joshua not only describes war and peace. It also includes the command of God to set up cities of refuge:
Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Prepare for you cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses To which a slayer that kills any person unawares, unwittingly, shall flee and they shall be for you as a refuge from the avenger of blood.
What democracy other than Israel has such a principle that embodies the heart and soul of leftist ideology?