Israeli Students to Learn About Syrian Humanitarian Crisis

Israeli students will begin studying the current humanitarian crisis in Syria, the Education Ministry has announced. The course of study will include the history of the Syrian civil war, as well as the current crises, in which Syrian government forces have used chemical weapons and other measures against civilians.

The course of study was the idea of Dr. Avraham Lipschitz, head of education in the state religious school system. As the subject is in the news, and features images that have shocked many, it would be appropriate for high-schoolers to study it, he said in a letter to Education Ministry officials and principals. “As the world has chosen to remain silent, and given the history of the Jewish people in the Holocaust, we cannot remain silent in the face of the suffering of the Syrian people. Studying the subject will give voice to the suffering there, in the hope that it will affect the rest of the world.”

Lipschitz said that “Recently, Chief Rabbi Harav Yitzchak Yosef said that we all must feel the pain of those who are suffering in Syria. I agree with this, even though we have no connection to the war there. We cannot remain silent. It is appropriate for Jews to feel the suffering of those who are the targets of chemical weapons.”