Israeli Education and Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett has introduced legislation that would ban organizations that espouse anti-Israel views from giving presentations to the Jewish state’s high school students, Israel Hayom reported.

The bill would provide the education minister with the authority to ban individuals or organizations from an educational facility if he believes that they undermine the educational goals of that institution, undermine the state’s legitimacy or engage in efforts to besmirch IDF soldiers.

Bennett decided to turn to legislative means after he learned that some schools have been ignoring a ministerial directive not to invite representatives of organizations like Breaking the Silence, an advocacy group dedicated to exposing alleged wrongdoings by the Israeli military, to speak to students.

Since the ministerial directive only explicitly refers to organizations that are anti-Israel, some school principals have claimed that it does not apply to Breaking the Silence speakers. The ministry has taken disciplinary action against such principals.

“Organizations that tarnish Israeli soldiers abroad will have no place in our schools,” Bennett said Monday.