The Education, Culture and Sports Committee convened on Monday for a debate on the topic of “Blocking the Tolerance Education Regulation in state schools.” At the start of the debate, the Ministry of Education announced that the call for proposals had been issued last week, and explained the delay that preceded it. The Members of Knesset did not accept the explanations given for the budget cut.
MK Moshe Turpaz (Yesh Atid), who served as acting committee chair, called to encourage the educational institutions to book workshops on the issue, and said further, “The Education Committee demands that the budget will be no less than NIS 3 million, as was the case in the previous year, and it demands that the ministry present [the committee with] the implementation statistics of the regulation throughout the year.”
MK Yorai Lahav Hertzanu (Yesh Atid), who was among the sponsors of the debate: “The Tolerance Education Regulation enables administering workshops and [encouraging] discourse for students and teaching staffs on LGBTQ+ and the family diversity that exists in Israel. These workshops have been found to be particularly effective in reducing violence, bullying and a sense of alienation among gay youth. In the past year, there has been a sharp increase in violence against LGBTQ+ youth in schools: Half of the young people report that they have gone back into the closet, 15% experienced a physical assault due to their identity, about one third have undergone sexual harassment, and 77% were exposed to frequent verbal violence. In addition, 62% of schools refuse to cooperate with the gay community organizations IGY and Hoshen, and don’t invite them.” MK Lahav Hertzanu sharply attacked the representatives of the Ministry of Education, saying, “You aren’t fighting against homophobia, you’re giving in to it. You’re forsaking the LGBTQ+ youth and doing so deliberately. Only after heavy pressure from us were you kind enough to open the regulation, weeks after the other programs in the Gefen system were opened.”
Ministry of Education official Sigal Ela: “Last week we posted the call for proposals, which was ready back in May, but due to a demand by the organizations to update a number of components, it took time to incorporate them in the system. The minister allocated a budget of NIS 2.5 million for this; there is NIS 1.5 million in the base budget and we will make up the difference. In the past, this was budgeted from coalition funds.” In light of the criticism voiced by committee members about the reduction of the budget from NIS 3 million to NIS 2.5 million, Ela stated, “Last year, when it was NIS 3 million, this stemmed from surpluses from the previous year. The implementation, in any case, was lower, and stood at NIS 2.18 million. We saw schools that booked a large number of workshops for many grades, and had difficulty carrying it out. Forty workshops for three grades was a lot for them to carry out, including for the [program] providers.”
Ministry of Education official Iris Ben Yaakov said that besides the Tolerance Regulation, there was a diverse range of activities in the education system to raise awareness for the issue. “The Tolerance Education Regulation is another measure. The ‘Strengths on the Way’ [new life skills] program also has a lesson on tolerance education, and providers and workshops can be booked through it,” she said.
MK Gilad Kariv (Labor): ““This regulation has to be published in the spring, so that the schools can prepare a year beforehand. It’s unthinkable that there will be discrimination, when all the other programs in the Gefen [system] are open and published in May, but this regulation waits until the last minute. I am requesting a commitment from the ministry for this regulation to be opened at the same date that all the other regulations are opened in the Gefen [system].” At the conclusion of the debate, Ministry of Education official Sigal Ela said, “If we don’t need adjustments, we will try to issue the call for proposals for the Tolerance Education Regulation in May.”
Yoni Avitan, Co-CEO of IGY: “Gay youth are forsaken to violence, they experience exclusion and humiliation, and the situation is only worsening. Where should funds be invested, if not in tolerance?” Mor Nahari, CEO of HOSHEN—Education and Change, pledged to go to battle: “We received a commitment from the minister that the budgets for tolerance education would not be touched. We won’t take this lying down.”
Naama Zarbiv of the Shovrot Shivyon organization addressed the representatives of the LGBTQ+ organizations who were present at the debate, saying, “Do you actually succeed in encouraging inclusion and tolerance at your workshops in schools? I haven’t seen research that shows which schools that have participated in such workshops have more or less violence, and whether [the workshops] are effective.”
Deputy Mayor of Tel Aviv Meital Lehavi: “We recently conducted a survey among thousands of parents from the community in Tel Aviv, and it indicates that they also have concerns. The program in question is also needed in liberal cities, and certainly in places that are less liberal.” In response to a question by MK Eitan Ginzburg (Blue and White—National Unity Party), Lehavi admitted that the municipality was “not doing enough” to incorporate the workshops in municipality-owned schools. “However, in the 2025/26 year, we are launching a strategic plan for inclusion and tolerance,” she said.
In response to calls by the Members of Knesset to include the issue in a director general’s circular, Ministry of Education official Iris Ben Yaakov said, “There is no explicit reference in a director general’s circular, but there are guidelines for [establishing] a sense of safety among LGBTQ+ students and ‘rainbow families.’ There are also specific instructions to staffs on supporting these students.”
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