Picture the scene: a 62-year-old high school teacher walks into the school grounds one day and is met by a pre-meditated protest from students who are refusing to attend his class. “Son of a bitch!” one student screams at him. “Cancer!” cries another. “Whore!” shouts a third, while more students spit on the ground in front of him.
This was the greeting Meir Baruchin received on Jan. 19 — the day he was reinstated at the Yitzhak Shamir High School in the central Israeli city of Petah Tivkah after having been fired, arrested, and jailed for four days in solitary confinement at a high security prison.
His offense? Two #Facebook posts on Oct. 8 — the day after #Hamas-led militants #massacred over 1,100 people in southern Israel, and Israel began its bombardment of the #Gaza Strip — in which he shared a photo of Palestinian children who were killed in an Israeli airstrike and pleaded to “stop this madness,” and warned about rising bloodshed in the #WestBank.
While Palestinian citizens of Israel have faced rampant persecution since the start of the war, Baruchin’s case demonstrates how, albeit in far smaller numbers, left-wing Jewish Israelis are also falling victim to the state’s crackdown on freedom of expression. Following the furore over his brief return to school, +972 caught up with the history and civics teacher at his home in #Jerusalem to hear about his experience these past few months.
Read the interview by @oren_ziv שיחה מקומית through this link
https://www.972mag.com/meir-baruchin-teacher-arrested-traitor/
