Ram Cohen
Gideon Sa'ar
Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg
Teachers back leftist high-school principal
Over 1,000 people sign petition urging education minister to let high school principal who published leftist article keep his job; dismissal will be 'threat to freedom of speech,' petition says
Ram Cohen, the principal of a Tel Aviv high-school, was summoned to a hearing at the Tel Aviv municipal offices Tuesday following an appeal filed by the Ministry of Education,
demanding that Cohen be fired from his position due to public expressions of his political views.
Cohen, a longtime principal in major Tel Aviv schools, published an article in which he and Prof. Orit Kedar expressed their support for Meretz and Hadash, and wrote that Labor was weakening the Israeli Left.
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In response to the possibility that Cohen will be let go, education professionals have circulated an online petition urging Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar to refrain from dismissing Cohen and insisting that firing him would pose a "threat to the freedom of speech."
The petition, signed by over 1,000 people by Wednesday afternoon, turned to Sa'ar personally, stressing "Your determination frightens us; it reminds us of dark regimes about which we teach our students. We request that you withdraw your decision, thereby proclaiming that democracy is our foundation."
