Following the report last week of the left-wing Israeli human rights group B’Tselem describing Israel as an “apartheid” state, Education Minister Yoav Gallant announced on Sunday that groups that dub Israel with false and derogatory names are barred from entering Israeli schools.

Gallant’s announcement came a day before a scheduled online lecture by B’Tselem director Chagai El-Ad to Hebrew Reali School in Haifa.

However, in defiance of the ban ordered by Gallant, the school went ahead with the webinar, allowing El-Ad to address 300 12th-grade students and staff members, Kan News reported.

The school went ahead with the lecture after requesting that the Education Ministry prove the legality of the ban and received no response.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)