Jerusalem says it will ‘fix’ rule banning minorities from entering preschools after backlash

Jerusalem’s municipality said it will “fix” racist fliers forbidding “minorities” from entering their grounds, following a wave of backlash over the exclusionary practice.

The fliers were published by the emergency and security department of the Jerusalem municipality and distributed to kindergartens and preschools in the city. They state that “as a rule, entrance is not permitted to minority groups,” and that “outsiders may not enter kindergarten premises,” Haaretz reported. The term ‘minority’ is generally used to describe Arabs or non-Jews in Israel.

The publication says that the local security officer has to be notified if minorities want to enter the school grounds.

Noa Sattath, director of Israel’s Religious Action Center, said the fliers were a “classic case of the dehumanization of Arabs in Israel,” Israel Hayom reports. Arabs make up 20 percent of Israel’s population.

“Arabs in Israel are viewed as dangerous as it is, even in the absence of any real and specific indication that they pose a potential threat,” Religious Action Center’s Racism Crisis Center pointed out in a letter. The organization said that as a result of this stereotyping, Arabs are targeted more than any other group in the country.

Responding to criticism over the documents, the municipality said it had followed “security protocol determined by the police and Education Ministry,” but would “swiftly work to fix” the language of the controversial flier, the Times of Israel reports. The fliers were distributed a year and a half ago.

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