Teaching Unions criticize the Education Minister’s trip to Israel

The body that represents Northern Ireland’s biggest teaching unions has criticized the education minister for calling for Israel’s condemnation of Gaza.

Paul Givan is among a group of controversial politicians who are on a six-day trip to Israel called “to find out the facts that want to be sent”.

The Northern Ireland Council of Teachers said it was “deeply concerned” that it had accepted an invitation to the kingdom accused of genocide – a claim Israel denies.

The Ministry of Education said Givan was “invited by the government of Israel to participate in an official visit as part of the delegation of representatives”.

The Democratic Union Party (DUP) politician shared photos of his trip, which included a visit to the National Memorial Center and meetings with Israeli victims of Hamas attacks.

However, the nitc rejected its decision to accept the invitation from the Israeli embassy “at a time when officials of that state are accused of war crimes”.

He has been asked to explain his actions and has also criticized Stormont’s Education Department for “promoting” his visits to online platforms.

The Ministry promoted Givan’s visit to the OneK school in Jerusalem through both its official website and social media accounts.

It confirmed that Givan met with school staff and students “as well as representatives of Israel’s education ministry.

nitc said Givan made the trip “in the context of what the UN has recognized as the genocide committed by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza”.

He added that his decision to write the trip on the platforms of his Ministry was “a political and divisive act that reduced confidence in his judgment”.

The nitc said Northern Ireland’s official online platforms “must be politically neutral” and called for that to be removed.

Asked to respond to the nitc, the Ministry said that its minister “decided to have the opportunity to visit the OKEK school to learn about the way they are taking to support different students within the area of ​​high achievement”.

“Following his visit to OneK School, the Minister of Education requested that the educational visit be highlighted on the department’s social media channels,” the department added.

‘Bad Reaction’ in Ireland

The team that went on the trip to Israel includes Givan’s colleagues. Steve Aiken from the Ulster Unionlist Party (UUP) and Ron McDowell from the Traditionalist Book Party (TUV) Party.

Wilson also posted several photos of his visit, including one outside the Israel ministry.

During a trip to Jerusalem, he praised the city’s residents because they “refused to give in to terrorist threats to disrupt their lives”.

A DUP MP said Northern Ireland’s delegation to the study “doesn’t mean we come from Ni”.

“The mention of the word Ireland immediately excited a negative reaction,” he said, adding that his forces would not do business with Ireland “.

‘Guest of the Government of Israel’

McDowell, the Tuv councillor, said that this arrangement seeks to create links with “the only state of democracy and the end of democracy in the Middle East”.

He even added in his part that he had been “looking up and open that I was invited by the ambassador of Israel in London to visit the country as a guest of their government”.

A TUV representative sent photos of the team’s visit to “the school where the gifts are”, adding that their classroom was “a bomb shelter”.

He also shared a picture of himself and the givans rotating the plates with the students.

McDowell said those dispatchers then spent the evening “meeting with news commentators and commentators who challenge fake news from organizations like the BBC”.

The current war in Gaza began following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were captured.

Israel responded by launching a military operation in Gaza, which has resulted in 68,500 deaths so far, according to Hamas run health.

Last month, the world’s leading think tank reported that Israel is killing itself in Gaza.

At the time, the UN and other Western nations said they would only consider the court’s decision that the killings took place as a matter of authority.

nitc is the umbrella organization representing the Ulster Teachers’ Union (Utu); National Union of Teachers of Ireland (logged in); The National Association of Schoolmasters and the Union of Women Teachers (NASIWT); The National Association of Head Teachers (Naht) and the National Education Union (NEA).

BBC News NI has also asked the DUP to respond to the issues raised by the nitc.