Political: 22nd December, 2010
An intense debate broke out in the Knesset plenum, after MK Ahmed Tibi demanded that the Ministry of Education issue matriculation diplomas in Arabic, Even though Arabic is an official language in Israel, the Ministry stopped issuing diplomas in this language in the 1970s, and as a result thousands of Arab students who wish to study in the Arab world are forced to pay for the translation of the diplomas and notary affirmations. MK Nissim Ze’ev (Shas) said in reply to Tibi’s demand that “the purpose of MK Tibi is self-explanatory: he wishes to turn Israel into a bi-national country”. The Education Minister, Gideon Sa’ar, estimated that issuing Arabic matriculation diplomas will cost the state millions of shekels. (Hebrew)
