Defending Palestinians with Strategic Litigation

On this International Day of Education (24 January), Adalah highlights its litigation exposing Israel’s large-scale, systemic violations of the right to education for children who are Palestinian citizens of Israel (PCI). These violations are not accidental. They result from decades of neglect, severe budget cuts, and discriminatory laws and policies that entrench inequality and disproportionately harm the most vulnerable children, including Bedouin children, children with disabilities, and those living in poverty.

Of Israel’s 2.1 million PCI, approximately 785,000 are children, forming a substantial share of Israel’s youth. An estimated 56,000 PCI children are officially recognized as having disabilities. Yet, despite higher rates of disability that necessitate greater state support, PCI children receive substantially fewer resources. Persistent funding gaps and limited access to adapted special education services compound the challenges they face, while widespread poverty further deepens the crisis.In 2023, PCI accounted for over 42% of all people living in poverty in Israel, compared with just over 20% of the general population. Since the outbreak of the war on 7 October 2023, the situation of these children and their families has deteriorated sharply. State policies continue to deprive PCI children of essential resources, disproportionately harming those already most at risk, both in Arab towns and in mixed cities.

These disparities exist within a segregated education system that separates PCI and Jewish Israeli students and subjects them to different regulations. Instead of addressing these long-standing structural inequalities, the Israeli government has intensified them. In December 2025, the government slashed approximately NIS 220 million (around USD 68.3 million) from social and educational programs for PCI, diverting the funds to the Shin Bet and the police. As Adalah emphasized, this decision reflects a broader strategy of militarization and over-policing of Palestinian communities, while the root causes of inequality – including chronic underfunding of education – remain ignored.

Persecution of Palestinian Educators, Withholding Budgets from Schools

New racist laws further erode Palestinian children’s right to education. Recent legislation empowers the Education Ministry to dismiss teachers based on vague, politicized criteria, enabling the persecution of educators who are PCI and Palestinian residents of Jerusalem without due process. The law also permits authorities to withhold school funding based solely on unsubstantiated allegations of “identifying with acts of terror.” Adalah is challenging this law before the Israeli Supreme Court on behalf of Palestinian leadership groups, including the High Follow-up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel and the National Committee of Arab Mayors. In December 2025, the court issued an “order to cause” requiring the state to explain why this law is constitutional.

Securing Transport to Schools

Bedouin children living in the Naqab (Negev) face severe, systemic barriers to education. In several Bedouin villages, the Ministry of Education (MoE) has suspended school bus services, forcing children to walk long distances under dangerous conditions, often in direct violation of the Ministry’s own guidelines.

In May 2025, following a petition by Adalah, the Be’er Sheva Administrative Court ordered the reinstatement of the state-funded transport for 50 children from the village of Bir Hadaj in the Naqab after services were cut at the start of the 2024–2025 school year. Without buses, children were forced to walk on unsafe, unpaved roads, exposed to traffic, stray dogs and harsh weather. The court ruled that the MoE had failed to consider the children’s living conditions. Building on this decision, Adalah filed another petition in December 2025 demanding the resumption of transport for 60 children from Abu Qreinat, where bus services—provided for 15 years—were abruptly halted. A hearing is scheduled for 8 February 2026.

Discriminatory transportation policies extend beyond the Naqab. In December 2025, Adalah petitioned the Haifa Administrative Court on behalf of two gifted PCI students from Shafa’amr who were denied bus transport to their designated school in Mghar, despite clear MoE regulations. The Ministry cited budgetary constraints that contradict its own directives. A hearing is scheduled for 10 February 2026.

Appropriate Frameworks for PCI Children with Autism

In August 2025, Adalah petitioned the Jerusalem Administrative Court on behalf of 177 children with autism and their families, after the MoE refused to renew the license of Al-Shorouq School in Arrabeh. For years, the school had provided a continuous, therapeutic framework from kindergarten through high school. Its closure threatened students’ wellbeing, disrupted their education, and stripped parents of meaningful choice. In September 2025, the court ordered the MoE to urgently place all all unassigned children in appropriate frameworks, guarantee families the right to appeal placement decisions, and include the parents’ committee in the decision-making process.

Access for PCI Pupils to “Science Track” Programs

In September 2025, Adalah petitioned the Haifa District Court on behalf of PCI students denied access to recognized high school science tracks—an essential gateway to higher education and many professions. Structural discrimination funnels PCI students from five elementary schools in Haifa into just two state-run high schools, only one of which offers a limited science track, excluding qualified students. Following the hearing, the Haifa Municipality and the MoE committed to ensuring that, beginning in the 2026–2027 school year, every eligible PCI student in Haifa will have access to a recognized science track program. The authorities pledged to open additional classes, offer Arabic-language virtual matriculation options, place students in other schools, and allocate the necessary resources.

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Together, these cases illustrate Adalah’s broader legal struggle against entrenched discrimination across the Arab education system, including in funding and infrastructure. Education is a fundamental human right that must be guaranteed equally to all PCI, and it is critical to the future of an entire generation. Adalah uses strategic litigation to hold state authorities accountable for policies of neglect and exclusion that continue to undermine this right.

Dear friends,

Over the past months, in the run-up to the new school year, Adalah has worked intensively to uphold the rights of Palestinian children, citizens of Israel, to access quality education. Here we share some of our recent main legal actions.

Petition Against the Closure of ‘A Shorooq’ School for Children With Autism

On 28 August 2025, Adalah, on behalf of 177 children and their families, petitioned the Jerusalem Administrative Court against the Ministry of Education’s (MoE) decision not to renew the license of ‘A Shorooq’ School, located in Arrabeh in northern Israel, which serves students on the autism spectrum. The MoE decided to disperse the pupils to various locations and place them in unsuitable, non-adapted frameworks, despite that the school has long provided therapeutic education tailored to the needs of children with autism, from kindergarten through high school.

Adalah argued that the decision, based on alleged financial irregularities in the school’s management, violates the children’s rights to education, continuity of care, and wellbeing, and infringes on their parents’ rights to stability and choice. The court held an urgent hearing on 16 September 2025, and ordered the MoE to ensure that by 18 September, every child without a placement must receive a new assignment, and that families have the right to appeal. The Court also accepted Adalah’s demand that the parents’ committee be consulted and included in the decision-making process regarding placements. Adalah is assisting parents in pressing for MoE compliance with the court’s ruling.

Demanding Equal Access to Science Tracks for Arab High School Students in Haifa

On 9 September 2025, Adalah submitted an administrative petition to the Haifa District Court on behalf of the parents of 13 students, two parents’ committee leaders, and the High Follow-Up Committee for Education demanding that the MoE and the Haifa Municipality ensure Arab pupils’ right to enroll in a high school program that includes a scientific track for the 2025–2026 academic year.

Since July 2025, Adalah has sent several letters to the MoE and the municipality on behalf of the students who have yet to be placed in a suitable high school offering this track. The lack of placement reflects a long-standing structural problem: graduates of five Arab elementary schools in Haifa are sent only to two high schools—Shizaf and Al-Karma. The shortage is especially severe in the scientific track, which is essential for academic, professional, and research development. Of the two high schools, only Al-Karma operates a standardized scientific track, and even then, on a very limited scale with just two classes. This unreasonable concentration creates chronic overcrowding, denies Arab students access to diverse and high-quality education, and is discriminatory.

Adalah argued that the students who applied to Al-Karma science track formed a single eligibility group, equal in status and skills. While some were admitted, 13 were excluded, leaving them without access to the only standard science track in Haifa. These students are entitled, like others nationwide, to pursue science tracks in high school, yet they have been almost uniquely denied this opportunity.

Despite Adalah’s letters, the MoE and the municipality failed to confirm the existence of a proper track, instead attempting to present Shizaf’s 9th-grade “AI track” as equivalent. A court hearing is scheduled for 28 September 2025.

Securing Transportation to School for Bedouin Children Living in the Naqab

In May 2025, following a petition by Adalah, the Be’er Sheva Administrative Court ordered the MoE to reinstate school buses for 50 children in the Bedouin village of Bir Hadaj, after it abruptly cut the service at the start of the 2024–2025 school year. The court ruled that the Ministry had failed to provide a valid reason for its decision or to consider the children’s harsh living conditions. During the litigation of the case, the MoE disclosed that 2,500 more Bedouin children face similar circumstances, making this ruling a potential precedent against arbitrary, discriminatory transport cuts.

Adalah has continued to follow up on the implementation of the decision, and since the start of the school year, the MoE has provided transportation for the children to their area of residence. In addition, on 22 September 2025, Adalah sent another letter demanding transportation for an additional 49 children living in Bir Hadaj, ranging from kindergarten to high school, who have also been without transportation since the start of the 2024–2025 school year. Adalah is awaiting a response.

Thank you for your continued support for Adalah’s work. The right to education is a fundamental human right recognized in Israeli law and international human rights law. It is crucial for the empowerment of individuals and for social progress. The State of Israel has an obligation to respect, protect and fulfill this right without discrimination.

The Adalah team.